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The Oracle T H U R S D AY, J A N U A R Y 2 1 , 2 0 1 6 I V O L . 5 3 N O. 6 1

Inside this Issue

C O - N E W S

Florida Supreme Court rules death penalty process unconstitutional.

Page 6

Montage

S PORTS USF men’s basketball comes up short in War on I-4.

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

SG Senate debates over divestment resolution

By Miki Shine

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The Index

News.................................................................1 classifieds..............................................7 Opinion.......................................................6 Crossword.........................................7 sports............................................................8

E D I T O R

The Student Government (SG) Senate voted to approve a resolution in favor of divesting from companies deemed questionable in consideration to human rights across the globe.

The resolution asked the USF Foundation to form a committee of students, staff and faculty that will release quarterly reports concerning investments, the creation of a policy to ensure endowments are invest with regards to human rights and environmental welfare, and divest from companies complicit in human rights violations against the people of Palestine.

However, according to a statement from USF Media and Public Affairs Manager Adam Freeman, the Foundation Board will not be considering this request again.

The same motion came before members of the USF Foundation leadership, including the CEO and Foundation Board Chair, in May of 2014 in

the form of a presentation from members of USF’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) with the petition containing over 10,000 signatures from students in support of divestment, according to Freeman. After which, the materials presented circulated through the USF Foundation

ment policy or process based on requests from individuals or groups.”

The resolution won the Senate vote by 32-12 with four abstentions from the vote after a nearly two hour long presentation, discussion and questionand-answer session with the

“This is something you should take honor in, this is something you should take pride in. This is something that USF students did for the progress of our university.”

Muhammad Imam Student Government Senator

Investment Committee before coming up on a meeting agenda.

“The USF Foundation investment policy, process and investments will continue to be guided by its mission, fiduciary responsibilities and state or federal law or regulation,” the Committee’s official statement said. “The USF Foundation will not divest investments or alter the invest-

authors Muhammad Imam and Rema Hamoui.

One of the driving sources of information for this resolution comes from a petition organized by SJP that collected over 10,000 signatures during the spring semester of 2014. This petition called for USF to divest — or stop investing in — corporations “that are continuously and knowingly complicit in

severe human rights violations”.

Imam worked for SJP to find out about Foundation investments through a lengthy process.

Despite the time between the petition’s signature collection and the resolution, Imam maintained that it is an accurate representation of the student body’s position.

“This is something you should take honor in, this is something you should take pride in. This is something that USF students did for the progress of our university,” Imam said in his presentation.

The petition claimed the university endowment is investing in corporations such as HewlettPackard (HP), Boeing Company and Lockheed Martin known for offering support to the Israeli military to violate human rights in Palestine.

The referendum was taken after the petition acquired 2,500 signatures. According to the resolution presented Tuesday night, the referendum passed with 2,111 students voting yes and 609 students voting no.

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Killin’ it

Rapper and social activist “Killer” Mike Render has used his notoriety to ignite discussion in politics and race, primarily focusing on college students. As part of the ULS Lecture Series presented by the Center for Student Involvement, Render did just that.

In front of a packed Oval Theater, Render engaged students and members of the community in insightful discussion through use of crude humor and inspiring anecdotes. Render challenged the audience to change its attitude and bridge the gap between different races and social backgrounds. ORACLE PHOTO/ADAM MATHIEU

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Moffitt, Federal government push for cancer cure

By Abby Rinaldi C O - N E W S

E D I T O R

In President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address, he put Vice President Joe Biden in charge of the new national initiative to find a cure for cancer, which he made a focus of his efforts last year when he called on a search for the cure, referring to it as a “moonshot.”

“For the loved ones we’ve all lost, for the family we can still save, let’s make America the country that cures cancer once and for all,” Obama said in his address.

To the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, this is positive news, Federal Legislative Affairs Director John DeMuro said.

“We are so heartened that the Vice President has issued a call for nationwide collaboration especially around creating networks of data for molecular profiling to beat cancer, because it’s … a goal we’ve been working towards for years and we’re eager to share the progress we’ve made,” DeMuro said.

Currently, cancer is a prevalent problem at the national and global scale.

“Nearly 14.5 million Americans with a history of cancer were alive on January 1, 2014,” the ACS said in its recent report on cancer facts and figures. “Some of these individuals were diagnosed recently and undergoing treatment, while most were diagnosed many years ago with no current evidence of cancer.”

In its report on cancer facts and figures, the ACS estimated that about 1,685,210 new cancer cases were expected to be diagnosed in 2016. However, cancer treatments are not evenly accessible to everyone.

“Quality of cancer care can significantly affect the likelihood of survival and the qual-

ity of life during and after cancer treatment,” the American Cancer Society (ACS) said in its most recent report on cancer treatment and survivorship. “However, state-of-the art cancer treatments are neither equitably accessible nor available across all segments of the population.”

In addition to this, cancer research faces challenges when it comes to finances and a lack of uniformity in how data is reported, DeMuro said.

“One of the things that could be done at the federal level, that we’re very pleased that Vice President Biden seems to be interested in, is they could institute uniform standards for collecting health information across all health care providers inclusive of the way they record cancer staging and cancer occurrence and the way they track patients,” DeMuro said. “If it’s done with the same standards … then that would lend itself to the collection of data that is uniform.”

Moffitt has been in communication with Biden and Obama’s staffs about how Moffitt has approached such matters over the past 10 years and Moffitt hopes to influence the conversation in a positive way, DeMuro said. Moffitt doesn’t know when policies will be implemented or what these policies will be, DeMuro said, but it are excited to see this all unfold. There appear to be a sense of urgency, DeMuro said.

“What we know for sure is that when a leader of Vice President Biden’s stature and President Obama’s stature make such a bold commitment and focuses so much attention on an issue like this, most folks in the cancer community believe that this will lead to more resources being focused in this area,” DeMuro said. “…

If you or a family member is

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CANCER

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a cancer patient waiting for a breakthrough drug to come to market for a disease that you have, that you’re having a hard time with, this type of change can’t come soon enough.”

Biden’s plan has two main elements. The first is to increase the public and private resources for fighting cancer. The second is to “break down silos” and bring all of those who are fighting cancer together, as he wrote in a blog post on the matter.

“And the goal of this initiative is simple — to double the rate of progress,” Biden wrote in his blog post. “To make a decade worth of advances in five years.”

Biden said in his blog post that the science is ready, mentioning cancer immunotherapy, genomics and combination therapies. Moffitt has 10 years

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of data collection and progress DeMuro said it is eager to share. The Oncology Research I n fo r m a t i o n E xc h a n g e Network (ORIEN), a collaboration Moffitt is a part of, provides partners access to data from over 100,000 consenting patients, according to the ORIEN website.

The new initiative provides an enormous boost to what Moffitt is doing right now, DeMuro said, as it shares the same vision as Moffitt, with a focus on transforming cancer care through partnerships.

Contributing to cancer prevention and finding a cure is Moffitt’s mission, according to their mission statement.

“Today, cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide. And that’s only expected to increase in the coming decades — u nless we make more progress today,” Biden wrote. “I know we can.”

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However, the referendum was removed due to lack of advertising by SG with then president Brian Goff claiming that SG takes on full responsibility for the confusion.

However, some senators vocally opposed the resolution.

One of the lead opponents during the meeting was Sen. Ralph Herz.

“Martin Luther King’s name was invoked here today. Martin Luther King was a zionist. Martin Luther King … went (to) lengths to compliment Israel about it being the only democracy with applaud-able human rights in a world that has atrocious human rights,” he said. “If we want pretend that this is anything other than racism and anti-Semitism, then you absolutely delusional.

“This bill does not take as back to the 1950s era where racism was common among racial minorities. This takes us straight back to 1930s Nazi Germany.

This is absolutely ridiculous. It is ridiculous that this body is even considering this and I am

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ashamed to be a USF Bull at this moment.”

Another leading concern was lead by Attorney General Richard LaMura who recommended consulting with legal counsel before proceeding.

“My job is to make sure that we avoid lawsuits and legal action against us. Today a bill passed in the Government Oversight and Accountability Committee that would render this resolution possibly illegal,” he said. “I would advise the Senate to table this tonight and allow me a week to go consult with legal counsel to make sure we’re not breaking any Florida state law because we are bound by those.”

Despite his advice, the Senate went on to vote.

Four of the voting members decided to abstain from the vote concerning the passing of the resolution. One such member was Sen. Melisa Dincer.

“I’m a twenty year old who had this sprung on them a few days ago,” she said. “I don’t feel like I know enough, I have not done my own research into the matter. I need more time to make a decision as big as this.”

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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Florida’s unconstitutional death penalty Breanne Williams COLU M N I ST

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled Florida’s death penalty process unconstitutional based on the practice of a judge and not a jury determining capital punishment.

Florida was one of three states that allowed a judge to hand out a death sentence even if the jury did not unanimously agree. It’s no wonder the court ruled this process unconstitutional.

Juries are in place to ensure no one can single-handedly take the life of another in a court of law. If there is even a shred of doubt as to whether the evidence supports execution, the defendant should live.

Since 1973, there have been 156 prisoner exonerations on death row. In fact, a study from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported at least 4.1 percent of those sentenced to death are actually innocent.

Using a jury system reduces the number of inmates placed on death row, thus reducing the number of innocent lives taken by the penalty. The argument over whether anyone should have the right to take the life of someone else has been ongoing for decades and will not be solved in the foreseeable future.

However, one thing’s for sure: If a jury does not agree to give a convict lethal injections or send them to the chair, a judge should not be able to overrule them.

Everyone has different opinions on how far capital punishment should go. Should the highest penalty be death or life in prison? Instead of one person holding that power it will now be up to the jury to decide a criminal’s fate.

The Supreme Court voted 8-1 on the issue, leaving many

to question how the state will move forward. Florida has 390 convicts on death row, two of which were intended to face execution in February and March.

The ruling is currently being reviewed by Florida officials who want to resume executions as soon as possible.

Many are theorizing those already convicted could now challenge their cases due to the ruling. If this is the case it’s expected that many will see their verdicts altered to life sentences in the upcoming months, which will greatly benefit state funds.

Mark Elliot, the director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty stated, “it costs over $1 million per execution, higher than keeping these people in prison for a lifetime.”

The state would save approximately $51 million each year by changing the punishment of the first-degree murderers to life in prison without parole, according to a study by the Palm Beach Post.

At what price does vengeance become unreasonable?

Florida’s voters will have to determine just that when the cost of killing outweighs the preferred punishment.

By voting to keep the death penalty on the books, they choose to allocate those hefty sums of money toward executions rather than education or environmental sustainability programs. But if the general public wishes to keep the practice, it will be continued.

The recent ruling has made the necessary change to ensure convictions are as fair as possible. While not everyone agrees with the practice, it is irrefutably a logical decision to ensure only a jury can make the choice of ending a life.

Breanne Williams junior majoring in communications.

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Letter to the Editor ‘If my tuition supports oppression, why have I been silent?’

I’m proud to be a Bull. I haven’t said it enough in my three years at this university, but I can say it now, and I want to say it loudly.

On the eve following Martin Luther King (MLK) Jr. Day, Student Government passed a resolution supporting the 2014 petition that called for a university-hosted board to investigate the ethics of investments.

These investments are made with donations from alumni collected in our name, and we bear responsibility for the direction of that investment. The resolution has yet to be signed by either Senate President Kristen Truong or Student Body President Andy Rodriguez, but I would like to share why I support this resolution: The university should not be allowed to silence the voice of 10,500 students. Under the tireless direction of students such as Muhammad Imam and Rahma Elmohd, the petition to establish the ethicalinvestment board gained support from over a third of the student body in 2014.

Upon presentation to the university administration, the petition was not heard from again, and the months of organization and articulation these students underwent was essentially invalidated.

The resolution passed on Tuesday night is a redress of that grievance.

The student body should not be silent on the issue of divestment from Israel. This is the 21st century — an era in which truth is disseminated with incredible verifiability in a matter of moments.

The claims that the petition’s organizers propagate may seem bold, but you have the ability to go on YouTube or Facebook and see the oppression of which they speak.

As a country, we have woken up to the systematic racism apparent in the killings of Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, and Trayvon Martin. Are we ignorant enough to suggest that oppression does not exist beyond the borders of “the land of the free?” Are we not obligated, as students of a university, to seek out truth? The resolution passed on Tuesday night is a reminder of the necessity of that pursuit.

Yet perhaps most personally, I should not allow silence to dominate my interaction with this university. MLK said “our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” If my tuition supports oppression, why have I been silent?

I’ve seen the videos, I’ve heard the testimony and yet for three years now I have been content with observing the struggle more “personally” felt by fellow students. I feel ashamed for treating “impersonally” the investment made on my behalf into vindictive activity. The resolution passed Tuesday night is a reminder of the personal stake that I, and every single one of us on this campus, has in this contentious issue.

Silence is simply not an option anymore. Thank you, Imam and Elmohd, for reminding me what it means to speak. I have a voice, and I will not disgrace that gift with silence any longer.

Chris Johnson is a junior majoring in political science.

Letters to the Editor guidelines: Letters should not exceed 400 words in length and must include name, major and year in school. They also must include phone number for verification purposes only. All letters are subject to editing for content, grammar, taste and length. All letters are published at the discretion of the editorial board. Only letters sent via email will be considered.

Submit letters to: oracleopinion@gmail.com or visit usforacle.com.

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Sports

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

The Rundown Outside USF

Broncos denying tickets to Patriot fans Days ahead of the AFC Championship Game and the17th edition of Peyton Manning vs.

Tom Brady, the Denver Broncos are preventing the Patriot faithful from buying tickets to the highly-anticipated playoff matchup. Fans wanting to purchase tickets to the game through official sites like Ticketmaster.com, must have a rocky-mountain-area billing address. This area includes Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah, western Kansas and Wyoming. It’s a tactic used by many sports franchises to gain a better home-field advantage. During last year’s NHL Stanley Cup Finals, the Tampa Bay Lightning employed this, angering many Chicago natives hoping to watch the Blackhawks.

Note-a-bull

Bulls drop game against Memphis The No. 15 USF women’s basketball team lost to unranked Memphis 88-87 in overtime on Wednesday night, just days after earning their highest ranking in the AP women’s basketball poll in program history. USF (12-5, 5-2) had four players score more than 15 points, but the Tigers (9-9, 3-3) edged the Bulls going 29of-31 from the free-throw line.

USF

Men’s Basketball

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MORE COVERAGE ONLINE

At 7-foot-6, UCF’s Tacko Fall proves a tall order for USF

Read it at USFOracle.com ●

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Football

UCF

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Falling short

Report: Taggart hires WR coach

USF coach Willie Taggart has had two assistants leave this month.

ORACLE FILE PHOTO/ADAM MATHIEU

By Jacob Hoag S P O R T S

Despite his 7-foot-6, 300-pound frame, USF was able to keep UCF freshman center Tacko Fall (24) in check. Fall finished the game with just five points and four turnovers. ORACLE PHOTO/ADAM MATHIEU

USF drops its ninth-straight game with loss to rival UCF

By Chuck Muller C O R R E S P O N D E N T

At times, they appear so close.

But when the buzzer sounds, more often than not, USF finds itself on the losing end.

After USF’s 64-54 loss to instate rival UCF at the Sun Dome Wednesday night, the rhetoric was the same. But USF coach Orlando Antigua was adamant that his team was close to where he wanted them to be.

“We’re doing a lot of good things, they’re just not resulting in the win column,” Antigua said.

“It’s just a matter of time.”

MORE COVERAGE ONLINE The Bulls (3-17, 0-7) got off to a Through a disappointing sea- fast start, going on an 11-3 run in the game’s first four minutes. But, son, USF has put emphasis that lead slowly dissipated, as the on shot-blocking Bulls shot only 29.4 percent from Read it at USFOracle.com the field in the first half.

Despite the Bulls’ poor shooting through the first 20 minutes, they only trailed the Knights by six as they went into halftime.

The Bulls came out of the half continuing their poor shooting effort, allowing UCF to extend the lead to as many as 15 with 12:44 remaining.

From there the Bulls began to fight back. A Chris Perry dunk with 3:18 remaining got the Bulls within four.

“When you talk about the way we’re defending, how we’re rebounding the ball, and now we’re taking care of the ball a lot better,” Antigua said.

But another mid-game collapse coupled with an inability to convert at the free throw line (4-11) yet again doomed the Bulls.

Free throws may have made the difference in the game, as UCF

managed to shoot 21 more than USF, finishing 25-32 on the night.

“What can you say, we have to defend the free throw line a lot better,” Antigua said.

The Bulls did manage to contain 7-foot-6 freshman Tacko Fall, who came in the game 32nd in the country in blocked shots (2.1 per game). The big man finished the game with only five points and a single block in 19 minutes.

“We just had to be physical, we had to move him out of the paint because if he catches it, he’s just going to dunk on you, ” said forward Chris Perry, who had the daunting task of defending the Senegalese giant.

“He didn’t kill us, so I think that worked (on him).”

USF will travel to Houston (10-7, 4-2) this week to face the Cougars on Saturday at 4 p.m.

E D I T O R

USF coach Willie Taggart has reportedly found his replacement for the open wide receivers coach position.

Fox Sports’ Bruce Feldman reported Wednesday that Taggart has hired assistant T.J. Weist to replace former assistant Ron Dugans, who left to take the same position at the University of Miami earlier this month after two seasons with USF. Weist most recently served as a senior offensive analyst for Michigan last season and was the receivers coach at Cincinnati during its two Big East titles in 2011-12.

The 50-year old veteran served as offensive assistant with Taggart for five years at Western Kentucky, which included the Hilltoppers’ 2002 Division I-AA national championship.

This hire comes shortly after Raymond Woodie was promoted to defensive coordinator following the departure of Tom Allen.