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The Oracle MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014 I VOL. 52 NO. 44

www.usforacle.com

The Index

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

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

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

SG plays ‘blame game’ over student grievance Student claims lack of minutes, calendar updates impedes student participation. n

By Roberto Roldan M A N A G I N G

E D I T O R

Since transferring to USF in 2012, Katharine Orr has found it increasingly difficult to remain up to date with Student Government (SG) meetings and debates. Orr, a senior majoring in biomedical sciences and political science, said a lack of minutes and calendar updates on the SG website have kept her from voicing opinions and concerns with elected representatives. When the issue of student fee

increases made its way into the information isn’t even available.” licly posted minutes since Nov. public eye, Orr saw a serious issue For over a year now, the SG 12, 2013. with the way SG communicates Senate has been operating in There have been seven meetwith students. Particularly, Orr violation of Florida’s open gov- ings of the Activity & Service fee was concerned with statements ernment law and their own stat- Recommendation Committee this made by SG Senator semester that also have no Cory Ulloa and SG “Don’t accuse me of apathy — publicly available minPresident Jean Cocco, utes. don’t accuse other students who talked about a lack This committee is of student involvement responsible for determinin last month’s debate of apathy — when the meeting ing how SG spends the surrounding the Local information isn’t even available.” roughly $14 million in Fee Committee. A&S fees each year. Orr filed an official The issue, according Katharine Orr grievance with SG on to Senate President ProA senior majoring in biomedical sciences Oct. 31 against the leadTempore Abdool Aziz, is and political science ers of the executive, that SG does not actually legislative and judicial branches, utes, which require public bodies have minutes to post. calling on SG as a whole to be to make transcripts of meetings Aziz said when he assumed more transparent and account- available to the public. his position in May; the person The only minutes made who previously held his position able in the way it communicates publicly available on SG’s website did not inform him that the most with students. “I got really upset,” Orr said. at the time of print are from Sept. experienced transcriber had left “Don’t accuse me of apathy — 9 of this year and were approved the university. don’t accuse other students of Nov. 4. Aziz blamed this miscommuPrior to that, SG had not pub- nication for the lack of publicly apathy — when the meeting

available minutes. He said the process of hiring and training new transcribers for Senate and committee meetings has been ongoing since May. Orr said she believes the lack of minutes mostly affects the commuter portion of the student population and prevents other busy students from participating in SG. “There are a lot of students who can’t physically show up to the meetings, but it’s not their fault for being uninformed. It’s SG’s fault for not being able to do what they are required by statute to do,” Orr said. Though Aziz said the SG Senate have posted live streams to YouTube and UStream, he admits links to the streams were not made available on SG’s website. The videos are also not approved minutes that satisfy

n See GRIEVANCE on PAGE 2

New student memorial to be unveiled today By Brandon Shaik A S S T .

The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the student memorial will be held at 10 a.m. today on Crescent Hill. ORACLE PHOTO/ADAM MATHIEU

N E W S

E D I T O R

When a community loses some of its own, memorializing those individuals can be an important part of honoring them. USF is honoring the legacy of students who have passed away with a new student memorial located on Crescent Hill behind the Marshall Student Center, which will be officially unveiled at the ribbon cutting ceremony this morning at 10 a.m. The project, which took a year from conception to completion, initially began as the idea for a veteran’s memorial, separate from a student memorial. It evolved into a comprehensive concept to include all students and replace the current brick memorial located next to the bull statues in front of the Marshall Student Center.

“If you are a parent, a friend, or family of a student that has passed away, having a brick that’s on the ground that skateboarders go on, that ants are on and that’s cracked is not the proper way to honor students that have passed away during their time at USF,” said Abdool Aziz, student government senate president protempore. “We, as a university and Student Government, knew we could do better.” Following the ground breaking ceremony in April, construction on the memorial began in August. Inspired by the Vietnam memorial in Washington D.C., the student memorial includes symbolic elements to honor those who have passed away. “The significance of the water is life, which flows from a fountain into a reflection pool to create a serene and calming atmosphere that if students and families want to

contemplate and think they have that space,” Aziz said. While records have not been kept on student deaths prior to 2009, a single inscription will honor those who passed away between 1960 and 2009. Every student who has passed away since 2009 will have an inscription and veterans will be indicated by a star. The Crescent Hill location was chosen after reviewing the university’s master plan because there would be no future plans to build on the area and it provided optimal potential for future expansion. Student Government paid $349,800 for the memorial, which was funded through student Activity and Service fees. In addition to the physical memorial, a student memorial committee was created to ensure the upkeep of the site, which is designed to endure for 50 years, and determine

n See MEMORIAL on PAGE 2


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