Spartan Daily Vol. 161 No. 3

A.S. holds first fall 2023 meeting

By Dylan Newman STAFF WRITER

The Associated Students Board of Directors discussed student involvement and its opposition to the California State University (CSU) proposal to increase tuition for all students at the beginning of the 2024 academic year during its first meeting of the Fall 2023 semester on Wednesday.

The plan proposed by the CSU would raise the price of tuition by 6% every year for five years, lifting the cost of a full-time student’s annual tuition from $5,742 to $7,682 by 2028, according to a CSU webpage.

Associated Students Director of Legislative Affairs Estevan Guzman presented the letter opposing the tuition increase to the Board of Directors, which will be made public and forwarded to the CSU Board of Trustees.

Guzman said the proposal will be forwarded to San Jose State University President Cynthia Teniente-Matson and her cabinet and to politicians including Rep. Ro Khanna and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan.

The letter details how the increase

disproportionately

affects 40% of all CSU college students, including international, undocumented citizens and middle class students.

Nearly 60% of all enrolled undergraduate CSU students have the full cost of their tuition covered by grants, scholarships or waivers according to the CSU Multi-Year Tuition Proposal.

Guzman said he identifies with the 40% of CSU students who will have to bear the costs of paying a larger bill in the years to come, along with approximately more than 180,000 students in the CSU system.

“For them to introduce it during the summer while none of us are on campus, that’s insulting in my opinion,” Guzman said. “You don’t include the student voices, you’re not including the people that are affected by this proposal in the discussion and you’re simply just throwing it to the few student leaders that are actually involved.”

Guzman also said the CSU should have involved and considered all students in its proposal for increasing tuition.

“It’s hurtful that us as students are being

ignored and in favor of monetary gain,” Guzman said.

He also said many students might be unaware of these upcoming increases, as the lack of communication from the CSU itself has led to most students attending CSU campuses to potentially hear about this for the first time from their respective Associated Students organizations.

“How are students going to know about this proposal if all that they’ve been communicated is through their [Associated Student’s Organization],” Guzman said. “The students need to know what’s happening, they’re the ones affected, they’re the ones who are gonna be paying more in the long term.”

Director of Student Rights and Responsibilities Sehtej Khehra said he suggested members of his board who are also part of Recognized Student Organizations (RSOs) to encourage the organization to sign onto the letter in support of further representing students of the university.

Director of Business Affairs Het Tikawala said he attended an audit meeting where a speaker said tuition will be increasing

regardless of oppositional efforts put forth by anyone, including the Board of Directors.

“We cannot expect that tuition will not increase,” Tikawala said. “It’s definitely going to increase.”

Economics senior Fernando Martinez said this increase will only make going to college more difficult for first-generation college students.

“[The tuition increase] is a bit unjust, especially if it was posted during the summer from what it sounds like,” Martinez said. “It’s six percent over a year, but that can compound year over year and it can get out of hand pretty quickly.”

Other topics discussed were announcements of future events being held around campus this semester.

Sonja Daniels, associate vice president of campus life said President Teniente-Matson university budget summit will be held on Sept. 14.

City councilmembers raise San Jose State flag

By Alina Ta ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

San Jose City Councilmembers welcome San Jose State students back to downtown with their third annual flag raising at City Hall on Wednesday.

“Congratulations on the start of another academic year,” said San Jose’s Mayor, Matt Mahan. “It is an exciting time [for] you [to] bring a lot of energy back to our downtown when the semester starts.”

By the “Sonic Runway ‘’ at City Hall, District Three Councilmember Omar Torres, shared his pride for the university as an alum.

“San Jose State has been more than just a university to me,” said Torres. Torres said when he was a student at SJSU he was struggling with his sexuality.

Estevan Guzman (left) and Sarab Multani (right) speak at the first Associated Students Board of Directors meeting of the semester on Wednesday afternoon at the Student Union.

MAYA BENMOKHTAR | SPARTAN DAILY

Mayor Matt Mahan speaks at the third annual San Jose State flag raising in front of City Hall on Wednesday morning.

San Jose State staff talk consent

Short said.

She also said the center has a lactation room, free safe-sex supplies and menstrual products.

Staff from San Jose State’s Gender Equity Center (GenEC) and Title IX Office, along with four other organizations, hosted a consent cooler event to advocate for learning about consent in sexual and healthy relationships.

Jessica Short, GenEC program coordinator, and Mary Keating, a Title IX Investigator, hosted the table with a trivia wheel with information on consent and popsicle prizes on Seventh Street Plaza in front of the Wellness Center on Wednesday.

The GenEC is an organization on campus that advocates and protects students from gender discrimination, according to its website.

Short said she is launching ambassador training sessions with information on sexual violence culture as well as safe and healthy relationships at the end of September.

Keating said she does some prevention training, but is there for students when they experience issues with consent in healthy relationships.

“You can report to Title IX if you or somebody you see, somebody you live with has any kind of a problem with sexual harassment, sexual assault, stalking, anything that has to do with gender or sex,” Keating said.

Short, who is also with the Student Union as a solidarity member, said “The Gender Equity Center as an overview is a safe place for students to come and hang out, chill,”

Continued from page 1

However, he said the SJSU’s PRIDE Center helped him to come out to his family and friends.

SJSU’s PRIDE Center is an organization on campus that aims to support and advocate for students who identify themselves as members of the LGBTQ+ community, according to its website.

Torres also said SJSU is where he learned to stand up for civil rights.

“Like me, and many other students, San Jose State is a place where I learned to stand up for LGBTQ+ rights, our immigrant community and our Black community here in Downtown San Jose,” Torres said.

“Then we [the Gender Equity Center] do educational outreach,” Short said. “So part of that is the ambassador training, but part of that is also our Lunch and Learn Series, which we’re hoping to relaunch.”

Keating said the Title IX Office also extends its services to prevent hiccups in academic performance or instruction.

“[The Title IX Office] provides a lot of support,” Keating said. “We talk to students and staff about options they have including investigation, seeing the campus survivor advocate service central place to deliver support so that their education isn’t derailed by something that happens to them.”

Campus survivor advocate Selena Hernandez said her role is to be a confidential resource for people who don’t want to disclose to Title IX or want someone to talk to.

As a confidential resource, Hernandez said her role is to be available for students who don’t feel comfortable disclosing their experiences to Title IX, go through an investigation, or just want someone to talk to.

She also said counseling and psychological services are confidential for students would like to speak to a therapist.

Junior communications major Mikayla Cowan, said she stopped by the booth to learn more about safe sex resources.

Cowan said she hasn’t personally used these resources, but noticed they are easily

He also said the university was a stepping stone for him as he ventured into his career in city government.

“This institution is where I gained the knowledge and skills that have enabled me to make a meaningful impact in my professional life,” Torres said.

He also said there are many staff members at City Hall who are also alumni, including San Jose’s Vice Mayor Rosemary Kamei.

“It’s really an exciting place to study and I remember when I first went there, how great it was,” Kamei said.

Kamei said she returned to school at SJSU when she was a single mother.“I actually went back after many years of not being in school, and they made it so welcoming,” she said.

Kamei said the university was very accommodating for her while she was a student there.

accessible and that it’s very helpful to have them, especially in the bathroom.

She also said she hasn’t had the best experience with Title IX.

Cowan said she had a case within the first weeks of coming onto campus as a freshman and it took until the end of her sophomore year to get it “all settled and figured out.”

She said throughout the case, it appeared they were trying to be helpful, but for her, she felt pushed away.

Mary Keating said she understood the intimidation factor of coming into the Title IX Office, but still encourages students looking

“It was absolutely fabulous as a single mom with two small kids and working part time,” she said.

Torres said SJSU’s campus is nestled in an urban area, establishing itself as a reliable collaborator with the city.

He said the university and the city work closely together to offer students internships and professional experiences to help them develop a path to be employed at City Hall.

“San Jose City Hall is literally SJSU,” Torres said. “Without SJSU, we wouldn’t be Silicon Valley.”

SJSU’s President Cynthia Teniente-Matson said SJSU and the city are the future, and shared her plans for the university.

“I truly believe San Jose State and the city of San Jose are the epicenter of the future,” Teniente-Matson said. “And

for help to call or email.“We’ll put them behind a closed door and tell them what their options are, and let them think about it,” Keating said. “Nobody pushes them into something like going to the police, but it’s always good to know what your possibilities are.”

that’s what today symbolizes in our flag raising.”

She announced SJSU will soon have a new engineering Interdisciplinary Science Building (ISB) and said it will soon be the tallest structure on campus.

Teniente-Matson also said she was excited about the upcoming 20th anniversary celebration of the Martin Luther King Jr. Library located on the northwestern corner of campus next to San Fernando Street.

Mayor Mahan also shared his vision for the city and the university.

“I just wanted to share that when I think about the future of our city,” Mahan said. “All roads lead to San Jose State.”

Mahan said he has been questioning how the city can make Downtown San Jose more vibrant and active.

He said this includes finding

ways to increase foot traffic in the area and decreasing vacancy rates for residential housing.

Mahan said his plan to keep the city lively will involve the university and its students.

“That’s going to be San Jose State students, faculty and staff getting out into our downtown and exploring all the city has to offer,” Mahan said.

By Julia Chie STAFF WRITER

CHIE | SPARTAN DAILY

Jessica Short (right) talks to student about consent and healthy relationships.

Jessica Short (right) talks to students passing by Seventh Street Plaza at the consent cooler tabling event during Weeks of Wel come on Wednesday morning.

A descent into ‘Unreal Unearth’

By Joanna Chavez STAFF WRITER

Irish indie-rock singer Hozier’s latest album “Unreal Unearth” is a modern retelling of “Inferno”, where the poet Dante explains his journey through the nine circles of hell.

While the theme of the album is hell, the listening experience is nothing but heavenly.

Drawing lyrical and thematic inspiration from Irish literature, Hozier, born Andrew Hozier-Byrnem shows the extent of his versatility as an artist.

The album opens with “De Selby (Part 1)”, a dark acoustic song that introduces the first circle of hell, Limbo. The track is melodic and the instrumental guitar set up the introduction for Hozier’s beautifully haunting vocals.

The album then switches to funk-filled electro-pop on “De Selby (Part 2)”, which summarizes the neediness and urgency that comes with Lust, the second level of hell.

Hozier dives deeper into this theme with the lyrics “I’d still know you, not being shown you / I only need the work of my hands / Do you understand?”

“Francesca,” named after an adulterous character in the poem who was murdered alongside her lover, is full of helplessly romantic lyrics that build more on the ideas and themes of Lust. The reference helps get Hozier’s message of the damned lovers across to fans that missed the heartbreaking love songs that filled his last two albums.

The first single off the album, “Eat Your Young” not only symbolizes the next level of hell, Gluttony, but is also a bold political statement about the military regimes that make money while exploiting the young people sent to fight wars.

This is the first song I listened to off the album and although it isn’t my favorite, the message behind it has followed me for days.

“Damage Gets Done” is the only song on “Unreal Unearth”

album review

with a feature.

Singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile brings back the folk style that was prominent in Hozier’s early works. There was no competition between artists’ powerful voices in this song. They work

well together

and explain the story of two lovers who once lived frugal lives. Their happy relationship soured when greed made them

feel like they were missing something more than just love in order to be satisfied in their relationship. The next seven songs that represent the three remaining levels of hell all felt like a blur to me. Although extremely well produced, I couldn’t help but realize that the excitement that I originally felt while trying to connect the themes and

songs together diminished over the album’s runtime.

I was able to listen and recognize that these were very powerful and meaningful songs, but nothing stuck with me long enough to remember why exactly they were so significant.

This feeling immediately left when “Unknown/Nth” began. The song is about the

The final song on the album “First Light” serves as the album’s grand finale. It feels like the end of the story, or the light at the end of the tunnel where Hozier can move on and grow from his past relationships.

While that perspective of the song has a very optimistic ending, I couldn’t help but think of this song as the beginning of the cycle. The lyrics “but after this I’m never gonna be the same / and I am never going back again” remind me of all the times in my life where I tried not making the same mistakes while still falling into the same pit again and again.

The cycle of trying to find love and quickly getting into whirlwind relationships is reminiscent of the journey into the darkness of hell and the light that comes afterwards.

“Unreal Unearth” is a well produced and written album. While there were a lot of stand out tracks off of it, the pit of repetitive songs and emotions takes away from the experience for me.

heartbreak that happens when you’re betrayed by someone you love. It is an ironically angelic song about a topic that many can relate to.

For many in relationships, their partners are seen as angels that can do no wrong - right up until betrayal happens. The lyrics “And there are some people / love, who are better unknown” was the perfect healing moment for a devastating song.

The inspiration from classic literature is an overall interesting and unique concept for an album. Hoziers lyricism and attention to details tell the story of the nine circles of hell effortlessly.

The production is beautifully done though the repetitiveness of songs in the middle of the album left me feeling like more could’ve been done with such a modern and fresh take of a story.

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‘AR’ by Addison Rae is retail friendly

By Irene Adeline Milanez NEWS EDITOR

“AR” by social media mogul

Addison Rae is tailored to torment retail workers for the next six months.

The self-titled pop EP released on Aug. 18 consists of four tracks that exude vapid pop princess “realness” coupled with exceptionally basic lyricism.

With every song barely hitting three minutes, the EP seems to be meticulously designed for short attention spans.

Rae’s prominent presence in various social media platforms, especially TikTok, has effectively leveraged her online persona to carve a niche for herself within the music industry.

Rae has the fourth most followed account on TikTok,with over 88 million followers emerging from her roots as a beloved member of the Hype House.

The Hype House is a now disbanded TikTok influencer group known for producing collaborative short-form dance, lip-sync and comedic content.

Rae seamlessly repositioned herself from a Southern sweetheart TikTok girl to a fashion icon, and now a budding

“AR”

Rating:

pop artist.

Obviously, Rae has an entire team behind her laying out her new celebrity persona: stylists, makeup artists, PR professionals and agents. The original TikTok influencer from 2019 is almost unrecognizable today.

Coming from a popstar with social media influencer roots, this EP is exactly what you would expect: 10 minutes of sickly saccharine, surface-level pop music.

Unfortunately, the instrumental is uninspiring and sounds like the late 2010s in a bad way. I especially hate the fake snapping sound that holds the listener’s hand through the beat in the opening verse.

Charli XCX is a big name collaborator for the pop genre Rae is trying to break into, but I believe Charli’s vocal delivery outperforms Rae on her own EP. “My taste, to die for. My waist, to die for. This boom-

“I got it bad” is reminiscent of Britney Spears at her peak, minus the production quality and musical complexity. The 90’s-inspired pop track, though graced with Rae’s pleasant vocals, is unfortunately plagued by weak lyricism.

The song details her unexpectedly falling for a boy that “could ruin her life” and “drives like a maniac in his black Range Rover.”

Artist: Addison Rae Release Date: Aug. 18, 2023

boom bass, to die for. I-I-I want someone who thinks I’m to diе for,” speaks to the desire for male attention that is present throughout the entire EP.

“Nothing On (But The Radio)” is my favorite song on the EP.

capitalization between the song titles pisses me off. Much like the rest of the album, this song sounds like an amalgamation of other radio pop songs. The entire song sounds recycled.

“teenage girl” or the “young woman.”

But if you’re going to do something that has been done a million times over, you have to find a way to set yourself apart. The pop music industry has a tendency that leans towards bland, impersonal lyricism and lazy production.

Currently the most popular song on the EP with over 2 million streams on Spotify is “2 die 4” featuring Charli XCX.

The song is Lady Gaga scrap from her “Born This Way” era that never made it to an actual album release. The Gaga influence shines through in both the production and the clever lyricism in a way that stands out from the other tracks in the EP. Good writing is sadly hard to come by in “AR.”

Genre: pop

While the song is easily the most enjoyable for me to sit through, what sets apart Gaga and Rae is vocal prowess.

The EP ends on its weakest note with “it could’ve been u.” The inconsistency in the

Rae’s debut single “Obsessed” is a Spotify bonus track that feels like an unwelcome guest at a party as it clashes with the rest of the EP. To Rae’s credit, “AR” is a significant step up from “Obsessed,” but she still has a long way to go in terms of improving her skills as a singer.

The lyrics throughout the EP feel AI generated, consisting of generic musings about desire and wanting to be desired from the perspective of a young woman, discovering herself and her sexuality.

This is not to bash on the subject matter. I believe that relatable content can be extremely influential in the societal psyche that is the

“AR,” is an auditory experience that happens when you flip through the clothing racks at Hollister or Forever 21, where this EP would certainly find a cozy home.

Follow Irene on X (formerly Twitter) @MilanezIrene

The EP seems to be meticulously designed for short attention spans.

Irene Adeline Milanez

The hilarious downfall of Twitter

Alicia Alvarez PRODUCTION EDITOR

The existence of Twitter has always been a looming presence in the back of my mind, but now I wish it wasn’t.

Luckily, I didn’t join the community of trolls and keyboard warriors until my teenage years. I dodged the cliche sexual awakening of stumbling into the wrong side of the blue bird.

Despite my luck, I fell into the bird’s clutches as many do in the age of social media and phone obsession.

I joined the platform in 2019, but I’ve long lost my username and password, which goes to show how much I used it.

was already the platform for amateur porn stars, keyboard warriors and trolls but now radical social justice is on that list too.

I absolutely disagree with some of the mechanisms of big pharma, but a takedown by the means of a fake Twitter profile? That’s just too much.

The verification symbol was designed to let people know that accounts were trustworthy and that the person behind the screen was who they claimed to be. The ability to purchase this little check mark threw that trust into the void.

created an environment where their users were at risk. This misinformation can lead users to base decisions about their health and finances on lies.

These repercussions are immeasurable and honestly terrifying. As a journalist, my entire reputation and career is based on trust. I make mistakes, but I never intentionally mislead my audience.

That’s what I found so disturbing about Musk’s verification subscription, anyone can easily deceive the general public. It’s no longer a source

journalists can trust for updating the public.

Media literacy has changed the landscape of differentiating between reliable and unreliable sources. Journalists like me have been deciphering the reliability of sources for decades, but the general public hasn’t.

Not every Twitter user can be expected to hold such skills, especially when they’re mindlessly scrolling on a media platform that was supposed to have already done that for them.

According to Oxford Languages, media literacy is “the ability to critically analyze stories presented in the mass media and to determine their accuracy or credibility.”

With this new age of mass media, media literacy is slowly becoming a teachable and valuable skill.

This issue has destroyed

any credibility and public trust a brand or account might have held on Twitter. Everyone and everything on the site is now suspect to me. I don’t recognize or trust Twitter anymore.

Brand recognition is another aspect that builds trust. Twitter has been around for almost two decades. The little blue bird was used in infographics, marketing campaigns, the word “tweet” even became a verb for posting on the site.

As of July 23, we now have X. One of the quickest ways to kill a brand is to change the name and logo simultaneously. Musk did exactly that.

Now, instead of the logo I recognize and love, I’m greeted with a stark X with a black, scratched up background of a logo that looks like it was designed by an edgy 15 year old who just discovered VSCO.

from Elon Musk?” Yikes.

I find it fitting that the platform is now called X though, since Twitter is dead in my eyes.

It seems the city of San Francisco doesn’t appreciate the new X either. Musk’s X sign located atop the company’s headquarters building on Market St. cost over $4,000 in fines according to an Aug. 4 article from the San Francisco Chronicle. The sign was erected and removed in the span of four days, according to the same article.

It seems that the company is allowing Musk to make one bad decision after another. I question the process that the X boardroom might go through every day. I imagine it’s just a room full of caffeine-fueled ex-frat boys making rash decisions because the bros finally have some power to throw around.

Twitter was the black hole I’d hurl myself into when I wanted to wallow in existential crises and dread.

After hearing about Elon Musk’s acquisition of the platform, I couldn’t resist firing up the app once more.

I signed my self respect and dignity away after I agreed to their Terms of Service. I sleuthed around for two minutes and regretted it.

Thank you Elon Musk for forcing me to reduce my screen time.

If Twitter were to have a tombstone, the death date would be April 14, 2022, when Musk first acquired it.

e bl ac k elf into crises about ition of couldn’t he app respect after I erms of s n Musk reduce h ave death pril k first w nf al l v. 2 02 0 2, 2 fication

This downfall progressed in Nov. 2022, with the verification subscription program called X Premium. Musk released a subscription feature for account holders to pay for a blue checkmark to be a verified account.

Within 48 hours, the Twitter trolls wreaked enough havoc to have the verification system revised.

A verified account impersonating the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Co. posted the tweet, “we are excited to announce that insulin is free now” on Nov. 10, 2022 according to a Nov. 11, 2022 article from The Independent.

According to the same article, Eli Lilly and Co.’s stock fell 2.2% after the tweet was published. This company is one of the largest producers of insulin in the U.S., so with the potential loss of profit from the drug, many shareholders sold their stock.

The ability to take down big pharma for only $8 a month? Not bad, Musk. The whole verification change was an egotistical rampage from Musk that has plagued the company.

In my mind, Twitter

Don’tBotherFollowing AliciaAlvarezonX(formerlyTwitter) @alicialvarez02

I don’t know if I can still call the app Twitter, or say “my favorite artist just tweeted!”

I guess I have to start saying “did you see that X

One thing the company seemed to not have changed is the look of the application on mobile apps. The color scheme is still primarily white and blue, so I struggle to understand why it went through all of the trouble to create a new subpar logo to not carry the theme through the entire app.

It seems to align with the company motto: poor branding.

I’m happy to still see the iconic Twitter blue, but the new logo taunts me from the top of my screen.

I’m also not the only person who’s unhappy with all of these changes.

According to a Dec. 13 2022 article from The Guardian, the platform was projected to lose 32 million followers over two years in the wake of Musk’s acquisition.

Advertisers don’t like Musk’s little rebrand either. According to a July 17 article from BBC, Twitter experienced a 50% decrease in ad revenue since Musk took over.

I don’t blame the advertising companies though. I wouldn’t want my ads to be associated with a platform experiencing the tech equivalent of a mid-life crisis.

With the death of Twitter and the introduction of its ugly stepsister, I will continue my doom scroll on a different social media site. Until Musk takes over that one too, then I’ll complain all over again.

Elon Musk’s oversized and unjustified ego has killed this platform. I eagerly await the downfall of the rest of his companies. Goodbye Twitter, your sweet little blue bird logo and reign of hilarious terror will be dearly

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SJSU set to battle No. 6 Trojans at Coliseum

By Nathan Canilao SENIOR STAFF WRITER

David versus Goliath would be an underwhelming analogy for San Jose State’s matchup against USC at the Coliseum this Saturday.

The Spartans are facing the No. 6 ranked team in the country that will be in the national championship mix and are 31-point underdogs heading into their season opener, according to Caesar Sports Book.

They are facing the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner and consensus No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft in USC quarterback Caleb Williams who is coming off a season where he threw for 4,537 yards and recorded 52 total touchdowns.

Despite the uphill battle for SJSU, the team is in good spirits and is ready for the challenge at hand.

“We just gotta have fun,” said SJSU safety Tre Jenkins. “It’s football man. We grew up on this since second grade playing backyard football with our family and friends. We’ve been doing this for a while, so why change up

that momentum and that stress now just because it’s a top 10 team.”

The last time the Spartans defeated a ranked opponent was in 2013 when they defeated a No. 16 ranked Fresno State team, 62-52, led by Derek Carr and Davante Adams.

During the 2000 season, SJSU defeated No. 9 ranked TCU 27-24 at home which is still the team’s only win over a top-10 opponent.

“I think if you look at the line, we’re

definitely underdogs, I don’t think there’s any question about that,” said SJSU head coach Brent Brennan. “I think that if our players are worried about them showing out, we have a huge problem. That’s not going to look anything like the way we want it to look.”

The places on the field where SJSU has a clear advantage over USC are few and far between, but the one area where the Trojans have question marks are on the front

seven. USC ranked 80th in rush defense last season, allowing 4.98 yards per rush and 159.8 rush yards per game. SJSU junior running back Quali Conley said SJSU running backs can expose some weaknesses in the Trojans’ defense.

“I feel like going into this game, we’re not really worried about the big runs,” Conley said. “We’re just worried about getting four to five yards per carry. That’ll just start chipping

away at the defense and the big runs will come.”

Quarterback Chevan Cordeiro will lead the Spartan offense on Saturday as he heads into his second season under center for the Spartans. Saturday’s game against USC will give Cordeiro a chance to show why he was selected as the Mountain West Preseason Offensive Player of the Year.

Over training camp, Cordeiro developed a strong connection with junior wide receiver

Nick Nash who is slated to be the No. 1 receiver for the Spartans. Along with Nash, junior tight end Dominick Mazotti, junior wide receiver Charles Ross and junior wide receiver Isaac Jernagin will be other targets that Cordeiro will be throwing to this season.

The Spartans are 0-5 alltime against the Trojans with their largest margin of defeat coming in a 56-3 loss in 2009.

SJSU played USC two years ago at the Coliseum where they lost 30-7. That Trojan team went on to win three more games that season which birthed the Lincoln Riley era after USC fired Clay Helton.

Head coach Brent Brennan said despite playing USC two seasons ago, there is no common thread for the Spartans to expose on Saturday.

“I don’t think there’s anything about their team that we’re playing that looks anything like the team we played two years ago,” Brennan said. “I think the only consistent thing is it’ll be played in the LA Coliseum. Hopefully, there’ll be some familiarity with that, but in terms of their personnel, the scheme, how they’re coached, how they’re playing, it’s a totally different football team.”

Follow Nathan Canilao on X (formerly Twitter) @nathancanilao

NATHAN CANILAO | SPARTAN DAILY

SJSU quarterback Chevan Cordeiro looks for an open receiver during the team’s practice Wednesday.

ILLUSTRATION BY TRACY ESCOBEDO

Will realignment wreak havoc?

By Nathan Canilao SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The Pacific Coast Conference (PAC-12) – or maybe more fitting, the PAC-4 – has more drama than a season of The Bachelor.

The demise of the PAC-12 has caused a domino effect in college sports. The 108-year-old conference’s existence is at risk after 8 of the 12 members decided to leave to join other conferences.

This season will be the last for the PAC-12 as the eight leaving members will be joining their respective conferences in 2024.

Despite San Jose State being in the Mountain West Conference, the fall of the PAC-12 will greatly affect SJSU’s future in college athletics regardless of where college athletics is after this round of realignment is finished.

How the realignment mess started

Conference realignment is not a new trend, but realignment at this level is surprising to say the least. Football and men’s basketball are, more times than not, the big athletic money makers at Division I universities.

Realignment has often worked as a vessel for big-brand conferences such as the Southeastern Conference (SEC), Big Ten Conference and the Big 12 Conference to add successful teams from smaller conferences to create more lucrative conference games and bring in more money for its member schools.

Schools make money through ticket and merchandise sales along with donor donations, but a majority of the money athletic departments make are from the media rights deals.

A media rights deal is the legal rights a broadcasting organization owns in order to put a conference’s game on television. Companies like ESPN, FOX, CBS and NBC are the main players when it comes to broadcasting college athletics.

SEC schools earn an average over $50 million per year through their media rights deal across numerous networks, according to an Aug. 18, 2022 The Athletic article.

The first misstep of the PAC12 was the creation of its own network in 2012. Unlike the SEC and the Big 10 who have negotiated their broadcasting rights across Fox, CBS and NBC, the PAC-12 created their own network to televise games that had no tie to any mainstream TV network.

In theory, the idea was great. The PAC-12 and its members would rake

in all the ad money and wouldn’t have to work with a middle man who would take a certain cut in order to broadcast games.

But the PAC-12 oversold themselves big time thinking that people outside the West Coast would tune into their games. A key reason why broadcasting with a big network player like ESPN or Fox is a desirable option is because of the massive amounts of viewers those networks already have.

The first domino to fall came in 2021 when the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma decided to move from the Big 12 to the SEC. This forced the Big 12 to add three news teams into their conference from the smaller American Conference: UCF, Cincinnati and Houston. This caused a chain reaction within the college football world as other conferences such as the Big 10 believed it needed to make a big move in order to compete with the SEC and Big 12.

The second domino was last summer when USC and UCLA

the 10 remaining schools with a deal from Apple TV that would have dropped the revenue share of each school from the current $30 million per year payout to somewhere in the range of 20-25 million dollar per year with Apple TV, according to an Aug. 9 The Athletic article.

The combination of putting games on a streaming platform along with the $5-10 million pay cut led to PAC-12 member schools shopping around to join other conferences.

Colorado was the first school to leave, announcing on July 27 that they will join the Big 12.

That was proceeded by the two remaining “big brand” football teams in Oregon and Washington announcing on Aug. 4 that they would join the Big 10.

The train wreck kept going from there. Arizona, Arizona State and Utah decided to join the Big 12, leaving the PAC-12 with four remaining schools: Stanford, Cal, Washington State and Oregon State.

SJSU head coach Brent Brennan said he was disappointed hearing the

the rise, are now in limbo at no fault of their own.

Many would say the PAC-12 could follow suit with other programs and reload their conference with mid-major programs, specifically in the Mountain West Conference where geographically it could all make sense.

But, Mountain West teams will have to pay an exit fee of anywhere from 30-32 million dollars if they leave before 2025 according to an Aug. 4 report from ESPN.

The other option for the remaining PAC-12 teams would be to join other conferences. For Oregon State and Washington State, this would be a simple choice as they have already been in talks with the American Athletic Conference and the Mountain West to possibly join their conferences in 2024, according to an Aug. 15 CBS article.

Stanford and Cal are in a tough spot as they do not have interest in joining the Mountain West or any Group of 5 conference and would prefer to join a Power 5 conference, according to the same ESPN report.

The two Bay Area schools are

What matters, and what has always mattered, is the bottom line for college sports. The time of playing for the love of the game is over.

Soon, the regulating body of the NCAA will be gone and conferences will rule themselves.

How does this affect SJSU?

College realignment comes full circle when we think about how this will affect SJSU.

If the Mountain West does take in Washington State and Oregon State, they will undoubtedly be the top dogs in the Mountain West.

Both schools have much better facilities and have built a recruiting map that has gotten them to a point where they are competing with the best of the PAC-12 as of late.

This means that the Spartans ascension could be halted with the arrival of two much bigger brands of teams coming to their conference.

On the other hand, SJSU could benefit from the movement of teams. If West Coast teams decide to go to a conference on the other side of the country, they will be looking for teams to play closer to home in their non-conference schedule.

SJSU could be a formidable opponent across all sports for former PAC-12 teams to face before they hit conference play, meaning more exposure for the Spartans.

Most of all, the realignment of teams has done SJSU a favor in solidifying the school’s relationship with the Mountain West. The Mountain West has smartly kept its teams intact and could emerge as the best Group of 5 conference in the country.

announced their intention to join the Big 10. With the PAC12 media rights deal expiring after the 2024 season along with the recent success of the USC football team and the UCLA basketball team The two Los Angeles-based schools sought bigger fortunes for its athletic programs. This left the PAC-12 without the L.A. market to sell to potential buyers for their expiring media rights.

Then flash forward to this summer to PAC-12 media day.

PAC-12 President George Kliavkoff said he was sure that the remaining 10 schools in 2024 will have a broadcast partner in the coming weeks.

“We’ll get our media rights deal done, we’ll announce the deal. I think the realignment that’s going on in college athletics will come to an end for this cycle,”

Kliavkoff said at PAC-12

news of the demise of the PAC-12.

“I think as a West Coast football fan, I’m disappointed to see that happen with the PAC 12,” Brennan said in a practice interview on Aug. 4. “Just like my whole life, I grew up watching all those games and going to games at Stanford or Cal or San Jose State. How does that change now?”

What impact does realignment have on college sports?

All of the reshuffling of teams has brought us to where we are today.

There are going to be essentially two major conferences in the Big 10 and the SEC. The Big 12 and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) – the two other power five conferences – have lost significant power in the dynamic of college athletics after some of the biggest college football brands flocked to the Big 12 and SEC. Stanford and Cal, two historic athletic programs, are left without a home. Washington State and Oregon State, who’s athletic programs are on

currently engaged in talks with the ACC to form a coast to coast conference with the likes of Syracuse, Duke and North Carolina University, according to a Wednesday ESPN article.

What gets lost in a lot of this is the toll realignment takes on the student athlete. Football is currently pushing many of these decisions, but it will have an impact on other sports.

Athletes in sports like softball and volleyball play multiple times a week will have to fly across the country on commercial flights in the middle of the week while juggling school work.

The entire regionality of college sports also goes away with realignment. Classic rivalries like Oregon vs Oregon State and Washington vs. Washington State are now gone.

The days where fans of teams who live a state over are now being replaced for a UCLA vs. Rutgers type of matchup.

But most of all, the moves of realignment are strongly signaling the move away from amateurism to full blown professional sports.

Current Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez is a former SJSU graduate and is unlikely to want to see her former school fall through the cracks after having a historic 2022 across all sports.

“SJSU is a proud member of the Mountain West Conference,” said SJSU Athletic Director Jeff Konya in a statement. “We [SJSU] just had one of our most successful athletic campaigns in history winning multiple championships and having several postseason opportunities for our sport teams, and student-athletes. In an ever changing intercollegiate athletics environment, it is incumbent on effective leaders to have a forwardthinking mindset and position their respective organization accordingly.”

I think as a West Coast football fan, I’m disappointed to see that happen with the PAC 12. Just like my whole life, I grew up watching all those games and going to games at Stanford or Cal or San Jose State. How does that change now?

Brent Brennan SJSU head football coach

Follow Nathan Canilao on X (formerly Twitter) @nathancanilao