03-12-15

The Oracle THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2015 I VOL. 52 NO. 92

Inside this Issue

www.usforacle.com

The Index

Opinion.......................................................4 Classifieds..............................................7

Crossword.........................................7 sports............................................................8

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

Students dispute mobile polling Defining after campaign accusations feminism Students look toward future during Women’s History Month.

n O P I NIO N

University of Oklahoma fraternity perpetuates hate.

Page 4

Montage

By Brandon Shaik A S S T .

S P ORTS Santos, Bulls extend win steak to 13.

BACK

The definition of a mobile polling station was the key issue at Wednesday’s SG Supreme Court trial for candidate Saeed Sinan, accused of harassing voters in the Library. ORACLE PHOTO/ADAM MATHIEU

By Alex Rosenthal “I directed people to vote going around the Library during E D I T O R I N C H I E F campaigning and urging students because sometimes the polling to vote for him either by their per- stations on campus … were not What do you consider a mobile sonal laptops or his own phone if operating so I did not want them they didn’t have a computer with to just go there and say they didn’t polling station?

This was just one question them, said he wasn’t running a find it, so I gave them convenience to vote at that time if they members of the SG Supreme mobile polling station.

Instead, he told the court he wished to,” Sinan said.

Court asked Saeed Sinan, a newly While polling stations did suffer elected senator from the College of was guiding students to vote and Arts and Sciences, on Wednesday. only offered them his phone as a from a lack of volunteers during Sinan, who was accused of convenience. n See COURT on PAGE 5

Back with a splash

Andros Pool re-opened Wednesday after being closed for the winter. The pool will be open for students 1-6 p.m. Sunday thru Wednesday. ORACLE PHOTO/SEBASTIAN CONTENTO

N E W S

E D I T O R

The feminist movement has come a long way. Though, despite the fact that women’s status in society has improved since 1848, many feel there are still hurdles that stand against true equality.

As part of Women’s History Month, the USF Office of Multicultural Affairs sponsored “Stop the Madness: Feminism, Womanism and Sexism” on Tuesday. Hosted by Fanm Kreyol Inc., an organization for Haitian women at USF, the event tried to define the essence of the feminist movement.

“The importance of feminism on campus, and everywhere actually in the community, is equal rights,” said Willy Lafond, ambassador of Fanm Kreyol Inc. for the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

“That’s what feminism is for, it’s not about men-bashing like most people think,” she said.

“It’s about women trying to get the same rights as men and trying to fight for fairness. In some countries, women don’t have the same fairness.”

Aside from focusing on feminist issues in the U.S., the event aimed to shed light on the struggles of women around the world.

“If you’re looking at the Caribbean cultures, women in the past and some now too are seen as the lower class,” Lafond said. “When they look at us like this, they’re saying that we don’t deserve to do certain things. That was the main basis for every woman, everywhere around the world.”

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FEMINISM

Continued from PAGE 1

Feminism is a term that has had several interpretations throughout its history and is sometimes misunderstood.

Diane Price Herndl, a USF professor of women and gender studies, addressed the legacy of the feminist movement and what it has represented throughout time.

In the 1970s, inter-discrimination arose among women in the feminist movement, particularly among races as white women and women of color divided in the fight for equality. Some felt the feminist movement didn’t do enough to acknowledge racial equality and only focused on what suffrage could do for white women. From this divide, she said the term “womanism” arose.

“Womanism is a version of feminism,” Herndl said. “It’s a kind of feminism that takes the concerns of women of color seriously and recognizes that women of color often do not have as much common cause with middle class, upper class white women as they do with their brothers.”

In modern day, Herndl said women who traditionally called themselves feminists are now calling themselves “womanists.”

They believe that in order to combat one form of discrimination, it’s imperative to combat all forms of discrimination.

“You can’t raise one group on any other group’s back and hope that you’re fighting a movement of equality,” Herndl said.

Much of the conversation of the evening centered on terminology and conceptions associated with these terms.

One male audience member said the event taught him a lot about the true definition of feminism, adding that the term always sounded like a manhating radical movement full of negative connotations.

“We need to make men aware that feminism is not about menbashing. While some people believe that only men-bashers become feminists, that’s not true,” Lafond said. “We’re fighting for equal rights, anyone can do it … if we bring more attention and awareness to it, especially to the men that will be the next leaders in the future, that will make our jobs a lot easier.

Instead of us just fighting by ourselves, we will have them fighting

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by our side.”

As part of a student panel, USF students from different cultural backgrounds, all of whom identify as feminists, addressed issues such as lack of education and women’s roles in Asian, Caribbean and North American societies.

One audience member who grew up in Haiti described her experiences as a woman in a country that views women as simply functional beings.

“The first thing they taught you is how to clean, how to cook and they tell you if there’s one chair at a table, the men have to sit at the table first before the woman can sit at the table,” she said. “The woman has to stand … that’s how I grew up.”

One panelist who was raised in the U.S. responded that one’s view of feminism “depends on how you’re raised,” adding she wasn’t raised to see any difference between female and male roles.

The remainder of the events this month focus on the idea of feminism and women’s roles in today’s society, as well as being an active feminist.

“We want to be seen as people, we don’t want to be seen as minorities like we always are,” Lafond said. “We’re women, we’re made just like men too, we can do the same things they can do. Why think of us as minorities?”

Tuesday’s event was just one of many, including “Shades of Womanhood” on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the MSC Ballroom, “Gender Bending Science Fiction” on Monday at 6 p.m. in CWY 107 and “I Support Women” on Tuesday at 10 a.m. in the MSC Atrium.

CORRECTION In Wednesday’s issue of The Oracle, an article incorrectly stated that if Saeed Sinan is found guilty of Student Government campaign violations, he will lose his senate seat, resulting in an expedited election. The result would be a runoff election where students in the College of the Arts and Sciences would vote for the empty position.

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Opinion

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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Racist frat raises national concerns there is the difficulty of seeing what side of the line these Greek students land on. Perhaps some are ignorant and get caught up in racist chants, but perhaps some are genuinely bigots that enjoy putting other races down.

Regardless of where the caught students reside on the issue of racism, there remains the concern that some of these collegiate social circles are advocating offensive stereotypes and perpetuating the imagery of violence toward other students.

Though a close-knit group of friends is vitally important for support through college, closed social groups such as OU’s chapter of SAE can often lead to closedminded and like-minded values, a concerning problem for college students who are supposed to be in an open environment meant to expand forward thinking.

If fraternities are going to act like a second family, which much of Greek life aims to achieve, then they should strive to ensure that second family is not a bunch of racist cousins.

Though there is nothing wrong in taking pride in fraternal bonds, a group’s exclusivity does not beget a sense of supremacy and rejection toward those who are different.

A video of white fraternity students has gained much media attention recently, as the students sing “There will never be a n----- in SAE. You can hang them from a tree, but they’ll never sign with me.”

While it may sound like a chant belonging to a black-and-white film clip from the 1950s, the footage was in fact taken with a cellphone Saturday. The video in question was taken when the University of Oklahoma’s chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon had members chant the racist song on a bus ride that night.

The racism of the members and the bliss they may feel in being their own segregated fraternity is atrocious enough, but the need to sing lyrics that involve lynching conjures up a historically violent issue that pushes their chant to another level. As a result, the fraternity’s chant has created a campus-wide and national disgust for those on the bus and within the fraternity itself.

According to USA Today, the frat has been rightfully removed from its on-campus house and the two students who appeared to be leading the chant were expelled from the university. The national

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T H E O R AC L E

What you said

SAE organization also made an effort to distance themselves from the chapter, announcing no connection to the actions of the OU students.

As the New York Times reported, one frat member, Parker Rice, stated the chant was likely influenced by alcohol. Perhaps alcohol should not take the rap — it has been reported by the New York Times that former SAE members made the same chant at other colleges.

If more former members do speak out, then it could be understood that there is a national issue of racism and segregation occurring within SAE. The members of the now-disbanded chapter have come out with apologies, and their families have admitted the consequences they must live with. However, if the video had not been posted online, the prejudices of the members would have gone unknown.

The New York Times brought up former instances of the SAE organization being involved in racial issues. For example, having racially offensive-themed parties, such as the University of Cincinnati’s SAE chapter hosting a “trash party” the day before Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Another instance included members making derogatory remarks about the black girlfriend of a white member.

After the fact of these events

Adam Mathieu

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In light of the New York Times’ Room for Debate section recently asking if same-sex colleges remain important today after the all-women’s school Sweet Briar College closed due to a decline in enrollment, Editor Adam Mathieu asked students their thoughts on the function of same-sex colleges.

“I think they still have a place, I worked with a girl that went to an all-girl school but she had an all-guys school next to it so she had a chance to socialize with the opposite sex.”

— James Jacobelli, a senior majoring in special education “I would say maybe for certain religions that would want to segregate, but in modern day it seems unnecessary. I think just one gender would give only one view.”

— Nicolas Delgado, a junior majoring in molecular biology

“I think it’s for more conservative people and detracts from your social interactions. Then once you get out of college you’ll be at a loss with interaction.”

Adam Mathieu is a junior majoring studio art.

— Fallon Birk, a junior majoring in psychology

The Oracle is published Monday through Thursday during the fall and spring semesters, and twice weekly, Monday and Thursday, during the summer.

The Oracle allocates one free issue to each student.

Additional copies are $.50 each and available at the Oracle office (SVC 0002).

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Contact Editor in Chief Alex Rosenthal at 974-5190.

“I think it’s more of if you don’t interact with the opposite sex, you get distant and awkward with the other sex.”

— Alan Conrad, a sophomore majoring in business

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COURT

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voting week, Title VII of SG statutes has a short definition of a mobile polling station: “The use of any portable device by any person for the purposes of voting in any election.”

According to SG Supervisor of Elections, John Quiroz, who was the first witness at Wednesday’s trial, all candidates were both told about mobile polling stations during mandatory candidate information sessions and were emailed a copy of election rules and rules of procedure.

“In all the information sessions, I specifically reviewed this one instance because it had come up in past elections with polling stations,” Quiroz said. “I asked (sic) the candidates you can’t use your phone, laptop or any mobile device, you can’t give it to a potential voter. What you can do is promote the website and walk away.

I made this very clear because I didn’t want anyone falling into a gray area.”

Quiroz also said he told candidates that failing to follow this rule would result in a major violation and they would thus be disqualified from the election. If the court finds Sinan guilty, he will be disqualified and there will be a runoff election for the vacant seat for the College of Arts and Sciences.

The key piece of evidence in the trial was a video taken by acting Senate President Abdool Aziz, in which Sinan is shown standing over a student and instructing him how to vote.

SG Attorney General Alex Johnson, who spoke at the trial on behalf of the Election Rules Committee, asked Aziz if he thought the student seemed forced or compelled to vote by Sinan.

“Absolutely, because that individual is not the first person that’s encountered that,” Aziz replied.

“People emailed into Student Government and complained that individuals have been doing this

to them and they don’t leave until you vote.”

Sinan responded to this by bringing the student in the video, Tian Feng, to testify on his behalf.

Though Feng said he chose to vote and who to vote for, he said English wasn’t his first language and asked Sinan for help with the instructions on the eBallot.

Feng said he did not know the spelling of Sinan’s name and asked how it was spelled while voting.

Sinan maintained he did not urge Feng to vote for him while guiding him through the ballot, but in an earlier statement to the court, Sinan said he did not know which college Feng was registered to vote in, but that he was not a candidate on Feng’s ballot.

Feng said he was an INTO student studying geology, a major in the College of Arts and Sciences, which Johnson pointed out to the judges. According to the USF directory, Feng is a geology student but does not have a designated college.

“The fact of Mr. Sinan’s intention is not relevant in this case,” Johnson said in his closing statement. “The use of a mobile polling station is a violation of Title VII, there is no ambiguity there.”

Johnson added that Sinan standing over the student’s shoulder is evidence of forcing an individual to vote.

When Sinan faced the justices for questioning during his closing statement, Ranking Justice Rachael Soloway asked what his intention was for standing over Feng, even after he already pulled up the voting website. Sinan said he was helping his friend through the language barrier and, to avoid distracting from the student’s homework lab for too long, making the voting process easier.

Soloway pointed out that he had already distracted from the lab by asking him to vote.

When asked by Chief Justice Daniel Shapiro to refute the claim of using a mobile polling station, and then later asked by justice Lindsay Betros what he consid-

ered a mobile polling station, Sinan seemed to evade and indirectly address the issue.

“So the reason why is that many students wanted to vote, however they didn’t have electronics or their phone or their computer was dead and I didn’t want to inconvenience them to go to a polling station,” Sinan told Shapiro.

“I consider a mobile polling station for when someone can vote for whoever they want. It can be a phone or a laptop or anything,” Sinan told Betros.

While Shapiro established that Sinan did not have a malicious intent and that Sinan did give his phone to some voters to vote, Sinan seemed to backtrack under the questioning saying he “forgot the rules.”

“Actually it was two weeks before election week, so at that time I forgot the rules actually so that’s why I did just for their sake,” Sinan admitted. “There was an email sent like two or three weeks before elections started so during that time I didn’t tell anyone to vote … I had a simple mindset that I should not do any major violations like slander or forcing or anything of the sort so I played by the rules.”

“I didn’t force, I didn’t mention, I didn’t ask any student to reveal their login,” Sinan later said. “I don’t believe this counts as authorizing a mobile polling station — I did it just for the sake of their convenience.”

Johnson concluded by pointing out that if Sinan showed Feng how to vote on his laptop by standing over his shoulder and by giving at least one student his phone to vote, as Sinan said, that would be two counts of a major violation.

A ruling on the trial is expected from the court within the next few days. If the court rules against Sinan, a runoff election is expected to occur March 23-25 for the empty seat in the SG Senate for the College of Arts and Sciences along with the expedited election for senators in the Muma College of Business.

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HOLSTON

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pound guard has found his scoring touch.

“The body language changes,” coach Orlando Antigua said. “The game has slowed down for him.

He doesn’t have that anxiety of ‘Oh, I have to get a shot off’ or ‘Oh, I have to make a quick play.’ He has more confidence and is more settled into the flow of the game.”

He has now made 43.7 percent of his shots since the Cincinnati game and has emerged as a primary scorer on offense, especially with senior guard Corey Allen Jr. forced to sit out due to an NCAA

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rules violation.

“I feel more comfortable and confident as well,” Holston said.

“My teammates, like (Anthony Collins) and (Nehemias Morillo), have been getting me in good positions to knock down shots I’m comfortable taking so that helps a lot as well.”

Holston and USF (9-22, 3-15) will play what may be the last game of the season tonight in the first round of the AAC Tournament against UConn, the defending national champion.

The Huskies (17-13, 10-8) haven’t had the same success as last year’s team, but they have four of their five starters scoring at

least 10 points per game, including guard Ryan Boatright, who leads the team with 17.8.

“Boatright is playing great and so has (Rodney) Purvis the last two games,” Antigua said. “We’ve done a decent job against (Amida) Brimah the last couple of times we’ve faced him, but Daniel Hamilton is the kind of kid who’s a matchup problem whether he’s at the three or the four.”

The Bulls lost both games by a combined 27 points against UConn this season and will likely need Holston to continue his hot streak tonight at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut, to have a shot at surviving another round.

WINS

Continued from PAGE 8

Wyckoff followed with a shot to center field-scoring pinchrunner Mia Fung.

Junior Lee Ann Spivey capped off the inning with a three-run homer over the leftfield fence — the sixth of the season and 20th of her career — bringing the lead to 10-2.

Sam Greiner earned the win with 4 2/3 innings, five hits and no earned runs. The senior improved her record to 6-1.

Against Lehigh (9-3), Spivey got the ball rolling with a

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one-out sacrifice bunt, scoring Wyckoff and giving the Bulls a 1-0 lead that would stick until the top of the sixth when Lehigh’s Cassie Waggy hit a two-RBI single to give the Mountain Hawks their first lead of the night.

Next up was Santos, who drove in the go-ahead runs with a bases-clearing double, giving the Bulls a 3-2 lead.

Santos is currently hitting .600 in March.

USF gets one day off before returning to the USF Softball Complex for a doubleheader Friday against Iowa State and Boston University at 1:45 p.m.

Classifieds UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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Crossword ●

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

The Rundown

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Softball

Santos keys Bulls’ two wins

By Jacob Hoag

Outside USF NFL wide receiver Andre Johnson signed a 3-year, $21 million contract with the Indianapolis Colts on Wednesday. The seventime Pro Bowler had spent his entire career with the Houston Texans, where he amassed more than 1,000 catches and 64 touchdowns in 12 years.

Quick Facts •

•

USF men’s soccer coach George Kiefer recruited the third-best class in the nation, according to College Soccer News. The Bulls’ 2015 class is made up of nine newcomers.

USF’s outdoor track and field season begins today at the USF Invitational, which will take place at the USF Track and Field Stadium. The event will go through Friday.

What to watch for Men’s Basketball The AAC Tournament will begin today at 3:30 when UCF (12-17, 5-13) and East Carolina (13-18, 6-12) tip off. Houston and Tulane will also play tonight along with USF and UConn.

Women’s Basketball With the regular season over, teams are shifting their focus to the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

The NCAA Selection Show on Monday night on ESPN at 7 will reveal the seeding and which teams made the tournament.

A S S T .

S P O R T S

E D I T O R

With one out in the bottom of the fourth inning Wednesday night, the USF softball team found itself tied 2-2 with Georgetown. That was until junior Monica Santos squeezed a line drive down the left-field line for her second go-ahead RBI of the day.

The Bulls swept the doubleheader at the USF Softball Stadium with a 10-2 win over Georgetown (7-11) and a 4-2 win over Lehigh to bring their record to 21-7.

Santos opened the offensive floodgates in an inning that saw six hits and eight runs.

“I was so nervous,” Santos said of her go-ahead hit. “It’s kind of funny actually, we have yoga and we practice ‘Ujjayi’ breath and the whole time I was just thinking ‘Ujjayi, Ujjayi’ and it actually worked. I was relaxed and just knew I needed to get the job done.”

Santos finished the night 3-for-6 with two runs and three

Iowa State (13-7) at USF (21-7) When: Friday, 1:45 p.m.

Where: USF Softball Stadium TV/Radio: Bullscast

S P O R T S

Junior Monica Santos is red hot this month, hitting a team-high .600 through nine games. ORACLE PHOTO/SEBASTIAN CONTENTO RBIs. Junior Morgan Litchfield kept the scoring up with a hit over

first base, scoring Santos from second. Sophomore Kristen

n See WINS on PAGE 6

Holston looks to stay hot at UConn

By Vinnie Portell S P O R T S

Troy Holston Jr. has gone from averaging 4.3 points per game over the first 20 games to 16.4 over the past eight. ORACLE FILE PHOTO/ADAM MATHIEU

Valdes blanks Wildcats in first win

By Vinnie Portell

Men’s Basketball

SOFTBALL

Baseball

E D I T O R

Only a minute into the second half of the USF men’s basketball team’s game against Cincinnati on Feb. 7, freshman guard Troy Holston Jr. connected on back-toback 3-pointers to put the Bulls within three.

USF would wind up losing the game, but Holston’s confidence from those consecutive buckets propelled him to score what was at that time a career-high 16 points.

In the weeks leading up to the game, Holston had been going through what he described as the worst slump of his life. The freshman shooting guard had been making only 24 percent of his shots up until that point.

Holston’s slump began when he injured his ankle in a game against North Carolina State on Nov. 23.

The guard sat out three games, but said he wasn’t fully ready to play when he was back out on the court Dec. 6.

“I was afraid to injure it again and I was very timid with it,” Holston said. “Once I got over the fact that my ankle’s feeling better, I can sprint how I want, jump how I want, I came back fine.”

The freshman missed all five of his shots in his first game back and was unable to make at least half of his shots until the game against Cincinnati.

But since his scoring outburst against the Bearcats just over a month ago, the 6-foot-4, 187-

n See HOLSTON on PAGE 6

E D I T O R

A week after nearly beating No. 19 Florida State in only his second start as a Bull, pitcher Ryan Valdes held Bethune-Cookman scoreless in the Bulls’ 1-0 victory Wednesday night in Daytona.

Though he received only one run of support in his first win as a Bull, Valdes (1-1) was able to keep the Wildcats’ batters in check, scattering five hits over 5 2/3 innings of work.

The only jam the junior pitcher encountered was in the bottom of the fourth when BethuneCookman (4-14) was able to put runners on second and third base with only one out. Valdes responded by striking out the Wildcats’ leader in batting average, Zach Olszewski, and got the next batter to ground out to shortstop to end the inning.

The Bulls (10-6-1) struggled at the plate almost as much as their opponent, matching the Wildcats with five hits. The lone run of the game came when Levi Borders scored from second on a throwing error in the top of the fifth.

After Valdes was pulled from the game, USF’s bullpen continued the junior’s dominance of the Wildcats’ lineup. A trio consisting of Jordan Strittmatter, Michael Farley and Tommy Peterson allowed no hits or runs over the final 3 1/3 innings.

Peterson earned his fifth save of the season after allowing only one runner on a walk in the final frame.

The Bulls will return home for a five-game homestand, beginning with a three-game series against FAMU. They will attempt to push their season-high win streak to five games when they host the Rattlers at 6:30 p.m. Friday.