10. 02.17

The Oracle

Availability of disabled parking is concerning

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w w w. u s fo r a c l e. co m

U N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H F LO R I DA

By Maria Ranoni S T A F F

W R I T E R

Some students with disabilities have made complaints regarding the lack of availability of handicap parking spaces on campus.

It’s been clear throughout the semester that students have gripes about the parking situation at USF, but many fail to include how much of a struggle it is for students with disabilities to not find accessible parking close to their destination.

Deborah McCarthy, director of Students with Disabilities Services (SDS), said there are concerns among some of the department’s students.

“SDS is aware of a number of concerns regarding accessibility and parking at USF,” McCarthy said. “SDS works closely with Parking and Transportation, Facilities, and DIEO (Diversity, Inclusion & Equal Opportunity) to ensure that we address both individual concerns and the longer-term issues of accessible parking on campus.”

In the last fiscal year 147 citations were given to people for parking in a handicap parking spot without a placard. ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN McCarthy said there are solutions for these Runners are accessible and 2016-June 30, 2017 — and 45 weekend trips to the library end at 5:30 p.m. Friday and concerned students and that SDS, DIEO and Parking and issued since. are usually a must while only routes C, D and F run her office ensures they are Transportation work together The low number of citations getting a degree. This common 2:30-9:30 p.m. Saturday and accommodated. to solve individual concerns.” issued for this offense could be practice becomes much more Sunday. Monday through “Parking and Transportation On the surface, this doesn’t due to the fact that parking is difficult when students with Friday, all service stops at provides a number of solutions seem like a worrisome issue, only enforced during business disabilities can’t find the midnight. While this is to limited parking spaces especially to able-bodied hours Monday through Friday, adequate parking they need convenient for most students, for those with disabilities,” students. According to Aaron according to Captain Meg and with the limited hours it affords little freedom to McCarthy said. “If the Nichols, assistant director of Ross. Although the Parking of the Bull Runner over the students with disabilities. disabled spots in a specific administrative services, there and Transportation website weekend, this leaves them According to David Baldwin, location are full, anyone with was 147 citations given to says parking can be enforced with limited options. a recent USF alumnus who a USF permit and a state people parking in disabled 24/7.

According to the Parking had to utilize disabled parking disability plate or tag can park spaces or ramps issued during Though, as many students and Transportation Services in other open spaces. Bull the last fiscal year — July 1, know, late hours in class or website, all Bull Runner routes n See PARKING on PAGE 5

Rocky Horror continues to thrill students Page 4

Opioid epidemic is a medical crisis Page 6

Basketball season preview INSIDE

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the Oracle the University of South Florida’s student newspaper since 1966

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NEWS

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

CLCE looks for student input on redesign of student organization space

By Nadaa Hussein C O R R E S P O N D E N T

The Center for Leadership & Civic Engagement (CLCE) is working on restructuring the space for student organizations on the third floor of the Marshall Student Center (MSC) through the information gathered from a survey.

Mike Severy, Director of the CLCE, introduced the survey through Bullsync along with Sujit Chemburkar, Director of the MSC, to gain feedback from student organizations on what they can do to better design the space to serve all students.

“The goal of the survey is to get feedback from a wide variety of constituents meaning student organization, members, officers, and the advisors that work with them which is faculty and staff primarily,” Severy said. “As well as to understand what students’ organizations need and how best, if necessary, to re-envision that space to meet their needs.”

Once the survey data has been collected Severy will work toward presenting the findings to focus groups of student organizations and working with them to find what best suits their organizations.

“Once we get through the survey, we will consolidate the information put it back up to the folks at the focus group,” Severy said. “Then say this is what we think, does everything seem reasonable based on the data?”

The purpose of redesigning the space is to give more student organizations a space to utilize for their needs.

“The capacity of that space on the third floor in it’s current configuration, which is cubicles, limits us to roughly 36 student organizations,” Severy said.

“We have over 640 student organizations serving 33,000

there ways where we can better serve and support what student organizations need and are trying to accomplish and how they grow as leaders and engage citizens of our community? The answer to that is yes.”

Originally, the CLCE tried to establish an open-concept floor plan without designated desk spaces for clubs, instead of the assigned desks and private cubicles. But on May 30, Student Government Senate denied funding for CLCE’s first redesign of the office space.

The idea of an open-floor plan didn’t sit well with many students.

Julia McClure the vice president of the P.R.I.D.E Alliance stated that office space was essential to keeping the confidentiality and privacy of students who are in their organization intact, at the May 30 Senate meeting.

Since the proposal was denied, the space has remained the same, according to Severy.

“It’s the same as it was prior to the previous years, so cubicles,” Severy said. “Student organizations have been allocated office spaces if they made an application for it, so they are utilizing that.”

The CLCE is now working toward a new proposal by gathering data via a survey.

“Can that space be reconfigured help us better serve those students in developing their leadership capacity and civic engagement?

The answer to that is yes. The survey and conversation with folks will be figuring out what the tradeoffs will be if we don’t have that space,” Severy said. “We are trying to find out how can we best utilize the space that we have available to us. To help as many student organizations as possible, accomplish what they need and what we are trying to teach, through leadership and civic engagement.”

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T H E O R AC L E

Student Government approves funding for NPHC community plaza ●

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The plaza will be comprised of nine plots, each representing one of the organizations in NPHC. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

By Ashley Jablonski C O R R E S P O N D E N T

Student Government Senate awarded funds to the National Panhellenic Council (NPHC), to fund a plaza that would be home to nine plots representing each organization Oct. 24.

The 38-10 decision dedicated $113,000 to the project. SG had been waiting to make a decision about taking the money from their unallocated cash funds for the plaza. In this time, the project was examined by the Finance Committee and surveys were sent out to students to gather an opinion on whether or not they favored the idea of allocating the money.

NPHC themselves, are working toward coming up with their portion of $25,000, taking action to fundraise. SG will remain supporters of these organizations, as they will be meeting with them during the process.

Student Body President Moneer Kheireddine will create a task force including members of administration, two senators, student leaders from around campus, Vice President Shaquille Kent and NPHC members.

Kheireddine said the task force will create a vision, timeline and

deal with construction company bids to take on the project. They will meet as needed to discuss the plan of action with hope that decisions will be made in early December to get the ball rolling for a spring completion date.

This project was on Kheireddine and Kent’s list of diversity initiatives to create a safe and welcoming place for all students.

“It feels absolutely phenomenal, to start off with something that’s been a dream for so long for so many of our students and to see it become a reality, it’s tough to describe but it’s a moment I won’t ever forget,” Kheireddine said.

Lynecee Romelus, the Director of Diversity, Inclusion & Sustainability for SG, was effected by the decision as the vice president of Alpha Kappa Alpha, an NPHC organization.

“I feel like we’re progressing, as the school in general,” Romelus said.” We understand that plots are very specific and historical for the Divine Nine and NPHC, being able to pass something of this magnitude that goes towards diversity, I think is huge. I’m really proud I was able to be a part of this entire process.”

Romelus said she sees NPHC growing its presence on campus

and sees the organizations uniting over this project. The organizations would like to host events in the future for people who have no prior knowledge of what NPHC is, so they can learn the importance of the organizations. They would like to begin to merge the gap of the student body and the NPHC community.

The plaza will be a space where anybody, including non NPHCmembers will be able to reserve the area for events. Kheireddine said he hopes to use this space to create a platform where more diverse projects continue to grow.

The plaza will be constructed on Holly Drive across from the The Village. When construction begins, Kheireddine said there should be no disruption to any traffic patterns or parking areas, as the actual work is not in a frequented area.

“It feels as though we took a really strong and big step towards a better future for USF and for our students,” Kheireddine said.

“We really set a precedent that if you have a dream and really want to accomplish something on this campus and you want to create something, Student Government is going to give you the opportunity to empower that.”

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LIFESTYLE

‘Only amongst friends or sane persons’ UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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T H E O R AC L E

By Andrea Martin S T A F F

A cult classic that hardly needs any introduction, Rocky Horror Picture Show has continued to shock “virgins,” first-time viewers of the musical, with its non-conforming way of encouraging self expression.

The production begins with an innocent-hearted couple that ends up at the spectacle that is Dr. FrankN-Furter’s mansion. With the introduction of every vivacious character, the pair loses a little more of their inhibitions, gaining the selfapproval to be themselves.

Rocky Horror has permeated the lives of most adolescents and doesn’t appear without leaving an impact. Remy Searfoss, a freshman majoring in mass communications, got her first taste of the 1973 world-wind when she tried her hand at theater.

“Rocky Horror Picture Show is something I’ve heard of all my life, but never experienced until I was a freshman in high school,” Searfoss said. “I was very involved in theater; my freshman year in theater we volunteered at something very similar to Halloween Horror Nights at a local theme park.”

While the musical holds audiences all year round, there’s a spark around Halloween that brings fans out. Movie theaters across the nation will show the film adaptation. Homemade costumes bring friends together.

Local theaters showcase their own midnight performances, encouraging

The Rocky Horror Picture Show became a cult classic that continues to get attention from generation after generation. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE guests to bring their own props of rice, newspapers and toast, among other things.

“We took part in the Fright Nights at Silver Springs.

Leading up to the night before we actually started working the event, we had rehearsals of the dance to the Time Warp,” Searfoss said.

The opening lyrics of the song, sung by the character Riff Raff, the obscure butler, “It’s astounding,” would resonate through the haunted walk-ways of the park, cueing the walker to march into place.

“We had to do it every hour, on the hour, while working

the event dressed in our zombie and horror outfits,” Searfoss said. “It was so much fun. When I found out the song was actually from Rocky Horror, I had to watch the movie. It was a masterpiece and I loved it with all my heart.”

The musical is filled with a cast of LGBTQ characters that allows audience members to find themselves in a show combined with classic horror film novelties: monsters, aliens and cannibalism. Most shadowcast productions have audiences filled with members of the LGBTQ community, bringing a sense

of companionship to an evening filled with laughs and gasps.

Hosting a range of voices and stories, the soundtrack remains a top album of choice to sing along to in the mirror.

Deja Takeko Johnson, a junior majoring in social work, is no novice at the hands of a hairbrush microphone.

“The song I enjoy most from the soundtrack is ‘I’m Going Home.’ I think it is reminiscent of old blues music,” Johnson said. “The song is short, but it is able to tell a story and show emotion.

It is one of the less fun songs of the play, but it gives you an

insight to the true feelings of the character.”

“I’m Going Home,” is sang by the leading role of Dr. FrankN-Furter with watery eyes and still-glimmering, smudged blue eyeshadow. A peak in the character’s development where the doctor’s previously non-existent vulnerability comes out.

Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the sweet transvestite from Transexual, Transylvania, built a fortress for what was then the socially obscure and Rocky Horror Picture Show opened the door for the masses.

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Second half defense a problem for Bulls in the past two weeks

The Bulls gave up four plays of 30-plus yards in the second half against Houston, opposed to none in the first. 7. Two of the plays were runs, the other two passes. THE ORACLE/CHAVELI GUZMAN

By Josh Fiallo S P O R T S

E D I T O R

In USF’s first six games of 2017, its defense gave up a combined total of 34 points in the second half.

In the Bulls’ last two games against Tulane and Houston, the defense allowed more points than the first six games combined, yielding the two a total of 56 second-half points.

“I know the scores have kind of picked up in the second half, but it’s really come down to fundamental errors more than just defensive assignments and stuff like that,” defensive coordinator Brian Jean-Mary said.

“It’s been more tackling and getting off blocks.”

Two weeks ago, the Green Wave lost to USF by only six points despite trailing 20-7 at halftime.

In handing USF its first loss Saturday, Houston scored all 28 of its points in the second half.

The Bulls gave up four plays of 30-plus yards in the second half against Houston, opposed to none in the first.

Though it was numerous plays for Houston that ultimately propelled them to a

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T H E O R AC L E

28-24 win over USF, its final touchdown drive that ended with 11 seconds is what did the Bulls in.

Down 24-21, Houston had one timeout and the ball on its own 49-yard line, with 1:46 left in the game to score. At first, USF’s defense stifled Houston, stopping two runs for a loss of 14 yards and forcing an incompletion on the drive’s first three plays.

Then, on 4th-and-24, the Cougars converted after a scrambling D’Eriq King lofted and completed a pass to Courtney Lark for a 30-yard gain. Three plays later, the Bulls were still very-much in control of the game.

Now with no timeouts, Houston had a 3rd-and-9 from the USF 20-yard line with 19 seconds to play.

That’s when King rolled out to the left to pass on third down, but decided to tuck the ball, and he successfully ran a 20-yard touchdown to win the Cougars the game.

“It was an unbelievable play by that kid,” Jean-Mary said.

“He kind of improvised and we probably overplayed that

scenario. He cut back and it’s a 50/50 bang-bang play. If we tackle him before he gets to the first down, the game’s probably over.”

With only six seconds to work with once they got the ball back, USF’s offense picked up 30 yards on the last play of the game, but was significantly short of the end zone.

“They made the big plays to win,” coach Charlie Strong said.

Facing UConn and it’s 51st ranked offense Saturday, a poor second half could be what costs the Bulls. Only Houston (44th) has a better offense of the Bulls’ 2017 opponents.

“They’re a very talented team,” Jean-Mary said. “I think the quarterback Shirreffs is playing at a very-very high level and they’ve kind of gotten into a groove where he knows where his big targets are and how they want to attack people.

“They were just trying to figure things out early, but you can tell now who he’s really comfortable with throwing the ball to and what plays they feel like can really get some positive yards for them.”

PARKING

Continued from PAGE 1

during his time here, parking over the weekend and at night posed more problems than parking during the day Monday through Friday.

“Especially on the weekend, I would struggle to find a parking spot because the parking rules do not appear to be enforced during nights or weekends,” Baldwin said.

“Many times, students would use disabled parking stalls as places to wait for their friends inside the dorm — without a proper handicap placard or license plate. During my three years at USF, I would say it happened almost every weekend.”

According to the handicap parking signs around campus, the fine imposed for people who choose to park in disabled spots without the proper placard can be charged up to $250. However, Parking and Transportation Services could not be reached to confirm.

Ross said the role of University Police (UP) in

issuing parking tickets on campus is limited.

“After hours, if a handicap person is having an issue, we could assist,” Ross said.

“Typically, for us to write a ticket, we would need the driver present, so we can’t tow it, but we could write a ticket. Without parking services here, I don’t think currently we have the ability to write their parking tickets, but we have in the past. We would still go out and assist in any way we could.”

Since UP can only offer limited services to disabled students in this capacity, disabled students have limited options during off-hours.

“Parking and Transportation Services could definitely do more to make sure parking rules are enforced during the nights and weekends,” Baldwin said. “As you can imagine, during these times, there really is no one other than USF Police that would be able to handle these types of violations. That seems a waste of resources to call USF Police.”

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OPINION UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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Opioid epidemic needs to be treated like a health crisis

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T H E O R AC L E

What you said Multimedia editor Chaveli Guzman took to campus to ask students about the upcoming basketball season.

“I have never been to a basketball game, but I want to go to the one this Friday. I’m going to try to get into basketball since football is over.”

— Ashleigh Stevenson, a freshman majoring in mathematics The U.S. is now in a health crisis due to the overuse of opioids. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

By Samantha Moffett C O L U M N I S T

The U.S. alone lost more than 65,000 people in 2016 due to overdoses on prescription drugs, and according to the National Center for Health Statistics, that number will continue to rise.

With the recent declaration of opioid addiction as a national health crisis, the U.S. now has an opportunity to redefine its war on drugs, which began over 45 years ago in an attempt to end the drug abuse issue. If U.S. policymakers are serious about ending the opioid crisis that plagues our nation, they must stop criminalizing the situation and start treating it as the medical epidemic it is.

The war on drugs started with the implementation of mandatory minimum sentences for those involved in any form of drug trafficking, affecting both hardcore addicts and one-time users. Many of those who struggle with an opioid addiction are rotated in and out of prison, a cycle that does nothing to help improve this national health crisis.

According to the Federal Bureau

of Prisons, 46.3 percent of those in U.S. prisons are charged with drug offenses. Additionally, according to the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, incarceration doesn’t work because 60-80 percent of those released end up back in prison — usually for drug related crimes — and 95 percent start using drugs again after being released.

The mandatory minimum sentencing laws made the arrest rates soar and repeatedly swept those with addiction and health issues into jail cells.

If punishing addicts instead of providing medical attention continues to be the approach to this problem, the opioid epidemic will continue to get worse in the years to come.

By declaring a national health crisis, the U.S. must take action to help addicts into recovery and clean up both the prison system and the community. The funds and resources President Donald Trump has promised in order to combat the issue should be used for medical programs, since this will actually help addicts to recover instead of just rotating them

through the system and adding to “I don’t know much about the issue. basketball so I’m excited to Over the span of 40 years, the get into it.”

U.S. has spent more than one trillion dollars in an attempt to ­— Thao Nguyen, a junior in end the war on drugs and arrested biomedical science over 45 million people involved in narcotics, as reported by USA Today.

However, this has had little to no impact on the demand for drugs such as opioids or other illicit substances. In 2013, prescription opioid drugs alone cost the U.S. $78.5 billion and that number continues to rise, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

For far too long, the U.S. has not faced the opioid addiction crisis with enough importance.

However, we can be and need to be the generation that puts this national health crisis to rest.

The crisis will only continue to “I mostly follow football progress unless a change is made, on campus, so I haven’t and this change needs to begin followed basketball to be with policymakers. Addiction is a honest, but hopefully we disease, and we must start treating it like one. will do well.”

Samantha Moffett is a sophomore majoring in mass communications.

— Corey Carruthers, a junior majoring in accounting

“I didn’t know there was a basketball game. I think it’s something to get pumped up for, especially with football ending soon.”

— Carlos Morales, a junior majoring in accounting

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T H E O R AC L E

CROSSWORD

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The Rundown Women’s soccer earns No. 2 seed for AAC tournament

Sports

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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T H E O R AC L E

USF looks to rebound strong against UConn Football

Evelyne Viens is second in the AAC with nine goals.

SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/GOUSFBULLS

The USF women’s soccer team finished with a 7-1-1 record in conference play, earning it the No. 2 seed in the AAC tournament that began Wednesday.

The Bulls will face No. 6 SMU, which upset No. 3 Cincinnati 1-0 on Wednesday afternoon, in its first game of the tournament Friday.

In their lone regular season matchup against SMU, the Bulls defeated the Mustangs 3-2 in Dallas, Texas.

The game will be played in Orlando at No. 1 UCF’s home stadium — UCF Soccer and Track Stadium.

If USF is to beat the Mustangs, it will play the winner of No. 4 Memphis and No. 1 UCF who face off Friday at 7 p.m.

The Bulls are led by lead goal scorer and forward, Evelyne Viens, who has scored a team high 10 goals, while also leading the Bulls in assists with 7.

After USF lost to Houston on Saturday, the Bulls dropped out of the AP Top 25 for the first time of 2017. THE ORACLE/CHAVELI GUZMAN

By Sam Newlon S T A F F

W R I T E R

Fresh off its first loss of the season at the hands of Houston, USF will look to avenge its defeat when it faces UConn on Saturday.

The Bulls (7-1), now unranked, can still make it to the AAC championship game and New Year’s Six bowl if they win out.

“When you have a team that plays from behind the 8-ball, you have a team that is hungry,” coach Charlie Strong said. “Now they know they’ve got to go to work and each and every week, we’ve got to get ready to go play.”

The Bulls were originally scheduled to face UConn on Sept. 9, but the game was

rescheduled to Saturday because of Hurricane Irma.

The Huskies now have a 3-5 record on the season and are coming off a 52-12 loss to Missouri last week.

During the game against Missouri, UConn’s No. 1 defensive back Jamar Summers will have to serve a 3-quarter suspension against USF, providing an opening for the Bulls offense to exploit. The suspension was a result of Summers taunting the intended receiver of a ball he intercepted against Missouri.

“It’s over with now, we can’t get it back,” UConn coach Randy Edsall told the Daily Campus. “So, we’ll just have to move on. All you can do.”

Though their loss to Houston was their first in over a year,

the goal is to put the game behind them, according to Strong.

“The key thing is to focus on ourselves,” Strong said. “Only thing we can do right now is get ready for the game at hand against Connecticut.”

If anything, some Bulls are using the loss as extra motivation. The Bulls were the favorite to win the AAC in the preseason. Now, they’re the underdog.

“It gave us back our chip (on the shoulder) and gave us back that underdog vibe,” cornerback Deatrick Nichols said.

Though they may be considered the underdog when USF travels to face UCF on Black Friday, the Bulls are the heavy favorite for Saturday’s game in East Hartford, Connecticut.

The Huskies haven’t beat USF since 2011.

“After you lose, you have to refocus,” running back Darius Tice said. “You have to look back and see what went wrong. It definitely makes you want to go out and prove to the world, prove to your teammates ‘we got this’ and that it’s under control.

“When pressure is applied, it tends to bring the best out of you. So I kind of like when its pressure on us. When you see a player grow in pressure situations, that’s the kind of thing I look forward to.”

Saturday’s game will kick off at 3:30 p.m. and will be aired on ESPNU. “I know the guys are gonna respond very well,” Strong said.