see Student boxer fights toward Olympics Sports, p.3 Local bagel house lox down classic 77 years... and counting Wednesday SPARTAN DAILY see A&E, p.4 February 8, 2012 Volume 138, Issue 6 SpartanDaily.com Black Student Union hits the open mic Prop 8 deemed by Angelisa Ross Staff Writer unconstitutional Th e SJSU Black Student Union is an orga- nization that was created to develop a spirit by Julie Myhre of unity for minority students, according Staff Writer the organization’s website. “It’s important that you can get involved in something that you will always have to Same-sex marriage took one step closer to becom- look back on,” said Courtney Byrd, the pres- ing legal in California when the U.S. Court of Appeals ident of the organization. for the 9th Circuit ruled Proposition 8 unconstitution- Th e current president is a graduating se- al on Tuesday. nior, who said she is busy with being chair Proposition 8 passed in November 2008 and defined of African-American commencement, vice marriage as a union only between a man and woman, chief for student elections commission with banning gay marriage, according to the circuit court big aspirations for the future. documents. Founded in 1967, the organization at- “I think any hope for the future is exciting,” said tempts to unify and promote multicultural- Patrick Regan, a San Francisco resident. “I am hopeful ism in education, and maintain high social that all this work will pay off.” and educational standards while network- Regan said he married his partner, Richard Ventu- ing with other organizations according the ra, in June of 2008,when same-sex marriage was legal organization’s website. in California. Th is past Th ursday, the organization had “On the personal side, in my mind we’re married,” the opportunity to co-host an open mic Ventura said. “Anybody can argue that fact we are mar- night with the Mosaic Cross Cultural Cen- ried … I feel that we are going through a time where ter in honor of Black History Month. decisions will move in favor of and opposed to until we Th e Mosaic Center on campus promotes land on the actual decision we deserve to see.” diversity while providing a safe place for The three-judge panel voted 2-1 to deem the prop- students to work and socialize, according to osition unconstitutional, according to circuit court the SJSU website. documents. “It was nice to see so many students “By using their (Prop 8 supporters) initiative power share their work,” said Maribel Gomez, a to target a minority group and withdraw a right that graduate student and the coordinator of is possessed without a legitimate reason for doing so, open mic night. the people of California violated the Equal Protection Usually, it’s not easy to generate student Clause,” Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote in the participation, Gomez said. Circuit Court documents. “We hold Proposition 8 to According to Gomez, there was a turn be unconstitutional on this ground.” out of approximately 60 students and 23 Paul Chen, treasurer for the SJSU student group performers. Christians on Campus, said he believes that God does Th e Mosaic Center hosts open mic night not want same-sex marriage and he is not pleased with on the at 5 p.m. fi rst Th ursday of every month. the decision. “It is a good idea for a student to join uni- “This allowance of gay couples to marry should be versity groups, especially those that have a an outrage to all Christians,” Chen said. “The Bible strong cultural connection,” said Natalia Cruz Isaac Pardo sings a song he wrote at Open Mic Night in the Student Union on Thursday. clearly states that same sex marriage is not lawful in Photo by Derik Irvin / Spartan Daily Navarro, a social work graduate student. the eyes of God. God made a man to be with a woman Th e organization is not limited to only and this should never be compromised. students of African-American descent but “Same sex marriage is an attack against God and also all nationality backgrounds. “During my term, I’m currently work- SJSU president Mohammad Qayoumi his word. Many people claim that they were just born “As an undergraduate student of color, ing on bridging the gap between upper- and said he hopes to advocate for more student attracted to the same sex but no such ‘gay gene’ has I had the opportunity to participate in the lowerclassmen by having a mentor pro- involvement and encourages all student ever been identified.” Chicana/Latina Pipeline at UCSC, which gram,” Byrd said. organizations to continue to do their best Not all SJSU students feel the same as Chen. turned out to be important in my develop- Byrd said she hopes to keep the momen- to generate student participation. Animation/illustration major Meghan Auer said ment as a student,” Navarro said. “Groups tum going for future years. “Don’t get discouraged, continue on and she believes that the legal view of marriage should be that have strong and responsive objectives Th e organization is currently governed are there any other ways people can be separate from the religious view of marriage. have a positive infl uence in the student’s by nine offi cers and has more than 100 reached,” he said. “Religious marriage is viewed as only a man and a educational experience.” members and approximately 50 to 60 mem- On Feb. 22 at 6 p.m., Black Student Union woman, but they should be able to recognize a partner- Byrd said the organization is currently bers who att end the meetings, Byrd said will host a free event called Black Apprecia- ship between same sex couples,” Auer said. “Th ey don’t trying to increase membership and promote “We still have some of the same princi- tion night where student will be celebrating have to accept it but they should respect that union.” growth within the club due to lack of mem- pal and goals, trying to increase brotherhood the African-American culture in the Engi- bership over the past two years. and sisterhood,” Byrd said. neering auditorium. SEE MARRIAGE PAGE 2 CORRECTION Help desk overhauls with new computers, arrival delayed In the Feb. 7 issue of the Spartan Daily, the article titled “Campus by David Wong ment, according to Chris Laxton, di- Th e replaced computers will be While the digital video editing committ ees off er opportunities Staff Writer rector of media production and de- taken by academic technology for stations are free to use without be- for students,” incorrectly stated livery for academic technology. redistribution and re-purposing, as ing checked out, they are meant for that all of the 22 campus committ ees Th e Dell laptops and iMacs are cur- they were bought by the department, users who are experienced in using are affi liated with Associated Th e SJSU information technol- rently unavailable, as the help desk Sloan said. video editing soft ware — the ITSS Students. However, not all of those ogy support services help desk has encountered diffi culties in the deliv- Th e majority of re-purposed com- help desk staff are not trained in 22 committ ees are actually affi liated undergone a major equipment over- ery of the equipment, Shelat said. puters will end up being temporary their use, according to Shelat. with A.S. Th e Spartan Daily regrets haul with the addition of the newest “When we ordered iMacs, they replacements for the new computers On an average day (Monday the error. Apple and Dell computers. came in with wireless keyboards,” if they encounter technical prob- through Th ursday), the help desk has “It’s a major improvement — the Shelat said. “When we ordered wired lems, according to Sloan. over 700 checkouts, according to the old computers were here since the keyboards (and) the wrong order Th e redistribution and re-purposing record log at the help desk presented help desk fi rst opened (in 2005),” was sent for Dell laptops.” process is currently being evaluated by by Shelat. said Shivam Shelat, an employee at A price quote for 14 iMac comput- academic technology, Laxton said. “(As) one of many points of con- Spartan Daily the help desk. ers with 2.8 GHz Intel core i7 proces- “Th is isn’t a set process,” he said. tact, we try to be a logical front end (to Serving San José State University since 1934 Located at the end of room 103 near sors, 4 gigabytes of RAM and 1 tera- “(We are asking:) is there a need for solve complex problems),” Sloan said. Volume 138 / Issue 6 the entrance to Clark Hall, the help byte hard disk drives came out to be a new process?” With fi ve employees staffi ng the desk is commonly tasked with han- $24,041.75 including sales tax and Aside from handling technological help desk at any given time, they try dling student and faculty user prob- e-waste fees of $8 for each computer. issues, the help desk checks out desk- to channel a calm energy, even with lems such as the use of SJSUOne ac- Th e Electronic Waste Recycling tops and laptops for on-premises use students going in and out. “Th e help counts, using the faculty email service Fee (e-waste fee) is a fee imposed by to students, according to Shelat. desk has a friendly atmosphere,” and troubleshooting Desire2Learn. the state government on purchases To the far side of the computers Shelat said.