Survival Mode: SJSU Responds to Historic Crises

As unfamiliar as our experiences with COVID-19 may feel, many of the challenges we are facing are not as novel as they can seem. Founded in 1857 as the oldest public university on the West Coast, the community that studies and works at San José State has found itself tasked with responding to various moments of crisis. Whether living through pandemics, wars, or climate crisis, the individuals who make up the SJSU community have responded with empathy, creativity, and resilience, sometimes in partnership with and sometimes as a challenge to university, city, and world leaders. In each of these historic moments arise echoes of the present: masks to protect from disease and other dangers, medical quarantine, scapegoating of marginalized communities, and the adoption of new hobbies to keep spirits up through challenging times. This exhibit explores the distant and more recent history of San José State in the moments when it has been a highly localized community responding to crises with worldwide impact. Photographs, news clippings, yearbooks, and journals from the University Archives, including recent contributions to the Spartans Speak on COVID-19 project, provide one lens for understanding our history and our present moment.