04.19.10 Spartan Daily

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Serving San José State University since 1934 Monday, April 19, 2010

www.TheSpartanDaily.com

Volume 134, Issue 39

University to lay off 76 employees

BATTLE OF THE BANDS

Melissa Sabile Staff Writer SJSU President Jon Whitmore announced in a news conference Thursday that SJSU will be laying off 76 employees for the 2010-11 fiscal year because of the budget crisis. "As I've been saying since my beginning speech in the fall to everyone, before the year is up, we would have to have layoffs," Whitmore said. He said the reason for layoffs is the university's budget has to be smaller starting with the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. "A notification went out today, 76 employees — 76 important people in our institution — that, come the end of June, their job will be absorbed into the budget cuts and will no longer exist," Whitmore said. "It's a sad day, a step back day, but it's absolutely necessary for the budget to be balanced for the next fis-

cal year, which will have less money in it." In addition to the 76 layoffs, he said the university will not be replacing positions left vacant when employees have either left their jobs or retired. "We've had retirements and other people leave, and not fulfill all of those jobs," he said. "Some we had to, but we saved a lot of money and that makes the layoffs a much smaller number." Whitmore said the furloughs saved the university $18 million for the 20092010 year, but the university must have that $18 million perJon Whitmore manently out of the SJSU President budget by July 1. He said furloughs will not be implemented next year. "We saved that $18 million by every faculty and staff member essentially taking a 10 percent cut in their salary, so we didn't have to pay that 10 percent and that added up to $18 million,"

Some we had to, but we saved a lot of money and that makes the layoffs a much smaller number.

See LAYOFFS, Page 4

SJSU implements harassment policy Andrew Martinez Staff Writer SJSU President Jon Whitmore signed the university’s first inappropriate sexual behavior policy into action on April 12. “We operate under the general notion that fairness and equity is part of the hallmark of this university,” Whitmore said. “And sexual harassment or sexual misconduct is a form of aggression, threat or violence that we have never tolerated, we just may not have had a policy.” It was almost a two-year process from when it was discovered that SJSU did not have a policy addressing inappropriate sexual behavior, said Staci Gunner, the student conduct and civility coordinator at the office of student conduct and ethical development. Gunner and a team of faculty, staff and students assembled the policy based on the campus policies of other CSUs, Gunner said. “There’s nothing new that is mandated in this policy that wasn’t already mandated on campus,” said Stacy Gleixner, associate professor of chemical and material engineering. “We were already held by the CSU executive order and by federal and state laws.” Gleixner, the engineering representative to the Academic Senate and chair of the instruction and student affairs committee, said the act of making a policy like this makes a point and said SJSU

Carina Valdes, of the band April Chase performing at the Battle of the Bands held at Morris Dailey Auditorium on Thursday night. April Chase was voted fan favorite and won the competition and will go on to represent SJSU at the finale on April 30 at the Event Center. KEVIN HUME / SPARTAN DAILY

SEE A&E, PAGE 5

Kolodziejak elected as A.S. president Amber Simons Staff Writer The 2010-11 Associated Students executive branch will consist of President Tomasz Kolodziejak, Vice President Jessica Dunham and Controller Ramon Vizcarra, according to the official A.S. Elections results. In the presidential run, Kolodziejak received 655 votes, Paul Yula received 556 votes and Domingo Castellanos received 528 votes, according to the official Associated Stu-

Weather

dents Elections Results. “I am absolutely thrilled and very happy (with the results),” Kolodziejak said. “And I wanted to thank my opponents Domingo Castellanos and Paul Yula. It was my pleasure to be able to compete with them.” Kolodziejak said he can’t wait for the transition to begin and that he’s excited to start working next semester. “I will try to keep all the promises and will represent all the students at San Jose State,” Kolodziejak said.

SJSU President Jon Whitmore said he had not met Kolodziejak yet, but that he is having his administrative associate try to set up a meeting. “I usually meet the outgoing and ingoing at the same time and begin the process of getting to know them,” he said. “And sometimes that takes a while because everybody is so busy.” Whitmore said he looks forward to meeting Kolodziejak. “I know they had elections, and I

See RESULTS, Page 4

THESPARTANDAILY.COM Video: Winning band April Chase to represent SJSU at Battle of the Bands

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SPARTAN DAILY BLOGS Full coverage: Listen to the full audio and view video clips of President Jon Whitmore's news conference announcing 76 layoffs and other budget cuts. thespartandaily.com/presidentsconference Online exclusive: A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism professor receives honors Thursday from the San Jose Police Department's robbery unit for stopping a bank robbery last week.

See POLICY, Page 3

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encourages students to grow and learn in all aspects. Wiggsy Sivertsen, a professor in counseling services, said the policy addresses the issues of inappropriate sexual behavior specifically dealing with students. The issues include date rape, sexual assault and inappropriate touching, Sivertsen said. “I’m in support of having this implemented at our school,” said Adessa Kiryakos, a junior behavioral science major. “It’s important to know that our school stands behind its students.” Prior to this policy, the people who assembled the SJSU student conduct code included inappropriate sexual behavior in the same context as "conduct that threatens the health or safety of any person," according to the student conduct code. Gunner said there is a difference between throwing someone into a desk and rape. “I don’t believe that these can be shared,” Gunner said. “And if someone’s going to perpetrate to that level, we need to name it here.” Gunner said it is named in the criminal and civil system, and SJSU needs to name it as well. Sivertsen said the policy is important because SJSU is diverse culturally, ethnically and socioeconomically.

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