Spartan Daily Vol. 160 No. 39

City votes on awareness months

By Dylan Newman STAFF WRITER

San Jose City Council convened on Tuesday to recognize and proclaim a series of holidays and month-long awareness efforts for the month of May.

These holidays and awareness efforts include National Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women Awareness Day, National Pet Month, Stroke Awareness Month and Arbor Day.

National Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women Awareness Day

Mayor Matt Mahan called upon District 5 Councilmember Peter Ortiz to declare May 5 as National Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women Awareness Day.

Ortiz said indigenous people across the nation face the issue of being murdered and going missing, and that it’s an epidemic.

He waved up Sonya Tetnowski, chief executive officer at the Indian Health Center of Santa Clara Valley.

Tetnowski thanked San Jose’s city council for changing the color of the lights outside City Hall to the color red that represents victims who are indigenous people missing, murdered or trafficked from

Students protest pro-life event

By Enrique Gutierrez-Sevilla STAFF WRITER

Mock Trial and Planned Parenthood Generation Action at San Jose State held a protest against the university’s Turning Point USA chapter pro-life event, “Protecting the Unborn,” outside the Student Union Theatre on Tuesday.

Turning Point USA is a nonprofit conservative student organization that educates students to promote freedom, according to its website.

Turning Point USA advocates for antiabortion laws and Second Amendment rights.

Mock Trial is a recognized student organization registered under the American Mock Trial Associate, where students learn, practice and exercise public speaking, critical thinking, legal reasoning, teamwork and other skills, according to its website.

Jessica Vu, sociology senior, is the data manager of Planned Parenthood Generation Action at SJSU and supported the protest.

Planned Parenthood Generation Action at SJSU is an organization on campus where students hope to educate and advocate for the reproductive and sexual justice movement, according to its Instagram.

“I’m here today to make sure we have friendly spaces on campus,” Vu said.

She said Turning Point USA at SJSU makes rude remarks to students on campus about their bodies.

Environmental science junior Kaylan Wells said she was in an altercation

BRANDON NICOLAS | SPARTAN DAILY

SJSU students marched on Seventh Street on Tuesday in protest against a Turning Point USA event.

PROTEST

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with Turning Point on campus without knowing who the organization is.

Wells said she saw members of the organization harassing a girl on Seventh Street.

“I went with another club and kind of just made sure that she was safe and it turned into a verbal argument that’s a bit controversial,” she said.

As a victim of sexual assault, Wells said she knew in her heart that she had to help the girl.

“It hurts knowing that people think that women are choosing to have that happen to them,” Wells said.

Sociology junior Ranjana Iyer is the co-president of Planned Parenthood

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Tuesday to Friday in recognition of their memory.

“Far too long we’ve had this crisis happening in our communities without recognition and without response,” she said. “With 630,000 American Indians in the state of California, 5,712 have gone missing.”

Stroke Awareness Month

District 10 Councilmember Arjun Batra declared the month of May as Stroke Awareness Month.

He said every 40 seconds, someone dies in the United States from a stroke, and that this is a great time to be aware of this illness.

“Even though I am sad about the number of stats I read to you, I’m really glad to say that the science of medicine and the systems of medical care have developed to the point [where] we are in a position to take care of this very, very, impactful illness,” Batra said. “What we have learned is through the science.”

Batra called up Dr. Harmeet Sachdev, a neurologist at Good Samaritan Hospital

Generation Action at SJSU and helped organize the rally.

“It’s one thing to have your own views, but when they agitate students to try and get a reaction - one person has told you to close your legs,” Iyer said. “We don’t want that on campus.”

Allie Beth Stuckey is an American conservative commentator who spoke at the Turning Point USA event to give her opinions about abortion.

“Not all politics or policy is a matter of life and death, but this is literally a matter of life and death,” Stuckey said during the event. She said, it doesn’t matter what side a person is on, pro-life or pro-abortion, to recognize there is a human being inside the womb.

“Is it because it’s small? Is it because of its age? Because it’s young? Is it because of its size? Because it’s young?

in San Jose, to speak about strokes. He said every 40 seconds, someone dies in the United States from a stroke, and that this is a great time to be aware of this illness and its impact.

National Pet Month

Mahan declared May as National Pet Month along with members of the Humane Society Silicon Valley, an Amazon representative with two members of Amazon Pets, a member from the pet health organization PetIQ and a few dogs to officially set the declaration.

District 3 Councilmember Omar Torres said the members of the Humane Society Silicon Valley helped 5,200 animals find homes in 2021 with over 900 active volunteers at its shelter.

Mahan gave a proclamation certificate to the animal care workers behind him, and a member from Amazon presented a large check for a $10,000 donation to the Humane Society Silicon Valley.

“As we celebrate National Pet Month, let us not forget the importance of responsible pet ownership,” Mahan said.

“It’s our duty to ensure that our pets receive proper care, including regular veterinary check-ups, healthy nutrition and plenty of exercise to make sure they

Is it because of its dependence because it needs its mother to survive? Is it because you might have a hard life one day because parents are poor because it’s not wanted?” Stuckey questioned the audience during her speech.

Chima Nwokolo, political science sophomore and the treasurer of Democrats at SJSU, also attended the event, participating in the question and answer forum.

Democrats at SJSU is a nonprofit organization that promotes democratic values on campus with the participation of students in party and political affairs, according to its Instagram.

“Even though I’m a Democrat, I wanted to come to the Turning Point USA conservative event to ask hard hitting questions to get civil dialogue,” Nwokolo said after the event. “Everyone has free speech, whether you like it or

are happy and healthy so they can keep us happy and healthy.”

Arbor Day

District 4 Councilmember David Cohen declared April 29 as Arbor Day, a secular day where people are encouraged to go outside and plant new trees. He said over 100 volunteers from Santa Clara University, Boy and Girl Scout troops, downtown rotaries and the climate action committee met on Monday to plant 30 trees in Cataldi Park, which is located on the east side of Interstate 680 in northern San Jose near Milpitas.

“We’ve expanded our city arborists

not and it’s everyone’s right to express what they think and how they think of it.”

Turning Point USA declined to comment after the event about the protest.

Follow to Enrique on Twitter @mtvenrique

staff and they serve a vital role in the expansion and stewardship of our tree canopy,” Cohen said. “As we celebrate Arbor Day, please consider adding a tree to your home or neighborhood and participating in many community planning events we have across the city.”

On Tuesday, the Spartan Daily published an article titled, “Cowboys draft Fehoko in 4th round” in which we misrepresented Viliami Fehoko position, he is a defensive tackle.

On Tuesday, we published an article titled, “SJSU recognizes student researchers” in which we misidentified Vincent Del Casino.

The Spartan Daily regrets these errors.

IRENE ADELINE MILANEZ | SPARTAN DAILY

Members of Mock Trial and Planned Parenthood Generation Action protest against the Turning Point USA pro-life event outside of the Student Union on Tuesday.

A.S. promotes fitness & friendships

By Alina Ta STAFF WRITER

San Jose State students enjoyed a game of cornhole while sipping on boba tea outside of the Associated Students House.

At Spartans Get Active, SJSU’s Associated Students hosted an event to promote being physically active while making friends on campus.

Communications senior Kevin Li, event coordinator for Associated Students and president of Spartan Fitness, said the idea for Spartans Get Active was for students to be more active by socializing while playing outdoor games.

“[Students] could just be doing a common game together and they might form friendships through that,” he said.

Li said this event was a good opportunity for students to be more physically active while connecting with friends and meeting new people while playing outdoor games.

“I just want to make sure this [event] was brought up to students just to give them a little bit of time to relax before finals start,” he said.

Li said to help support the idea of being active, he invited his friends from Spartan Fitness to table at the event.

Spartan Fitness is a club where students, who are interested in fitness, can learn and workout together, according to its club details in the Sammy App.

Jeremy Buban, mechatronics engineering junior and officer in charge of fundraising at Spartan Fitness, said students can do many activities outside of the house.

Buban said students can play cornhole, play a giant, non-alcoholic version of beer pong with a basketball and try out a fitness challenge the club set up at its table.

“So we have a wheel over here, where you spin it, and then it’ll land on an exercise that you’ll do,” Buban

said. “Then one of our officers will also do it with you.” Students were rewarded with candy for completing the fitness challenge.

He said the Spartan Fitness club members brought different kinds of exercising equipment for students to use in their fitness game, including boxing gloves, gymnastic rings and a pair of parallettes.

Buban said many who use parallettes use it during bodyweight exercises.

“Instead of, like, specifically being a powerlifting club, we go through all levels of fitness,” he said. “So you’ll see us do some boxing along with powerlifting along with even

the Olympic lifting some of us have done. So any walk of fitness that you’re from, you know, we accept you into the club.”

Buban said Spartan Fitness wants to have members from different backgrounds of fitness so anyone could join and get advice on different fitness activities.

Li said students were also allowed to enter the Associated Student House to pick up a free cup of boba tea and a free sandwich for the event.

“I know students love getting some of those so we have those free goodies there and some SJSU swag,” he said. “[It’s] also a good opportunity for a lot of the students to check

out the [Associated Students] House as well.”

The Associated Student House, once known as the Scheller House, is a California Colonial Revival Mansion built in 1904, according to Associated Student’s website.

Li said passing out food and drinks in the house gives students an opportunity to look through the inside of the house.

He said one of the reasons why the event was hosted at the Associated Students House is because it was a great opportunity to help students feel more familiar with their headquarters.

“This is where we work, and this

is where we plan and come up with a lot of our events,” he said. “So I feel like this is a good opportunity for students to come out here and know a little bit more about what [Associated Students members] do.”

Carmen Patiño, Associated Students event coordinator and supervisor, said she wanted to highlight that Li was the one who was responsible for making the event happen. “As a supervisor, I really aim to help my students take real ownership of their own events,” she said.

ALINA TA | SPARTAN DAILY

Boba Bar baristas Tuyen Doan (left) and Duy Ha (right), pass out cups of boba to students at the Spartans Get Active event on Tuesday.