04-15-15

The Oracle WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 2015 I VOL. 52 NO. 11

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

Holstering the debate on concealed carry

USF students could lose voice on concealed carry bill as SG debates semantics of survey and resolution.

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O PINIO N

White House stance to end conversion therapy is long overdue.

Page 6

Montage

S PORTS USF softball ready for redemption at No.1 Florida.

BACK

By Wesley Higgins N E W S

E D I T O R

The voice of students for or against concealed carry of firearms on campus may be heard too late.

USF Student Government (SG) voted to table a resolution that would be sent to the highest offices in Florida government.

The resolution is intended to reflect the student body’s opinion concerning concealed carry of firearms on campus.

The resolution was based on a survey conducted last week that was shared on SG social media and at an SG tent day where free pizza was given to

survey participants.

The results indicated the majority of students are opposed to concealed carry on campus, which is now being debated in the Florida Senate

and House of Representatives.

The bill in the House cleared committee and is waiting for a vote. The bill in the Senate is still waiting on the Senate’s Judiciary Committee.

“This message being sent to our legislators will give them a message (and) give them feedback on how our university feels on certain issues,”

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Jiu Jitsu study aims to soothe symptoms of PTSD

By Grace Hoyte M A N A G I N G

E D I T O R

When people think of Jiu Jitsu, they might humorously imagine fighters flying with fists ablaze.

Rarely would Jiu Jitsu elicit images of rehabilitation and recovery.

A new study by USF Health researchers is investigating a possible respite of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) through the practice of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, as well as traditional exercise.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a martial art and combat sport that teaches self-defense against bigger aggressors by using leverage and proper technique to use their size against them.

Alison Willing, one of the lead researchers in the study and a USF Health professor, said the study came together when many veter-

ans who train at Tampa Jiu Jitsu, a local gym, reported the benefits they saw from the martial art for their PTSD symptoms.

Tampa Jiu Jitsu began preliminary trials of the experiment and eventually brought the project to the attention of Willing and her colleagues. The USF team added a component of regular “endurance/cardiovascular fitness” to the experiment.

Exercise — regular or occasional — is effective at relieving levels of physical and mental stress.

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, exercise is vital for remaining mentally fit and reducing stress because it releases endorphins, which are the body’s natural painkillers.

“We’re trying to quantify the effect,” Willing said. “Anecdotes are nice, but we really want to

know if this is going to be good for a lot of people.”

The aim of the study is also to hopefully create a more efficient method of treating the symptoms of PTSD. Most traditional remedies are both costly and time consuming, such as cognitive behavior therapy sessions and antidepressant medication.

Currently, there are only a few enrolled veterans. The research team, however, is looking for more volunteers who may benefit from the study.

Another head researcher, Kevin Kip, a professor of nursing at USF Health, knew the effects of PTSD secondhand before signing on to work with Willing.

Kip said some veterans at USF who suffer from PTSD are hesitant to participate because they are concerned with losing their veteran

benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs if they participate in the study.

“The study that we’re conducting is not going to change anyone’s diagnosis,” Kip said. “We’re not classifying people coming in as having a diagnosis of PTSD; what we’re doing is classifying them as having symptoms.”

In other words, the study is designed to alleviate the symptoms of PTSD, rather than attempting to “cure” the disorder.

Jason Gonzalez, a veteran of 14 years and a USF undergrad who is part of the research team, spoke to the fact that this study will not cause anyone’s diagnosis to change.

“One of the struggles is recruiting,” he said. “The fliers don’t emphasize that it’s an independent study.”

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DEBATE

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said SG Senator Melisa Dincer, who helped conduct the survey, while speaking in front of SG Senate on Tuesday night.

When 456 students on tent day were asked, “How do you feel about concealed carry of guns on campus?” 41 percent stated they do not support concealed carry of guns anywhere, including campus.

Thirty-two percent stated they are in favor of having concealed carry everywhere except for campus, while 23 percent said they are in favor of having concealed carry on campus.

Four percent said there was another option.

When asked, “In what scenario would you feel safer?” 54 percent of students said they would feel safer knowing that anyone, within the law or otherwise, is not carrying a gun on campus.

On the other hand, 41 percent said knowing anyone legally carrying a gun on campus made them feel safer. Five percent stated another option.

The survey asked if students “believe that allowing concealed

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carry on campus aligns with USF’s mission and goals,” to which 60 percent said no, 20 percent said yes, 18 percent preferred not to say and 3 percent said other.

Students were also asked, “Do you believe allowing legal concealed carry of guns on campus will reduce the crime rate on university campuses?”

Forty-five percent said it would not, 26 percent said crime would remain the same and 22 percent said it would reduce crime. Five percent preferred not to say.

Students were also allowed to add a comment about how they felt about the issue. Comments included: “Love not guns,” “Free pizza!!!” “Only black cops should have guns,” “The gun laws are too lax … if gun control becomes stricter and more selective then this conversation can be reopened,” “People have the right to carry a gun under legal limits if it makes them feel safer,” “The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” and three instances of “Go Bulls.”

Data from the online polling was not made available to The Oracle by the time of

print. However, in Tuesday’s SG Senate meeting, a presentation showed 184 of the 299 students polled online said they do not want to see concealed carry on campus.

The original resolution was written to state that, on behalf of the student body, SG opposes the bills (HB4005, SB176) that are currently being debated in the Florida House and Senate.

However, one of the reasons SG senators felt it should be tabled for a rewrite was some felt 755 students surveyed was not enough to represent such a large and diverse student body.

“This was 500 people (on SG tent day) out of 44,000. As someone who is very known in statistics, this is .01 percent of our student body population,” SG Senator Anika Hasan said.

“This survey is not a clear representation of what the student body population wants.”

USF Tampa has a population of 41,888, according to the latest USF System Fact Book. The poll represents approximately 1.8 percent of that number.

“I just want to throw out that Pew and Gallop’s national polls that poll our nation … they generally only use about 1,500 to 2,000 U.S. citizens,” SG Senator Nauman Hafeez said. “That’s less than .0001 percent of (the U.S.) population. Even if you’re saying that only 500 students or 700 students is less than .01 percent of our population, it’s very hard to get people to come out to these polls.”

Others found the wording of the survey was written to sway students toward an anti-concealed carry opinion.

“I felt that the questions were biased … even the answers were biased,” said student body president-elect Andy Rodriguez.

“Also, if one-third of students don’t agree with this, imagine the (backlash) we’ll receive for a resolution with this strong of an opinion.”

After a move for an amendment was made, senators spent time toning down the “emotional narrative” of the resolution.

Instead of stating firearms are not conducive to a safe learning environment, it was amended to instead read that USF Tampa’s campus police chief stated opposition to concealed carry on campus.

The clause that states 22 people have been killed in school shootings in the past year, and many more in years before, was amended to be replaced with 755 students who were surveyed on the topic of concealed carry.

Another clause stating 73 percent of students opposed concealed carry on campus was replaced with the statistical breakdown of 41 percent who oppose concealed carry in general, 32 percent who oppose concealed carry only on campus and 23 percent who support concealed carry. These percentages only reflect the 456 surveyed on the tent day, not the 755 totaled.

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Instead of concluding that SG, on behalf of the student body, opposes the campus concealed carry bills debated in the Florida House and Senate, it was instead amended to say that SG is only presenting the data it found.

Despite the amendments that clarify the findings of the survey and reigns in the ideological narrative, Kristen Truong, the chairwoman of SG’s Senate Committee of Judiciary and Ethics, moved to table the resolution because it was taking too much time away from other issues at Tuesday’s senate meeting.

Samuel Shiflett, the senator who wrote the survey, said SG does not have time to table the resolution, much less revise its questions to be less biased, before presenting it to Florida legislators.

“By then, it probably won’t matter because this bill is coming up in the next week or two,” he said. “I feel like this is a very fair representation of the survey we had.”

The Senate voted to table the bill with 13 for and 13 against.

Senate President Abdool Aziz, who originally abstained, broke the tie and tabled the resolution until next Tuesday’s meeting, which will be the last one for this year’s SG Senate.

“Well I’m out because we’re not going to do s--- next week,” said Shiftlett before throwing his pen and slamming the Senate chamber door.

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REMATCH

Kristen Wyckoff with 21.

Coach Ken Eriksen emphasized he wants his team to be aggressive and throw the first punch, something USF has done fairly well, as the Bulls are 24-0 when striking first this season.

“You win the tip-off and get the first possession, you have to know what to do with it,” Eriksen said. “You receive the ball at the goal line. Does your wedge form? Can your pitcher go out and win the first inning?

In all of those things, the analogies are the same — you have to be successful early to give yourself a chance.”

Florida is no stranger to the spotlight. The Gators have won eight straight, including four consecutive wins over ranked opponents.

Playing the top-ranked defending champs can be intimidating for any player, especially for a team that consistently relies on the play of

freshmen.

“I am nervous,” freshman Astin Donovan said of the hostile environment of Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium. “I haven’t heard too much about it, but just the fact that it’s going to be Florida and I know the fans are going to be there and, yeah, I’m nervous, but we have nothing to lose.”

Donovan leads all freshmen on the team with 16 RBIs and 38 hits and sits third on the team with a .380 batting average.

USF has yet to beat a ranked opponent this season in five attempts, and a win against the Gators would go a long way toward a tournament bid, but would also mean a muchdesired win in a heated rivalry. “(Rivalry games) definitely add more tension,” Donovan said. “Sometimes people are like, ‘Oh, what do we have to lose from it,’ but we’re like no, we want to win. It puts the pressure on yourself to play the absolute best you can.”

BULLS

rest before playing at Memphis on Friday.

Continued from PAGE 8

Continued from PAGE 8

After completing a season that broke or tied several school records including total wins, most points scored by an individual player in a season and a first-ever appearance in the AP top-25 poll, the Bulls have gained respect at the national level.

Creme, who predicts brackets for the Women’s NCAA Tournament, cited the return of Courtney Williams and Alisia Jenkins for their senior seasons, along with coach Jose Fernandez’s contract extension as key reasons why the Bulls should be nationally ranked.

Baseball game postponed USF baseball’s game against Stetson was postponed Tuesday night due to inclement weather.

Rain began to fall steadily at the USF Baseball Stadium and the game was called an hour before first pitch, which was slated for 6:30 p.m.

The two teams will instead match up tonight at 6:30, giving the Bulls one less day of

Women’s tennis begins AAC Championship The USF women’s tennis team will attempt to salvage a rough season in which it lost its head coach to NCAA violations and stumbled to a 4-14 record when it begins play in the AAC Championship today.

When former coach Agustin Moreno was fired Feb. 16 for hosting camps and scouting sessions impermissible by the NCAA, USF was 2-4 and coming off a win against Florida Gulf Coast University.

The Bulls lost their next eight matches and never recovered.

They only two more matches over the course of the regular season.

One of those victories was a 4-3 defeat of UCF (12-6, 2-5) at home March 25. The 11th-seeded Bulls will get a rematch at 10 today when they play the sixth-seeded Knights at the Michael D. Case Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The winner will play third-seeded Tulsa at 4 p.m.

Thursday.

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Opinion

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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End to conversion therapy is long overdue Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality still practice and condone it.

However, Obama’s denouncement and the petition, written by his senior adviser Valerie Jarret, is a move closer to where the U.S. needs to be on this issue, according to the NY Times. The petition itself has gained over 120,000 signatures.

While conservative organizations and religious doctors promote conversion therapy, the American Psychology Association reported it can cause patients to experience depression, social withdrawal, suicidal thoughts, substance abuse and self-hatred, as mentioned by NCLR — not to mention it’s not scientifically valid.

According to the NY Times, Obama does not aim to impose a federal law to ban the practice, though he is willing to speak with lawmakers on the matter.

Given its obvious hazards, it’s only appropriate to finally bring conversion therapy to an end. It goes beyond practicing a conservative personal belief — it’s about shamelessly and abusively forcing that belief onto another person.

Therapies to change one’s sexual orientation or gender identity seem like ancient practices that belong in history books, but they still exist. However, a new White House petition highlights just how archaic and wrong they are.

Late last year, 17-year-old Leelah Alcorn, a transgender youth, committed suicide after her parents repeatedly sent her to Christian therapists who endorsed such methods.

In response to this tragedy, President Barack Obama included a statement on a WhiteHouse.gov petition to end the practice of conversion therapy, which is used in an attempt to change one’s sexual orientation or gender identity, according to a recent New York Times article. Currently, therapists still practice it, some members of

the Republican Party still endorse it and those who underwent it continue to speak out about it.

LGBT youth deal with enough discrimination from both their peers and surrounding society, and the U.S. is not exactly progressive in accepting people as they are. In Florida alone, a bill to criminalize using a restroom that doesn’t match one’s biological sex has made it past the second committee in the Florida House of Representatives. According to the Center for American Progress, gay and trans people experience high rates of workplace discrimination and harassment.

Conversion therapy is another especially dangerous form of discrimination that should be completely outlawed.

Today, the practice involves shaming patients from homosexual attractions and attempting to make one’s behavior more feminine or masculine. In the past, it involved measures as drastic as castration and electroconvulsive shock therapy, according to the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR).

As of now, only California, New Jersey and D.C. have enacted laws to completely prohibit conversion therapy. Additionally, a group of therapists in the National

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Softball

RE MATCH USF softball is eager for second chance at knocking off the top-ranked Gators.

“(Rivalry games) definitely add more tension ...

It puts the pressure on yourself to play the absolute best you can.”

Freshman Lauren Evans scored two runs for USF in the first matchup with Florida.

ORACLE FILE PHOTO/ADAM MATHIEU

By Jacob Hoag A S S T .

S P O R T S

E D I T O R

Flash back to Feb. 8, the first matchup between Florida softball powerhouses USF and UF. The unranked Bulls held a 4-2 lead over the defending national champions heading into the final inning in front of a sold-out crowd.

With one swing of the bat, all of that changed as UF’s Taylore Fuller sent a two-run homer over the left-field fence with no outs, tying the game and opening the floodgates.

With a young and inexperienced team — only three seniors in the lineup — USF

fell short of the upset after they allowed eight runs in the top of the seventh in a 10-5 loss, but is now eager to get a second shot at its in-state rival.

Since then, the Bulls (3212, 3-4) have seen dramatic improvement. They are now 24-1 in games in which they’ve held a lead after four innings and 23-3 when scoring five runs or more.

“We’ve learned a lot about execution and how to play selfless ball,” junior Lee Ann Spivey said. “Going into this game, I think we’re looking more at what can we do to make a team at-bat, not just one person going up to bat.

Bulls garner national respect

The Bulls set a school record with 27 wins and were ranked in the AP top 25 for the first time in program history. ORACLE

Astin Donovan

Freshman outfielder

Notebook

UF junior Taylore Fuller hit the game-tying home run last time the Gators faced the Bulls. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/JIM BURGESS

“Is it my job to hit a ball to the right to advance the runner? Or am I just swinging for the fence? It’s easier having a bunch of people playing for one goal rather than a bunch of different ones.”

Spivey had one hit and an RBI in the first matchup and knows how hard it is to get a hit off the Gators.

“They don’t pitch it in the strike zone,” she said.

“Something we’ve been working on this season is not swinging at waste pitches, and one of our pitching strengths is we throw a lot of junk pitches and get away with it and get people out. It’s a challenge, but we’re

capable of overcoming it.”

Tonight, the Bulls will have a chance to knock off the No. 1 Gators for the second and final time in the regular season at 6 p.m.

The tough part about facing the class of the SEC is the lack of a weakness in the lineup.

It’s rare to find a batter in Florida’s lineup who can’t hit it over the fence.

The Gators (40-4, 11-4) have 12 players with at least one home run, along with five batters who have at least 30 RBIs. Spivey is the sole member of USF’s 30-RBI club with 44, and the next closest is sophomore

n See REMATCH on PAGE 4

FILE PHOTO/ADAM MATHIEU

By Vinnie Portell S P O R T S

E D I T O R

Barely a week removed from UConn’s 63-53 win over Notre Dame in the NCAA women’s basketball championship, analysts are already releasing top25 lists for the upcoming season.

Aptly named the “Way-tooearly Top 25” for 2015-16 by ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme, the list features a projected list of the top teams in the nation, albeit seven months before the season tips off.

USF was ranked 21st in the list, one spot ahead of LSU, which the Bulls defeated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in March.

n See BULLS on PAGE 4