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The Oracle THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2014 I VOL. 52 NO. 57

Inside this Issue

Trustees to discuss potential $175,000 bonus for Genshaft.

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L I F ESTYLE

A look back at USF. Page 6

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

University owned corporations ‘have it both ways’ when it comes to public records and liability.

By Roberto Roldan M A N A G I N G

E D I T O R

Every public university in Florida owns private direct support organizations – better known as university corporations – that hold millions of dollars in university assets out of public sight.

Originally intended to solicit donations from wealthy donors and make expenditures for the university, the function of these university corporations has expanded over the years.

USF currently owns 12 university corporations, which are responsible for everything from land acquisition and collecting medical fees to investing hundreds of thousands of dollars of university funds. The USF Foundation, Inc., the fundraising corporation for the university, currently holds roughly $573 million in university assets, as of June.

Though Florida has some of the most liberal public records laws in the U.S., known as the Government in the Sunshine Laws, these corporations enjoy a spot outside public records disclosure laws enjoyed by no other public agency or instrumentality in the state.

Government in the Sunshine The controversy surrounding university corporations has ignited

in recent years, after a legal case in which a University of Central Florida football player collapsed and died during conditioning at the school’s practice complex – a complex owned by UCF’s athletics university corporation.

In addition to questions surrounding transparency and accountability from the public, the case opened debate about whether these private companies leave universities open to larger lawsuits.

Local attorney Mark Caramanica with Thomas and LoCicero, a Tampa law firm that specializes in media and open government law, said the inability of the media and the public to track university corporations’ use of state funds is the biggest issue surrounding direct support organizations.

A state statute passed by the Florida Legislature in 1975 gives

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It takes a village

n Renovated Andros NEWS Puppies provided for petting before exam week.

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Out of the sunshine, shielded in shadow Students feel n

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The Index

Opinion.......................................................4 Lifestyle......................................................6 Classifieds..............................................8

village to be completed via public-private partnership.

By Alex Rosenthal E D I T O R

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C H I E F

Hannah Hurley, a freshman who lives in Mu Hall in the Andros residential area, said her room feels “confining” inside an “antiquated” building with no elevator and outdated bathrooms.

Her friend Ashley Clerrobrun, a freshman majoring in nursing who lives nearby in Kappa Hall, said her residence hall is “claustrophobic” with “depressing colors and lighting.”

Describing the dull, beige, 50-year-old residence halls with cinder block walls, Clerrobrun said she dislikes spending any time in Andros and is envious of other, more modern dorms.

Demolition of portions of the Andros area will begin as early as May

n See VILLAGE on PAGE 9 2016 in the first phase of the housing project. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

pressures of excess credit hour charges

By Brandon Shaik A S S T .

N E W S

E D I T O R

It’s not uncommon for students to change their major or explore other interests in coursework, but doing so makes it difficult for students to stay under 120 credit hours – after that, students will pay more for each excess hour.

One student at UCF is fed up with the excess credit hour surcharges placed on students who surpass the allotted hours and is petitioning to change that.

Under state statute 1009.286, all undergraduate coursework completed at a state university must not exceed a designated number of credit hours. The number depends on the degree.

According to the statute, the intent of the state is to encourage students to complete their degrees in the most efficient way possible.

Ramon Jimenez, a junior at UCF majoring in electrical engineering, transferred in with an associate’s degree from a local college.

Already having earned 90 credit hours from his previous institution, he was quickly approaching the 128-credit hour baseline designated for his degree.

While the university allowed him to finish his degree without the surcharge, he said he is not able to take courses of other interests such as computer science or mechanical

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USF President Genshaft to meet for bonus proposal

By Wesley Higgins N E W S

E D I T O R

USF President Judy Genshaft will find out today whether the Board of Trustees (BOT) believes she deserves an annual performance bonus.

But if last week’s evaluation is any indication, Genshaft is likely to receive a substantial reward – as much as a $175,000 bonus to her existing $470,000 base salary.

“I believe she continues to provide strong leadership and vision to the USF system,” BOT member Jordan Zimmerman said Nov. 26 at the compensation committee.

Genshaft accepted $166,250 last year. In addition to any potential bonus and her base salary, she will receive an annual $100,000 retention stipend

paid upon contract completion in 2016.

The BOT also provides Genshaft with a membership to the Tampa Palms Golf and Country Club, a residence at the Lifsey House on campus and an automobile to be replaced at least once every three years.

Of all public university presidents in the state, Genshaft’s base salary is second only to the $475,000 Florida International University President Mark Rosenberg earns. Though, he does not have the opportunity for a bonus.

The respective presidents of Florida State University and the University of Florida (UF) earn a base salary of around $432,000.

At last week’s committee meeting, Zimmerman made a case for why USF is “lucky to

have her” by highlighting the accomplishments of Genshaft’s 14th year as university president.

“With more than 47,900 students and 241 degree programs, President Genshaft and her team continue to move USF forward,” he said. “Specifically in the areas of student success, graduation rates, research, funding and fundraising.”

USF is now ranked 43rd in research expenditures that total over $428 million, including an increase of $15 million this year. UF is ranked 23rd and the University of Miami is ranked 61st.

It is under Genshaft’s leadership that Zimmerman said the university met its long-term goal of ranking nationally as a top research school.

USF is presently also ranked 12th in the world for universi-

ties receiving patents. No other Florida university made the list.

Zimmerman said USF had its best legislative session over this past year following the $31 million the state gave USF in performance funding.

USF Tampa received $5 million to create the Florida Center for Cybersecurity and $15 million for the construction of the USF Heart Health Institute on campus, though the construction project could move to downtown with the USF Morsani College of Medicine.

Zimmerman also credited Genshaft with bolstering the university’s financial stability, citing the $114 million raised in one year by the Unstoppable campaign.

Student success, however, was an area this year in which Genshaft did not meet all her goals. She aimed for a 90 per-

cent retention rate for 2012 freshman on the Tampa campus, but the outcome came up 1 percent shy.

After Zimmerman finished presenting the evidence to the Nov. 26 compensation committee, the trustees unanimously praised Genshaft.

The compensation committee, which awards 70 percent of the $175,000 maximum, agreed $116,375 would be an appropriate figure. The BOT Chair has discretion with awarding the remaining 30 percent.

Near the end of the meeting, Zimmerman suggested the trustees review Genshaft’s $470,000 base salary to “hold the line with employees raises these past few years.”

The rest of the committee agreed there should be a later discussion.

Paws-ing for puppies

Therapy Pet Connection and USF Wellness will bring puppies to the lawn outside the Library today between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Andrea Fielder, the coordinator for Paws and Relax, said she hopes the puppies will reduce the stress of the students studying for exams. During finals week last spring, students played with Chihuahuas, Labradors and puggles.

“A lot of students don’t get to see their own animals at home for months,” Fielder said. “It’s a good way to make students happy.” PHOTOS SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/KATINA BITSICAS

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SUNSHINE

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university corporations an exemption from disclosing most public records, except for an audit the corporation must give to the Board of Governors (BOG) each year.

However, a 2005 advisory legal opinion from then Attorney General Charlie Crist made it clear that the legislative exemption did not exempt university corporations from all open government laws.

While Caramanica said he believes the original intent of the exemption was to protect the identity of donors who wished to remain anonymous, some university corporations broadly interpret the exemption to cover all corporation-related documents.

In a 1987 report on university corporations and their accountability to the state, the Florida Senate Committee on Governmental Operations recommended the “records of all direct support organizations be open to the public, with the exceptions of the identity of donors” — a recommendation that has still yet to be acted upon by the Legislature.

“Records relating to financial

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activities are exempt and if you interpret and apply that broadly, you’ll get to records that are beyond just simply the identity of the donor,” Caramanica said. “So any time you really want to follow the money, so to speak, that can potentially become a barrier.”

A series of public records requests by The Oracle to a representative from the USF Foundation showed the university cites the exemption when asked to disclose a donor list, who the corporation contracts to invest university funds and the schedule and travel expenses of Foundation CEO Joel Momberg, a public USF employee.

The USF Foundations’ 2014 financial statement shows the Foundation spent roughly $1.6 million on salaries and other supplements and another $107,591 on travel and per diems. Momberg is paid a salary of $532,250 as of May 2014, according to state employment records.

Mike Schneider of the Associated Press filed similar public records requests with more than 30 of Florida’s largest university corporations and 14 denied all of Schnieder’s requests, including the USF Foundation.

USF Director of Media and Public Affairs Lara Wade said she

could not provide a list of USF employees who are used by the Foundation to conduct day-to-day operations, because the university’s Human Resources department does not designate who is and who’s not assigned as a Foundation employee in its internal tracking system.

It is also unclear what is and isn’t considered to be within the scope of the public records exemption for university corporations.

Pursuant to a public records request by The Oracle, Jay Wilson, director of USF Foundation communications, provided meeting information and an agenda for the USF Foundation’s investment committee.

Media and Public Affairs Coordinator Adam Freeman, however, declined to provide an email exchange between four members of the university’s General Counsel, citing the public records exemption for university corporation business.

The email was obtained by The Oracle from a source who claimed to have received the email exchange in a prior public records request, but Freeman said the document may have been produced “inadvertently.”

The email exchange was

between four USF employees, normally within the scope of Florida’s public records laws, and did not mention the USF Foundation or any of the university’s 11 other private corporations.

Caramanica said he sees the inconsistency of universities in response to public records as “trying to have it both ways” – claiming the benefits of a public agency when it is beneficial, but claiming to be a private company in the face of open government laws.

“If they are going to claim that they enjoy the same … rights as a traditional government entity, then they shouldn’t be able to say at the same time that they are not subject to the same records and meetings disclosure obligations as the university would be,” he said.

The university does not see the public records exemption as ducking open government laws, but rather claims the exemption is necessary for university corporations to conduct their business.

Noreen Segrest, vice president and chief operating officer for the USF Foundation, said the records exemptions are important in protecting donor anonymity and the investments the Foundation makes with university funds.

Segrest defended the account-

ability of the Foundation, saying it is responsible to and held accountable by the BOG through yearly audits. She also said the protections for university corporations under Florida law allow the USF Foundation the “flexibility to maximize resources for the university.”

“When we make investments, there are many investment choices, where, if we are discussing their individual holdings, they might not want to do business with us,” Segrest said. “A lot of investment choices require that the investors not disclose information.”

Caramanica, however, said the amount of control over what have traditionally been university functions, such as land holding and investment, give further evidence to a need on the part of the community to be able to hold university corporations accountable and keep an eye on how public money is being spent.

“It’s like they’ve, in many cases, seeded an entire function to what amounts to a private entity,” he said. “I think that just goes against the spirit of open government and that we should be able to inspect the activities of those types of organizations when they’re performing government functions.”

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Opinion

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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EDITORIAL

Excess credit hour surcharge impedes student success Lab at Georgetown University, researchers pointed out that universities themselves sometimes make excess credits inevitable with coursework that is not easily transferred between different universities, unclear degree requirements and poor access to required courses.

Rather than shifting the burden of excess credit hours to students or, more accurately, the federal government and private lenders, the state should ask public universities to work toward making it easier for students to graduate on time.

Initiatives such as increasing access to knowledgeable academic advisers, offering more seats and professors for required courses and offering more interdisciplinary courses that would satisfy degree requirements while also allowing students to branch out from a restrictive degree track and explore topics outside their majors.

While it may not be the simple solution politicians look for, smart policies aimed at making it easier for students to graduate on time are more beneficial to both parties, rather than saving a quick buck at the cost of a good, reasonably priced education.

The Florida Legislature passed a bill in 2009 that puts a surcharge on students who exceed the required number of credit hours necessary to graduate with a bachelor’s degree from a public university.

The Legislature advertised the initiative as a policy that encourages “efficiency,” but it is clear the Legislature was looking out for the best interest of the state, not students.

These charges ignore the complexities of navigating through the university system in favor of a solution that ultimately causes more problems for students than it fixes for the state budget.

Ramon Jimenez, a student at the University of Central Florida, started a petition in August to amend the statute.

Students who complete their associate degree prior to enrolling in a Florida university will have the credit hours they’ve already taken roll over to their new school.

Like Jimenez, many college students find that after entering a university, it will be impossible for them to graduate without going over the limit. This can be extremely costly for these students given that Florida statutes now require

students entering a university this year to pay double tuition after exceeding the credit hour cap.

With tuition at USF already costing more than $3,000 per semester, not including cost of living, many students may find it impractical if not impossible to pay their way through school without taking on loan debt.

The excess credit hour surcharge also discourages students from taking on multiple majors and minors or enrolling in an honors college program, simply because they don’t want to run the risk of exceeding the cap.

No student should have to sacrifice classes and programs that may help them succeed in their chosen career out of fear that they may be billed into debt by the university whose primary mission should be helping them succeed.

Moreover, excess credit hour taking drives up the cost of higher education to the public and drains resources needed by incoming students.

The cost of fixing the problem, however, shouldn’t come from students, because the State University System was looking for the easiest way out.

In a study from the Edunomics

the Oracle

the University of South Florida’s student newspaper since 1966

Editor in Chief: Alex Rosenthal ............................ oracleeditor@gmail.com Managing Editor: Roberto Roldan .................. oraclemeditor@gmail.com News Editor: Wesley Higgins ......................... oraclenewsteam@gmail.com Sports Editor: Vinnie Portell ........................ oraclesportseditor@gmail.com Lifestyle Editor: Courtney Combs .......... oraclelifestyleeditor@gmail.com Copy Editor: Grace Hoyte Multimedia Editor: Adam Mathieu Assistant Editors: Sebastian Contento, Jacob Hoag, Brandon Shaik Graphic Arts Manager: Chelsea Stulen

What you said Assistant multimedia editor Sebastian Contento asked students how they feel about President Judy Genshaft possibly getting a potential $175,00 bonus on top of her current $470,000 salary.

“That’s a lot of money, so I want to know more about what she does to actually be earning this.”

— Josephine Gulston, a sophomore majoring in health science

“I’m OK with it, as long as my tuition gets cut by half.” ­— Monique Cruz, a senior majoring in chemistry

“It is a lot of money … and $175,000 more is a lot more.”

— Wes Curtiss, a senior 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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“As long as her salary doesn’t come from me, I don’t care how much money she makes.”

— Ryan Barnes, a junior majoring in education

T H U R S DAY, D E C E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 4

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Continued from PAGE 3

A larger liability A separate legal issue with university corporations was raised during the lengthy legal battle that has followed the death of the UCF football player, Ereck Plancher.

A circuit court ruling in 2011 found the UCF Athletics Association, Inc. liable for Plancher’s death, awarding a $10 million wrongful death judgment to his family.

Legal counsel for the corporation appealed the judgment in 2013 and the appeals court reduced the damage award to $200,000.

The court ruled that university corporations, by virtue of being owned by a university, have the same $200,000 cap on lawsuits against them that every other public university has.

This $200,000 cap on liability in civil cases involving negligence is known as sovereign immunity.

Now, Tampa-based lawyer Stacy Blank, the appeals lawyer for the Plancher family, has brought a challenge against sovereign immunity for university corporations before the Florida Supreme Court.

Briefings from both Blank and the UCF Athletics Association’s lawyers were completed early last month and now it is up to the court to decide whether university corporations or their insurance companies are entitled to sovereign immunity.

Eleven of Florida’s public universities, including USF, have filed friend of the court briefs with the Florida Supreme Court, claiming university corporations are instrumentalities of a public agency and thus entitled to sovereign immunity.

In the initial brief to the court, counsel for the Plancher family highlighted a statement made by UCF Athletic Director Keith Tribble explaining in his deposition that privatizing the athletics association allowed the university to hire coaches “without having it, you know, be public.”

The initial brief highlights how Tribble’s testimony is not in line with Florida statutes, which state a university corporation can be set up “exclusively to receive, hold, invest and administer property and to make expenditures for the

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benefit of the state.”

“I think universities understand the power of that exemption and some exercise its power more judiciously than others; they don’t necessarily want to overreach and have a legislative backlash to that,” Caramanica said. “But again, it certainly has been used to obstruct. These are records which, had they been in the hands of the university proper, they would be subject to public records laws.”

While a court ruling in favor of university corporations would be a detriment to the Plancher families damage award, Caramanica said that ruling would also strengthen the links between government entities and university corporations.

This strengthened link could serve as further evidence in future legal challenges that university corporations should be held to the same public records disclosure laws as every other state agency – a legal challenge former USF student Ahmad Saadaldin said he would welcome.

Public accountability In the spring semester of 2013, Saadaldin and the USF Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) began a boycott, divest and sanctions campaign, hoping to sway students and university administrators to cut all ties with companies that supported the Palestinian occupation.

The group originally attempted to put the campaign in the hands of students by placing a referendum on the ballot during Student Government elections. Brian Goff, the student body president at the time, discounted the referendum saying it did not align with the goals of Student Government.

SJP then began collecting signatures for a student petition in spring 2014.

After collecting more than 10,000 signatures — a feat the group claims is the largest student petition in the state — SJP took their demands to the USF Foundation.

The group was asking the Foundation to stop investing in companies allegedly supporting human rights abuses, namely Hewlett-Packard, Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

SJP claims to have used the information provided in the limited yearly reports the USF Foundation makes public to find what stocks its mutual funds

invest in using information from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

They took this route, Saadaldin said, because the Foundation declined to provide them with any investment information.

“Everything is so secretive, you have no idea who your foundation invests in or what companies,” Saadaldin said. “They release a report every year, but it’s very vague. They just say we invest in these management firms.”

They further claimed the information revealed the Foundation was investing in companies such as PetroChina, BP, Caterpillar and a number of other controversial companies.

The USF Foundation declined to comment on what specific companies it invests in.

SJP demanded the Foundation’s Investment Committee adopt a socially responsible investment policy, a policy the group claimed would keep the Foundation from investing in companies complicit in human rights violations.

As of 2012, 148 universities have a socially responsible investment policy, according to NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments.

The group also wanted a sepa-

rate committee for responsible investment set up to give representation to the larger university.

SJP envisioned the group being made up of students, faculty and staff from across the university.

Saadaldin said he believes students and faculty have a right to know how their money is being spent, especially when university corporations claim to be operating in the interest of and for the betterment of universities.

“This is what they call for: (the university) wants students to be engaged, and as soon as they get engaged, they want to ignore it if it’s not in line with what they want,” he said. “When there’s no transparency, who is really profiting?”

In May, the Investment Committee unanimously rejected the demands of the student petition.

The investment committee told representatives from SJP they did not have the authority to regulate or make demands of the investment firms the Foundation contracts with.

Saadaldin, however, pointed to the universities who have successfully implemented socially responsible investment policies and said he believes it is clear other uni-

versities can and do maintain a higher level of control over their investments.

“They just constantly keep deflecting responsibility and blame; they don’t want to take any responsibility at all,” Saadaldin said. “They don’t want to be transparent at all.”

Looking forward While there have been a number of legal challenges to the university corporation exemptions to public records disclosure laws, every decision has upheld the exemption.

The Plancher case is currently awaiting a court response to hear oral arguments, and a decision is expected in the coming months.

Caramanica said he foresees the legal issues surrounding university corporations remaining controversial for as long as the public is shut out from how these private corporations operate using public money.

“As more responsibilities are being passed off, they become more central to being subject to the public records laws in terms of people having a right to know what they are doing,” he said.

Lifestyle

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

Collins Boulevard/ PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

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The original Rocky D. Bull/ PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

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How USF has evolved between 1956 and 2014 C O R R E S P O N D E N T

From a school that expelled a student for being homosexual to one of the most diverse universities in Florida, USF has grown in many ways over the last six decades.

What was once a campus of 1,993 students has grown to one of approximately 41,000.

Since being established in 1956, USF has grown with the hopes of continuing to grow in the future. What was a small dusty campus has evolved to include three campuses around the Tampa Bay area, with talk of expansion of USF St. Pete on land from the Poynter Institute and a USF Health building in downtown Tampa.

The arrival of a football team in 1998 brought about talks of a possible on-campus stadium and a change in the homecoming routine. Not only did the new football program transform homecoming, it

transformed USF’s definition of school spirit and what it means to be a Bull.

“At one point, we got football and it was in ’98 that they started counting homecoming over again, so that was the first,” Andrew Huse said.

Huse, who first stepped foot on campus as a student in 1995, has been working with the Library’s Special Collections since 2001, specializing in archiving USF history, which he displayed in a gallery at this year’s homecoming.

“People had not really gone to homecoming a lot before and so now that they had this big rallying cry with the football team, maybe they thought that things would change,” he said.

And change it did.

The university, which Huse said the Tampa community saw as a haven for communists and homosexuals, but was actually very much against these groups, and was even pressured into expelling a student for rumors of homosexuality in 1963, has

grown in its acceptance of diverse students. The university today has over 100 organizations dedicated to students and their differences. USF welcomes the idea of differences and opens its arms to others.

The change in beliefs can be seen as early as 1966 when students were encouraged to protest a change in the breakup of semesters. Huse said then Florida Governor Haydon Burns decided to change the system of Florida schools after his son allegedly failed his classes due to the trimester system.

At the time, 1,500 students gathered to protest the shortening of their semesters from 16 weeks to a 10-week period. Students felt they were receiving less credit for more class time and would have less opportunity to work over the summer.

This was a time when USF seemed to combine academics with activism, Huse said. The biggest political protests at USF occurred in 1970 and 1971,

after the Kent State shooting, which sparked nationwide student protest against the Cambodian Campaign.

“That was a really big deal and that had reverberations all over the university because students were already becoming radicalized by the war and the draft,” Huse said. “A big ‘what if’ is what if they reinstituted the draft today. What would that do to the political consciousness of students?”

Student demonstrations at USF led to others in relation to the Vietnam War, including one in which protesters shut down Fowler Avenue. After some time, activity slowed and the protests ended.

The activism scene is not such a big part of today’s campus, though it remains in its own ways. Several organizations are dedicated to helping students get their words out. A few of these student organizations such as Students for a Democratic Society are around and, though they aren’t

as big as the protests of the 1970s, they still have a voice.

When students weren’t protesting, they were attending dances and concerts put on by various committees across the university.

In a time before the digital age, students didn’t have cellphones and, as seen in the old yearbooks found in the Library’s Special Collections, there were a lot of events to take their place.

The yearbooks give current students a rare chance to see what kind of things went on at the university, including visits from Jimmy Buffet and Billy Joel. The books also feature many dances, concerts and poetry readings.

During “Fall Frolics,” an event week similar to homecoming, there was a tricycle race and a carwash marathon. Both of these events were matched with regular dances put on by the Argos Council.

At the time, the council was planning many events such as

ORACLE PHOTO/ADAM MATHIEU

ORACLE PHOTO/ADAM MATHIEU

USF: THEN AND NOW

By Polly Snover

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Fowler Avenue / PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

ORACLE PHOTO/ADAM MATHIEU

Crescent Hill/ PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

“Catacombs hootenannies” and “street dances.” Huse said this was a time when it was easier for USF to get students out and involved on campus.

Today, with the cell phones and computers everywhere, it’s harder for USF to get students to participate. Every year, the campus offers many activities such as book readings, movies, intramural sports and events like Week of Welcome and the new Fifty First Days.

Not only have events changed, so has the demographic of the university.

Huse said that today, approximately 15 percent of the student body lives on campus.

The number of students living on campus today is slightly larger than that of the previous years when a majority

of students lived off campus. In the 60s and 70s, USF had very few dorms and only one place to eat: the Student Center.

When the university was first opened, it didn’t have any dorms because funding was scarce.

The school later raised money with a campaign called “Dollars for Dorms.” This allowed them to build the first residence hall, Alpha Hall (now Castor Hall), in 1961, only six months after opening the school.

USF now has 19 residence halls for students to live in.

These halls vary from the traditional style to the suites and apartments. There is also a Greek Village dedicated solely to fraternities and sororities.

Even as the rest of the campus was becoming student

ORACLE PHOTO/ADAM MATHIEU

based, some of the other parts were not. The Library had yet to undergo its transformation.

Bob Cracolici, who has been working with USF for the past 25 years, recalls a time when the Library didn’t allow students to bring anything but themselves and their books.

“The building wasn’t student friendly, but the staff was always nice,” Cracolici said.

Today, Cracolici believes the Library is doing all it can to accommodate the students.

Recently, the first floor was renovated to accommodate students more while adding more modern style and new technology like the Digital Media Commons.

USF is now a place to live, grow and learn. Much like its past, USF has grown and learned and it’s student

Student Services. PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

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VILLAGE

Continued from PAGE 1

“The whole thing needs to be reconstructed,” she said.

Within the next five years, students on campus may see just that, as the university is in the early stages of a public-private partnership that will completely renovate the Andros area with a new dining hall, residence halls, a fitness center and more in a village-style community.

The project, labeled the P3 project by administration, is a unique concept in which the university will partner with private contractors to build and finance the construction of a residential area for approximately 2,125 students while also demolishing the existing Andros buildings. According to the schedule outlined in the Invitation to Negotiate (ITN), which began seeking out private vendors in September, university officials will select finalists for the project this week.

Student Affairs and Housing offi-

cials declined to comment while in the negotiation process.

Though USF President Judy Genshaft and several members of the USF Board of Trustees (BOT) expressed their support for the project at last month’s finance and audit workgroup meeting, the project must still get final approval from the BOT and the Florida Board of Governors.

As early as May 2016, demolition of the Andros I area, which includes Delta, Epsilon, Eta and Zeta halls and nearby support buildings, will begin the first phase of the project. This phase will then include the construction of residential space for approximately 1,550 beds in semi-suite and traditional-style living, a health and wellness facility of about 25,000 square feet, an outdoor pool and deck, a dining facility, and small retail spaces with outside gathering areas.

While the ITN only outlines a proposed retail space of about 6,000 square feet, there have been rumblings that an on-campus Publix could be included in the

space.

With Phase I is expected to be complete the summer of 2017, Phase II could begin in 2018, demolishing the remaining Andros area and creating approximately 575 more combined semi-suite and traditional style beds. The completion date is set for June 2019.

Andros currently has room for 1,039 beds within nine buildings, accounting for about a fifth of the 5,589 residents on campus this year.

With historically high demands for on-campus housing stemming from the university’s policy requiring most freshmen to live on campus and housing currently over capacity, with a 105 percent occupancy rate, there will be an estimated 1,800 extra beds in demand in 2017 and 2,100 beds in demand in 2019.

In response to news of the P3 project and the possibility of a new Andros in future years, Hurley said only one word: “Hallelujah.”

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engineering because it would take his credits over the limit.

“The college experience is about finding yourself, finding out what you want to be in society and I think that this law is robbing that from us,” Jimenez said.

Frustrated by what he sees as an injustice, Jimenez began a petition on Change.org to remove or amend the excess credit hour surcharge. Since its creation in August of this year, the petition has received just over 5,000 of the 20,000 signatures needed as of Wednesday afternoon.

“I personally face 30 hours of excess credit surcharges in the coming year because those credits in particular were not counted towards my electrical engineering degree at the University of Central Florida.

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

Normally this would cost about $6,150, but with this law it would cost about $12,300,” Jimenez wrote in the petition.

Although Jimenez is a student at UCF, the statute applies to all institutions in the State University System, including USF. Florida is not the only state to enact an excess credit hour surcharge law.

Both Virginia and Utah have similar state mandates, and Appalachian State University in North Carolina chooses to apply a surcharge for excess credit hours.

Under Florida statutes, students who began their undergraduate degrees in the 200910 and 2010-11 academic years will be charged an extra 50 percent of every credit hour exceeding 120 percent of the allotted credits for their degree.

Students starting in the 2011-12 academic year, how-

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ever, students began having to pay double tuition for exceeding 115 percent of the allotted credit hours.

Anyone who started in the 2012-13 year will be charged double tuition for every credit hour in excess of 110 percent of the program.

This means that, under current tuition prices, a USFTampa student and Florida resident who started in Fall 2012 will be required to pay roughly $6,300 for a semester’s tuition alone after going over the excess credit hour cap. A non-Florida resident would pay more than $17,000.

Apart from encouraging students to complete their degree in a timely manner, the “efficiency” that the statute emphasizes is also a matter of money.

According to the Florida Office of Student Financial Assistance, in the 2012-13 academic year, the state funded

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over 290,000 students with state, federal and private funds amounting to $569,487,344.

USF junior Shelby Thomas said she signed the petition for a friend who is currently affected by the law, but she said she also has some qualms with the statute’s affect on student learning.

“With this law, you are being punished for being curious … and in a sense it actually impedes your right to an education,” she said.

Thomas, who is currently studying Japanese in Japan, said she will have to return to the U.S. as a result of the law, or else she will be forced to pay the credit surcharge out of pocket.

“Being an international business major, I have a foreign language requirement included in my degree. With the law, when you read it, it doesn’t have any amendments for students who want to pur-

sue a language and it doesn’t say anything about honors classes either,” she said.

Thomas also described having friends who were unable to continue studying Japanese with her because they did not have the credits available to them.

“The federal government emphasizes that many of these languages taught at USF – Russian, Japanese, Chinese and Korean – are all critical languages for the United States,” she said. “Yet, Florida can’t provide the opportunity for students to learn that other states can because of this law.”

Jimenez has reached out to state and local legislators about the issue but has not received any word back. He expects to see greater action taking place in the spring and said he will lobby as far as he needs to in order to see a change to the policy.

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Football

NCAA greed creates gap in college football Jacob Hoag C O M M E N TA R Y

The University of AlabamaBirmingham (UAB) announced Tuesday that it is terminating its football program — the first Division I school to do so in nearly 20 years.

With the overwhelming success of bigger schools and the greed of the NCAA, smaller schools like UAB, who can’t possibly keep up, fall by the wayside.

“As we look at the evolving landscape of NCAA football, we see expenses only continuing to increase,” UAB University President Ray L. Watts said in a statement released by the university. “When considering a model that best protects the financial future and prominence of the athletic department, football is simply not sustainable.”

UAB’s record of 6-6 this season made it bowl eligible for the first time since it played in the Hawaii Bowl in 2004, but if selected to play in a bowl game, the team may chose to decline the invitation due to the circumstances.

Players’ careers are in jeopar-

Alisia Jenkins had 10 points and 11 rebounds in the first half Wednesday. ORACLE PHOTO/

ADAM MATHIEU

dy and a program is in now in shambles while the Alabamas and Florida States of the country prosper more than ever before.

The rich continue to get richer as the middle class of the NCAA fall farther behind.

In August, the NCAA Board of Governors elected in a 16-2 vote to grant total autonomy to the top-five revenue producing conferences including the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big-12 and Pac-12.

This ruling essentially allows the 65 programs that fall within those conferences to govern themselves in several issues involving student athletes and competition.

Although the NCAA is making more money off the top programs in the country, it is making it nearly impossible for schools outside the power five conferences to compete.

Sports have always been about playing on a level field, but money is increasingly becoming a large part of the picture.

Within their ruling, the NCAA approved schools to give stipends to athletes to cover the entire cost of tuition, including travel and other living expenses not covered in the past.

But not all schools can afford

to give their student athletes this luxury, which leads to athletes leaving the smaller schools for a power five school that can give them a little spending cash in addition to four years of free food and schooling.

Bigger schools outside the power five are not exempt from the struggles of competing with the football giants.

Will a school like USF be able to keep its prime recruits in Tampa if UF, FSU and UM are throwing these extra benefits their way?

With the success coach Willie Taggart has had in terms of recruiting over the past two years, continuing to do so may become a daunting task at the very least.

Smaller schools will have to rely heavily on the hometown athletes and the scraps that are left from schools with much deeper pockets.

These new rules stemmed from two cases filed against the NCAA. One, filed by former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon, sought compensation from the NCAA for licensed merchandise and use of likeness of collegiate athletes.

The other suit was an attempt to form a players union filed by Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter.

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STADIUM

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Continued from PAGE 12

have done that,” Fernandez said.

“Maybe we are a little worn down physically, mentally and emotionally. The mental part is a big part of being a student-athlete and that could have been the case today.”

Junior forward Alisia Jenkins had a double-double before halftime and finished with 14 points and 15 rebounds.

With center Katelyn Weber limited to only 13 minutes after recently returning from a foot injury, Jenkins had to switch to center while Weber was on the bench.

“She’s a high-motor guy,” Fernandez said. “She does a great job on the glass. At times she gets a little frustrated because we’re playing her at that five and she’s having to guard bigger guys and we’re telling her not to sit behind the post.”

USF (6-2) will continue its home stand when it hosts St. John’s on Sunday at 2 p.m.

son, Baylor decided it was time for a move from Floyd Casey Stadium opening its 45,000 seat, $250 million McLane Stadium.

A $250 million facility is likely out of the question for a team that hasn’t seen a bowl game in three years, but taking a wait-and-see attitude with a smaller build might not be a bad way to go.

In 2011, Florida Atlantic University opened a 30,000-seat venue costing roughly $70 million, but left plenty of room to expand in the future.

“We started with 40,000 seats, but decided to start at 30,000,” FAU coach Howard Schnellenberger said in an interview with the TCPalm. “This is not a stadium built because of a lack of space … we’re going to have to go through an education process and a ‘show me’ kind-of-attitude. Show me the alumni coming back. Show me more freshmen coming in – all the things the Ivy League (schools)

The termination of UAB’s football program signals tough times ahead for non-power five schools such as USF. ORACLE FILE PHOTO/ ADAM MATHIEU

In both cases, the NCAA lost, taking a step in the right direction, but still a long way from correcting the injustice that has gone on for decades.

These cases began to shine the light on the NCAA’s ability to use its athletes to funnel money in without giving any back to the players.

However, though the NCAA needs to spread the wealth with the royalties it receives, the balance of power shouldn’t be

tipped further in the power five’s direction.

If the playing field isn’t leveled again, if smaller universities don’t regain the ability to recruit players based on the quality of their program and not the depth of their wallets, then UAB might be the first in a trend of smaller schools folding under the weight of the new NCAA guidelines.

proved was a good idea 150 years ago.”

With the USF football attendance plummeting to an average crowd of 19,317 this season, according to Tampa Sports Authority, a reasonably-priced, on-campus stadium might be just what USF Athletics needs to get people in the seats.

“An on-campus stadium does engage the students more,” Aresco said. “Tulane, which couldn’t draw at all at the (Superdome), now has a 30,000-seat on-campus stadium.

I went there for their opener, and what a difference. It just creates a certain atmosphere.”

USF reached a season-low in attendance against UConn with a crowd of only 11,599 according to TSA, but has seen a decline in not just overall attendance, but student attendance as well.

In the home opener, 6,392 students packed the north end zone of Raymond James Stadium for USF’s contest with Western Carolina. By Week 3, that number was nearly cut in half after losses

to Maryland and N.C. State according to USF Athletics.

Although a factor, a team’s stadium being off campus is not the reason for poor attendance like USF has seen. With their 4-8 record, the Bulls have strung together a fourth consecutive losing season – USF had only two prior to 2011.

UCLA (9-3), on the other hand, plays its games 26.6 miles away in the Rose Bowl, but averaged a conference-high 70,285 fans a game according to the NCAA. USF has never ended a season ranked in the Top 25, and a winning program doesn’t form overnight and doesn’t simply appear when a new stadium is built.

A new stadium would bring more fans – not wins – to the USF program. But the added support from fans and students might give the Bulls more incentive to up their game in the upcoming seasons.

With a struggling program, for the right price, an on-campus stadium could be what USF needs to spark its fan base.

Sports

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

The Rundown

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Bringing home the Bulls

Outside USF University of Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley and at least four administrators flew to Colorado on Tuesday to meet with Colorado State coach Jim McElwain and his wife about becoming UF’s next football coach. Foley and company flew back Wednesday as negotiations continue.

•

USF men’s soccer player senior Lucas Baldin was named one of 16 finalists for the MAC Herman award after winning the fan vote by over 1,000 votes.

Redshirt freshman guard Jake Bodway scored his first career points for USF men’s basketball in Tuesday night’s game against Alabama.

What to watch for There could be a three-way tie at the top of the AAC standings. Memphis (9-3, 7-1) has already clinched at least a share of the title.

UCF and Cincinnati – both 6-1 in the conference – each need wins this weekend to tie with Memphis for the conference championship.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

USF (6-2) at Detroit (5-3)

When: Saturday, 3 p.m.

Where: Detroit, Michigan TV/Radio: ESPN3, IMG/USF

Radio Network

Bulls use depth to hold off Hatters

By Vinnie Portell S P O R T S

Quick Facts •

Women’s Basketball

Raymond James Stadium has been home to USF football for all of its 16 seasons, but is located 12.5 miles from the USF campus. ORACLE FILE PHOTO/JACOB HOAG

With attendance numbers dropping, a change in venue might be what USF needs.

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By Jacob Hoag A N A LY S I S

When game day arrives, USF students get up, put on their green and gold and make the 12.5-mile journey down I-275 to Raymond James Stadium to cheer on the Bulls.

USF was one of only 25 schools in 2012 to play its home games off-campus, but in the future, that 12.5-mile drive could get a lot shorter.

“I think an on-campus stadium is like a front door to any university,” coach Willie Taggart said.

“And not just football, but it does a lot. The atmosphere you have on game days is just different on campus. Any college town you go around, it’s different. I don’t care what anyone says, it’s just different.”

An on-campus stadium has been in talks since the football program’s inception in 1998, but with

the luxury of an NFL stadium close by, there hasn’t been a real push to bring the Bulls closer to home.

While attending his first conference game at Raymond James Stadium in October, AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco confirmed talks have stirred up once again.

“I’ve spoken to (USF President Judy Genshaft) about it … and she said they’re absolutely looking at it,” Aresco said. “And I don’t want to put words in her mouth, but she said that’s something they’ve thought about.”

USF Athletic Director Mark Harlan knows a new stadium is a priority to students and fans and said he is looking into the mechanics behind bringing one to the USF campus.

“We would work with some companies and consultants to give us the answers to our questions,’’ he said in an interview with the Tampa Tribune. “Where would it be located? What would it look like? What are the financial implications? If we’re getting into a stadium, we’re going to need private and public support. What kind of appetite is there for that in this climate? All those things would have to be researched.”

Stadiums are costly endeavors, but have the potential to bring mass amounts of revenue to universities.

“Is this the best thing for the Bulls? I’m absolutely not saying it is,” Harlan said. “But we’re going to dive deep and get some answers.

We have an obligation to do that.

If it’s not (ideal), then we continue playing at Raymond James Stadium. That’s where we are now, and we want to make it great for everyone.”

USF Athletics did not respond to The Oracle’s requests for an interview with Harlan.

USF has played each of its 16 seasons in the comfort of the oncepacked 66,890-seat Raymond James Stadium that saw an average crowd of 36,845 between 2007 and 2011. With more and more universities electing to build their own stadiums, USF needs to be considering a move, but at the right price.

In 2007, UCF opened its 45,301seat Bright House Stadium on campus with a price tag of approximately $55 million after playing 27 years in the Citrus Bowl.

But not all Stadiums are as reasonably priced as UCF’s. This sea-

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E D I T O R

In USF’s first game of a fourgame home stand, it was able to hold off Stetson (5-2) behind a season-high 11 3-pointers in a 78-62 win Wednesday.

After returning from a five-day trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands where the women’s basketball team matched up against three of the top teams in the country, including No. 9 Kentucky, coach Jose Fernandez said he could tell his team was worn down in practice Tuesday.

“We got back from the Virgin Islands late Sunday night and we had a great practice on Monday,” Fernandez said. “I wasn’t pleased with what we did in the gym on Tuesday. I thought we were flat. We tried to save some legs (Tuesday), because mentally I don’t think we were there like we would like to have been.”

Fernandez said this year’s team is the deepest and most versatile team he’s had and that helped the Bulls pull away from the Hatters after giving up a 10-0 run to begin the second half and tie the game.

“We tried to play a lot of guys to save some legs and it showed in the final nine minutes,” Fernandez said. “We ran and sprinted a lot harder and they got into some foul trouble, which helped the cause.”

The Bulls went on a 23-11 run in the final nine minutes, led by senior guard Tamara Taylor, who had eight points during the run, including two 3-pointers.

Fernandez said the team is worn down not only from playing a tough schedule, but also from studying for the last week of school.

“We’ve played seven of these first eight games against NCAA or NIT teams. Not many people

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