hello and welcome to update news... im elliot alagueuzian and i'm tori green... thanks for joining us. big changes are ahead for students at san jose state that were planning on taking excessive units in the coming semester. briana villalobos is live on campus to tell us about a new unit cap that will be implemented at sjsu next semester. briana? the administration is saying that the unit cap for undergraduate students is needed in order to predict how much faculty will be needed for the 2013 spring semester. " only graduating seniors with graduation applications on file before december 12 1012 will be able to petition for excess units. "people are not going to be able to graduate in a timely fashion." music education coordinator dr. diana hollinger explains how the unit cap will put many students in jeopardy. "it reeked havoc on us as a major. for music because our degrees most all of them are one hundred and thirty two units instead of one hundred and twenty. which means to graduate in four years you have to take sixteen to seventeen units a semester." students are wondering how they will be able to graduate in a timely fashion since they need other classes outside of their major. mikaela suhumaker says she may wind up missing out on classes that she loves. "you cant sign up for all of your ensembles because your first priority are your courses because you get your letter grade to graduate." the unit cap was put in to effect after the high enrollment of students in fall of 2012. students and faculty hope that this cap is only a temporary solution to the problem and that unit enrollment will go back to normal by fall of 2013." sjsu students for quality education are urging students who are upset with this decison to write an open letter to provost ellen junn. san jose state university has launched a partnership with major tech powerhouses cisco and nexus is inc. to upgrade the campus' information technology infrastructure. this plan designed to give students' a better learning experience while providing new cutting edge technology. sjsu president mohamed quaiyomi says the time has come to make this a reality. " many students are looking forward to the upgrades -- which include free wireless internet -- video conferencing -- and improving phone service within the next 18 months ... these are upgrades many students are looking forward to. sot student the director of the journalism school says the technology upgrades will broaden his students' academic experience. "this new technology, specifically the cisco telepresence system, will enable the journalsim, advertising and public relations students on campus to connect with any institution academically around the world or any professional organization that has the same technology." major technology upgrades have been hard to implement at sjsu ... due to one reason. [rober rucker "money, it's a state school and state schools have not always been very proactive at doing major fundraising. other institutions, privately owned they do it very well. state schools now with the funding that we're being reduced to, we have no choice." 28 million dollars are being invested over a five year period. the funds for this program will come from the school's i-t services budget -- a new student fee -- and the sale of the educational broadband service spectrum. "the system we had was totally out of date, that was one aspect. but in terms of many of the technologies that we need in our classrooms.... that was not present." for president mohammad qayoumi this technology will not just help students in their studies ... but also give them an advantage in the job market. " "for instance if you look at the use of adobe software. i mean all of you as you graduate there will be a lot of expectation that you know a lot of those basic softwares." [robert rucker"this new technology that the president is offering will enable our students to compete far more effectively. because they'll understand from college how to use the technology effectively, purposefully so that they can go into those career fields and be successful."" director rucker hopes that this new technology will help students in more of an intellectual way instead of a social way. it's not something to be proud of, but san jose is on track to break a 15 year homicide record. updates amanda del castillo is live on campus to tell us about why this crime rate has been up so high this year. amanda? forty-three homicides were recorded in 1997... and today san jose is on track to meet those statistics. city services may have been cut back, but the city's homicide rates continue to move forward. " thirty six people have been killed so far in san jose this year, last year the total was 39. the city is on pace to break its own 15 year homicide record, with only three months left in the year. s-j-s-u alumni, wilson kong, says the campus community is heavily affected by crime around the city because of its location and the lack of city services. wilson kong: "last year i graduated and i lived in downtown san jose, by 11th and reed. that's when the cops were being pulled out of the city and that's when the city laid off a lot of cops." kong was good friends with s-j-s-u student kristina pandula, who was murdered in a double homicide in october of last year. the number of patrol officers in the streets of san jose has been cut back, the latest killing shattered san jose's six-week relief from violence that followed a deadly eleven day stretch of homicides. jason dwyer: "these numbers, they jump around quite a bit. so you've got homicides, you've got auto-thefts; you've got different types of crimes in the city. you may see a spike for a week or two, and then you may not have that type of crime for a couple weeks. it's very difficult to play the numbers game when the numbers are so low." sergeant jason dwyer says the number of homicides compared to the city's population is low. there are approximately one million people living in san jose. mark correia: "generally speaking, san jose still ranks as one of the safest cities in the united states. so with that said, then of course, most people are really concerned when they start to see these spikes in homicide rates and other things." justice studies department chair, mark correia, says the public needs to think about how crime is distributed across the city. mark correia: "most of the homicides we're seeing tend to be homicides within gangs, gang violence, and things along those lines- they tend to be isolated in certain parts of the city."" correia says homicide rates are one of the most accurate terms of statistics officals have for crime- primarily because of an actual body count. he says homicide rates are the highest reported crimes officials know of. in san jose, live on campus, amanda del castillo, update news. owning a car can be expensive. a car owner has to pay for oil changes, tire rotations and basic maintenence. as we all know...filling up on gas lately isn't cheap either. update news reporter pedro garcia has the story. " fourth year photography student patrick gregorio drives about 80 miles a day to get to san jose state and back home. with the high price of gas he's hurting. patrick gregorio commuter "now i think i spent... probley... like a hundred per week." the national average price for a regular tank of gas is three dollars and eighty one cents. in california the state average is well above that mark close to four dollars and seventy cents a gallon. in contrast, it was about four seventeen last week prof. tom means/ sjsu economics "we have fewer refiners and we have fewer refiners making california gasoline. and we change blends between winter and summer. so it's a much more restrictive market some might say it's not as competitive." public transit is an alternative but senior rashi mirakhur says that isn't always practical. rashi mirakhur commuter "yes we do have other options like the vta, the buses, the train itself, but...it is inconvenient you know when we do look at the first transportation of getting to school is the car. it's convenient but expensive." historically gas prices have been lower in past years. it wasn't until recently that this began to change. tom means "now since 2000, the real prices started to creep up a little, recently we've had some bumps but in terms of where we are in terms of 1980...we are still below 1980 prices...barley." both gregorio and mirakhur say whatever the reason they are simply spending too much money on gasoline. patrick gregorio "i got a bill from my dad saying i spent 330 bucks in a month that's almost rent money when i was living in an apartment its just like wow like that's just ridiculously large." earlier this week govenor jerry brown announced state smog regulators to allow winter-blend gasoline to be sold earlier than usual to bring down prices. lower prices are something gregorio will believe when he sees it. reporting from san jose, pedro garcia update news." over more than 230,000 women in the u-s are diagnosed with breast cancer ... and about 1 in 8 u-s women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime but the odds of surviving this devestating disease are getting better every year. this month is breast cancer awareness month ... we meet one survivor finds joy in helping other women struggling with breast cancer. " when donna spagna was diagnosed with breast cancer 7 years ago, she was devestated because she had been getting mamograms every year. that part was the hardest, the beginning part was the most difficult thing i had ever done mostly because in the beginning when your diagnosed you don't realize that it's a lot of decisions for women to make.women take a big part now in their cancer treatment she turned to the american cancer society for support ... spagna is now a cancer survivor ... working in the cancer society's wig bank ... helping cancer patients to look good and feel better. i've been working primarily at the american cancer society, bringing forward their wig bank program and working with their look good...feel better program. so i'm very...really very excited to be able to do that and i'm doing that and chose to do that because i had hair loss in my twenties. so i thought it was one thing that i could help other women with. the wig bank offers new wigs donated by leading manufacturers as well as gently used wigs from individual donations. the look good...feel better program is free of charge and teaches different techniques to patients battling the side effects of cancer treatments. in terms of prevention .... the cancer society is concerned that many younger women are not aware of its recommendations to get a clinical breast exam in their twenties and thirties. (angie carrillo/american cancer society) you're invincible at a young age and you just think oh it's not for me, it's older people. but i think that every women should know their breasts. they should know their bodies so they could do a self exam or go to the doctor. starting at 20 you have to go for basic women health anyway so at that time have your first breast exam. throughout the month of october there are countless ways to help support the cause and join in events raising money to find a cure spagna has already found a way to help women battling breast cancer ... it is now her life's calling. i really was enthusiastic about trying to get more women to know about it and also get a lot of people involved with assisting at our local american cancer society." the american cancer society has it's huge making strides towards breast cancer walk saturday, october 27th and for a different way to help, the nfl is donating 10 cents for every ticket sold throughout the month of october to the american cancer society. its greek week on campus, tim vantress is live on campus to tell us what the greek community was doing this week. tim? homecoming week is upon us, which for some also means greek week. houses are using this week as an opportunity to unite as one organization. " for fraternities and sorotities on campus, greek week is more than just celebrating school spirit. they are celebrating greek unity. some houses have been at san jose state for more than a hundred years, while others weren't even around to see the new milennium. it has proven difficult to get over 40 chapters to work together as one organization. diana rubio, student engagement coordinator: "you're talking about 10, 15, 20 members where some of them are a hundred so when it comes to doing socials or joint events at a smaller scale, it is harder to have unity i guess." greek organizations participate in only a handful of events over the course of the year. this one happens to coincide with homecoming week. (nat pop of students cheering during relay races) on monday, students ran relay races, balanced eggs, and showed their colors on the lawn outside the event center. they also signed up for a competition to decorate a house on greek row. kappa delta chair whitney smith was overseeing a group of seven different houses decorating alpha-tao-omega. "i would say this is probably one of the biggest, to get all the greeks together for one common goal basically." # # #" there are more than 30 thousand members of the student body. but only about 1,500 of them are in the greek system. live on campus, tim vantress, update news. still ahead on update news, well show you the results of the on campus film festival. we'll show you how a rich mexican tradition is helping families remember their loved ones. but first we ask students what they would like to ask at a presidential debate. pedro garcia is here with arts and entertainment. whats going on this week pedro? theres alot of stuff happening this week elliot, but first lets start with the campus film festival. the worlds largest student film festival came to san jose state for the seventh year in a row. the campus film festival is a daunting test for student filmmakers because they have just one week to complete their projects. on tuesday -- the red carpet was rolled out for the festival winners. lexy nuno has the story. " (track) lights ... camera .... action these are words james choi loves to hear ... after all he won two of top prizes at campus movie fest on tuesday. (james choi/cmf winner) "everythigns like a buzz right now, i'm just taking it all in, enjoying the moment and the most important thing for me is to just to keep, this is just the beginning i feel like. i have to just keep pushing harder." the aspiring actor won best actor and the most desired award of the night .... best picture. choi's --the tale of a knife-was also nominated for best comedy (clip of film) (james choi/cmf winner): "i'm glad i was able to show it. i'm glad everyone enjoyed it. and i hope in the future i will be able to make more films like this that people enjoy and love." campus movie fest the world's largest student film festival -- hosted at 70 college campuses in the u-s. all the equipment needed to make the films is provided free of charge. students have 7 days to film and edit a short five-minute movie in whatever genre they want. student filmmakers made comedies (nat sound of comedy)...dramas (nat sound of drama)... and there was a new category .... cyber crime drama (nat sound of cyber crime drama). the festival's promotions mangager says he was impressed with this year's turnout. (nishant gogna/cmf promotions manager): "we expected tonight to be really wowed and dazzled...and we were really wowed and dazzled by the number and quality of entrees that have been entered into this competition this year at san jose state university." nearly 500 movie buff's packed the morris daily auditorium. over 130 teams waited in anticipation to see their film...but only 16 movies were shown on the big screen. (james choi/cmf winner): "when i saw all the other films, i kept hoping...oh i hope my movie gets shown, i hope it gets shown. it got shown and i was happy. and all this other stuff is just icing on top of the cake." lexy nuno/ :"the best picture, comedy, and drama are all moving on to campus movie fest hollywood, which is an international comptetion. that competition will be held in june of 2013. reporting from the red carpet, lexy nuno, update news."" all the films entered from san jose state will have another opportunity to earn a spot at c-m-f hollywood. students can vote for their favorite film online at campus movie fest dot com. this week was student appreciation week on campus. the student union showed it's appreciation for san jose state students on tuesday in front of the event center. the student appreciation festival was a day filled with fun activities for everyone... and a day for the student union inc. to promote their services. students enjoyed live music...free food and snacks...and a free t-shirt and they also had a chance to win prizes... these prizes included a semester of free books from the spartan book store, and tickets to sold out concerts. you can visit the student union and like them on facebook. online is a list of all upcoming events and services offered. dia de los muertos ... or day of the dead ... is a mexican holiday honoring family and friends who have passed on ... and it's being celebrated here on campus. dia de los muertos falls on november second. family and friends honor loved ones by setting up altars ... often using traditional sugar skulls, marigolds and the deceased's favorite foods or beverages. the library is allowing families to set up altars for their loved ones, to give the world a glimpse of this traditionthat is centuries old. " because its so colorful and so vibrant it brings what is a day of rememberence to be celebrated." the art of rememberence exhibit for day of the dead will be up from october 8th through november 8th in the martin luther king library. rainy weather didn't stop the homecoming festivities at fire on the fountain on thursday. (nat sound) students gathered on tower lawn to get fired up for the homecoming football game. fire on the fountain included a velcro wall...a human bowling ball...yummy treats...plenty of school spirit....and lots of fire. and there was more fuel for the fire this year since spartan football has been doing so well. students like (arton falla-hottie) and (juan sutta-mer) say they're enjoying a winning season. " most definitely we're really doing good so yeah. everyone showed up a lot because we're doing the best we can. winning's like the best right now so yeah. san jose state...san jose state. go spartans!" and who could be more excited than the one and only sammy the spartan...who was dancing and pumping up the spartan squad. most students are juggling a lot of things every day. they have to figure out how to balance school, work, family time and a social life. the time management workshop... is a part of the spartan success series. it focuses on helping students understand how to prioritize and make the most of their day. students were given ideas on setting long-range goals and establishing priorities. also how to make those goals realistic and achievable. the goal of counseling services is for students to find their own success. " yu-ping huang, counseling services "we want our students to succeed. and that is the purpose of all the workshops we are doing. is that wew want to help our students academically and personally and we want them to do well at school."" counseling services is located in the administration building and is open monday through friday 8:30- 4:30 pm. thats it for arts and entertainment this week guys, back to you! oh wow lots of fun and interesting stuff happening, great stuff pedro i loved it. still ahead on update news, one defensive player continues to rack up the accolades, well tell you who it is. and theres something differnt this year with the spartan football team........and its not just the win-loss record. but first we ask students why many of them do not attend the spartan football games. tyler huffman joins us for sports now. anticpation has been building for the homecoming game tyler, hows the football team feel? they're feeling confident and energized, but more than anything they feel prideful. the football team is having a great season heading into conference play. but maybe more important than the team's win-loss record is the growing sense of spartan pride in san jose. " nat sound practice its business as usual on the football field, but on campus spartan football is generating more excitement than in the past. head coach mike macintyre feels the team is working with a new energy now that they've begun to taste the fruits of their labors in the form of victories. macintyre " i think they're excited, they feel good about themselves, they have confidence. they're practicing really hard right now. they know what it takes to win and thats a lot of hard work and effort." a sense of spartan pride is growing across san jose state because of the football team's success and the importance of having the students behind the team is not overlooked. senior defensive captain travis johnson is hoping to see this trend continue throughout the season. johnson " the past couple years we have gone on the field and we are pumped but we had no support from the fans. you know its quiet so we didn't have that homefield advantage. so now that we have students and people from the area that want to come check it out. it brings more people in the stadium. it gets us fired up more. having the student body at san jose state behind the team is a commodity that the spartan football team has sought for years. there is now growing attendance at games, the players, coaches and administartion are taking notice and feeding off the energy that the spartan community is putting into the team. macintyre "our president, one of his main goals is spartan pride, and i think we are a big part of that spartan pride. because we are on the front page of the news, on television, and that type of thing. so we can put that spartan pride out there. any time our student section is full and its exciting, our kids get pumped about it."" the spartan's continuing their success is a vital piece for the spartan pride to continue growing. students and faculty can get into games for free so there is no reason why the stadium shouldn't be packed. defensive standout travis johnson is continuing his strong year. he leads the nation in career quarterback sacks heading into this weekend's homecoming game. on top of burying opposing quarterbacks, johnson is collecting his fair share of national recognition. he was recently added to the watch list for the lott impact award which is given to the defensive player that best resembles the character of the iconic hall of fame 49-er ronnie lott. the last three players to win this coveted award have gone on to be standout defensive players in the national football league. travis johnson is not the only player receiving recognition for his hard work and good performances. tight end ryan otten seen here catching a pass......is statistically ranked the 5th best tight end in the nation according to cbs sports.com. otten caught his first touchdown pass of the season in the spartans game at san diego state. despite this attention otten remains focused on completing what is so far a successful season. " "yeah i didn't know about that but uh, that's awsome and it's exciting. i'm not too worried about that right now just trying to do what i can to help the team win right now."" otten will try and keep up his stellar play through the season hoping to raise his draft status so he can potentially be drafted into the national football league. thats it for the happenings in sports this week guys, back to you! thanks tyler! awesome stuff! yeah good stuff, thanks tyler. that'll do it for now. thanks for watching. be sure to check us out on facebook and twitter by searching 's-j-s-u update news.' now get some rest so we can see you again next week.