Twitter: @spartandaily facebook.com/spartandaily Spartans dive into INSIDE victory See exclusive online content and multimedia at Sports, P. 2 P. 2 Sports: Women’s basketball loses against spartandaily.com Idaho Vandals at home game Weather: Clear P. 4 A&E: Student clubs and organizations host events for Black History Month SPARTAN DAILY H: 64 P. 5 Opinion: Super PACs endanger democracy Serving San José State University L: 41 and corrupt the electoral process since 1934 Volume 140 / Issue 4 Printed on recycled paper Monday, February 4, 2013 BALTIMORE 34, SAN FRANCISCO 31 LEARNING Quest for six denied Students transition from D2L to Canvas By Rochelle Beckel @rochellebeckel As a new semester begins, many students have found themselves fac- ing Spring 2013 at SJSU with a new learning mode system, or LMS, to learn along with teachers, courses and classmates. Last month, SJSU introduced Canvas, an LMS that provides a variety of methods for further- ing online teaching and learning, according to Jennifer Redd, an in- structional designer for eCampus. Redd said some of these methods include posting and sharing content, having interactive discussions, con- versing via web-conference, working with peers on course assignments, conducting quizzes, and turning in assignments. “The university isn’t requiring (that instructors use) it, but it is The Baltimore Ravens’ Torrey Smith celebrates after defeating the San Francisco 49ers, 34-31, in Super Bowl XLVII at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, pushing it hard,” said Alison McKee, Louisiana, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013. Photo by Lloyd Fox / MCT associate professor for the televi- SEE SPORTS ON PAGE 6 sion, radio, film and theatre depart- ment. “Upper administration re- ally wants its faculty to adopt online CONSTRUCTION learning management systems. According to Ruchi Mehta, an- other instructional designer for Yoshihiro Uchida Hall undergoes retrofitting eCampus, Canvas is being used by 324 professors and 10,816 students, By Bryan Delohery The department is housed in tion site that warn of asbestos abate- Junior psychology major Angelica which is a total of 11,140 users for @Bdelohery Spartan Complex which consists of ment in progress. Camino said the buildings definitely 688 courses, as of Jan. 31 three buildings, Spartan Complex Reekie said anytime there are need improvement. McKee said because she disliked While students and faculty were East, Spartan Complex Central and buildings that are this old there “When I used the pool, the tiles Desire2Learn, the former LMS used at home for the holidays construc- Uchida Hall. is going to be asbestos in the floor on the ceiling were missing and by SJSU, and found it difficult to tion to seismically retrofit Yoshi- “They (the buildings) are old and tiles and lead in the paint but she there would be debris that would fall use, she figured Canvas “couldn’t be hiro Uchida Hall began. they’re falling to pieces, I mean you doesn’t think that’s a major reason in the water,” Camino said. worse than D2L.” The construction is part of a only have to wander around here; for renovation. While all three buildings will be According to Redd, Provost El- larger project to upgrade all of the tiles fall on people’s heads, the heat- Pat Lopes Harris, director of undergoing major changes inter- len Junn began a committee last year buildings in Spartan Complex to ing system doesn’t work, there’s no Media Relations said that buildings nally, according to Reekie the exter- discussing the possibility of utiliz- make them earthquake safe and ac- air conditioning,” Reekie said. “We constructed some years ago often nal appearance of Uchida Hall and ing a new LMS to replace D2L. cessible to people with disabilities, are one of, I believe three buildings used asbestos for insulation. Spartan Complex East cannot be McKee said, although D2L is still according to Kinesiology Depart- on campus that have no AC (air con- “I’m not sure if these buildings modified because they are histori- currently in use by SJSU, it will even- ment Chair Shirley Reekie. ditioning) ... in the summer.” do (contain asbestos) but of course cally listed buildings, the former tually be completely replaced by Can- There are sections of Uchida Hall She said because of the AC prob- if they do, we’re going to employ men’s swimming pool will be con- vas at the end of this academic year. and Spartan Complex East that date lem, people vomit in the water foun- safety techniques to carefully re- verted to a dojo and the locker room “We are constantly working with back to the 1920s and after the fourth tains after coming out of the gym move that or remediate around that will be turned into a weight training the instructors, to help them uti- attempt at renovating these buildings, from being overheated. so that we don’t introduce danger- room. lize Canvas to create well-designed the Kinesiology department was final- Along with seismic retrofitting ous conditions for students and our ly given the funding to do so, she said. there are signs around the construc- faculty members,”Harris said. SEE COMPLEX ON PAGE 3 SEE LMS ON PAGE 3 CAMPUS ALUMNI King Library debuts student-only section Alumnus donates $2.5M By Angela Medina @angela_m514 for eight new scholarships The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library unveiled the first research By Vince Ei tor business. commons facility for SJSU faculty @Vince_the_Ei Out of his four brothers and and students in the Mezzanine three sisters, he said he was the first room Jan 31. Eight scholarships worth $7,500 to graduate from college. The facility offers a space ex- will be available at the start of ev- Starek said he became “tired clusively to SJSU students for ery fall semester in the name of of the snow” after growing up in studying, and offers iPad and Gerald Starek. Griffith, Indiana, and attending Ball laptop rental, unlimited com- According to an SJSU news re- State University for two years, so he puter usage and a print station, lease, four Gerald M. Starek Fam- moved to California for a change of said Julie Kowalewski Ward, ily Alumni Association Scholarships scenery. university library access services will be given to students majoring He said his first choice of school manager. in accounting and finance, just as to transfer to was Cal State Long The purpose of the Student Starek did in his two years at San Jose Beach, but the scenery there was all Learning and Research Com- SJSU Electrical Engineering major Bradley Los (right) talks with History graduate State before he graduated in 1963. too familiar. mons is to facilitate student suc- student Milton Solórzano inside the new SJSU student-only section of the MLK “The quality of instruction (at “I didn’t like it,” Starek said. “It cess, said President Mohammad Library on Thursday. Photo by Kevin Johnson / Spartan Daily SJSU) was quite good and I had as reminded me of my high school.” Qayoumi. good an education as anybody,” said A spoiled trip to Santa Barbara, “We were trying to decide what ing commons is a relatively new one, get better” in the interest of student Starek, 71. He said he gained the a campus he loved until finding to do with the space, and one of the probably in the last decade or decade success. skills to compete with graduates out there was no business program, needs we heard from the SJSU stu- and a half, and it really is a notion Along with offering an exclusive from Stanford University, Univer- brought him to San Jose State where dents was to have a place that’s just that universities are trying to change space for students to study, another sity of California at Los Angeles and he developed a fandom for Spartan for SJSU students,” Ward said. the way they set up libraries for major factor behind implement- University of Southern California. athletics. The learning commons is “a students.” ing a study commons derived from After college, he said he found a Being an avid fan, Starek is also work in progress” but it’s also a Junn said the learning commons student complaints regarding noisy position at the California Packing providing scholarships for four stu- great environment for students to is currently “just the bare bones,” distractions on various floors in the Corporation, now Del Monte Foods, dent athletes majoring in account- study, Ward said. but she said she intends to further King Library, said library reference in San Francisco and eventually be- ing and finance through the Gerald According to Provost Ellen develop the space to allow more came the President and CEO of the Junn, “The concept of the learn- technology resources “as budgets SEE COMMONS ON PAGE 3 Silicon Valley Group, a semiconduc- SEE STAREK ON PAGE 3 SPORTS Page 2 | Spartan Daily Monday, February 4, 2013 WATER SPORTS Swimming team claims ninth in a row against Fresno By Dennis Biles “I was really excited,” @Denny149 DeWames said. “I was try- ing not to get overwhelmed The San Jose State wom- with outside thoughts and en’s swimming and diving concerns. I needed to stay team continued its march to eternalized and think about another conference title in what I needed to do and get a masterful 199-96 victory it done.” over the Fresno State Bull- DeWames later teamed up dogs at the Aquatic Center on with fellow seniors Danielle Saturday afternoon. Smyth, Kiley Foster, and Julia “We have a tremendous Craddock in the 200 freestyle group of student athletes,” relay and notched a win with head coach Sage Hopkins a time of 1:36.96.