Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020
Volume 155 No. 41 SERVING SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934
WWW.SJSUNEWS.COM/SPARTAN_DAILY
SJSU opens COVID-19 test centers By Isalia Gallo STAFF WRITER
San Jose State is requiring coronavirus testing and has added new protocols for university housing residents who traveled for Thanksgiving, according to a Nov. 28 campuswide email from President Mary Papazian. The requirement is in response to Santa Clara County Public Health Department’s new revisions after California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Nov. 16 the county’s reentering of purple tier, California’s most restrictive COVID-19 tier. Papazian stated in the email that university housing residents including students, faculty and staff will be required to comply with testing following their arrival back to campus. She said free testing will be held in the housing quad in front of Campus Village Building A and Campus Village Building 2 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Dec. 1-2 and will be administered by HealthQuest Esoterics, a testing company partnered with the university. Advertising sophomore Joshua Reyes said he believes the university is doing the right thing. “I think it’s a great idea,� Reyes said over text. “COVID-19 is constantly starting to become a bigger problem each day and ways we can spot it is by getting tested.� Patrick Day, the vice president of student affairs, explained the university’s priority is to keep all residents safe and enforce the new restrictions. Day said the university will always make the safety and health of students in the residential halls a priority. “Since the beginning of the year, University Housing Services has had health and safety protocols in place up to and including quarantine if necessary,� Day said over email. The Santa Clara County Public Health Department updated the county’s restrictions and added new COVID-19 regulations on Nov. 28 in response to Santa Clara County’s rising caseload.
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! " Maritza Ortiz-Urrutia environmental studies junior
The Santa Clara County website states that stores and other facilities open to the public will be limited to 10% indoor capacity. Grocery stores, drug stores and pharmacies can operate at 25% indoor capacity to ensure access to food and medicine. A statewide curfew is enforced to halt nonessential activity from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. until regulations are lifted on Dec. 21 unless the Santa Clara County Public Health Department
extends the orders. The county’s website states anyone who has traveled more than 150 miles and then reenters the county must quarantine for 14 days. Day said that students will not be asked to quarantine. “Students will not be quarantined after testing but will be asked to sequester, limiting their interactions on campus, until they receive their test results,� Day said. “A member of the team in Health Services will reach out to students who test positive and make arrangements with them based on their specific circumstances.� Environmental studies junior and CVB resident Maritza Ortiz-Urrutia said the university has lacked enforcing COVID-19 policies in the resident halls since the semester began, but she’s relieved to see new testing and quarantine regulations. “In my opinion we should have had mandatory testing from the start to make sure everyone is safe,� Ortiz-Urrutia said over email. “This [COVID-19 testing] is definitely long overdue.�
There are 760 new COVID-19 cases and 239 COVID-19 related hospitalizations recorded as of Nov. 28, according to the Santa Clara County Public Health Department website. The website states the number of new cases and COVID-19-related hospitalizations set new records for the highest single-day counts since the beginning of the pandemic. Ortiz-Urrutia said as the severity of COVID-19 rises again in the county, the university has yet to inform students on what else it will provide for housing residents besides testing. She said the university provided her with supplies only after she requested them. The last time she was in need of essential items, the university never got back to her. “As for mandatory quarantines, they haven’t issued any statements about providing us with food or supplies if we do have to quarantine,� Ortiz-Urrutia said. “This is not reassuring at all.� Follow the Spartan Daily on Twitter @spartandaily
Campus community weighs in on rent control By Stephanie Lam STAFF WRITER
San Jose State community members have mixed opinions about rent control after Proposition 21 failed to pass in the election. The proposition would have expanded local government’s authority to enact price maximums landlords charge tenants for units more than 15 years old. SJSU political science senior Lawrence Deng said he voted in favor of Proposition 21. Deng said he knows renters in the Bay Area who have disputes with their landlords over rent increases and believes the proposition could have helped. “I felt bad for those who really wanted [Proposition 21] to pass,� Deng said over the phone. “When you look at rent control, people are worried about issues with their landlords.� Proposition 21 would have also repealed the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act of 1995, according to Ballotpedia. Ballotpedia is a digital encyclopedia of American politics and elections, according to its website. The state law protects a landlord’s right to raise a unit’s rent, prevents cities from establishing rent control and exempts single-family residences from rent control restrictions, according to
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Costa-Hawkins.com, a website that provides information about the act. Proposition 21 failed to pass with about 60% of Californians voting no, according to the California Secretary of State website. The results of the election will be officially certified by Dec. 11. In Santa Clara County, 57% of eligible voters said no and 43% said yes on the proposition, according to the county’s general election website. Alameda and San Francisco counties were the only state counties whose residents voted in favor of Proposition 21, according to The New York Times’ coverage of the California Election Results. YesonProp21, a Los Angeles organization that
I voted yes [on Proposition 21] . . . [one of the reasons] is because homelessness is a major issue here in Silicon Valley, it’s one of the priciest places to live. Lawrence Deng political science senior
supports the proposition, stated on its website repealing the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act of 1995 would allow cities to stabilize rent increases and provide people with affordable long-term housing. Deng wanted Proposition 21 to pass because he thought it could alleviate homelessness in the Bay Area.
“I voted yes [on Proposition 21] . . . [one of the reasons] is because homelessness is a major issue here in Silicon Valley, it’s one of the priciest places to live,� Deng said. Victor Vasquez, a 2017-20 SJSU Chicana and Chicano Studies lecturer, is the director of organizing and policy for SOMOS Mayfair. SOMOS Mayfair is an organization that supports
low-income families living in the Mayfair neighborhood, a primarily working-class and immigrant community in East San Jose. Vasquez said many SOMOS Mayfair members are residents impacted by San Jose’s high rent and face potential eviction. “An increase in rent could mean displacement, could mean a family living and attending their car, couch surfing,� Vasquez said over the phone. “It’s not about rent control, but it’s also about our communities being compassionate towards working people and working families.� He said the organization supported local authority over rent control and its members created workshops in the months before the election to educate the community
on the advantages of Proposition 21. “We want to change the narrative of ‘rent control is a bad thing’ because it’s not,� Vasquez said. “It’s keeping people in their homes, making sure everyone has a roof over their heads.� NoOn21, a Proposition 21 opponent organization, states on its website that the proposition would have discouraged new housing construction and reduced the availability of affordable housing. SJSU political science professor Matthew Record researches housing policies and said Proposition 21 is ineffective because it does not solve the Bay Area’s housing shortage, which is primarily why the city has high homeless rates and housing costs. “[Proposition 21] doesn’t solve the underlying problem that causes rent to be so high in the first place . . . it’s a housing supply issue,� Record said over the phone. He said voters should advocate for propositions that would create more housing in the Bay Area. “People can try to control the price of housing as much as [they] want, but nothing is going to stabilize it other than having a housing supply that matches the demands in the Bay Area,� Record said.
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