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The Oracle MONDAY, JULY 7, 2014 I VOL. 51 NO. 131

Inside this Issue

The Index

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

www.usforacle.com

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

Land of the free, home of the brave

Faculty union reaches bargaining agreement

LIFESTYLE

Adventurers fly with hang gliding.

Page 4

Montage

S P ORTS Bulls reveal new look for 2014.

BACK

Oracle online Follow The Oracle on Twitter @USFOracle or take a photo of the QR code below with a QR reader app on your smartphone.

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The day before Independence Day, Marine Cpl. Michael Leslie received a new mortgage-free home in Auburndale from the Bank of America and the Military Warriors Support Foundation.

SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/MIKE BOSLET

Marine veteran and USF student receives new mortgage-free home. n

By Wesley Higgins N E W S

E D I T O R

After three years of sacrifice for his country, troop supporters gave Marine Cpl. Michael Leslie something back — a new home to celebrate Independence Day with his fiancee and three dogs.

Representatives from Bank of America and the Military Warriors Support Foundation handed Leslie the keys to his new Auburndale residence Thursday, as dozens of veterans applauded from the flaglined street.

Leslie was eligible for the mortgage-free house because of his Purple Heart and Combat Action Ribbon

through the Military Warriors Support Foundation. Though Leslie was able to walk up the steps to his new home, he faces one of the most common injuries among veterans from the conflict in Iraq: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

On Dec. 17, 2006, Leslie’s brain was jolted by a 250pound improvised explosion device (IED) in some of the bloodiest days of the Iraq War. “It’s like getting hit by a bank door at 40 miles an hour,” he said.

Until that point, Leslie had served in the Marines since going to boot camp on his 18th birthday in 2005. Three months later, he was deployed to Iraq where his unit endured 31 IED blasts.

“A lot of them hit, a lot of them missed,” he said.

Though explosions didn’t have an immediate effect, the repeated concussions compounded over time.

“You know how football players get hit in the head with

the helmet?” Leslie said. “It’s like that times five when you get hit by a roadside bomb.

You’re going to cough blood, your ears will burst.”

For seven months, Leslie fought in places like Fallujah before President George W. Bush ordered the surge for backup. Leslie said he slept maybe four hours a day and showered once a month given the chance.

“The first couple of times, you’re freaking out thinking you’re going to die,” he said.

“But after the first couple of months, nothing phases you.”

After the blast that sent him to the hospital, Leslie continued to serve until 2008.

“Nothing else does it for me. It’s the adrenaline,” he said. “That’s why guys in the military buy motorcycles when they get home.”

When Leslie arrived back in Tampa, he said he struggled with anxiety and an uncertainty of his role as a private

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Though representatives from the USF Chapter of the United Faculty of Florida and the university declared an impasse in April with neither side seeming to budge, after more than a year of negotiations, an agreement was reached with university administrators for a threeyear contract.

The agreement followed over a year and a half of bargaining that resulted in an impasse late April. The university rejected the faculty union’s request for a 2.5 percent base salary increase and a one time 2.5 percent bonus. The union also rejected the university’s offer for a 2.5 percent base salary increase with a 1 percent discretionary raise given for merit.

The contract was settled by a third-party magistrate, and will be presented to the Board of Trustees Labor Committee.

Once the new agreement goes into effect, faculty who satisfy annual performance evaluations will qualify for a 4 percent salary increase.

New hires without an evaluation will not receive the raise. A 1 percent discretionary raise that university can distribute at its preference is also included.

Additionally, the contract included an updated sick leave buy-pack program. Faculty may opt for a one-time cash payment up front instead of receiving cash from the university for

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accrued sick leave upon quitting the university. Faculty may no longer donate sick leave to other faculty who request additional days.

“Although this has been one of the longest negotiation processes in a decade, I’m delighted that we have been

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able to successfully resolve the issues and come to an agreement,” USF President Judy Genshaft said in a letter to faculty last week.

The contract will remain in effect until Aug. 17, 2014.

However, salaries may be renegotiated in the second and third year of the agreement.

— Staff report

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citizen.

“I had to detach myself a little bit from society after a military life,” he said.

Leslie also struggled with the symptoms of his brain injury, such as a tingling sensation on the left side of his face that caused him to fear a stroke.

“It’s still painful,” he said.

“I’ll get migraines every day for the rest of my life.”

Only since the Vietnam War have researchers tried to grasp the consequence of hidden wounds, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and TBI. “They’re the main killers,” Leslie said.

According to the Brain Injury Association of New York State, about one in five veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan suffer from a brain injury, making it the most common injury from the two conflicts.

“There’s so many guys who have TBI but don’t even real-

ize it,” Leslie said. “There’s memory loss, speech problems, anger.”

Ready to start working again, Leslie trained to be a police officer. However, his supervisors noticed his anxiety issue and advised him to find something else.

It was Leslie’s fiancee, Danielle Botvidson, who told him to give the free house a shot.

Over the past three years, Bank of America has given more than 240 houses in Florida to non-profits, such the Military Warriors Support Foundation, for donation to troops like Leslie.

Leslie said he and his fiancee were in disbelief.

The couple even drove past the house on arrival.

“He asked, ‘where do I do park?’” Botvidson said. “I said, ‘right in the driveway.”’

Before receiving the threebedroom house in Auburndale, Leslie lived with Botvidson and three dogs in a small Tampa apartment. Now, Leslie said he is proud to have a new home with a big yard for his dogs to run in.

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After a key ceremony, the couple took a tour of their new home. Though the house had barely begun to fill with new furniture and memories, a favorite picture hung in the bedroom and made the couple engage in a tearful embrace.

“That’s from the Lightning’s playoff game,” Leslie said.

“We lost the game, but whatever, it’s a great picture of us.”

Leslie said he looks forward to meeting the neighbors whom he hopes won’t hold Thursday’s loud celebration against him.

Leslie will drive to Tampa almost every day for work and school as he will attend USF this fall to finish the last year of his bachelor’s in criminology. He said he hopes to get into graduate school for criminal justice administration to eventually become a juvenile corrections manager.

For now, Leslie said he couldn’t express his gratitude for the charity of those who care about the well-being of military veterans.

“I don’t know what else to say,” he said. “Semper Fi.”

USF Women’s Soccer Schedule Opponent FAU Florida Navy FGCU Mid Tenessee St. Kennesaw St. South Carolina Texas Boston College Tulsa Memphis Houston SMU UCF UConn Temple Cincinnati East Carolina

Date/Time

Location

Aug. 22 / 7:30 p.m.

Aug. 24 / 1 p.m.

Aug. 29 / 7:30 p.m.

Aug. 31 / 6 p.m.

Sept. 5 / 8 p.m.

Sept. 7 / 2 p.m.

Sept. 12 / 7 p.m.

Sept. 14 / 11:30 a.m.

Sept. 18 / 7 p.m.

Sept. 25 / 8 p.m.

Sept. 28 / 2 p.m.

Oct. 3 / 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 5 / 1 p.m.

Oct. 10 / 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 16 / 7 p.m.

Oct. 19 / 1 p.m.

Oct. 24 / 7:30 p.m Oct. 26 / 1 p.m.

Corbett Stadium Gainesville Corbett Stadium Corbett Stadium Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Corbett Stadium Corbett Stadium Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Tulsa, Okla.

Memphis, Tenn.

Corbett Stadium Corbett Stadium Corbett Stadium Storrs, Conn.

Philadelphia, Penn.

Corbett Stadium Corbett Stadium

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DAREDEVILS ‘SOAR WITH THE BIRDS’

By Courtney Combs L I F E S T Y L E

E D I T O R

Short of sprouting wings or riding an airplane, hang gliding is the closest many will get to actually flying.

When the glider leaves the ground there’s a feeling of weightlessness that lasts until touchdown. Apart from the wind whistling past, it’s quiet and surprisingly peaceful as the glider soars thousands of feet over the ground.

Alyssa Prieto, a first time hang glider, said it is unlike anything else.

“It was really fun,” Prieto said. “I’d definitely do it again.”

Lauren Tindle, who works at Florida Ridge Air Sports Park, has been tandem hang gliding since she was 9 years old.

“Getting in the clouds, especially around sunset, that’s the best part,” Tindle said. “It’s amazing.”

Florida Ridge Air Sports Park in Clewiston has been giving Floridians the chance to soar through the clouds for the past 14 years.

After checking in, first-time hang gliders must go through a brief safety presentation and sign a few waivers before hitting the skies. They are then guided to the takeoff point where they meet their designated instructor and are

strapped laying on their stomach into the hammock-like harness hanging above the instructor.

Because Florida is short on mountains, Florida Ridge uses an ultra-light airplane to tow gliders into the air.

After reaching the predetermined height, a minimum of 1,000 feet at Florida Ridge, the instructor unhooks the towline and the glider is flying free.

Derreck Turner, a tandem instructor at Florida Ridge and competitive hang glider, has been hang gliding since he was strong enough to lift the glider.

“When I’m doing tandems, (my favortie thing is) seeing the people change from sometimes how nervous they are before the flight to how exhilarated and excited they are after the flight,” Turner said. “Sometimes it’s when they’re yelling and screaming up there like they’re riding a roller coaster and I can see all the emotions. This is something extreme.”

In his free time, Turner competes in hang gliding competitions and has traveled everywhere from Arizona to Italy for competitions. He said flying over the Swiss Alps was some of the best flying he’s ever done.

“You could see the glaciers back behind the mountains over the tops of the ski

slopes,” Turner said. “That was pretty incredible, seeing over 300 years worth of glacier. You could see from one end all the ways back up to the other end. You fly almost over the top of all of them.”

Hang gliding competitions work much like sailing regattas. Gliders follow a course with turning points marked on GPS. Whoever completes the course first or whoever get the furthest on the course wins.

In order to stay in the air longer, Turner said gliders use drafts of rising air called thermals as a sort of filling station.

“You go where you see those soaring birds going around and around,” Turner said. “That’s hot air rising, so you go to where you can use the birds or you can sometimes feel it in the glider.”

Florida Ridge Air Sports Park is located at 12671 E State Road 80 Using this method, gliders can stay airborne for hours in Clewiston. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE at a time. In order to fly in competitions, interested hang gliders must first get certified.

Florida Ridge offers certification classes at their facility.

“The best way is to go to a school,” Turner said. “It takes between 15 and 30 flights depending on the individual and (his or her) aptitude to go up and learn how to fly.”

After those first flights, students are usually ready to fly solo.

“Then you can learn to soar

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION/ COURTNEY COMBS

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able to add Bronson, even though he did not originally sign with the team.

“Kevin is great young man and a player whose size and athleticism fit very well in our defensive system,” Taggart said in a press release. “We recruited him very heavily leading up to signing day and are happy that some things

evolved and he now has the opportunity to be a Bull. Kevin had scholarship offers from a lot of major programs, and we are excited that he is joining our football team.”

Bronson declined offers from Florida, South Carolina, Miami (Fla.), Arkansas, Nebraska, UCF and Vanderbilt to play for the Bulls. He’s ranked as a three-star recruit according to ESPN.com.

—Staff report

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Facebook users should be cautious SeaWorld lacks credibility after intrusive study with misleading research mental backlash. The Electronic Privacy Information Center, a privacy group, complained about it to the Federal Trade Commission.

Those who are concerned about the ethics of the study certainly should be. Facebook wasn’t just manipulating the content of almost 700,000 feeds: It was manipulating the users themselves. The only reason it was able to do so in the first place was because of a loophole — if users agreed with the site’s terms of service, they had already given their consent to be tested.

While it was a despicable move for the site to make its users vulnerable to its own pursuits and Facebook shouldn’t be commended for using psychological stunts to check if emotions are contagious, especially when it comes to testing negative posts, one NY Times columnist suggests it might not be a bad thing to have a defense against such a powerful entity.

The study was meant to see if emotions could be contagious without physical contact, and it found they are. This defense, as the writer said, can be used by the site’s critics to argue it is much too powerful since they can pull up the research conducted by Facebook itself as proof.

Aside from ways the study can be used against Facebook, its results have inherent value

just because they prove users should approach the site with more awareness, if not skepticism. When relaxing and watching those cat videos or ramping up online cleverness, users can’t be too complacent.

When Facebook stops being the platform people have to share and communicate and starts affecting its users on a personal level, users should be more perceptive to the ways the site can manipulate them.

People have long argued Facebook is too intrusive — from concerns of the site requesting private information such as cell phone numbers to more recent criticism of the site catering its advertising to users based on one’s Internet history.

Along with the ethical questions of the study, the results have made it even harder for Facebook users to enjoy the site comfortably, without having to worry about how their information is used or how Facebook is controlling what they see.

It’s the reason why those who want to continue using Facebook should be more aware when doing so. Or, as tends to be an option when the public doesn’t like the choices a company makes, there are always boycotts.

Adam Mathieu COLU M N I ST

USF students may want to rethink the I-75 drive to SeaWorld in Orlando this summer, given the park’s continuing reputation since last summer’s documentary that shed light on the effects Isabelle Cavazos of captivity.

COLU M N I ST Since the release of “Blackfish,” the curtain has been lifted and it’s When users scroll through now clear SeaWorld is not as magiFacebook feeds, pausing to watch cal as its commercials might let on. cat videos and make witty comWhile having orcas on display ments on their friends’ statusis a great opportunity for people to es, most don’t expect the social see animals they will likely never media site to have any impact on encounter in the wild, the cost is what they choose to post. too high. It’s time for the park to According to the New York admit having such large animals Times, a recent study by in captivity has negative mental Facebook and researchers at effects, such as stress and aggresCornell revealed the site has sion, as reported by the Humane been altering its users’ news Society of the U.S. and Humane feeds without them knowing it Society International. Also, accordto control the amount of posiing to OneGreenPlanet.org, physitive and negative posts to which cal effects can include a lack of they’re exposed in order to exercise because of confinement. see how emotions spread via According to Slate.com, social media.

SeaWorld has defended captivThis wasn’t for just a few of ity as a way for the park to have users, either — over half a mileasier access to orcas and to allow lion users were studied. As it more opportunity for scientific turns out, there is a correlation research. However, the truth may between exposure to positive be that SeaWorld is less concerned posts and making positive posts, Isabelle Cavazos is a junior about producing useful research and vice versa for negative posts. and more focused on distorting majoring in English and Spanish.

The study has received monufacts to hide the negative effects of captivity. the University of South Florida’s student newspaper since 1966 While recently investigating The Oracle is published Monday through Thursday reports made by SeaWorld, marine during the fall and spring semesters, and twice biologist Ingrid Visser, who works weekly, Monday and Thursday, during the summer.

Editor in Chief: Alex Rosenthal ............................ oracleeditor@gmail.com with New Zealand’s Orca Research The Oracle allocates one free issue to each student.

Trust, found a lack of credibility as Managing Editor: Mike Mallory ........................ oraclemeditor@gmail.com Additional copies are $.50 each and available at the Oracle office (SVC 0002). well as a surprisingly small amount News Editor: Wesley Higgins ......................... oraclenewsteam@gmail.com of research to speak for nearly 50

BY PHONE years of having orcas in captivity.

Main . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

974-6242 Sports Editor: Vinnie Portell ........................ oraclesportseditor@gmail.com Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

974-5190 Visser noticed three duplicated Lifestyle Editor: Courtney Combs .......... oraclelifestyleeditor@gmail.com News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 974-1888 reports, which suggests SeaWorld Sports ................

974-2842 tried to increase the apparent Opinion Editor: Isabelle Cavazos ....................... oracleopinion@gmail.com Lifestyle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 974-2398 amount of research it has done.

Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . .

974-2620 This is undoubtedly a poor and Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

974-6242 Copy Editor: Grace Hoyte blatant attempt to appear more Website: usforacle.com productive than it actually is.

Facebook: facebook.com/usforacle Multimedia Editor: Adam Mathieu SeaWorld also had questionTwitter: @USFOracle able reports that have no relevant Graphic Arts Manager: Chelsea Stulen CORRECTIONS link to captive orcas. Specifically, The Oracle will correct or clarify factual errors.

Contact Editor in Chief Alex Rosenthal at 974-5190. one report involved research done

the Oracle

entirely with wild populations. Yet the most bizarre, perhaps, was a review written by a SeaWorld employee on a book about a man that claims to speak to orcas.

Other troubling finds in the research were that some weren’t peer-reviewed and others didn’t have traceable sources.

Given all of these issues, the scientific credibility of SeaWorld plummets when it’s known research is not taken seriously and the park can’t fully support its own claims that captivity offers better research opportunities.

According to GlobalAnimal.org, SeaWorld had misused Visser’s own research in an effort to claim collapsed dorsal fins, or back fins that begin to curl, are normal.

However, these fins only appear in less than one percent of the wild, as Dr. Jeffrey Ventre, a former SeaWorld trainer, mentioned in “Blackfish.”

Though the orcas’ conditions won’t likely change, the research problems can. Chris Dold, vice president of SeaWorld veterinary services, claimed to be unaware of the errors and said they have since been fixed.

But, since it seems the orcas aren’t going anywhere soon, SeaWorld should prove it genuinely wishes to help marine life by producing research that is reliable and actually useful to the scientific community.

Aside from making sure all of the research is peer-reviewed, SeaWorld can expand on what is already known about orcas, especially since the park has direct access to them. For instance, the park can further explore the orcas’ emotions, intelligence and behavior in general. This could help show these animals as more than a circus act and at least gather more knowledge about them if they are going to be held in captivity.

Adam Mathieu is a junior majoring in studio art.

Classifieds UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

To place a classified ad go to HELP WANTED LAB TECH ASSISTANT Needed.

FT & PT positions. Near HCC Brandon Campus. Gain science experience and schedule work around classes.

Experience not necessary.

Work minimum 20 hours M-F, 8 am - 5 pm. $9/hr. Fax: 813-793-4429 or e-mail hr@ randglabs.com. Send work schedule availability.

Email charles@randglabs.com

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http://www.usforacle.com/classifieds

APTS & HOUSES FOR RENT CONDO FOR RENT 2bdrm/2bath 1200 sqft available in guarded/ gated community, 3 miles from USF, partially furnished, $750/mos.

Call Lindsay at 813-469-1802.

Interested in working for The Oracle?

There will be an information session Tuesday, July 8 at 3 p.m. in SVC 0002 for new students.

All interested writers, photographers and editors are welcome to attend.

Contact Editor in Chief Alex Rosenthal: oracleeditor@gmail.com or 813-974-5190

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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Football

USF unveils new helmets

USF will change up the football team uniforms this season by adding two different helmets.

SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/USF FOOTBALL TWITTER

The USF football team officially revealed its new helmets Friday afternoon.

The football team’s Twitter account tweeted “Bulls have some fireworks of their own on 4th of July…new helmets for 2014.”

Attached to the tweet was a link to the team’s Instagram account

where there was a video displaying current players showing off the new gear.

The team held a photo-shoot earlier this month to debut the helmets. Players such as Nate Godwin, Mike McFarland and Mike White were featured in the display.

The two new USF helmets include

one matte green helmet with a gold “U” and the other is a chrome gold helmet with a green “U” outlined in white.

USF will wear the new helmets for the first time Aug. 30 when the team hosts Western Carolina in the season opener.

—Staff report

USF Men’s Soccer Schedule Opponent

Date / Time

Location

FGCU Akron Portland Old Dominion Brown Washington UConn Georgia Southern Temple Tulsa Cincinnati Denver SMU UCF Memphis Clemson UConn

Aug. 29 / 7 p.m.

Sept. 4 / 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 7 / Noon Sept. 12 / 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 18 / 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 21 / 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 27 / 7 p.m.

Oct. 1 / 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 4 / 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 8 / 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 11 / 7 p.m.

Oct. 15 / 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 18 / 8 p.m.

Oct. 22 / TBA Oct. 25 / 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 28 / 7 p.m.

Nov. 1 / 7:30 p.m.

Fort Myers Corbett Stadium Corbett Stadium Norfolk, Va. Corbett Stadium Corbett Stadium Storrs, Conn.

Corbett Stadium Corbett Stadium Corbett Stadium Cincinnati, Ohio Corbett Stadium Dallas, Texas Orlando Corbett Stadium Clemson, S.C. Corbett Stadium

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Men’s Golf

USF hires Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year When former USF men’s golf coach Chris Malloy announced he had accepted a job at Ole Miss on June 14, Athletic Director Mark Harlan was left to search for a new coach.

Now, three weeks later, USF has hired Steven Bradley to fill the vacant position.

Bradley takes over at USF after leaving the same position at Mercer, where he completed his fourth year during which he won the 2014 Atlantic Sun Conference Coach of the Year.

Bradley captured the award by leading Mercer to the conference championship, which aided in qualifying for the first NCAA postseason berth in school history.

This past season, Bradley also coached the Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Year, Trey Rule. While Bradley will no longer be coaching Rule, he will inherit former Big East

Conference Player of the Year, Chase Koepka.

Bradley has a long history of competing in golf in the state of Florida.

“I was born in Bradenton and went to high school in Ocala, so I’m a Florida boy,” Bradley said in a press release. “For me to be able to get back to Florida is very exciting. It’s really perfect timing and combined with the athletic department, being in Florida and in a great area, the USF job is just a home run.”

In college, he played two years for both Florida and Florida State.

After a 10-year break from golf, during which he worked as an account executive, he began his coaching career with Florida serving as an assistant coach for three years, helping the Gators reach the NCAA National Championships every season.

—Staff report

Football

Bulls acquire new 2014 commit

Kevin Bronson will join the Bulls’ 2014 recruiting class as the 29th commit. The 6-foot-3 235-pound defensive end initially signed with Virginia Tech on National Signing Day but ran into academic problems during the admission process.

According to a report by ESPN, when Bronson committed to Virginia Tech his scores of 16 on the ACT in both English and Math were one point shy of the required score to be admitted. When Bronson was deciding between schools in February, he was assured that his low scores wouldn’t be a problem in the admission process. But as time wore on, school representatives were less assuring to Bronson. Eventually, the

school informed Bronson he would not be admitted.

After he was released from his National Letter of Intent, the Delray Beach native made the decision to commit to the Bulls, who had already made him an offer earlier in the year.

At Village Academy High School, Bronson totaled 58 tackles, nine sacks and forced six fumbles in his senior season. His play earned a firstteam Class 2A all-state selection, making him the 10th Bull in this year’s recruiting class to have earned first or secondteam all-state recognition in Florida.

Coach Willie Taggart was pleased that the Bulls were

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