Sexual and domestic violence, harassment and assault are some of the most pressing issues that vulnerable populations face not only in San José State, but across the globe.
From the Office of Title IX and Equal Opportunity, over 300 reports have been submitted. Around 84% of the complainants were from students and the majority of the cases were predominantly sexual harassment and assault or misconduct cases, according to a 2022-23 annual report.
SJSU has multiple resources for victims of sexual violence, including free programs from the Gender Equity and PRIDE Center as well as the Office of Title IX and Equal Opportunity.
The Gender Equity Center is a resource hub that is focused on social justice, equity, safety and provides a multitude of tools to help students succeed, according to the SJSU website.
SJSU’s PRIDE Center serves as a home for the LGBTQIA+ community on campus and engages students with supportive programs, organizations and events throughout the academic year,
I always tell people to believe survivors because I think so often – unfortunately – people question survivors or their experiences in general...
according to its webpage.
Bonnie Sugiyama, a director for the PRIDE and Gender Equity Center, said she noticed the majority of students
that the “Spartan Safe” app would be available for students, providing tools to protect students from crime and featuring an effective way to report suspicious activity.
“Part of the healing aspect for some folks is helping with the prevention work,” Sugiyama said.
I think it's so often –unfortunately – people question survivors or their experiences in general,” Hernandez said. “And when survivors step into my space – a lot of the time – I'm the first person telling them that I believe them.”
universities in California, according to the CSU website.
“Stepping into classrooms, stepping into residence halls and stepping into registered student organizations,” Hernandez said. “But we first need the kind of infrastructure to do that.”
Jessica Short, a program coordinator for the Gender Equity Center, said the center helps educate students on violence prevention.
“We do a lot of programming during Women's History Month and Sexual Assault Awareness Month,” Short said. “We also do events that talk about topics that don't just fall under the gender-based violence umbrella.”
Short said some of the resources the center offers include free menstrual products, NARCAN test strips, pregnancy tests and a place for people to relax.
Selena Hernandez SJSU Campus
Survivor Advocate
who come in for assistance have experienced violence and seek programs for healing.
Recently,SJSU administration announced
Selena Hernandez, SJSU’s Campus Survivor Advocate, said her main goal and purpose is to advocate for the survivor and provide support, which will look different for each survivor.
“I always tell people to believe survivors because
Hernandez said while SJSU has improved its programs drastically over the years, there is a lack of violence prevention on campus and the university can contribute more to educate students.
However, San José State has the lowest amount of staff compared to the majority of public
“Long-term healing doesn't necessarily just include what a violence preventionist or an advocate does,” Short said.
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Club sports need funding, too
By Anahi Herrera Villanueva STAFF WRITER
San José State club sports has been hit with a loss of funding.
SJSU club sport is overseen by the Student Union, Inc. which is a non-profit that maintains three facilities at SJSU, according to the SJSU website.
Club sport athletes compete at the intercollegiate level where athletes have the opportunity to play against teams all across California and the entire nation.
Business administration senior Erik Rodriguez, president of Men’s Lacrosse, said he has first-hand experience in understanding the importance of having funding.
“It goes towards team equipment such as helmets, gloves and pinnies,” Rodriguez said. “Additionally, it will go towards team transportation and lodging during away trips.”
The SJSU Men’s Lacrosse club team had a successful season
in 2023 making it into the Western Collegiate Lacrosse League and finishing their season as semi-finalists, according to an annual report from the Student Union.
For the 2022-23 semesters, the Student Union expenses totaled up to $12,203,144. Only 7% of these expenses came from club and intramural sports programs, according to the same annual report.
The Student Union’s revenue totaled up to $13,229,912, which left $1,026,768 in net gain, according to the same report.
Rodriguez said the Student Union also received less allocation compared to the previous season.
“We saw a loss of $2,000 compared to (a total of) $16,400 we received last year,” Rodriguez said.
“This is a huge blow.”
Rodriguez said along with funds allocated by the school, club sports charged their athletes dues to help cover more expenses.
He said dues are an athlete’s membership fees to be a part of a club sport. These fees typically cover tournament registrations, traveling expenses and merchandise.
“Our team will have to raise player dues, which is unfortunate since SJSU Lacrosse historically keeps dues low,” Rodriguez said. “We will have to make cuts on some things such as new shot clocks and new player equipment downgrades.”
Marketing sophomore Nathan Engelbertson said Spartan Wrestling will have to raise money to
maintain the club.
“Previously, we raised funds through amazing alumni and club dues,” Engelbertson said. “This year, we are hosting fundraising events at local restaurants and any funds we generate at our tournament.”
Engelbertson said the budget cut has already negatively impacted the
team because the team may not be able to go to some competitions this year.
“With a larger budget we would compete in more tournaments, and afford to pay our coaches to train us longer,” said Engelbertson.
Biomedical engineering sophomore Gabriela
Mora, treasurer for the Women’s Water Polo noticed the budget is what they expected.
“When we had our budgeting meeting, we were granted what we had asked for,” Mora said.
For the 2024-25 season, Women’s Water Polo is recognized as a club sport in SJSU.
“We are still trying to plant our roots and get in touch with the league that we are a part of,” Mora said. “Most of our budget goes towards our league fee, (which) is one of the biggest things that we need to pay for.”
Director of Spartan Recreation Ryan Fetzer, was contacted but did not comment in time for publishing.
“Beyond the finances, we are excited for our season to start and see how far our team can go this year,” Rodriguez said.
San José community brings Chicano Soul
Photo #1: Karina Ahumada, a Santa Cruz native, poses proudly with her sombrero and the Mexican flag.
Photo #2: Skeleton hangs off the side of a classic car while enjoying a beverage, cigar and some cards.
Photo #3: A couple dances while Sara La Morena and her band, Banda La Unica, performes at the Chicano Soul Fest on
Photo #4: The performers, lead vocalist The Gata and guitarist Kevin
from the Grease Traps, an eight person band,
on
near the Pacific Hotel at History Park.
Photo #5: Beto the chili pepper, poses for the camera after walking through the event.
Photos #6: People walk by rows of lowriders while
PHOTOS BY HUNTER YATES
NBA 2K25 does not bounce back
By Israel Archie STAFF WRITER
The basketball video game NBA 2K25 was released this past Friday and calling it a slam dunk would be an overstatement.
The game is not terrible by any means, but there are no definitive differences in any of the game’s features compared to the previous game 2K24.
For starters, the game cover is absolutely horrible because of the usage of the arena crowd as the background.
Previous NBA 2K games had a specific color scheme and style that can be seen throughout the game, whereas this game seemed to be all over the place with its designs.
For example, 2K24 had a gold and yellow theme to honor the late Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant who wore the number 24.
In the game before that, NBA 2K23, there was a Phoenix Suns color scheme because Suns guard Devin Booker was the cover athlete for the game.
The cover for this game had a desert theme to emphasize the fact that Booker plays in Phoenix Arizona which is a very hot region.
The loading screen has a nice dark blue with bits of pink and yellow, but then the main menu is just a dark gray almost black which is a major contrast.
The gameplay is smooth with the play now and blacktop games remaining consistent but enjoyable.
Play now mode is when you play a regular basketball game with any two teams whereas with blacktop, you play streetball with any NBA player in the game, past or present, with competitions ranging from 1V1 to 5V5.
It’s the same format compared to any other modern 2K game with the only difference being the rosters because of the trades that happened over summer.
I would have liked to see the NBA players wear their jerseys in blacktop mode instead of the warmup suits and black t-shirts because it would have been a nice change of pace.
It would have also been reminiscent of NBA 2K16 which is the last game that did that.
The developers could have changed the design of the court rather than using the same model from the previous game.
One mode that was exciting to see again was the MyNBA mode which is a game feature where one can choose from five different eras of NBA history and create your own team.
While this game feature was already in the previous
2K game, 2K25 adds a new era known as the Steph Era which is centered around Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry which takes place during the 2016-17 NBA season, according to the NBA 2K webpage.
This season is when the Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals after losing the previous year.
Since this game has different eras, it can offer a bit of nostalgia for many people who have been watching basketball for a long time.
The LeBron Era was nostalgic for me because I grew up watching a lot of the players in that era.
This era takes place in 2010 after superstar LeBron
James decided to go to the Miami Heat after playing with the Cleveland Cavaliers for seven years, according to X post from the NBA 2K25 Community, the official X account for the game.
When it comes to the older eras such as the Kobe Era and the Jordan Era, there are some inaccuracies with all of the team's rosters.
The Jordan Era takes place in 1991, which was the start of NBA legend Michael Jordan’s “three-peat” or three consecutive championships with the Chicago Bulls, according to the same X post from the NBA 2K25 Community
Some of the teams in the Jordan Era such as the Atlanta Hawks and the Seattle
Supersonics have as little as eight players on its rosters.
There were only a few teams that could hang with the Bulls in the ‘90s, so it makes sense why not all 30 teams have a full roster.
It would not be worth all the trouble when people are more likely to use the popular teams when playing with this era.
The same can be argued for the Kobe Era because it takes place in 2002, which marks the last year of Bryant’s threepeat with the Los Angeles Lakers.
This makes a lot of teams disproportionately better than others because of the fact that the developers spent more time on the teams that were championship contenders
in those eras, which is understandable.
I highly recommend the MyNBA feature to 2K fans because it is a good way to learn more about how basketball has evolved.
I also found the soundtrack for the game to be decent, but it hasn’t ever been an issue in other 2K games containing music from various artists including Killer Mike, Peso Pluma, etc.
There was a good mix of different genres of music for the game without anyone in particular dominating the soundtrack.
Every 2K has a feature called MyCareer where one can create a custom player and work to get him into the NBA.
Usually, there is a storyline involved to add more depth and context to the player’s career.
This game did something really unique that took me by surprise, which is that the player is already in the NBA and one can play his backstory on how he joined.
It is a nice twist on the game that hasn’t been seen before because in recent years, many players would have to try their best to get their players into the league.
That fate is already predetermined by 2K and it is a refreshing take for this feature.
Overall, this game is one that I would find myself coming back to simply because it is the newest 2K game.
GRAPHIC BY KAYA HENKES-POWER
Follow Israel on X (formerly Twitter) @archie45760
New semester, new parking issues
Alejandra Gallo STAFF WRITER
With the start of the new semester at San José State, I can’t help but notice the terrible parking situation and the need for better public transportation options.
Students often have mental breakdowns – myself included –w when they find themselves circling the parking garages, creepily following anyone who looks like they’re walking to their car and leaving for the day. You awkwardly stick your head out of the car door and ask anyone if they are going to leave with the hope that they will answer, “Yes, take my spot, please!”
Then you finally snatch a spot, and you praise everything and everyone you believe in as you run to make it to class on time.
As a solution to this problem, SJSU opened the South Campus Garage on 10th Street which provides an extra 1,480 parking spots, according
to SJSU’s Parking Garage webpage.
For students with disabilities, there are 20 parking spots
transportation. Students can use DoubleMap Bus Tracker, a bus tracking app, to track the status of buses but it has been
Also, nearly 845 students commute four days out of the week, according to a Fall 2023 survey by SJSU Associated
The school could at least try to alleviate this issue by making parking free for students or by having enough parking since SJSU is a commuter school.
available, according to the same website.
However, it is 1.4 miles away from campus, so students have to take charter and shuttle buses from the parking garage to the main campus.
The shuttle comes every 5 to 10 minutes and though the overall experience of it isn’t bad, it isn’t ideal. It takes an additional 10 minutes to get to the parking lot or to campus, adding on more time to a student’s commute.
At the start of the semester, the shuttle becomes packed, often resulting in a bus that is filled to the brim with sweaty and stressed out students.
Parking is not the only problem students face with
down since the beginning of the semester.
This situation has me thinking, “What if it were possible to get to school without as many parking and transportation issues?”
Having an option other than driving to school and dealing with parking would be ideal, such as taking BART or Caltrain.
As a commuter school, there are students and faculty members coming in from all over the Bay Area. Nearly 43% of students commute from Santa Clara, while the remainder either commute from the East or South Bay area, according to the SJSU website.
Students often have mental breakdowns – myself included – when they find themselves circling the parking garages, creepily following anyone who looks like they’re walking to their car and leaving for the day.
Students’ Transportation Solutions Survey.
I drive one hour to and from school four days a week as a commuter from San Francisco.
Not only am I using precious gas during these commutes, but I am also wasting time that I could use on homework and other class assignments.
At the beginning of the semester, I had to leave almost two hours early to account for parking.
It can be tiresome for students who have to commute numerous times a week, find parking and on top of that, be stressed about school and work.
The school could at least try to alleviate this issue by making parking free for students or by having enough parking since SJSU is a commuter school.
At the very least, it would be nice to come to school and know that there is a parking spot waiting for you on campus.
Moving to San José is not an option for many students because the cost of living exceeds the price of gas and the time we spend commuting.
Students living with their parents spend an average of $1,611 on transportation in one academic year, according to California State University 2023-2024 Cost of Attendance survey.
Ideally, students coming from around the Bay Area could take BART or Caltrain to get to campus and spend the time in transit doing homework and not wasting as much gas money.
Although BART reaches San José, the station closest to SJSU is the Berryessa-North San José which is 20 minutes away from campus on the VTA.
Caltrain also reaches San José but the nearest station is 15 minutes away on the VTA.
The best situation would be a public transportation station coming to SJSU or being within walking distance.
The good news is a new project, VTA’s BART Silicon Valley Phase II, will expand the BART service six miles from the Berryessa Transit Center, according to the VTA website.
Unfortunately, it seems like commuter students will have to wait for a long time until this plan actually starts running.
This project is estimated to be able to carry 54,600 commuters each day by 2040, according to the same website.
In a perfect world, the school would try to alleviate this problem for students by making parking less of an issue.
For starters, having a space guaranteed if you are paying for a permit would be nice, or at the very least, making it more affordable for students.
