Monday, Nov. 20 - Wednesday Nov. 28, 2017 Weekly Print Edition
Vol. 104, Issue 15 www.thedailyaztec.com
San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913
With local dignitaries present, university announces latest economic impact report
WHAT’S INSIDE
GOOD VIBES Dr. Jill and the Andrea O’Donnell Womyn’s Outreach Association host Free Vibrator Day PAGE 2
by Will Fritz NEWS EDITOR
Local officials — many of them San Diego State graduates —were on campus Thursday to take part in the announcement of a new economic impact report that shows SDSU generates more than $5 billion in economic activity. The report, which comes out
annually, showed SDSU supports 42,000 jobs, creates $2 billion in labor income and generates almost $500 million in tax revenue for state and local governments. SDSU President Sally Roush, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, San Diego City Councilwoman Georgette Gomez, State Sen. Toni Atkins, San Diego Chamber of Commerce CEO Jerry Sanders
and San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation CEO Mark Cafferty were all present at the announcement. “Since 1897, the school has grown from a small teachers’ college, sharing space with a downtown dentist office to a SEE IMPACT REPORT, PAGE 2
MASCOT DEBATE Commentary from an alumnus about his views on the pride of being an Aztec. PAGE 4
CARTOONIST Political cartoonist Joaquin Junco Jr. speaks to students about his art. PAGE 5
BECA PRESTIGIOSA
Photo by Vladimir Salazar
Estudiante licensiado de San Diego State enfoca sus estudios en la comunidad de inmigrantes.
Enrique Chi de “Making Movies” toca la guitarra en su concieto de San Diego, lo cual es parte de su gira “Todos lost Inmigrantes son Bellos”. Ve la historia completa en la página 7.
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University police promote use of red and black shuttle POPE’S POPPIN’ OFF Senior forward Malik Pope primed to live up to potential. PAGE 10
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by Camille Dejoras STAFF WRITER
Over the past year, the San Diego State Police Department has worked to bring awareness to the red and black shuttle transportation service. SDSUPD’s parking operations manager Shawn Brown said the department has made some changes since the end of last year to increase the shuttles’ presence. Brown said a community service officer spoke with students who ride the shuttle and asked for their concerns about the buses. “The biggest complaint was
our vehicles were not identified as a red and black shuttle,” Brown said. “After they brought this information to me, we put emblems on them.” He said this would help students clearly recognize the shuttles so that there was no confusion. Brown also said his department has been working closely with SDSU housing, and housing officials have been helpful in recruiting more community service officers. He said there will be more CSOs available to operate the shuttles and escort students now that their staff is growing. “We’re really trying to get the
word out to incoming freshmen and people living in the residence halls that we provide these great services for them,” Brown said. He also said the shuttles have been more visible to students on campus, and the more people know about it the more likely they’ll want to use it. Communications junior Erica Ortiz said the shuttles are a great resource, and she has noticed them around campus more this semester. “I think police could try promoting the buses by handing out flyers or posting on social SEE SHUTTLE, PAGE 3
Columnist had outside help crafting article, document shows by Will Fritz NEWS EDITOR
The Daily Aztec has removed a senior staff columnist after it was discovered that an outside lobbying group heavily edited at least one of her stories. The writer, psychology and communications senior Talia Raoufpur, had been a columnist since October 2016. On the morning of Nov. 17, Heriberto Prado Cañedo, a 2010 San Diego State graduate, posted screenshots of a Google document in the Facebook comments section of one of Raoufpur’s stories, entitled “Israel-Palestine conflict misrepresented in recent lecture at SDSU.” The document — accessible through a link Raoufpur appeared to have accidentally placed in her story — showed a draft of the article with edits from Lia Lands, a communications associate at the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, a pro-Israel media watchdog and lobbying group. Raoufpur is not the only student journalist with ties to the organization. At least five of the lobbying organization’s 2017-18 fellows are journalism students or writers for university publications. One is a former writer for a university newspaper. Lands did not return repeated requests for comment. Five other representatives from her organization also did not respond to requests for comment. The Daily Aztec was aware of Raoufpur taking part in a fellowship at the lobbying organization, as stated in a Nov. 17 blog post. However, allowing a representative to edit her story was a violation of The Daily Aztec’s policy against showing copy to anyone outside the organization. Raoufpur admitted to receiving the edits from Lands. Cañedo said the story initially seemed strange to him. “I felt like (the article) was a little bit awkward in the style, where I’m like, are we even talking about the same event anymore? Clearly we’re not, because it’s this telephone effect where she wrote notes about what happened at the event, but then, we’re being peppered with the Israel talking points,” he said. “So then it comes across very SEE COLUMNIST HAD HELP, PAGE 3