Over the course of the Spartan Daily’s 90 years of publication, it has reported on a multitude of events and issues that pertain to the Chicano community.
Student protest
Jesus Covarrubias, senior lecturer from the San José State Chicano and Chicana Studies department, said journalists help the community get accurate information, allowing them to see all sides of an issue and all voices to be heard.
“Journalists play a huge role in representing what the issues are,” Covarrubias said.
He said there was a protest during the June 14, 1968 commencement where Chicano students walked out, protesting the low number of Chicano students enrolled at the university.
A group of 15 Chicano community members confronted SJSU Vice President William John Dusel in his office and demanded for the school to make it a graduation requirement for SJSU students to attend “liberation workshops” before they receive their diplomas, according to a May 29, 1968 article from the Spartan Daily.
“From that walkout, the Chicano themed graduation ceremony was born,” Covarrubias said. “I think certainly, student newspapers like the Spartan Daily have a role to play to kind of share that history with the campus.”
SJSU will host its 54th Annual Chicano Commencement celebration on May 21 and is eligible for all students who wish to participate in this cultural ceremony, according to a SJSU webpage.
Covarrubias said student journalists help honor the legacy of student activism.
The lowrider community of San José
Kathryn Blackmer Reyes, director of the Africana, Asian American, Chicano and Native American Studies Center (AAACNA) said “the media could be good or it could be bad.”
“I think now you have a generation that grew up with lowriders in a very different way,” Blackmer Reyes said.
Blackmer Reyes said the news media landscape of today is very different now from how it used to be when there were no Mexican Americans in newsrooms.
The Chicano community has had a connection to lowriding culture for a long time, according to a May 5, 2016 article previously reported in the Spartan Daily.
Lowriders remain a staple in Mexican and American culture for their elaborate modifications, aerodynamics, color and vibrant Chicano style, according to the same article.
“To me, lowriders are a part of my heritage and mean a lot to the Mexican culture. They’re an art statement because we’re proud of our culture,” said community member Rudy Castro in the story.
Blackmer Reyes said the person who is telling the story in the media is important because they can either present something in a positive way or a negative way.
“And that's how we've gone from having a policy of no cruising to ending the policy of no cruising,” Blackmer Reyes said.
In 2022, the city of San José lifted its no-cruising ban enacted in 1986, according to a June 28, 2022 article by The Mercury News.
Student organizations on SJSU campus
The Chicanx/Latinx Student Success Center had its grand opening in February 2018, according to a Sept. 27, 2018 Spartan Daily article.
The Chicanx/Latinx Student Success Center, also known as Centro, is a community gathering space and resource hub for Chicanx and Latinx students, according to an SJSU webpage.
A program that operates out of Centro is the Adelante Mentorship & Leadership Program.
The program is first-generation freshmen students are provided with extra support including personalized counseling, community-building activities and peer mentorship.
Sergio Gomez, sociology alumnus and current Adelante mentor, feels like it can be daunting coming straight out of high school to a four-year institution.
“(It’s) scary in a way for them to also not really know how FAFSA works and just finding resources on campus,” Gomez said. “Or even just how to make an appointment with your advisor.”
Gomez said the community aspect of Centro is what initially attracted him to it because he felt like he was lacking a sense of community during his first year at SJSU.
He said in his first year he was under a lot of pressure going to school full time while working 35 hours a week.
“I didn't know who to go, who to reach out to for help,” Gomez said. “Having a support system where you can openly talk to other peers going into very similar situations kind of eases that pressure.”
“Though the center is fairly new, it has proved to be a model of community and cultural wealth,” said program director Lilly Pinedo Ganga in a Sept. 11, 2018 article previously reported in the Spartan Daily.
Gomez said the work of journalists, through their history documenting, has helped elevate future generations in the Chicano community to break barriers.
“I think seeing that first individual of someone breaking barriers provides an outlet for many more to do,” Gomez said.
