weekly PRINT EDITION
wednesDAY, January 25, 2017 – Tuesday, january 31, 2017 volume 103, Issue 20
SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1913
W W W . T H E D A I LYA Z T E C . C O M
SDSU hate crime investigation on hold indefinitely will fritz senior staff writer _____________________________
A group of the estimated 30,000 demonstrators make their way down Broadway at the San Diego Women’s March on Jan. 21. Andrew Dyer, Opinion Editor
Women’s studies faculty join marches Kayla Jimenez News Editor Jocelyn mORAN sENIOR sTAFF WRITER _____________________________ As more than 30,000 San Diego community members marched downtown in pink pussy hats and signs that yielded “A woman’s place is in the resistance” and “Love trumps hate,” San Diego State students and faculty joined in solidarity at the Women’s March on Jan. 21. Lisa Baker, political science senior, was one face in the crowd that in addition to women’s rights, marched to fight for
immigrants, healthcare, climate change, the LGBTQ community and civil rights. “I’m looking for necessarily healthcare rights,” she said. “My mom is really sick right now. I really was supportive of the affordable care act, but now that Trump has taken off and shown a lot of disdain for that it’s been really hard to keep positive so it’s exciting to be out here and march for her.” Baker said she created a group text with 20 of her friends “who invited their friends, and invited their friends” and organized meeting stops to plan for the march Saturday morning.
“I’m really excited to be down here,” Baker said. “We’ve been planning this for a while. We made signs, got all of our friends together from all different departments. We’re all students just looking to protest and show our support for each other. Post-secondary educational leadership graduate student Brianna Hogan said she attended the Women’s March in San Diego for the oppressed: Students, women and minorities.
See MARCH, P3
San Diego State police have suspended the investigation of a strong-arm robbery of a female student on Nov. 9, who was believed to have been targeted because of her Muslim faith, according to a statement from campus administrators on the day of the incident. The investigation was put on hold after police exhausted all leads and the student decided not to pursue criminal charges any longer. The statement sent out by SDSU President Elliot Hirshman, Vice President of Student Affairs Eric Rivera and Interim Chief of Police Josh Mays condemned it as a hateful act. According to a community safety alert from campus police regarding the incident, which took place the day after the general election, the victim was walking to her vehicle in Parking 12 when she was robbed of her purse, backpack, and car keys by two male suspects who made about then President-elect Donald Trump and the Muslim community. The victim was uninjured in the incident, but when police arrived, they found her vehicle missing, the safety alert read at the time. A protest was planned for Nov. 14, five days after the incident was reported. Various oncampus organizations, including
the SDSU Muslim Student Association and Students for Justice in Palestine, encouraged students to attend. However, the protest did not take place. “The victim has reached out to us and has told us that she would like us to not have a demonstration tomorrow,” said a Nov. 13 Facebook post from the SDSU Muslim Student Association. “We would like everyone to respect her wishes and this decision.” SDSUPD Cpl. Mark Peterson said the report of a stolen vehicle was later determined to be unfounded. “It was discovered that the victim forgot where they had parked the vehicle and had initially believed it to be stolen,” he said in an email. Campus police worked the case for approximately six weeks, Peterson said, involving the FBI and District Attorney in the process, until the victim relayed to police just before the holiday break that she no longer wished to pursue the case criminally. “Our officers looked at available surveillance video, followed up with the victim, and attempted to verify statements related to the case,” he said in an email. “The victim made the choice to no longer pursue the matter and we suspended the case as we had no further workable leads.”
See POLICE, P2
Mobile food pantry aims to alleviate hunger kAYLA jiMENEZ nEWS eDITOR _____________________________ In effort to address food insecurity at San Diego State, as determined by a study from the California State University, Associated Students is continuing to implement two resources for students this semester: a mobile food pantry and a no-waste initiative. Three hundred and twenty- two students received food from the mobile food pantry last semester with an average of 80 students each week, said Associated Students President Jamie Miller. “(Eleven) out of 23 schools have some sort of system whether it was a food pantry or a catering initiative and we weren’t one of those (eleven),” said Chimezie Ebiriekwe,
Associated Students vice president of university affairs. “As for San Diego State being a pioneer of a university in the CSU system, I knew that this needed to be implemented because we were behind schedule,” he said. What are Associated Students and the university doing to combat this? Ebriekwe said the university has a credit with the San Diego Food Bank and any food donated to it from the Aztecs Rock Hunger drive can be requested and used for the mobile food pantry. “The food that was donated through Aztecs Rock Hunger will now be recycled and brought to actual Aztecs, actual students,” Ebiriekwe said.
The mobile food pantry is held at the campus farmer’s market and second floor of the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union every Thursday. Interim Assistant of Government Affairs Gerardo Cabral said there are various resources provided at the A.S. table. He said there is information about the Economic Crisis Response Team and CalWorks food stamps for students in need. “This is not your average tabling event,” Cabral said. “When we are talking about food insecurity it’s a little bit more sensitive. People are being a little bit more vulnerable with you coming up and saying I do need food because I’m hungry.”
See HUNGER, P4
A sign in the Aztec Student Union informs students about the resources on campus. Kayla Jimenez, News Editor