Students react to police presence
By Nicole DeVries STAFF WRITER
Students and community members in San José have noticed a heightened police presence following a recent brawl in front of San Pedro Square in Downtown San José.
On Feb. 16, officers observed a large altercation in the area and attempted to intervene, according to a statement sent to The Spartan Daily from the San José Police Department (SJPD).
“When the officers approached to provide assistance, the suspects tried to leave,” SJPD media relations unit wrote. “When the officers tried to take that suspect into custody several other suspects attacked the officers. The officers requested additional assistance when another fight began to break out.”
Following the altercation officers sustained minor injuries and eight individuals were arrested.
The incident has raised concerns among students' destinations in the future, potentially altering perceptions of the area’s security and for those who frequented the area.
at SJSU, expressed her concerns about safety in the downtown area, especially at night, even with taking the necessary precautions.
and the community’s safety and security.
enforcement has always been present in the area.
Andrew Pileggi, a radiotelevision-film student, had a more in-different view of the situation, seeing it as a routine occurrence in San José.
“There’s always like a shit ton of police cars like going up and down Santa Clara (Street) for whatever reason,” Pileggi said.
The increased police presence in the downtown area has led to heightened awareness among students, many who were previously unaware of any safety issues involved in the area.
“So, I don’t know, it’s sketchy, especially as a female, it’s pretty worrisome. I mostly focus on staying
“I feel like San José
SJPD’s presence on and around campus is noticed by students, however, some students do not think it is any reason to worry.
San José State University Police Department’s Lt. Rafael Alvarez said that they had no direct involvement in the incident but encouraged students to utilize their available resources should their safety or well-being be at risk.
I don’t think there’s really any reason to think that your safety would be any more at risk just because something like that happened. Because that kind of thing happens like all the time.
with a group of friends at night.” Avina said.
Carolina Avina, a childhood and adolescent development student
Though SJPD emphasized that this disturbance was an isolated event, the increased police presence and subsequent arrests have drawn attention to campus
has, especially downtown, always kind of been like that. There’s always been, like people getting into fights downtown at the clubs and the bars,” Pileggi said.
He pointed out that law
“I live too like right across from campus, so, I mean, I just hear the sirens like that all the time,” Pileggi said.
Despite the recent occurrence, Pileggi does not believe that the event signals an increased risk to student’s safety.
“So, I don’t think that like this one bar fight where a bunch of cops got called out is like anything to be really particularly worried about,” Pileggi said.
This has prompted further discussions about what this could mean for student’s campus safety and how they should respond in similar situations if they occur.
“I don’t think there’s really any reason to think that your safety would be any more at risk just because something like that happened. Because that kind of thing happens like all the time.” said Pileggi.
While the SJPD confirmed that this disturbance was contained quickly, the impact on the sense of security felt by students has been notable.
“I think especially just with the stabbing that happened, it was a lot more because people got shot,” said Pileggi.
By Nicole DeVries STAFF WRITER
GRAPHIC BY NICOLE DEVRIES, PHOTO FROM FLICKR
SJSU discusses Google partnership
(CSU) was reached out by the state to apply for this opportunity.
California State University, Los Angeles.
San José State has joined an informal proposal to be considered in a partnership that would involve a fiveyear investment plan from Google and the State of California to support local newsrooms.
Since the initial proposal was scratched, Google and the state have proposed an unofficial deal where Google would agree to support local media outlets. This comes after most readers have moved to social media to stay informed, according to an Aug. 21 2024 Cal Matters article.
Initially, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism was picked and would have served as a host of this partnership, but the school pulled out in January last month. Berkeley was concerned about not having the ability to know how the funds in the partnership would be allocated, according to Feb 5. Article from San José Spotlight.
John Delacruz, SJSU’s director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, shared a concern that was discussed when the California State University
“My concern was, you have an organization like Google that is a business with a business plan to continue making money. Google makes their money through advertising that relies on reading the algorithm,” Delacruz said. “So one of our big questions was ‘can we trust that they will give the money to the right people?’ ”
For this reason, Delacruz and along with other CSU journalism directors, have decided to input an informal proposal to ensure the money that is being provided is going back to the newsrooms and not to for-profit organizations.
A contributor to the proposal is Julie Patel Liss, who serves as an associate chair of journalism for
“We met with the organizer at the state level and then also with a legislative leader and it was a great conversation,” Liss said. “I basically offered to organize a meeting with the CSU journalism chairs who are interested in helping me draft a proposal as kind of an informal pitch.”
While no specifics about what the proposal included were discussed, Liss said that there would be a huge responsibility that the CSUs would take on in evaluating the local newsrooms applying for these funds.
“We’d be responsible for developing criteria and some sort of a rubric to judge everything fairly.
“We’d want to be very transparent about how everything is done and
eventually, we’d also want to measure outcomes and success and see how this partnership helps our local community,” Liss said.
It is important to note that this proposal is still indefinite and no confirmation of whether this proposal will be accepted by Google or the State of California has been made.
“We don’t get the financial benefit,” Delacruz said. “There are other organizations who are putting proposals in to look after this sum of money and we don't even know whether Google is going to backtrack on it. So it's all very much in the air.”
In the last 15 years in California, the number of newspaper reporters has decreased almost 60% with dedicated local journalism presence being close to none, according to Common Cause California.
Although the proposal has not been confirmed, Mariah Aragon, a thirdyear communications student at SJSU, is interested in seeing how this could benefit the local community if approved.
“This potential collaboration has the possibility to bridge the gap between a large
corporation and small newsrooms allowing for more potential funding,” Aragon said. “In giving them the funds, it could help them continue researching and reporting on news that are relevant in their community and eventually in larger events like voting on policies.”
Although students and colleges are not the target audience for this potential funding according to Delacruz, his hope is that students are able to benefit as a byproduct through an increase of internship opportunities from these local newsrooms that would have more funding to provide those opportunities.
Part of the reason why some CSUs have decided to submit this proposal goes back to the foundation and mission statement of the university system such as extending knowledge and learning opportunities,
according to the California State University mission webpage. This is also seen with CSU’s latest collaboration with Open AI which will introduce an AI-powered system that will enhance learning and research, according to a Feb. 18th 2025 Spartan Daily article.
“We already work with our local communities, I mean, so many of our local grads are already working in local newsrooms and our students do internships in these newsrooms,” Liss said. “We cross-publish content with them. We're already partners in so many ways. This would be yet another way that we can support the newsrooms and support our local communities and the public.”
By Anahi Herrera
GRAPHIC BY ANAHI HERRERA VILLANUEVA | SPARTAN DAILY
Spring teatime serenades students
2 3
#1: Left to right: Elijah Reyes, Joseph Andal, Channing Shows and Coltrane James, members of The ECHO Saxophone Quartet, play their saxophones in harmony at the Tea Party in the Spring event hosted by SJSU’s School of Music.
#2: Graduate student Elizabeth Evans paints finishing floral touches on her teacup in the Student Union Ballroom on Tuesday afternoon.
#3: Cookies and cream-flavored cream puffs with various flavors of macarons are on display for attendees to enjoy at the tea party as they drink, paint and enjoy sounds from the School of Music.
#4: Preethi Sighavi (left) and Varshini Rao (right) show off their decorated teacups adorned with pink and yellow flowers.
PHOTOS BY ISRAEL ARCHIE | SPARTAN DAILY
SJSU falls to UNLV in home thriller
By Navin Krishnan CONTRIBUTOR
The Provident Credit Union Event Center once again hosted a nail-biter Tuesday night when the San José State men’s basketball team fell against the University of Nevada, Las Vegas 77-71.
The Spartans men’s basketball team (13-17, 6-12 MW) squared off Tuesday night against conference rival, the Runnin’ Rebels (15-13, 9-8 MW).
SJSU’s effort was epitomized when guard Josh Uduje missed a free throw to cut the UNLV lead to 71-70 with 22 seconds left in the game.
Spartans head coach Tim Miles applauded his team for a valiant effort in a game partially played with a seven-man rotation.
points per game while limiting them to 36.8 percent shooting.
In an earlier meeting, SJSU fell to UNLV at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas 79-73, but came close and into their own offensively, with five different Spartans scoring double-figures in that game. Despite the tendency to shoot the lights out the Spartans managed to tango with the Runnin’ Rebels’ offense.
SJSU managed to move the ball with prose, getting paint touches and beating a great defensive team in UNLV with ball movement, tallying 8 assists on 13 made field goals in the first half of play.
The Blue and Gold’s leading scorer was none other than
couldn’t finish (them) off,” Miles said. “I thought our defensive energy was good. We blocked shots, we got some transition (fastbreak points). If we can run offense off of offense, it’s always good.”
“I credit our guys, I think there was a real competitive spirit. We were down nine early, made a run and we just Uduje, who scored
27 points on 9 of 15 shooting and 3 for 6 on 3-pointers.
“I credit my teammates,” Uduje said. “Guys like Latrell
(Davis), Donavan (Yap) and Will (McClendon), they do a really good job of encouraging me, encouraging the team. That kind of encouragement is all you need as a basketball player to get back to playing how you know you
SJSU forward Sadraque NgaNga sparked some much-needed energy defensively in addition to Uduje’s offense, pushing the Spartans’ second-half comeback and flipping the UNLV lead to a 54-52 SJSU lead with 8:55 remaining in the game.
game,” Davis said. “We were getting offensive rebounds, we dialed in on the second chance points.”
Miles is very high on his young and emerging star, Davis and touted him as a key cog in the Spartans’ offensive unit.
plays for us,” Miles said. Uduje, as he always does, found his way onto the scoreboard, igniting early in the second half, starting 4 for 4 from the field and scoring the Spartans’ first 10 points early in six minutes.
The Blue and Gold’s defensive anchor, Robert Vaihola, is out for the foreseeable future with a knee injury and was previously listed as doubtful for Tuesday night’s matchup, according to a FOX Sports report.
anybody limp off the floor,” Uduje said. “It was quite scary, honestly. He’s such a big part of our team. It’s tough losing him because of the way he controls the tempo.”
As iron sharpens iron, the Spartans tested their powerful run-and-gun offense against a prolific defense of UNLV.
Gradually, the ball movement paid off, as SJSU’s shots started to fall as it managed to stay within striking distance, taking a 35-31 deficit into halftime.
However, the X-factor for SJSU was none other than sophomore guard Davis, who scored 16 points in the contest
“Latrell Davis has really emerged as a bona fide candidate for sixth man of the year in our league. He had some down moments and really made some big
The home team suffered a scare when guard Donavan Yap Jr. left the game and did not return.
“You never want to see
The San José State Spartans have a bye week, then are scheduled to play the Colorado State University in Moby Arena in Fort Collins, Colorado on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m.
A run-and-gun offense is SJSU’s traditional style of play, insisting on a frenetic pace and lots of shots. This style of play is typically used against bigger or less athletic teams.
The Runnin’ Rebels team featured a polished, tough defense that held its previous four opponents to 55.3
