Wednesday, August 16 Tuesday, August 22, 2017 Weekly Print Edition
Vol. 104, Issue 1 www.thedailyaztec.com
San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913
San Diegans hold vigil for woman killed in Charlottesville
NEW INVESTIGATOR SDSU hires a new investigator for Title IX complaints, Sara Vogel. PAGE 2
by Will Fritz NEWS EDITOR
“Love, not hate, makes America great,” hundreds chanted.
This was the sentiment the night of Sunday, Aug. 13, at Waterfront Park in downtown San Diego, where people from throughout the region descended for a candlelight vigil in honor of the woman killed while protesting against white supremacists at a rally in
Charlottesville, Virginia. Heather Heyer, 32, died and 19 others were injured Saturday after being struck by a Dodge Challenger driven into a crowd of counterdemonstrators at Charlottesville’s Emancipation Park. The vehicle’s driver, identified as 20-year-old
James Fields Jr., managed to reverse and escape, but was later arrested and charged with seconddegree murder. “We cannot afford to be divided anymore,” Imam Taha Hassane, director of the Islamic Center of CONTINUED PAGE 2
Chancellor’s executive order brings changes to remedial classes
REMEMBERING GARRETT Friends pay tribute to an SDSU student who lost his battle with brain cancer. PAGE 4
by Will Fritz NEWS EDITOR
ranking as the one of the nation’s best universities for diversity, entrepreneurship and study abroad. Associated Students Vice President of Financial Affairs and finance senior Hayden Willis said he chose SDSU because of its nationally recognized professors and the opportunity to grow with a student body dedicated to leadership. “SDSU lives by the motto of ‘Leadership Starts Here,’ breeding a culture for students to excel as leaders in the classroom, on campus, and in the community,” Willis said. “I think we earned this recognition through our commitment to excellence as a premier research institute, athletic powerhouse and pioneers in sustainability.” Willis said SDSU has prepared him for life after college and has given him different resources
The California State University system will be making sweeping changes to the way it handles incoming freshmen who do not meet college-level English and math standards. CSU Chancellor Timothy White signed an executive order Aug. 2 mandating that the 23-campus system do away with non-credit remedial coursework and stop offering English and math placement tests. CSU students who are assigned to Early Start or remedial classes based on Early Assessment Program test results - taken during a student’s junior year of high school - will get credit for the courses, which will be college-level and supplemented by support services to help students succeed, CSU public affairs manager Elizabeth Chapin said in an email. Students in need of academic support in English or math will be offered a one-unit remedial class, to be taken alongside a general education course. The Early Start Program, which offers remedial classes during the summer prior to a student’s first semester, will also begin offering credit-based classes concurrently with general education classes. Changes to ordinary remedial classes will be implemented fall 2018, while changes to the Early Start Program will be complete by fall 2019, but universities may offer “pilot” credit-bearing classes before that. Campuses will be required to offer enough credit-bearing remedial courses to meet demand. The chancellor’s office said the
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AZTECS TAKE THE REINS The SDSU football team takes over a long-standing Chargers tradition of holding a practice at MCAS Miramar. PAGE 5 photo by Danny Dyer
Chicano Batman frontman Eduardo Arenas takes the stage at BeerX, a daylong music and craft beer festival held at Waterfront park. See the full story on page 10.
FOOD PARK Eat San Diego plants a free food for the general public to enjoy in City Heights.
SDSU among highest-ranked universities in the nation
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by Emely Navarro SENIOR STAFF WRITER
San Diego State was ranked one of the top universities in the nation by The Princeton Review. The list of “The Best 382 Colleges” is released every year and ranks universities’ administration, academics, demographics, extra-curriculars, social scene and quality of life. It is based on a survey given out to 137,000 students attending 2,500 four--year colleges nationwide. The guide does not rank each university from one to 382—instead it lists them in alphabetical order highlighting the special academic, financial and extracurricular programs each one offers. This year, about 15 percent of U.S. four-year institutions made
the list. SDSU is one of several universities with a longer feature on the list. According to the list, incoming freshmen in fall 2017 have a 3.88 high school GPA and an average SAT score of 1229. Graduation rates at SDSU have increased over the past few years. Approximately 74 percent of first-time freshmen graduate in six years or less, and 90 percent of SDSU freshmen return to school for their sophomore year. SDSU Provost and Senior Vice President Chukuka S. Enwemeka said this progress can be attributed to the university’s efforts to improve advising, investments in commuter student success, hiring of 223 tenuretrack faculty over the past four years and the advancement of a variety of student experiences, including housing and campus infrastructure. Enwemeka said SDSU is proud of its diverse student body and its