2-2-15

The Oracle MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 I VOL. 52 NO. 73

Inside this Issue

S T A F F

How to go green this Valentine’s Day. Page 4

Montage

S PORTS Kingston gives Bulls hope for brighter future.

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

Sexual assault course Candidates announced for required for new students student body elections

By Chelsea Mulligan

LI F E STYLE

The Index

News.................................................................1 Lifestyle......................................................4 Opinion.......................................................6

W R I T E R

Before the question of what constitutes sexual assault has to be answered by a university committee or a court, a newly required prevention course aims to teach students the answer before it’s too late.

Starting this semester, USF changed its online sexual assault prevention course from Haven to Campus Clarity as part of a larger effort to comply with federal Title IX gender-equality standards.

The Campus Clarity course, called Think About It: Turning Points, will be required for all incoming undergraduates.

Undergraduate students who joined USF this semester will also be required to complete the program, while all graduate students will soon be notified to complete

their own course, still under the Campus Clarity umbrella.

Nanci Newton, director of USF’s Center for Victim Advocacy & Violence Prevention, served as part of USF’s Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Implementation Committee, responsible for choosing which product USF would select as its method to inform incoming freshmen and graduate students about sexual assault prevention and gender-based violence.

Newton said Campus Clarity was chosen over Haven because it was made to fit new VAWA guidelines.

“Think About It is more comprehensive in its approach,” she said.

“That’s where all of the current online or Web-based products are moving, because universities must meet these criteria.”

On its website, Campus Clarity claims to be “a one-stop solution.”

n See ASSAULT on PAGE 3

By Wesley Higgins N E W S

E D I T O R

Student Government (SG) confirmed the list of candidates running in the upcoming student body elections.

In the election for student body president, there are two tickets.

Current SG Senate President Andy Rodriguez will run for president along with vice presidential candidate Michael Malanga, the chair of the SG Appropriations and Audits Committee.

The other presidential candidate is Sammy Hamed, who recently stepped down as SG’s chief justice.

He will run with Alexis Sacasas, who serves as ranking justice in SG’s judicial branch.

In SG Senate elections, candidates run for limited seats designated for various colleges.

There are 76 students run-

ning from the College of Arts and Sciences, 20 from the Muma College of Business, seven from the College of Engineering, three from the Behavioral and Community Sciences, three from the College of Nursing, two from the College of Education, two from the College of Public Health, two from the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and one candidate from the College of The Arts.

Tuesday, there will be a candidate mixer that is open to the student body at 4 p.m. in Marshall Student Center (MSC) room 2708.

The debate for presidential candidates is Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the MSC Oval Theater and the debate for the vice presidential candidates is Feb. 9, also in the Oval Theater.

Voting starts the morning of Feb. 16. Students can vote online or at polling stations located across campus.

Robot world cup

n The USF robotics club is building a team of robots to compete in this year’s international robot soccer tournament in China. PAGE 2

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RoboBulls pursue robo-soccer championship

By Russell Nay C O R R E S P O N D E N T

A USF club is building a team of robots to take on the world — one soccer game at a time.

Aptly named RoboBulls, the club of 65 graduate and undergraduate students has an ultimate goal of competing in this year’s Robot World Cup Initiative.

The Robot World Cup Initiative, or RoboCup, is an annual research project and competition in which robotics teams from around the world build a team of autonomous robots capable of playing soccer against an opposing robot team.

“We essentially get down to getting the robots ready for competition,” said RoboBulls team captain Muhaimen Shamsi. “We do exercises in terms of programming … and try to build our programming skills that way competitively.”

By building robot soccer teams, researchers also work to provide solutions to current issues, both mechanical and intellectual, in the progression of robotics.

The purpose of RoboCup is to create, by the middle of this century, a team of fully autonomous humanoid robot soccer players that would win a game against the winner of the most recent FIFA World Cup. On July 19, robot clubs will gather in China to compete for three days in this year’s RoboCup. While RoboCup is more than five months away, Shamsi and RoboBulls student president Fallon Williams said the team will likely work to the last second preparing for the event.

“As we’re on the plane, we’ll probably be working on these robots if the airports will let us,” Williams said.

Williams, who is majoring in electrical engineering, said she joined USF’s RoboBulls because she was always hands-on in her passion for fixing and improving everyday mechanical objects.

Using these skills for RoboBulls, she began tinkering with robotic hardware, from the robot’s outer frame to the com-

plex inner wiring systems.

“It became a passion to know how autonomous drones … work,” she said. “The future of robotics is where I want to be.”

Shamsi, on the other hand, is majoring in computer science and engineering and said he joined RoboBulls a year ago.

Once he found out how he could use programming to help the team, he soon developed a passion for both the programming and the hardware processes involved in building an autonomous robot.

“I wanted something that I could put all of my passion into every single day,” he said. “So that developed into a passion where I really started to love the programming, and then I just couldn’t stop at programming because I wanted to know why my programming was being limited by the hardware.”

Williams and Shamsi said the rest of the team is diversely skilled and everyone brings something different to the group. They also said many of the undergraduates in the group are freshmen who keep renewing a passion for building robots.

“This kid came along, and it didn’t really seem to me at first that he had that much time to give, so we assigned him a task to draw and design,” Williams said. “The next week following, I kept getting these emails of designs, and I thought to myself, ‘Surely (he) has not done this all himself.’”

Williams said the freshman used 3-D modeling to develop advanced designs that the team then printed out. This sort of enthusiasm and talent is in high demand for the RoboBulls, he said, as building an entire team of autonomous soccer robots is a detailed and strenuous endeavor.

On one hand, the team must worry about building the physical robots from scratch, which means constructing metal frames, connecting motors and gears and building “omni wheels” that allow each robot to move in any direction without having to turn.

“We had a lot of issues in the beginning just getting the motors running and all the

RoboBulls consists of 65 graduate and undergraduate students who meet every week, programming and building a team of robots to compete in this year’s international RoboCup. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE electrical wiring put together,” Williams said. “There are so many components to building a prototype because it’s not like we’re buying a robot from the store … everybody got to learn from ground zero how to build a robot.”

Building a fleet of independent soccer-proficient robots requires more than skilled craftsmanship. To operate without human input, robots are programmed with artificial intelligence (AI) to function and win a robotic soccer game. This AI takes information from the field’s overhead camera, which is used by robots on both teams, and evaluates where the robot’s position on the field is, when to kick the ball and where to move.

It also possesses layers of strategies and behaviors that allow each robot to be competitive without being controlled.

“You can’t just say go to this position, go to that position and hope it works out. You have to implement a learning AI which learns how your opponents are going to move over time in the game,” Shamsi said. “We have a layer of strategies, which assigns defensive or offensive

stances; below that are behaviors for robots, like goalkeeper, defender, attacker; and below that layer are skills, like moving, kicking the ball and chipping the ball … our software is relatively complex, and we’re pretty proud of it so far. It’s been eight months in the making.”

The team must also worry about meeting the deadline for RoboCup, obtaining funding for all the team members to travel to China, preparing for any sort of technical difficulties and making sure everything is in place before the competition.

As Williams stated, funding may be the largest issue the team will deal with, as Student Government funding is typically only given out for USF student purposes, and the RoboBulls currently have no other source of funding.

“Between now and then, other than building the robots, there’s also a lot involved in running a student organization,” Shamsi said. “You need funding … you need to get more members to develop the AI that’s so groundbreaking. So it’s also a logistical issue, and, of course, keeping a team together,

keeping them motivated — it’s not just building robots; it’s also the human factor.”

If the team can overcome these obstacles and attend this year’s RoboCup, Williams and Shamsi said the event would be both a learning experience and a chance to show that USF’s RoboBulls can compete at an international level.

“I don’t care if we win or lose, it’s just about getting there,” Williams said. “You get to network with people, students and coaches that we would never have an opportunity to even meet … For our careers and futures, being there is going to open up so many more doors for these students and I … Since USF is an international research community, it just seems right for us to compete at an international level.”

“I want to give back to USF by making USF competitive at the RoboCup tournament … a team that is to be reckoned with,” Shamsi said. “I know there might be failure because it’s our first time, but my hope is that our 100 percent gets us to a competitive level at the RoboCup.”

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ASRC: How student organizations get funded

By Zach Lowie S T A F F

W R I T E R

It’s that time of year again when student organizations go before Student Government (SG) to ask for money from student fees.

Over the next three months, members from the SG Activity and Service Recommendation Committee (ASRC) will review written student organization budgets requesting money for the upcoming academic year.

ASRC was established to recommend Activity and Service (A&S) fee allocation to the Activity and Service Fee Business Office (ASBO) each term. Soon after the start of the spring semester, organizations outline what funding would do for them individually.

Each organization appoints a financial officer who serves as the only individual able to access the budget. The officer must be a USF student and a registered board member within that organization.

Additionally, A&S-funded organizations cannot charge any dues or fees to be part of the organization.

Sea Marshall-Barley, current graduate student and financial officer for the Robert R. Green International City/County Management Association student chapter at USF, is newly appointed and learning the process.

Up for the organization’s first year of re-eligibility, Marshall-Barley

ASSAULT

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The course is composed of modules that address issues such as college “hookup culture,” bystander intervention and unhealthy relationships.

Claiming to appeal to graduate students’ higher status and education level on college campuses, the graduate version uses “life-like interactions” to teach bystanders to intervene when they see an act that could be sexual assault. \ The courses are constructed in an interactive way that encourages students to engage with the program. The graduate program allows students to access information about specific state and university laws that relate to Title IX. The undergraduate program, meanwhile, uses what the company terms “live social norming,” which allows students to compare perceptions on alcohol, sex and other issues.

Newton also said Campus

said everything has been running well thus far.

“I think communication has been pretty good,” Marshall-Barley said.

“Everyone is easy to reach and it’s very clear when everything is due.”

With more and more student organizations updating their memberships or re-starting past groups, some must fall in line with a system that has run like clockwork for years.

ASRC is comprised of students, including eight senators and a senate committee on appropriations chair, chief financial officer, senate president, student body president, representatives from ASBO and a representative from Student Government Advising, Training & Operations (SGATO).

Gary Manka serves as SGATO director, working hand-in-hand with the ASBO to ensure Student Government is following established statutes.

“Student organizations need to realize there’s a hierarchy of law in the state of Florida within student governments that they must follow in order to receive allocated funds,” said Manka. “As long as they follow the law then there’s no reason they shouldn’t get funding.”

The A&S fee was approved to an increased $12.08 per credit hour, and a flat fee of $7, for every student belonging to the Tampa campus each term. With nearly 42,000

students enrolled this academic year fitting that criterion, the total amount made from the A&S fee was estimated at $14.6 million last year.

The increase will fund the replacement of gym equipment in the campus recreation center, a new gym on the USF Health portion of campus and will cover state-mandated salary increases for departments such as the Center for Student Involvement and the Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement.

This spring, USF allocated over $14.6 million in funds from the A&S fee with nearly $750,000 being used on student organizations.

Student Affairs departments, including the Marshall Student Center, Campus Recreation, Student Life Tower, Student Government branches, Computer Services, SAFE Team and Bulls Radio are all almost completely funded through the A&S fee.

In addition to these offices, more than 200 student organizations on campus must split the remaining money.

With so many different groups needing various itineraries, the average amount request is roughly $2,500.

To make the budget process easier, each senator is given roughly 20 organizations they must follow up with.

Abdool Aziz, ASRC chair and

Senate president pro tempore, said he knows that the process can seem overwhelming to new groups looking to get off the ground.

“Our main goal is to get as many organizations funded as possible,” Aziz said. “The sooner their budgets are turned in, the better chance we all have of the process going smoothly.”

To receive A&S funds, ASBO guidelines must be met for an organization to be eligible. One major stipulation is that A&S-funded student organization events must be open to all USF students and held on the USF Tampa campus, such as Riverfront Park or the location of a USF athletic event.

Juan Castano serves as the financial officer for Beef Studs, a student organization that aims to support all USF athletics by applying green and gold body paint and cheering on the teams. Castano has been the financial officer for almost a full year and said the process is a lot easier than some organizations might think.

“It was almost effortless to submit the budget as the guidelines were all set out and broken down, making the whole process a breeze,” he said Beef Studs received almost $4,000 for this academic year and have used almost $2,500. The money the group receives is used to order necessary paint supplies, shirts and other materials to help with their game day activities.

The remaining funds will be used for the upcoming baseball and softball seasons, as well as the end of basketball.

“This money will help us cater to any student willing to paint up and help support USF, because these materials can get pretty expensive otherwise,” Castano said.

“It’s not too difficult to establish an initial budget,” Castano said.

“Our needs mostly stay the same each year, so only minor changes are made each time. ASRC only requested one or two small changes last year so I don’t expect things to be too different when they start reviewing this time around.”

From an organization’s perspective, Beef Studs and Castano are confident in the current budget regulations and how the process is carried out.

The Senate is not obligated to fully fund student organizations, however, and all student organizations are encouraged to seek outside financial support if additional funds are needed.

As outlined in the latest budget, the A&S fee will no longer cover travel costs for organizations, which must now submit a travel grant application to Student Government to see if they are eligible for additional funding.

ASRC meets every Friday in MSC 3700 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to discuss the distribution of funds.

Clarity allowed the committee to take action now, rather than hold for new products.

“The committee that selected the Campus Clarity product was looking for a product that already met the VAWA guidelines, rather than wait for something new to be developed,” she said.

However, Newton also said the product is part of a larger movement within the university to promote sexual assault prevention.

“What I really like is the fact that the whole issue, I think, is being looked at from a holistic standpoint,” she said. “We’re not just using a single approach.”

NITE, a student organization on campus focused on social justice and equality, represents one of those approaches. President of NITE Kendyl Muehlenbein said Victim Advocacy’s REAL events, such as Walk a Mile in Her Shoes and Take Back the Night, are gaining traction.

“Over the time I’ve been here, I can see that more people know what we are and recognize our

events, like Take Back the Night and Walk a Mile in Her Shoes,” she said.

However, Muehlenbein also said she would still like to see more openness surrounding the subject on campus.

“As far as the entire university, I wish there was more conversation about sexual assault and sexual violence and gender-based violence,” she said.

Meanwhile, Michelle Hughes Miller, who chaired USF’s Title IX Committee and is still a sitting member, said sexual assault has gained prominence within the committee.

“In 2011, most of us within the Title IX Committee didn’t even think of sexual assault as the main component of Title IX,” she said — due to the broad nature of the legislation which addresses all areas of gender equality in education.

Hughes Miller also said the content required under Title IX is “not negotiable,” though schools can choose how they wish to provide that content. She said USF’s large

population might be a reason for its choice of using an online course as an introduction to a larger process.

The university plans to continue promoting a safe environment beyond Campus Clarity and freshman orientation, Newton said.

“It’s not just a one-shot deal,” she said. “There will be repetitive messages because that’s how you learn.”

Posters, online media, events and class time, she said, will be used to continue the message of a safe environment.

“There will be social-marketing campaigns,” she said. “Those messages are going to continue, as will the ongoing messages here of ‘Got Consent?’ through our REAL program.”

Though most of the information is focused on an on-campus approach, Newton said most sexual violence that happens to USF students is off campus.

“Do bad things happen on college campuses? Yes, but most of the crime that happens to our stu-

dents at USF happens off-campus,” she said. “Is there gender-based violence on campus? Yes, there is. I would like to see that at zero.”

However, Newton also said USF is still in a strong position compared to other similarly sized universities.

“I’ve done victim advocacy in venues in large college campuses,” she said. “One of the things that when I looked at the work that I was doing and my knowledge of how gender-based violence was occurring in those other places, and compared the safety of USF to the safety of those other campuses, then I have to say that USF is doing better than other large campuses.”

Overall, Newton said USF’s commitment to taming sexual assault goes beyond the selection of one product over another.

“The story is much more about what are the approaches we are using right now and have planned in the future,” she said. “Providing comprehensive education for new students and ongoing students.”

Lifestyle

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Unique ways to turn Valentine’s Day green

By Brandon Shaik L I F E S T Y L E

In love with the cocoa

E D I T O R

As February commences and stores fill with oversized stuffed animals and cardboard hearts filled with overpriced chocolates, Valentine’s Day is on the minds of all of who’ve been struck by Cupid’s arrow.

While it might be tempting to go all out for your special someone, a 2014 report by the Greeting Card Association named Valentine’s Day the second highest holiday for card consumers, behind Christmas, at an estimated 145 million cards per year. Greeting cards may seem like a harmless symbol of affection, but that large number has a great deal of environmental impact, such as carbon emissions from processing, delivery and mailing, to mention a few.

Here are a few ways to show your love for your significant other while still showing your love for Mother Nature.

Chocolate is a V-Day staple, not to mention a staple in the everyday diets of many, but what many don’t realize is that mainstream brands of chocolate can be a poor choice for the environmentally conscious. Recently, a great deal of discussion has risen surrounding chocolate producers taking advantage of child laborers, utilizing unsustainable growing methods and contributing greatly to global warming, putting the future of everyone’s guilty pleasure at risk.

In an effort to combat these growing issues within the chocolate industry, chocolatiers have taken to producing free-trade, locally made and sustainably grown chocolates that can be purchased in drug stores and supermarkets. Divine Chocolate is fairtrade and grown by Ghanaian cocoa farmers who receive a share of the profits. Dove Chocolate held the first International Workshop on Sustainable Cocoa Farming and places an emphasis on sustainable growing methods

with their farmers. Hershey’s Chocolate also recently announced it will use 100 percent certified cocoa by the year 2020 in an effort to eliminate child labor. Making the right choice doesn’t mean going broke on gluten-free artisan chocolate.

Everything’s coming up roses A dozen roses is the common gift for any Valentine, but oftentimes, flowers purchased from the local grocery store are produced using pesticides and excessive amounts of water that contribute to storm water runoff, which contaminates drinking water and degrades the land.

An eco-friendly floral alternative is to buy from one of many organic flower distributors such as californiaorganicflowers.com or organicbouqet. com. Unlike industrial flower companies, these organic flower companies don’t use pesticides and are grown in the U.S., meaning that the energy and resources required to ship flowers from foreign countries is greatly eliminated.

Off the beaten path Make a simple date with meaning, keeping the environment in mind.

Whole Foods Market offers vegan and organic cooking classes, which teach you how to create meals using locally grown and environmentally friendly ingredients. For the animal lover in your life, adopt a wild species for him or her from the World Wildlife Foundation. Animals include snow leopards, three-toed sloths and even narwhals. Adoption prices are available from $25 to $100, and features a certificate and photograph of the animal you adopted.

Maybe a narwhal is a little much for your Valentine and you’re trying to keep it low-key. Other options to help stick to a budget could include going for a walk in the USF Botanical Gardens, having a picnic and canoeing at USF Riverfront Park or watching the sunset at the beach. Whatever you choose to do, there are ways to make a classic Valentine’s Day while keeping the environment in mind.

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“I think we’re set up at this point to surprise some people … I think our goals are much higher than that,” Kingston said. “Obviously, we’re going to have to do it on the field.

But I think we have some pieces in place where we can do a lot of good things.”

Good may be an understatement.

USF boasts a solid starting rotation, headlined by righthanders Jimmy Herget, who finished with a 1.72 ERA in 14 starts last season and was named first team All-AAC, and Casey Mulholland, who was 4-3 with a 3.65 ERA in 18 games.

When asked of his early impressions of Kingston and the new coaching staff, Mulholland needed just two words: “They’re awesome.”

Still, an abundance of questions remain.

The Bulls have lacked consistency the past few years, and this season’s slate of opponents won’t make things any easier.

Aside from Cal State, USF also faces several other postseason contenders, including Louisville, Florida, Florida State, FIU and Florida Gulf Coast. And that’s just the nonconference schedule.

Kingston will also have to

TULSA

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The lead changed 15 times before Tulsa held it for good in front of a crowd of 4,939 at the Reynolds Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

USF led for 21 minutes in regulation, never trailing by more than two points in the second half.

The lead changed 10 times in the half, but with 21 seconds remaining, Tulsa guard Rashad Ray tied the game at 62 with a layup to force overtime.

The Bulls never led thereafter, as they were outscored 16-9 in overtime. The Golden Hurricane hit all of its fieldgoal attempts in the extra period, including three 3-pointers.

Three Bulls accounted for 66 of USF’s 71 points: senior guard Corey Allen Jr. scored a career-high 32, junior guard

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tinker with an offense that lacked power (nine home runs, 81 extra base hits) and ranked among the lowest in the conference.

But he isn’t concerned.

Kingston believes returning players such as infielder Kyle Teaf and outfielder Austin Lueck, who hit .354 and .277, respectively, will continue to improve. Newcomers like freshman Kevin Merrell, who Kingston referred to as an “elite runner,” may also provide some spark.

For now, though, it’s about instilling a firm work ethic in his players and grooming them to make the transition into his style of play.

“You’ve got to show up and win every day,” Mulholland said. “He stresses that a lot.

You’ve got to show up ready to go and get better every day.

If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse. That’s our mentality.”

Will that lead to a place in the postseason? Absolutely. It may not come this season, but it will, eventually. There’s finally a light at the end of the tunnel.

“We’re not going to make any bold predictions,” Kingston said. “But we are going to say that we’re going to play extremely hard. We’ll be a very smart team and we’re going to maximize our ability.”

Anthony Collins had 19 and junior guard Nehemias Morillo finished with 15.

USF made a season-high 10 threes and shot 50 percent from the floor, holding Tulsa to 43 percent shooting.

Tulsa showed its depth, however, as five players scored in double figures. The Golden Hurricane outscored the Bulls 27-2 in bench points.

Looking ahead, USF plays nine more games in the regular-season schedule before the AAC tournament. Five of those games are at home, and six of those games are against teams that are under-.500 in conference play.

The Bulls put up a fight against the AAC’s leading team, potentially building momentum to go into their home game against Temple (15-7, 6-3) on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

WINS

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Saturday.

“We struggled under pressure a little bit,” Williams said.

“The first half was not our finest play but I felt we came out in the second half, gained our composure and started to go off.”

Williams had her sixth consecutive game of 20 points or more, finishing the game with 20 points and nine rebounds.

Her continued dominance, combined with the presence of junior forward Alisia Jenkins in the paint, proved to be too much for the Tigers in the second half.

Jenkins had another doubledouble, with 11 points and 19 rebounds.

USF o u t - re b o u n d e d Memphis 48-31, getting its focus back and committing only eight turnovers in the second half.

A set of crucial free throws by junior point guard Shalethia Stringfield late in the game proved to be the differencemaker. Knocking down the shots gave the Bulls a two pos-

Courtney Williams had her sixth straight 20-point game as USF defeated Memphis 57-53 Saturday. ORACLE FILE PHOTO/ADAM MATHIEU session lead and sealed victory on the road.

“I think we just had to ker down and keep our on the prize,” Williams

their huneyes said.

“We showed adversity. It was a tough game, but we got through it and walked away with the win.”

Opinion

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EDITORIAL

US needs more progress for undocumented students’ education News article. Last year, Florida joined this list, as it now allows those students who went to a secondary school for three years prior to college to pay in-state tuition as long as they apply to school within two years after graduation.

Even this law, which allows students to pay about a third of what they might have to, has its limitations. For instance, not all undocumented students in the state can benefit, since the Southern Poverty Law Center reported that qualifying non-resident students can’t amount to more than 10 percent of the students in the entire State University System population.

This restriction is especially hard-hitting because Florida had about 950,000 undocumented immigrants in 2012 and the third highest undocumented immigrant population in the U.S. next to California and Texas, according to the Pew Research Center.

As for financial aid, resources are slim. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, undocumented students cannot receive federal financial aid, and only five states offer them state financial aid.

Given that 61 percent of the students surveyed are from families with incomes below $30,000 a

While undocumented students make up 2 percent of the country’s college students, as a recent NBC News article reported, the U.S. is far behind in providing an equal opportunity for higher education to these students.

A newly released national survey by UCLA’s Institute for Immigration, Globalization and Education and the UndocuScholars Project sheds light on the wide array of issues undocumented students face, from a strenuous educational environment to inconsistent state and university guidelines, as reported by NBC News.

The first national survey to explore this problem, it covered more than 900 college students throughout the U.S. from 55 different countries.

Since many of these students deal with financial disparity and fear family members being deported, as the article addressed, states and colleges need to make more of an effort to ensure these students have the opportunity to further their education and should provide resources particularly for them.

Now, 19 states allow undocumented students to attend school at in-state rather than out-of-state tuition rates, according to the NBC

the Oracle

year, and 56 percent felt “extremely concerned” about paying for school, results the Chronicle of Higher Education reported, students who have lived in a particular state for most of their lives should have the same opportunity to attend school as their classmates without being denied help.

More states, including Florida, need to at least make state financial aid an available option for students who have lived in a state for years.

It’s easy to see why the recent survey advocates for legislators and schools to offer better services, especially since 90 percent of deferred-action students worry about their friends and family being deported and many of the students surveyed reported feeling “isolated” during college, according to the Chronicle and NBC News articles. Campuses could intervene by providing support services to help these students at least feel less alone.

There is no reason why a student who was able to attend K-12 education should have a more difficult time paying for college, and without better provisions, it will be impossible to truly offer an equal chance for undocumented students in the U.S.

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What you said USA Today recently posed the question of whether or not vaccinations should be required in light of the recent measles outbreak in the U.S. and Mexico. Editor Isabelle Cavazos asked students about their insight on the controversial right to opt out.

“When it comes to children, some parents don’t like it, but that’s a personal choice. Overall, there should be a freedom of choice.”

— Sadia Jeny, a junior majoring in chemical engineering

“I think people should have to get vaccinated for everyone’s sake. It would be better if everyone is healthy.” ­— Jennifer Martinez, a freshman majoring in nursing “I think you should be able to opt out. You can’t make someone do something, but you can stop them from doing certain things or going to certain places.”

— Louis Nash, a freshman majoring in civil engineering

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“I think you should have your own option. Some people believe their bodies can fight illness off or they just don’t want to (get vaccinated). Just because others do it doesn’t mean you have to follow the norm.”

— Che Kamose, a junior majoring in international studies

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Crossword

M O N D AY, F E B R U A RY 2 , 2 0 1 5

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T H E O R AC L E

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Sports

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

The Rundown Outside USF Former USF quarterback B.J. Daniels was unable to earn his second Super Bowl ring in two seasons on Sunday when the Patriots defeated the Seahawks, 28-24. The QB was inactive for the game and has yet to play in an NFL game.

Weekend scores

Men’s Basketball

USF Tulsa

71 78

Women’s Basketball

USF

57 Memphis 53

Conference update

Men’s Basketball Houston (9-12, 1-8) earned its first conference win when it defeated UConn (11-9, 4-4) 70-68 Sunday.

Tulane (13-9, 4-6) was held to only eight first half points in the 55-37 loss to Temple (15-7, 6-3) on Saturday.

Women’s Basketball Tulsa (11-10, 6-4) moved into fifth place in the AAC with its 7061 win over Temple on Saturday.

UConn (20-1, 10-0) extended its perfect AAC record with an 83-49 win over Temple (10-12, 6-3) on Sunday.

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M O N D AY, F E B R U A RY 2 , 2 0 1 5

Women’s Basketball

Kingston brings hope to USF USF wins

close game in Memphis

Jeff Odom C O M M E N TA R Y

The crisp afternoon sunshine glistened off his bluelensed sunglasses like a ray of hope.

His words were so clear, so filled with buoyancy, you could almost hear the faint beep of an otherwise flat-lined program stirring back to life.

And that was just the first minute of new USF baseball coach Mark Kingston’s media-day introduction along the first base concourse at the USF Baseball Stadium on Wednesday.

In two weeks, Kingston will take his place along the railing of the Bulls’ dugout for the first time against fifth-ranked Cal State Fullerton, a Division I powerhouse that has made 23 consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament, 10 of which concluded in Omaha, Nebraska at the College World Series.

The only time USF has ever seen Omaha is on a map. In fact, the last time the Bulls were in the postseason, Jon

By Zach Lowie S T A F F

Coach Mark Kingston compiled a 170-101 record as the coach of Illinois State over the past five seasons. ORACLE FILE PHOTO/ADAM MATHIEU

Gruden was gearing up the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a Super Bowl run, American Idol debuted on Fox and the No. 1 song on the Billboard charts was Nickelback’s “How You Remind Me.” Thirteen years is a long time.

But that’s going to change — Kingston has a plan for this program.

Kingston, hired from Illinois

State in June to replace Lelo Prado, who stepped down after eight seasons to take an administrative role, believes he has something special here.

He wants to prove the team’s doubters wrong, namely those who projected the Bulls to finish fifth in the eight-team American Athletic Conference (AAC).

n See HOPE on PAGE 5

Men’s Basketball

Bulls fall to first-place Tulsa in OT

By Tiana Aument C O R R E S P O N D E N T

UCF (7-14, 3-7) at USF (17-4, 8-1) Network

T H E O R AC L E

Baseball

Women’s Basketball

When: Tuesday, 7 p.m.

Where: USF Sun Dome TV/Radio: American Digital

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Corey Allen Jr. scored a career-high 32, but USF fell to Tulsa in overtime Saturday. ORACLE FILE PHOTO/ADAM MATHIEU

The Bulls have finished arguably the hardest part of their schedule — and they did so with vigor.

Though they fell to secondplace SMU on Wednesday and first-place Tulsa on Saturday, the Bulls have shown they can compete with the best.

USF (7-15, 1-8) has shown its potential in spurts, such as Saturday when the Bulls dominated for most of the game against the Golden Hurricane (16-5, 9-0) before falling in overtime, 78-71.

n See TULSA on PAGE 5

W R I T E R

While people around the globe rang in the dawn of 2015 this past New Year’s, the Bulls were taking care of business on the court, romping Memphis by 33 at the Sun Dome. This weekend’s rematch was a much different story, with the Bulls escaping Memphis with a 57-53 victory.

USF (17-4, 8-1) headed to Memphis after winning six of its last seven games since the first meeting with the Tigers (11-10, 5-5). Having momentum on their side, the Bulls looked primed and ready for a second blowout victory against their AAC foe.

The Tigers had another idea in mind. “(Ariel) Hearn was having a night,” junior guard Courtney Williams said. “It’s like every shot she threw up was going in. There’s not much we could do about that.”

Memphis junior guard Ariel Hearn only shot 2-for-11 for five points in the teams’ first matchup earlier in the year.

Saturday, she was much more effective, shooting 10-for-24 for 30 points, getting open looks all over the court and methodically tearing apart the Bulls’ defense.

With Memphis pressuring USF down low, the Bulls had 11 turnovers in the first half and looked sluggish compared to other games in recent weeks.

When the teams met earlier in the season, USF shot 50 percent from the field. This time, however, the Memphis defense held USF to just 36 percent

n See WINS on PAGE 5