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T H U RS DAY, F E B RUA RY 2 1 , 2 0 1 9 I VO L . 5 6 N O . 3 5
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U N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H F L O R I DA
Executive branch hopefuls expand on their platform
By Alyssa Stewart N E W S
E D I T O R
Without the traditional bantering and interjections, Student Government (SG) held a ticket debate with unopposed candidates Britney Deas and Travis McCloskey who covered their platform initiatives and campaign objectives. Craig Latimer, the supervisor of elections for Hillsborough County, moderated the event in the Marshall Student Center (MSC) Ballroom Wednesday night where the ticket underwent a question-and-
answer period. After being asked to describe her “Bull S.H.I.F.T” platform in three words, Deas chose relatable, determined and passionate. One of the biggest points Deas and her running mate, McCloskey, reiterated was how they are not in a position to fill their “own agenda.” “While we are representing SG, we are students as well and we’re at the same level as everyone else,” Deas said. Previous initiatives that the ticket said they wanted to continue was parking trackers in
the parking garages and funding a football stadium. “The previous administration
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As vice president, McCloskey will be responsible for overseeing the three agencies
We want USF to not just be a place, but a home.
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Britney Deas, candidate for student body president
set a great foundation for a football stadium,” McCloskey said. “We don’t have it on our platform right now, but that is something we want to work toward.”
in SG, which are Bulls Radio, Computer Services and SAFE Team. As the current chief financial officer of SG, McCloskey said he is confident with the
connections he is making with his position. “No matter who comes in, I know that I’ll have a good relationship with the people who I worked with beforehand,” McCloskey said. McCloskey said when he was asked by Deas to be her running mate, it was an easy decision. “When she asked me, I said ‘of course,’” McCloskey recalled. The ticket agreed to split the responsibilities, although Deas’ position is held to a higher
n See DEBATE on PAGE 3
Inclusive and influential: Charlie Strong The USF football coach brings lessons from his humble beginnings to campus.
By Sam Newlon A S S O C I A T E
E D I T O R
The town of Batesville, Arkansas had a population of just over 10,000 in 2010, but when USF football coach Charlie Strong grew up there in the 1960s, it was different. Almost everyone found work at one of the four main production plants. Most were employed by the Tyson chicken farm and the rubber plant on the other side of town. Growing up, Strong worked at his uncle’s service station where he would fill gas tanks and wash windshields. He’d go back home, where he was one of eight children. Strong was the fourth oldest. He had older siblings Cleatrice, Eddie and Billy in that order. His younger siblings were Deborah, Carla, Lee and Ron. They lived in a three-bedroom house with Strong’s mother, DeLois,
This story is part of an ongoing series that highlights campus leaders during Black Heritage Month. and his aunt. Strong’s father, Charles, didn’t live with them because he coached basketball in another town. There was no running hot water. “It was so much togetherness and so much love in that house,” Strong said. “When we were growing up, that’s just the way it was. Because it was such a large family, the girls would eat first, then the guys would eat.” Back then, there were only about 6,000 people in the town. Born only three years after and an hour and a half away from the crisis surrounding the Little Rock Nine, Strong noticed a divide early in his
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life. “During the time that we grew up, it was the 60s in Arkansas,” he said. “You knew it was a ‘have’ and ‘have not’ situation. If you didn’t have it, you made sure you didn’t step to someone who had it. The people who had it were on one end of the town and we were on the other. “We didn’t have much. When you don’t have a lot, you don’t realize that you don’t have a lot. Everyone that you were around had what you had, so you made the best of it.” Strong learned very quickly that
n See STRONG on PAGE 4
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Coach Charlie Strong currently leads the USF football team, but his story began in a small Arkansas town. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/ GOUSFBULLS
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