San Jose State’s Associated Students Board of Directors met Wednesday in person to discuss furthering a proposed mural outside of Yoshihiro Uchida Hall and install more campus lockers for commuters.
The mural would depict different historical figures with Japanese ancestry who greatly affected San Jose during World War II, when Executive Order 9066 was enacted from 1942 until 1946.
Since the item was brought to discussion on March 23, the Silicon Valley National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) have increased their funding for this project.
President Anoop Kaur presented the new business action item and said she would recommend an amendment to the monument to approve funding to $10,000.
“We’re all collectively as a community really excited to move this forward as a platform of acknowledgement and healing for the Japanese American community in San Jose and the greater South Bay area,” Kaur said.
Mikomi Baker, a sociology, community change and African American history senior who is a founder of Stories for Solidarity is working with Kaur on the project.
She said the goal is to “heal and teach and educate and inspire” and the only way to do that is by involving multiple community members.
Stories For Solidarity pushes to create solidarity in communities by providing resources about BIPOC culture through art education and social entrepreneurship, according to its Instagram.
Baker said the organization has pushed for various social justice murals since the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
“It's nice to see that these institutions are realizing that they need things like this, in order to rectify those wrongs and create sustainable social progress,” she said.
Among the topics discussed at the meeting, Executive Director Carole Dowell discussed providing funding for 24 new lockers for commuter students along the wall across from the Student Involvement office, which runs the program.
She said the commuter student lockers run on a semester system, and there are already several in the Student Union. Dowell added that conditions and rules exist for what students can and cannot put in their locker.
While the locker addition is in its infancy stage, quotes for how much the new lockers would cost are still being estimated while attempting to match the aesthetics of the existing lockers.
Vice President Nina Chuang said she appreciates the initiative because she previously used the lockers in the Spartan Recreation and Aquatic Center.
“I definitely recommend it because now with a majority commuter students on campus, additional 24 lockers are not going to cut it. We need to think bigger, but this is something,” Chuang said.
Ashley Guerrero, director of intercultural affairs, said she thinks the item would be beneficial for students because she already has the opportunity to leave her items in the A.S. office.
