Hello and welcome to update news. Im liz olveda. And im jessica melcher. Thanks for joining us. Black History Month is over and it ended with a bit of a controversy on campus. An opinion piece in the spartan daily questioned whether the annual event is redundant. Update News ReporterVictor Guzman is live on campus with a recap of the uproar that followed. This is the article that upset many on this campus. And yesterday a large crowd gathered at the smithcarlos statues to express their feelings. Nat sound black and im proud the black thursday rally at the statues of tommy smith and john carlos had already been planned before the offending article was published some demonstrators held the article as they silently marched through the campus. And it was at the statues where they loudly voiced their objections. Emerald green, African American student leader we all know we have a library, Martin Luther king library, right . Its been here since 2003. Its 2013 now, thats a ten yearten year time gap, time gap from that right . And its black History Month. Why hasnt the university celebrated it . African american student leaders at the rally got their message across about what they want from the university. Brea watson, African American student leader as a future san jose state unviersity alumni, i encourage every person out here regardless of gender, race, class, cree, or color to never stop advocating for the rights and liberties that are bestowed upon you, because if you dont stand for something, youll fall for anything. Other speakers said they are not attacking freespeech but celebrating African American history and culture. Spartan daily writer vincent ei wrote the article black History Month is redundant. Vincent ei, journalism senior i put in the article that yknow, i dont really have a problem with black History Month, or i never did until i saw this collection of tweets. They were saying black History Month is ununjust just because they have one to themselves. Not to offend anybody, its just my thoughts thats it. Fellow spartan daily reporter, christiana cobb, wrote a rebuttal to vincents article. Christiana cobb, journalism i mean in terms of talking about black History Month i guess i could go on and on about it, because it means so much to me as an African American student and my family. It was a peaceful rally and organizers were happy with the turnout. Daniel harrislucas Public Relations junior im proud of the turnout, i worked really hard getting different organizations and different cultures to come out. If anything many on this campus are saying that what happened has begun a discussion about African American issues and freespeech. Hopefully the discussion will continue. Live on campus, Victor Guzman. Update news. New federal budget cuts worth onepointtwo trillion dollars are now in effect because politicians missed the deadline to avoid it. Update news sean wince reports on how this could affect san jose state. San Jose State UniversityOfficials SayFinancial Aid and low income students may be hit the hardest by the budget cuts. But really, our most needy students. Those who come from families who cannot afford to put a penny toward their education. The automatic budget cuts are called the federal sequester. They went into effect friday. According to the white house, california could lose eightysevenpointsix Million Dollars for education. As many as twelve hundred teachers could lose their jobs. Threehundred twenty schools could lose federal funding. And ninetysix hundred lowincome College Students could see reductions in Financial Aid. Ive never heard about this. And i didnt know that what a huge impact it has on us and on our schools. So yeah, it definitely did surprise me. I was just shocked. Congress had almost two years to create an alternative that wouldnt hurt the economy. That didnt happen, and now we have the sequester. Well who knows how its gonna hit us, but its gonna hit us, and i dont think theres pretty much a big thing we can do about it. Harris urges students to stay informed about the issues. What young people do today and think today is going to impact the next generation. So if theyre not paying attention today, what is gonna be left for their children and grandchildren . San jose state Officials Say the sequester wont result in canceled classes. On campus, sean wince for update news. San jose state has two swimming pools. The biggest of the two needs some serious renovation. Update News Reporter kate loewen tells us what has to be done. Kate most pools require swimmers to walk, not run. At the san jose state aquatic center, its watch your step. Amanda nguyen i i step on it sometimes when i get near the shallow area, you can feel the pieces coming off too. Kate a amanda is talking about the uneven pool surfaces. The aquatic center, built in 1989, is facing aging wear issues that are beyond routine and periodic maintenance fixes. Scott bokker weve got the plaster problem, where the plaster is delaminated from the concrete shell. Its creating some spots at the bottom of the pool where people could possibly cut themselves, but more than anything its unsightly. The immediate concrete decking around the pool itself is starting to crack and break where the depth markers are. Kate bok bokker says the pool has to be replastered. Sjsu Vice President bill nance told me the school will decide by summer what will be the most economical solution. Theres also a possibilty of building a brand new pool for the new recreation center. Ryan morgado i it is one of the biggest outdoor pools in all of the csu system, so thats pretty impressive in of itself. Amanda i i like to swim, so i dont want to feel particles in my feet every time i swim. Kate the cost of renovating the pool is an estimated 500,000. Reporting on campus from the aquatic center, im kate loewen for update news. Theres a new club on campus thats causing a stir. I went off campus to learn more and lets just say this club has started with a bang. The firearm social club began this year. Contrary to popular belief, this club believes it handles guns in a responsible way. Hopefully by advocating safe handling practices for firearms and proper technique, we can change some of the bad thoughts associated with guns in general. Members meet to review gun safety. Spread awareness and create interest. Ive been shooting my entire life so having the opportunity to share that with other san jose state students is beneficial to all of us. Though many are skeptical, this club focuses on the social aspect that this is a group for people to meet and participate in this sport they love. In the university, theres a lot of people who are traditionally antifirearms antigun. They think were all crazy yahoos or maybe rednecks and so with any luck we can take them out there, we can show them what it is that we do and maybe show them that its a lot of fun and that it can be done safely and responsibly. The firearm social club meets on the first thursday of every month and is open to anyone who wants to learn more or join in on this opportunity. Time is running out for one of the largest homeless encampments in san jose. I visited the encampmentheres what i found. This homeless tent city has sprung up in plain view near taylor and spring streetsunder the flight path approach to san jose airport. Usually, homeless encampments are hidden away underneath freeway overpasses or in isolated brush areas. But not this one. This problem arose when caltrans decided to clean up the homeless area by the Guadalupe Park river the homeless from that cleanup flocked to this vacant area because of the acres of open space. Due to all the caltrans cleanups, which they do on a frequent basis, it causes everyone to move around. This time its getting serious, theyve done some massive cleanups which has forced everybody to this location where everybodys. Theres plenty of room. The tent city is on city property. The city says it will force the homeless campers out of the area and remove the tents, leftover items and garbage because it poses a health risk. The total cost of the clearing and cleaning is estimated at about 40,000. 00. It was growing so quickly and we wanted to make sure we had an appropriate response to balance the needs of the community, the danger to the environment, and making sure that the people who are homeless and in that encampment get the services and the support they needed. The city of san jose is hoping that social Service Agencies can find temporary housing for these 75100 displaced homeless individuals. After the cleanup, the city will rely on its already understaffed police force to patrol the area to discourage further homeless settlement. The larger an encampment gets, the more risk thats created for everyone. The official clean up is scheduled for next friday, march 8th. Some san jose state students have launched a campaign to hopefully end bullying. Update News Reporter christian ceaser talked to some victims of bullying. It was called sit down, speak up. An Awarness Campaign about bullying by the journalism department. The event at tower hall included a showing of the critically acclaimed documentary bully. Nat after the film, there was a discussion pannel featuring people who have been bullied. Dave ruth says he dropped out of high school because of bullying. Im trying to get my ged now but, bullying is something that affects you forever keeps going and going. I have a thirteen year old and fourteen year old at home who ask me now to help them with homework and i cant. Sit down, speak ups main goal is to combat cyber bullling. A ane mayor says her daughter amanda committed suicide because of Cyber Bullying there were over 35 hundred Text Messages on her cellphone and i had no idea what they were saying. It wasnt until i saw her suicide note that it said that they called her a lesbian, a bisexual, that she was pregnant, and that she had aids and was spreading it, and for a sixteen year old, thats way to much for someone to handle. Student pr coordinator brea watt says the outreach focus was on schools to prevent such things. During our month Long Campaign we targeted middle schools because this is the age where students are developing the most awkwardness and really develop your character sit down, speak outs pledge is to wish away bulling. They will be donating these signs to dwight bental hall to bring awareness to campus. From tower hall, im christian ceaser, update news. Gun buybacks are becoming very successful. Update News Reporter saushe young attended one of these buybacks in East Palo Alto. So many people showed up for East Palo Altos gun buyback that it even caused a traffic jam with cars lined up and down university avenue, the gun buyback was nothing less than a success. More than fiftythousanddolllars were given in exchange for firearms. East palo alto and Menlo Park Police anonymously collected 355 guns. This included 111 hand guns, 227 rifles or shot guns and 11 assault weapons. Officers checked car trunks for guns and also checked serial numbers to make sure no guns were stolen. I think its a great opportunity to get more weapons off the street. I had too many weapons in my home, i have kids at home, and i wanted to get them off the street. Protect our children founders, roger lee and james cook, raised the money for the buyback. You have this feeling after you see one of those shootings, especially the one in connecticut, this kind of helplessness and your like what i can do . Protect our children showed us that anyone can do something and really be effective with it. Menlo park assemblyman Richard Gordon and san mateo congresswoman Jackie Speier participated speier, who was shot in the peoples temple tragedy thirtyfive years ago, is a strong supporter of gun control. Theres a risk associated with having guns in your home, those who want to have guns in their house have a right to but those who no not it is a one fatal death that can be prevented. The event had to end earlier than expected because the money to buy back guns ran out. P people waiting in the city hall parking lot were given vouchers for another buyback event. In East Palo Alto this is saushe young, update news. San jose state students are turning up the heat and creating works of art in this class. More when we come back. But first we asked students how the sequester affects them. The capitalist society was built on the hands of the African American man and woman. So we basically. We were. As slaves we basically boosted the American Economy race and culture is really important and coming from san jose state were a very diverse campus aand its a good time for us to get to know eachothers culture and respect eachothers cultrures plus you learn a lot of things about different people that you never really thought you would know diversity is very important for our society and our community and i think the more awareness that you can have as to what the backgrounds are of different people it will help you grow as a person and develop into a more mature working relationship i dont see any other way for us to learn about eachother and understand. And like. What Cultural Values we all have that we may share. The current controversy of gun control in america sparked a heated discussion on sjsus campus. Gun control and Race Relations were the focus of discussion this week for the associated students. Tuesday was the First Anniversary of the shooting of trayvon martin, who was killed by a Neighborhood Watch guard. Its important because you dont see anybody else getting killed but marginalized communities. Im dominicano, black and native american and i dont see white people being killed like were being killed. The panel addressed the issues of the abuse of authority and police brutality. Yates explained that more than 40 of gun sales in the United States are done without a background check. Since the beginning of the semester, students, faculty and staff have been eligible for shooteroncampus training. This is a Police Training video of what could happen if a person with a weapon comes on campus. This form of training became highly requested after the shooting in newtown, connecticut. Its called alice,for alert, lockdown, inform, counter, evacuate. Participants learn what to do should a gunman come on campus. Nothing can guarantee your safety and certainly this program cannot guarantee it, but what it can do is increase your chances of surviving. Captain belcastro says the seminar is not intended to show how to use a weapon and there is no need to be physically fit. The next Training Exercise will be for the journalism department. That will take place in Dwight Bentel hall on march 5th. And now we go to monday reynolds for arts and entertainment. Thanks liz and jessica. Here is what is going on in arts and entertaiment. Its one of the hottest classes on campus, but most students havent even heard of it. Update News Reporter tracy hinson has an inside look. A 2,150 degree roaring furnace, a few long metal straws, and a glory oven are all common sights for san jose state glass blowing students. Glass is one of those things that is totally addicting, and once you learn how to blow glass you dont want to stop. Glass blowing is a team effort. The main artist, the gaffer, takes the bench and shaped the glass. The assistant pulls glass from the furnace and keeps it warm using the glory oven. It may look tough, but glass blowing isnt just for art students. I see anywhere from nursing majors to history majors, lot of different engineering majors and then of course we have Industrial Design and interior design. The class has been around for nearly half a century, and enrollment is open. The glass blowers are from different majors, but they all have one College Experience in common. I get burned all the time. Little burns and cuts are a signature of the trade. And its part of the deal. If youre going to go fishing youre going to get splashed. If youre playing with fire youre going to get burned. Im wearing a kevlar heat resistant jacket and eye glass protection here in the glass blowing studio at san jose state. This equipment helps keep students protected from the 1,000 degree molten glass. In the san jose glass studio. Im tracy hinson update news. San francisco celebrated the arrival of the year of the snake last weekend at the Chinese New Year parade. Local schools, businesses, and chinese cultural groups marched from Market Street to union square and back to chinatown with the sounds of firecrackers and beating drums. San francisco has hosted an annual Chinese New Year parade since the eighteen sixties. Students dressed for success for the career and internship fair to prepare themselves for what to expect after college. Sjsu held the fai