The Crow's Nest - Volume 49 Issue 8 - October 23

ARTS, page 5

NEWS, page 8

OPINION, page 6

PHOTOGRAPHY DUNDEE

GENDER ISN’T REAL

RICHARD SPENCER AT UF

Chris Campbell is an adjunct professor who teaches photojournalism. Get to know him, his hat and his coffee mug.

Say hello to your angry neighborhood queer Creative Director Sav Gibbs. Get the inside scoop on escaping the gender binary.

Hundreds of protesters marched aganist the white nationalist’s speech. The protests were mostly peaceful.

THE CROW ’S NEST T H E C A M P U S N E W S PA P E R AT U N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H F L O R I D A S T. P E T E R S B U R G

Volume 49, Issue 8 - October 23, 2017 | Online at crowsneststpete.com

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W H AT I F ?

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A plane made an emergency landing Wednesday as it approached Albert Whitted Airport. Despite crashing into two cars, no one was injured. But what would have happened if it had gone 1.5 miles farther and landed on campus?

DEVIN RODRIGUEZ | THE CROW’S NEST

Fire Rescue Lt. Steve Lawrence praised the pilot of the Cessna 402B for not crashing into a structure, killing or injuring someone inside.

By Devin Rodriguez, Whitney Elfstrom and Timothy Fanning

A

small plane approaching Albert Whitted Airport made an emergency landing last Wednesday on a busy street 1.5 miles southwest of the university. Miraculously, no one was seriously injured.

But what if the Cessna 402B had come down a few moments later, when the plane was about to pass over the campus?

Virtually no one The Crow’s Nest interviewed later – university administrators, students, city officials – seemed especially worried about the possibility of a crash on a campus where several buildings lie directly beneath the flight pattern of the airport’s main runway.

Frank Biafora, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences for nearly a decade, said he has grown used to the roar of aircraft engines.

“Airplane crashes are a fact of life,” he said. “We have airports across counties and in big cities. And I don’t have an issue with planes taking off or landing (nearby). I have been here 10 years, and so far as I know there have been no problems.”

There have been at least

five fatal accidents involving planes taking off and landing at the small municipal airport since 1987, including a midair collision over Tampa Bay a mile east of Albert Whitted that year that killed both pilots and a passenger.

Four crashes in the last 22 years seem to underscore the potential peril for the USFSP campus and its neighbors, which include two hospitals: • On April 8, 1995, a Piper Cherokee approaching the airport crashed in a neighborhood a half mile southwest of the campus. It struck the roof of a vacant house at 645 15th Ave. S before crumpling into the side yard. The pilot and his passenger were killed. No one in the neighborhood was injured.

• On Nov. 27, 1996, the pilot of a Lake LA-4 made a mayday call about four miles north of the airport.

Moments later, the plane crashed into a church yard, seriously injuring the pilot.

• On Aug. 1, 2012, one man died and another was injured when their Luscombe Silvaire nosedived into the main runway shortly after taking off. The plane came to rest about 100 feet from the fence at the west end of the runway,

just across First Street S from the university.

• On Sept. 15, 2014, a Piper Cherokee apparently ran out of gas while approaching Albert Whitted from the north. It narrowly missed hitting a condominium tower, struck some trees and crashed into Vinoy Park, less than a mile from the airport and the campus.

All four people in the plane were injured, two seriously, according to St. Petersburg police. But it could have been much worse, spokeswoman Yolanda Fernandez said.

“This is a park that’s used by many people every day,” she told the Tampa Tribune.

“We have bikers and walkers and families out here, and the fact that it (the plane) was able to land, the four people survived, and it did not injure anybody on the ground is really remarkable.”

Three days after that close call, a Tampa Bay Times editorial called it “a sobering reminder” that city officials needed to reconsider how the airport fits in plans for “the downtown waterfront’s future.”

“As the number and height of buildings in the booming downtown increase and more people live and work there, it makes sense to study and >> SEE CRASH on P2

COURTESTY OF CITY OF ST. PETERSBURG

USF St. Petersburg lies directly beneath the flight path of the airport’s main runway. Several important buildings on campus, like Davis Hall, can be only two stories high.

Every attempt to close or shrink the airport has failed.

THE CROW’S NEST IS THE WEEKLY NEWSPAPER AT THE USF ST. PETERSBURG. ALL CONTENT IN THE PUBLICATION IS PRODUCED BY USFSP STUDENTS. SINGLE COPIES FREE.

THE C ROW ’S NE ST

October 23, 2017 CRASH, continued from P1

resolve potential safety risks to the public from airport operations,” said the Times, which for decades has called for closure of the airport.

A DOWNTOWN FIXTURE The municipal airport has been a fixture on the downtown waterfront since 1929.

In the 1930s, one of America’s first airline companies, National Airlines, was based there, and so was one of the famous blimps of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. A U.S. Coast Guard air station was added to the airport in 1935, and there was a small pilot training facility there during World War II. Over time, Albert Whitted began attracting complaints and critics, none louder than the Times, which has repeatedly called the tiny airport a danger and nuisance and contended that its 110 acres are better suited for public use.

Some officials at USF St. Petersburg have also quietly groused about the airport.

Because part of the campus lies directly beneath the flight path of the airport’s main runway, several important buildings – Davis, Bayboro and Coquina halls and the Science and Technology building – can be only two stories high.

But every attempt to close or shrink the airport has failed.

In November 2003, St. Petersburg voters overwhelmingly approved a charter amendment to preserve Albert Whitted and defeated a proposal to replace it with a waterfront park.

The day after the vote, thenMayor Rick Baker abandoned a compromise plan that would have closed the main runway and allowed the city to sell the remaining land for development.

Both Baker and supporters of the waterfront park proposal had suggested turning part of the airport property into an expansion of USFSP. WEDNESDAY’S EMERGENCY LANDING Authorities who are investigating Wednesday’s emergency landing have not announced what caused the pilot to land his charter plane on 18th Avenue S near the intersection with 16th Street at about 3:45 p.m.

But Fire Rescue Lt. Steve Lawrence praised the pilot for putting down on the four-lane street instead of crashing into a building.

He noted what he called “the potential of picking this roadway versus other roadways, or the fact that he didn’t crash into a structure, killing or injuring somebody inside the structure.”

As the plane descended, it hit trees and power lines on the south side of 18th Avenue before rolling into SUVs driven by Alphonsine Dean, 63, and Kimberley Grooms, 34. Grooms was later transported to Bayfront Health St. Petersburg.

“It could have been a lot

worse,” Dean told the Tampa Bay Times. “That street is normally busy at that time of day with people picking up their kids from school.”

Both the pilot, Manuel Izquierdo, 36, and his passenger, Ronald Bizick, 50, were treated and released from Bayfront Health.

It was not immediately clear what prompted Izquierdo to land on the busy street. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating, and the National Transportation Safety Board will determine the probable cause, according to FAA communications manager Kathleen Bergsen.

It could take up to a year to complete the investigation, Bergsen said.

NO CAUSE FOR CONCERN Richard Lesniak, the manager at Albert Whitted, said the airport presents no danger to the surrounding area.

“If you look statistically at aircraft crashes, they are an extremely rare event,” Lesniak said. “I think it’s less than 2,000 crashes a year. When you’re talking less than 2,000, that’s really low. I mean, one accident is one too many but it’s a very low occurrence.”

St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway said his department doesn’t see a need to be concerned about the safety of the area around the airport.

“We look at every incident that happens,” said Holloway.

There are a lot of automobile crashes every year in the city, he said, “so we look at them to see what the pattern is. We’ll be talking to our partners at the airport to see if there is some type of pattern with airplane crashes to see what we can do to help in that.”

His comments were echoed by two members of the St. Petersburg City Council.

Charlie Gerdes, whose district covers west and northwest St. Petersburg, said he knows how low planes fly over the university, but he doesn’t think the airport poses a threat.

“If I put myself in the shoes of the students, I can see the planes roaring overhead, and seeing the news about planes running out of gas or having mechanical failures, and the risk of hitting my classroom,” said Gerdes. “That’s a perfectly reasonable question.

But I don’t think the risk is reasonable or extraordinary.”

Gerdes cited the strong support the airport got in the 2003 referendum, support that his district still seems to share.

“In my district, there seems to be a very strong attachment to Albert Whitted. It’s in the city’s fabric,” he said. “If it was a genuine fear or nuisance of some kind, I think that vote years ago would have been totally different. However, things change and I would not be surprised that (if) in 15 or 20 years from now we will start talking about what to do

with the airport. People may change their minds.”

Karl Nurse is the City Council representative for District 6, which covers the university, Albert Whitted and much of downtown.

Nurse said he lives close to the university and knows firsthand how close the planes fly overhead, but he doesn’t see much change in the future.

“We had a referendum … a decade ago and citizens voted overwhelmingly to keep the airport open, so I couldn’t see it closing anytime soon,” Nurse said.

Nurse said he doesn’t think that the airport poses a significant danger to the university, but he does acknowledge that a problem could arise.

“Inherently, smaller planes piloted by amateur drivers are less safe than the larger commercial aircrafts,” he said.

The city is studying the possibility of extending the main runway at Albert Whitted a quarter mile to the east. That would mean the planes that buzz the campus would be higher and quieter.

But neither Nurse nor Gerdes seemed inclined to support that proposal, which would take a decade, cost at least $12.5 million and need to clear a host of environmental hurdles.

Nurse said the proposed runway extension would be too costly and the environmental hurdles too high.

He said a much smaller expansion – about 300 feet to the east – would be a smarter choice. “With that, I’d think we’d see noticeable improvements,” he said.

REACTION ON CAMPUS On campus, where students and faculty have grown accustomed to the sight and sound of planes overhead, some students said they were surprised that a plane had made an emergency landing so close to the university.

“That’s awful that it happened. I go to the airport every Sunday to watch the planes come in,” said Sara Veugeler a junior mass communications major. “It’s terrifying that I never take that into consideration. When I think of school, I think of safe, and school doesn’t have control over air traffic.”

But Student Government President David Thompson noted that USFSP has been here since 1965 “and I haven’t heard of any one (crash) directly impacting our campus.

I trust our administrators that if we were in danger of a crash that they would address it.”

Joe Pack, 48, a history major and peer counselor at the university’s Military and Veterans Success Center, was a military policeman who responded to crash scenes at Air Force bases around the world.

Pilots who are about to crash know to hit the street rather than crashing into a building, he said.

“We are right in the path of the (main) runway, so there is a concern,” he said. “But by having an awareness of the possibility of it (a crash) happening and being prepared to put out small gas fires, we would prevent a lot of people from getting hurt.”

“Gas is more dangerous than the plane crash itself because those (small) private planes (at the airport) generally don’t do much damage.

“They’re made of light aluminum,” Pack said. “After a crash, a fuel cell could rupture and leak aviation-rated gasoline. That’s dangerous, but you’re not looking at a massive casualty. We have fire extinguishers all over campus, and as long as we keep faculty and students trained on them, we are good.”

Interim Regional Chancellor Martin Tadlock, who arrived at the university 15 months ago, said he has

not been here “long enough to develop these concerns” about airplane mishaps. “I wasn’t here” when there were earlier incidents, he said.

“With these buildings I think a plane could probably slam into Davis Hall and not hurt anybody,” Tadlock said.

“They’re built with concrete I mean just look at them, they’re built to withstand mother nature. They’re solid.”

“A crisis can come from anywhere, not necessarily just the airport,” Tadlock said, and the university has emergency plans for any crisis.

If a crash were to occur on campus, the University Police Department would be the first to respond, and Police Chief David Hendry said his staff is prepared.

“From our standpoint as law enforcement, we are prepared for all different kinds of emergencies that occur on campus,” Hendry said. “Being in a downtown setting we can face all different kinds of dangers, but we prepare for eventualities or any kinds of hazards that might confront the campus. That’s our role to prepare and respond.”

According to Hendry, his department does not have specific training for airplane crashes, but it would be the first to establish control on the scene.

“Hypothetically, if a plane were to head to campus, and there were enough time, this is what would happen. The approaching plane would coordinate with air traffic control,” Hendry said.

“Then, police, fire and EMS would immediately be notified.

The university would be notified, if needed.

“If an incident were to occur, we would likely know about it before it happened.”

Information from the National Transportation Safety Board, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, and the Tampa Bay Times was used in this report.

SAV GIBBS | THE CROW’S NEST

A rendering of Wednesday’s emergency landing on 18th Avenue S, near the intersection at 16th Street, with a prediction of where it’s path could have continued toward campus.

TH E CROW ’ S N E ST

October 23, 2017

Forum seeks to clarify role of First Amendment at universities

By Antonio D Fazzalari Contributor

P

eter Lake, a professor at Stetson College of Law and an expert in higher education policy, visited campus Wednesday to head a forum concerning the First Amendment, campus protests and free speech.

The forum came at a time of rising turbulence as protests continue to mount against “alt-right” speakers on college campuses. (See story page 8) About 50 students and faculty from USF St. Petersburg attended the forum held in Lynn Pippenger Hall.

“If you have a right to speak, you should also have the correlative right not to speak, and even in some cases to not listen,” he said. “I’ve noticed that I’ve been increasingly living in a society where privacy

laws are breaking down.”

Lake sought to clarify the role of the First Amendment on campus while exploring the relationship between privacy, the U.S. Constitution and the pursuit of liberty. He spoke for two hours.

“Essentially arguing, not for the right to free speech so much, but the right to be free from speech — to find some space that’s safe for them to go that isn’t being invaded constantly by advertisers or ideas or thoughts that are disruptive or otherwise unwelcome,” he said.

Lake said that as we lose privacy, intimacy becomes a publicly traded commodity.

As such, society is more likely to have people turn to the First Amendment to find protection and relief.

“When free speech wars are game on, a lot of times

Registration for spring rapidly approaching

By Brianna Rodriguez Contributor

A

s the end of the semester draws closer, registration for the new semester approaches.

Academic advisers saw over 300 students this week and will continue to take appointments.

Registration for spring classes opens Oct. 30.

Academic advising says that students should schedule their advising appointment as soon as possible, regardless of any holds on their account.

“Advisers can also provide students with information about campus resources that may help them get the holds removed,” said Cynthia Collins, director of academic advising.

“Remember, students should register as soon as possible to ensure they are getting their preferred schedule. Courses will close in many majors.”

The College Scheduler is a feature in its second year that allows students to plan out their schedule prior to registration. Students can compare schedules of different class combinations to create a customized schedule.

First time college students with less than 30 credit hours completed must visit with an adviser in order to register for classes. Additionally, students with less than a 2.1 GPA must see an adviser prior to registering for classes.

Students are encouraged to act now to reserve their appointment.

If you have problems scheduling an appointment, you can visit the advising office for assistance or call the office at 727 8734511 and press option four for assistance.

To schedule an appointment, visit Academic Advising website: https://www.usfsp. edu/academic-advising/

what we’re fighting over is identities,” Lake said. “Whose identity do you have? What’s your identity? What’s mine?”

“One of the things I notice in this society is there’s a lot of folks that want to take other people’s identities and move them to their own in some way,” he said.

Lake argued that this is what is happening on college campuses around the country, where people are contesting one another’s identities.

Faculty asked the majority of questions, covering a range of topics anywhere from race chanting to cross burning.

Many of the students left in the middle of the forum.

Lake learned a lot about the First Amendment after his uncle got back from World War II. When he asked his uncle how he felt about all the flag burning in the ‘60s, he said that while it made him upset, he couldn’t imagine taking that right away. That’s what he was putting his life on the line for.

But today’s society is rapidly

challenging this narrative.

“The First Amendment is always growing and evolving with the society that it’s in, and as we start

to work at it, the ideas that we have today that are not typical become the ideas of tomorrow,” said Lake.

JONAH HINEBAUGH | THE CROW’S NEST

Protesters outside white nationalist Richard Spencer’s speech Thursday at the University of Florida.

University: parking garage attack lawsuit ‘vague and ambiguous’

By Whitney Elfstrom welfstrom@mail.usf.edu

T

he university says that the lawsuit brought by a former student who was accosted in the parking garage is “vague and ambiguous.”

The woman, called “L.E.” in the suit, sued the university and campus police in June for its negligence in handling a sex-related crime. She said those entities did not “provide adequate security” when a man masturbated behind her in the parking garage elevator.

L.E. was attacked in February 2016. Willie Fudge III, a nonstudent who lived near campus, was arrested seven days later and charged with one count of

exposure of sexual organs, a misdemeanor, and four counts of battery, for touching a person against her will.

In the suit, L.E. requested the university admit that she was sexually assaulted. However the university says it “cannot deny or admit this request.”

The university says that while she was subject to an incident of “lewdness and/or indecent exposure,” she was “not sexually assaulted,” as set forth under the Clery Act, the consumer protection law that provides transparency around campus crime policy and statistics.

L.E. also filed identical allegations against the two entities, saying the university

should have warned her of “foreseeable and unreasonable” risks created by the parking garage. She also says that the university failed to “oversee and/or supervise existing security measures” and “failed to warn L.E. about previous criminal acts” in the parking garage.

Countering this, the university says L.E.’s allegations were “redundant and immaterial.”

The university called for the case to be dismissed on the grounds that USF is provided with sovereign immunity as it is a state agency or for L.E. to provide a more definite statement “setting forth ultimate facts.”

BRIANNA RODRIGUEZ | THE CROW’S NEST

On Oct. 18, students gathered in the USC ballrooms to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. Diwali, or Deepavali, is a Sanskrit word meaning “rows of lighted lamps.” It is India’s biggest holiday and is traditionally celebrated with lights, food and dancing. The annual five day festival of lights on campus was hosted by the South Asian Association. Radhika Dang, SAA president, educated students on the significance of the festival by relaying information about Hindu culture. SAA members performed traditional dances while students munched on authentic South Asian foods.

THE C ROW ’S NE ST

October 23, 2017

Science Fest and MarineQuest bring zest to campus

By Michael Moore Jr michaelmoor@mail.usf.edu

S

everal kids gather around the back of a rescue truck, pulling a piece of tarp. They hoist a manatee out on a stretcher before gently setting it on the ground.

Upon closer inspection, the manatee more closely resembles a leather couch with eyes. It was stitched together by a local biologist.

The kids were practicing what it’s like to rescue a manatee.

“Anyone who helped rescue the Manatee gets a lollipop,” says one Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission official after the exercise.

This is MarineQuest 2017, the annual open house of the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. In its 23rd year, it has become home to a plethora of live marine, freshwater and other animal exhibits: To the left there are sharks, rays and spiny lobsters. To the right there are sea stars, snakes and alligators.

Its aim? To inspire, educate and get people excited about science.

“Do you want to know what it’s like to fly into a hurricane?” asks Chris Mehta, 27, a doctorate candidate at USF Tampa in geology.

When he’s not studying, he works for the science, engineering and meteorology department of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Mehta isn’t at MarineQuest.

He’s just a few steps away on Harbor Lawn, where the seventh annual St. Petersburg Science Festival is taking place. It is a regional celebration of hands-on science, technology, engineering, art and math. It’s home to over 150 exhibits that stretch all the way to Poynter Park.

Its aim? To inspire, educate and get people excited about science.

MarineQuest and the Science Festival are free events that have been held

in conjunction for the past several years.

Hundreds of people flock to the exhibits each year, many of them budding scientists who were inspired to be scienceliterate by similar events.

“Working for NOAA has been a lifelong dream of mine.

I love serving others,” Mehta says, handing out Kermit the frog stickers that say “sky hopper” on them.

He says every day is a new adventure, which sounds cliché, until you hear him describe how they have to direct the nose of the P-3 standard crew airplane down in order to fly directly into the eyewall. When in the eye, it’s calm, which allows them to collect data on things like wind speed and pressure.

He’s at the festival hoping to inspire the next generation of scientists.

Booths from the Florida Aquarium, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Mote Marine Laboratory are there to do the same. The day before, more than 1,200 school children were treated to a sneak peak of the exhibits.

Barrie Wilkie has volunteered at Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium in Sarasota for 20 years. She’s seen a lot of events like these during her time, but was impressed by both the number of people and exhibits.

“There’s a lot of competition here,” she said jokingly.

Wilkie grew up in Aruba, where she says she fell in love with fish and marine life. She spent over 10 years on the floor as a docent, helping give tours and educate the public about ocean conservation. Now, she spends her time educating people at events like these.

“Anytime you can help people understand things better, that’s important,” she said. “You get people watching these shark movies, but if you can touch them and make them fall in love with the animals, that’s special.”

That’s what happened with

MICHAEL MOORE JR | THE CROW’S NEST

Barrie Wilkie, volunteer, shows off her passion for marine life by educating Science Fest attendees on horseshoe crabs.

Domonique Gillen. She’s originally from New Jersey, but her aunt works at Mote Marine. She estimates that she’s visited the aquarium over 50 times. Now she’s a

a booth at the St. Petersburg Science Festival showing kids “elephant toothpaste,” an exothermic reaction involving hydrogen peroxide, soap, yeast and food coloring

“Mom, can we do this at home?” he asked.

She “loves the ocean and the complexity of the animals that live there” and us exuberant about the wide range of

MICHAEL MOORE JR | THE CROW’S NEST

Keith Fischer, assistant research scientist at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, educated crowds who gathered to learn information about sharks. The sharks were preserved in formaldehyde and stored in alcohol to stay in tact for the presentation.

junior marine biology major in the honors program at USF’s College of Marine Science, where she is working on her undergraduate thesis with Dr. Teresa Greely, a professor of biological oceanography.

Gillen hopes to one day be a researcher in the field.

On Saturday she worked

that results in an overflow of brightly colored foam.

Seeing the look on kids’ faces as the foam gushes out of the cylinder is priceless, she says. She smiled as she described a curly haired kid from earlier whose face beamed with excitement when she did the experiment.

animals you can study “from dolphins to anglerfish,” but it’s clear that she also loves inspiring the next generation of scientists.

“I think it’s so cool to see how many young kids turned out on a Saturday,” Gillen said. “You have to make them care before they will want to change the world.”

TH E CROW ’ S N E ST

October 23, 2017

A familiar photojournalist face on campus

By Dinorah Prevost dprevost1@mail.usf.edu

Y

ou’ve seen him around campus: dark green cowboy hat, a mug or paper coffee cup in hand, sitting at the bar at The Campus Grind.

He’s usually chatting with students and baristas or shooting photos at major events — his face masked by a Nikon camera.

Curious passersby often confuse him for the Australian bushman stereotype.

“It’s funny. People think I’m Australian. I’ve had people literally yell out ‘Hey mate’ anywhere and I’m like ‘I’m not Australian,’” Chris Campbell said.

A former USF St. Petersburg graduate student, Campbell “stuck around,” quickly becoming a staple on campus since 2012. That’s when VideoWorks, the inhouse production studio for the Department of Journalism and Digital Communication, opened and he became its multimedia specialist.

Campbell, 45, is modest about his life before arriving at the university in 2010.

To say he was an adventurer is an understatement. He’s been to Asia, Australia and Europe, and his love for travel came at just 3-weeks-old, after his parents carted him and his sisters from Philadelphia across the country.

Malaysia a lot because it’s right there,” Campbell said.

His family eventually moved back to Los Angeles , where he went to high school.

Campbell didn’t navigate social circles well in school as a child. Instead, he fell in love with nature where he felt most comfortable.

“Growing up, I was very shy as a kid. I was really interested in bird-watching and animal and bird behavior so I’d just spend my time (doing that) in elementary school, middle school and high school, instead of going to parties or doing ‘normal’ things. I’d literally spend all my time in nature, on bird walks or hiking,” he said.

After high school, he went to the University of California, Santa Barbara.

“I assumed I was going to be a scientist so when I went to UCSB for my undergrad degree, I said ‘Well I like science, birds, animals so I’m going to do some kind of science,’” Campbell said.

He changed majors five times, switching from biology to environmental studies to anthropology to sociology.

He eventually settled on environmental studies because he liked “the social aspect of it” as well as the science.

He spent his college vacations in England, where his parents moved for five years. The three of them would take road trips around

COURTESTY OF CHRIS CAMPBELL

Chris Campbell at the Sydney Opera House in Australia in 2006.

He lived in Virginia, Southern California, Massachusetts and by middle school, he was tramping around Singapore. At the time, his stepfather worked for the now-defunct Lockheed Corporation, a global aerospace company, and was transferred to Singapore for three years.

“While we were in Singapore, we got to travel around Southeast Asia.

Every vacation, we’d go to a different country to spend a holiday, like Japan, Australia, New Zealand, India, Nepal, Indonesia. We’d go to

England and Scotland so he knows both countries well.

He graduated from UCSB with his bachelor’s degree in 2004.

“If California wasn’t so expensive, I’d probably still be there. Santa Barbara is beautiful. It’s one of the prettiest places I’ve ever lived in. It’s got beaches and mountains and beautiful chaparrals,” he said. “But I couldn’t stay there. I had to leave. It was too expensive and I needed a job.”

One summer, he had the “crazy notion of working in a crab cannery” in Alaska.

He hitchhiked across the state, getting rides from truck drivers and sleeping in tent.

He stayed in towns like Homer and Seward for a few weeks at a time.

“It was a strange experience,” Campbell said.

In 2002, he went on a monthslong road trip from Tampa to Virginia on a mission to find himself, Jack Kerouac style.

Traveling alone in a hatchback with a broken air conditioner and windows that didn’t roll down, he stopped for a few days in each city.

He visited St. Augustine, Savannah, Georgia, Asheville, North Carolina and returned to California before reaching Virginia.

“It was a fun experience.

I met a lot of interesting people,” he said.

As he traveled, Campbell told people he was an author writing a book so that they would tell him their stories.

“What happens is when you travel a lot, you accumulate all these experiences and the way they add up makes it very interesting because it’s very surreal,” he said.

But after a while, Campbell got tired of sleeping in a small car and being lonely. He ended the eight month trip.

While traveling he came to an important realization. “I really needed to have some kind of direction (in my life),” he said.

When he returned home, he finally stopped putting off graduate school, something he’d wanted to do for a long time.

“That’s life. A lot of times, you don’t know what you’re going to do and you just keep doing things and eventually you find something,” he said.

Before working in multimedia, Campbell had two other careers as a biologist and an environmental educator.

He’s also been a school photographer and a substitute teacher. He’s always worked at least two jobs at the same time, but the most challenging was being a substitute teacher.

He felt he didn’t have the temperament to deal with unruly students.

“It was the most challenging job I’ve ever experienced in my entire life.”

“As a substitute, they treat you really bad to begin with.

It’s not that they were just rude or inconsiderate, it was like I was truly ignored. (In high schools) lots of times, they were like ‘I don’t care about you’...straight to my face. They’d get up and leave and they’d cuss me out. It was insane,” he said.

He also watched students fight in class, right in front of him.

“I really think that if no one stopped them ... I think they would have killed each other.”

One principal at Lakewood high school told him he wasn’t cut out to be a teacher, and

COURTESTY OF CHRIS CAMPBELL

Chris Campbell petting a student’s dog during a photojournalism class.

encouraged him not to return.

“She was absolutely right,” Campbell said. “(But) it was important (for me to work as a substitute) because it made me realize that I cannot teach anything below college. I did learn how difficult (public school) teachers have it.

As a biologist, he did student biology and field jobs and also worked at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

At the same time, he was an environmental educator at places like the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI), the old Pier Aquarium and Busch Gardens.

“I worked in Texas one time tracking snakes and little birds, walking around with a transmitter like they do in National Geographic (shows).”

After working in biology and environmental education for a while, he decided that he wanted to do them as a hobby.

He was also limited in his science career opportunities because he didn’t have a master’s degree or a doctorate in his field.

“I just realized that I didn’t want to be a scientist professionally. I wanted to pursue it as a hobby. But I wanted to do film, photography and videography as a job.”

Campbell previously did school photography in Santa Barbara for a year. His father was also a photographer during the Vietnam War. Fulfilling the decision he made in 2002, he finally went to back to school in 2010. He enrolled in the master’s program in the then Department of Journalism and Media Studies at USF St. Petersburg. His focus was on documentary filmmaking.

When he came to campus to inquire about the program, Mark Walters, the founding director of the online only Digital Journalism and Design program, asked Campbell for help using Final Cut Pro, a video editing software.

“I ended up helping him with Final Cut for an hour and then he said ‘I think you should come to the program

and be my GA (graduate assistant).’”

He was in his second year of graduate school in 2011 when Walters asked him to start a studio to produce content for the program. When he took the offer, Campbell was overwhelmed with it for about three weeks because he had no experience.

“I was really freaking out because I thought ‘Wait, you want me to build a studio from a classroom with every piece of equipment’.”

To help, Walters brought in a consultant, Casey Frechette, who was an interactive learning producer at the Poynter Institute. That’s when Campbell and Frechette, now an assistant professor in the journalism department, first met.

“I was helping them design the studio and pick out some equipment,” Frechette said.

Walters also got another graduate student, Edgardo Dangond, to work on the information technology end and build the production computer from scratch.

Dangond is now the studio’s technical director.

Together, they transformed a small classroom on the first floor of the Peter Rudy Wallace Florida Center for Teachers into a fully functioning studio.

VideoWorks opened in 2012.

When Campbell graduated from the program in 2013, he was back in the studio the next week.

“I remember I graduated on Saturday and on Monday, it was just back to work doing the exact same thing because the studio had to be run. The only difference was (I) had a master’s degree now,” he said.

Campbell is also an adjunct professor, teaching photojournalism and video storytelling classes with Frechette. They took the classes from former professor Debbie Wolfe in 2014.

“We try to have fun with our work, whether it’s teaching or the production work that we do in the studio. More often than not, it’s intrinsically interesting if nothing else,” Frechette said. “We’re kind of kindred spirits in the way that we approach our work and

THE C ROW ’S NE ST

October 23, 2017| Opinion

Your ideas of gender are probably wrong

THE CROW’S NEST The Crow’s Nest is committed to providing its readers with news relevant to the University of South Florida St. Petersburg and its surrounding community. The Crow’s Nest abides by the highest ethical standards and focuses on stories that help readers make informed decisions on current issues.

We take seriously the public’s trust in our news reporting and strive to uphold the highest standards of reporting as defined by the Society of Professional Journalists. Opinions in this newspaper do not necessarily represent those of the administration, faculty or student body.

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USFSP Student Life Center Office 2400 140 Seventh Ave. S. St. Petersburg, FL, 33701 (727) 873-4113 usfcrowsnest@gmail.com

Staff Michael Moore Jr Editor-in-Chief

Editorial Timothy Fanning Managing Editor Whitney Elfstrom Online Editor Dinorah Prevost News Editor Anna Bryson A&E Editor Lis Casanova Copy Editor Delaney Brown Staff Reporter

By Sav Gibbs

Senior Graphic Design major

spgibbs@mail.usf.edu

I

shouldn’t have to do this.

I shouldn’t have to be the educated voice on gender for all of you who don’t live in the LGBTQ commuity, who can’t just open your web browser and Google these things.

I already have to face discrimination just for being who I am, so will you cut the crap?

Most people think that being born with a penis or a vagina is all that there is. But about one in 1,500 people are born with some sort of variation of reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t fit typical definitions of male or female sex organs.

This could be something like a child with a penis but XX chromosomes, or a child with a clitoris but no vagina.

Previously, these children were forced to have invasive surgeries to “correct” something that isn’t an issue.

Now, it’s more common to let the child mature and make their own choices about gender identity.

Someone’s sex describes the reproductive organs that a doctor would need to know, and unless you are using someone’s sex in a medical or legal sense, there is no need to ask about

Sav Gibbs Creative Director Jonah Hinebaugh Photography Editor

Operations Rob Hooker Adviser

Letters to The Editor The Crow’s Nest accepts letters to the editor. All submissions should be no more than 500 words. Writers must include their full name. In addition, USF faculty should include their title, department and extension. All letters are subject to editing for clarity and length. Letters can be sent to michaelmoor@mail.usf.edu with subject title “Letter to the Editor.”

Because of high production costs, members of the USFSP community are permitted one copy per issue.

Where available, additional copies may be purchased for 10 cents each by contacting the newspaper’s editor-in-chief or managing editor. Newspaper theft is a crime. Those who violate the single copy rule may be subject to civil and criminal prosecution and/ or university discipline.

a woman or a man.

I’m just a person — a person who was in Girl Scouts, who uses tampons, who has a vagina, but a person who is not female.

A person who uses the singular they pronoun, despite the comments like “it just doesn’t work grammatically” that discredit my entire existence every time.

I’m not asking for a lot from you. Just respect the pronouns someone asks you to use and take a second to understand the struggle that comes with putting one’s true self out there. It takes courage to, one, accept that part of yourself, and two, explain it to the public while knowing it could

lead to discrimination.

I know I have privilege as a white person who passes as a female, and must acknowledge that trans people, especially trans women of color, face far more discrimination than I ever will.

Trans people are murdered and assaulted at a much higher rate than anyone else in the United States. People outside the gender binary often have little to no legal protection against job and housing discrimination.

So let’s take one stressor out of their lives, and if you consider yourself an LGBTQ ally, respect the choices that we as people outside the traditional gender binary make.

EVY GUERRA |THE CROW’S NEST

Sav Gibbs wants people who don’t live in the LGBTQ community to understand that alternative gender identities are valid and deserve to be respected.

You’re not green if you consume animal products

Design

Brenden DelaRua Business Manager

it. Asking is one of the most invasive thing you can do to someone outside the binary.

Gender identity is how someone defines their place on the gender spectrum in a technical term. This is unrelated to sexual orientation or gender expression.

Gender identity,like liquid starch, can be incredibly solid to some people and a gooey flexible mess for others. That gooey flexible mess could be defined as genderqueer or genderfluid, where an individual doesn’t feel like they have a fixed gender.

Transgender describes someone who doesn’t identify with the gender they were assigned at birth. Nonbinary describes someone who doesn’t identify with the preconceived notions of gender, male or female, and finds themselves somewhere between the two “defined” genders. Agender describes someone who doesn’t identify with any gender.

There are many more gender identities than listed here. All are valid and worth exploring. If you find yourself reevaluating what your gender actually means to you, or if you care to learn about other gender identities, I strongly recommend you research it.

Gender expression also doesn’t have to align with any one singular notion of gender identity. I dress very femininely, often wear makeup and have relatively long hair. But I’m non-binary.

I have no intentions to transition with hormones or surgery, and I don’t wish I was a man. I simply don’t feel like

By Tiffany Beyer

Junior Journalism and Digital Communications major

O

h no, yet another annoying vegan rant.

But listen up, because this is not about you, or the ethical treatment of animals.

In order to help reduce our environmental impact, the Go Green Movement tells us to recycle, ditch our plastic grocery bags and ride our bikes to work.

But did you know that your diet has more of an impact on greenhouse emissions than your car does?

Agriculture emits 10 percent more greenhouse gases than all transportation emissions combined, according to the Environmental Protection

Agency.

Although agriculture in general includes producing both plants and animals for food, much of the plant products are actually used for animal agriculture.

A substantial portion of the grain grown in the U.S. is fed to livestock, contributing to the significant pollution caused by the animal agriculture industry. For example, 39.1 percent of corn grown in 2015 was used to feed livestock, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

However, switching to grass fed livestock is even more land intensive than growing grain to feed them. The USDA says a 1,200 pound cow needs 1.8 acres to graze. One acre can also produce 9,800 pounds of corn. If you do the math, one is clearly more efficient than the other.

If we fed the grain used for raising livestock to people instead of animals, we could effectively end world hunger. Showing compassion for the animals and our environment would also mean showing

compassion for our fellow humans.

But those cows, pigs and chickens would all run wild if we didn’t eat them, right?

Wouldn’t that cause a farmpocalypse? No, it wouldn’t, because these animals only exist in large numbers because humans facilitate their reproduction.

Let’s talk water. How many times were you scolded for letting the water run while brushing your teeth as a kid? Turns out, that’s not even comparable to ordering a burger.

It takes 1,800 gallons of water to produce one pound of U.S. beef, according to The Water Footprint Network. Visualize how many plants could be watered with 1,800 gallons.

So what about the idea of sustainable seafood?

Unfortunately, that’s not the reality.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations says that 52 percent of fish stocks are fully exploited and 17 percent are overexploited. If this

continues, we will run out of seafood by 2048.

I could number dump all day, but I encourage you to do research on your own.

The facts are there. Major organizations are getting on board with finally identifying animal agriculture as one of the drivers of climate change.

Identifying is just step one though, step two is making changes in your life if you really care about the state of our environment — and that can be tough.

Transitioning to a plantbased diet is difficult, I’ll be the first to admit that. You have to unlearn the eating habits you’ve been conditioned to have your entire life.

However, it can be done.

Taking small steps is OK, and there is a world of support and resources out there — not to mention the incredible evolution of plant-based meat, dairy and egg substitutes.

Don’t get discouraged, and remember that almost every plant-based eater has spoken the words: “I could never go vegan.” But then they did.

TH E CROW ’ S N E ST

October 23, 2017

Review: The Keepers is a must see documentary Letter to the editor: Criticism T of last week’s front page layout and design

By Sara M. McDonald Contributor

he Keepers is a mustsee Netflix original true-crime documentary which exposes a long history of sexual and emotional abuse in the 1960s at the hands of an ordained priest.

Unlike the ever popular “Making a Murder,” another true-crime Netflix favorite, “The Keepers” seeks to give a voice to the victims and not to the criminal.

For the subject matter, this is usually the opposite way to handle the situation. Sexual and emotional abuse is so commonly thought of as a taboo subject that Hollywood tries to avoid it altogether. In an intriguing move, Netflix dared to tackle it.

“The Keepers” is a sevenpart series that follows the struggles of former students now in their sixties who are seeking justice for the wrongdoing they have endured. Sister Cathy Cesnick, the series’ primary focus, was a young nun who disappeared while running errands in November 1969.

The following year her body was found with her skull broken. Her murder was never solved, but there are theories.

Sister Cesnick worked at Archbishop Keough School, where the students adored and trusted her—so much so that they are haunted by her unsolved case. As a result, they have never quit their

quest for the truth.

It took years for the victims of horrendous acts to come forward about the sexual and emotional abuse they endured at the hands of Father Maskell. Most of that courage is founded on the idea that they want justice and truth about what happened to Sister Cesnick and why.

The students trusted her. Did they trust her with a secret?

Their secret? Did Father Maskell have something to do with her murder as a result?

The documentary is raw and heart-wrenching. There are terrifying stories of abuse but extraordinary moments of courage.

This documentary comes at a time when our community and culture needs to understand the dangerous and life changing outcomes of emotional and sexual abuse. It comes at a time when we are still trying to grasp the importance of coming forward and fighting for justice and what is right.

We, as a community, could learn a lot from this group of brave women, especially as Betsy DeVos is relooking at the Obama era guidelines of Title IX and the #metoo movement in the wake of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s abuse scandal.

There has never been a better time to stay educated and to watch the effects that come from not protecting students and not believing victims.

This documentary was expertly and beautifully

executed. It is a must see for anyone who is remotely interested in changing the future by dismantling rape culture.

Let’s learn from their past and hope that these women can find the peace and answers they deserve.

By Samantha Fiore RHA Vice President

I

COURTESY OF NETFLIX

This documentary comes at a time when our community and culture needs to understand the dangerous and life changing outcomes of emotional and sexual abuse.

What to do this week: Oct 23-29

By Lis Casanova lis@mail.usf.edu

MONDAY

There’s a lot going on in the sphere of change, particularly involving the LGBTQ community. To help us understand, the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Wellness Center present SafeZone: Ally Training, an educational discussion to promote advocacy. The meetings take place in the Student Life Center 2100 from 2 to 5 p.m.

In this day and age we’re constantly surrounded by technology, so sometimes it’s nice to disconnect every once in awhile. If you’re interested in trying an old-school approach to human connection join the Paper & Pen Pal Club at Room 901 at 7 p.m. The event, hosted by Keep St. Pete Lit., is in a partnership that began in August with Houston’s Brazos Bookstore. Come out and respond to their letters or write your own, then return on the last Monday of every month to get your reply. P.S. You’ll love the locale.

TUESDAY

Halloween is right around the corner and you’ve probably

already picked a costume out.

But, here’s the thing — are you sure it’s appropriate?

And I mean culturally appropriate. There’s a fine line between what’s OK and what isn’t, so, don’t be that person.

Unsure? Go to Compass’ Talk N’ Snack: Appropriation vs Appreciation discussion in their office at COQ 101 from 3 to 4 p.m.

Drowsy morning? Probably because you missed your morning coffee. Thankfully for you, student government is hosting their weekly Coffee with the Cabinet meeting with free coffee and, of course, the opportunity to ask your leaders important questions. Catch them at their office in the SLC 1500 from 10 a.m. on.

WEDNESDAY

Ready for some Halloween events to spook up your life?

Well, then, better get to The Edge from 5 to 6 p.m. to enjoy Compass’ Bull-O-Ween.

There you’ll get to carve a pumpkin, dance to “Thriller” and participate in a mummy contest. Come in costume and have some fun!

THURSDAY

We’re not really sure how this is a Halloween event besides

the fact that it involves dressing in costume (maybe Halloween costumes?) but it does seem like it will be a lot of fun.

Drag-O-Ween Bash, is a drag show performed by students in celebration of LGBTQ history month. Get over to the USC Ballrooms from 7 to 10 p.m.

Here’s another movie in the park to get you out of your house and into the fresh air (which is supposed to be a bit cooler.) This week, the featured film in none other than “ET,” a childhood favorite. Come out to North Straub Park from 6 to 10 p.m.

FRIDAY

The place where you go to do your homework just became a whole lot scarier. Enter if you dare. Yeah, we’re talking about the Student Life Center’s Haunted House, hosted by the Harborside Activities Board, and yeah, it does have scream potential. Get in there from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m.

Are you super excited?

Like super-duper excited?

You should be, “Stranger Things” season two is here. To celebrate, Black Crow Coffee is throwing a themed flea market from 7:30 to 9 p.m., a premier party at 9 p.m., and an ‘80s Halloween costume party

and contest.

SATURDAY

Hey yogi, get your yoga on at the Saturday Morning Market, hosted by Moving Meditations every fourth Friday of the month from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.

Looking for something super fun to do this weekend that doesn’t break the bank? Take a ride to the Beach bar at Courtney Campbell Causeway for the Haunted Beach Ocean Side Carnival from 5 to midnight.

There will be mutated sea creatures, mermaids, a sea captain turned butcher, pumpkin carving, costume contests and a free punch bar. Buy early bird tickets for $10 at beachtampa.com.

SUNDAY

Here’s a contest that involves what you’re already planning to do and rewards you with a $25 Amazon gift card for it: Connect’s Pimp My Pumpkin. All you have to do is take a photo of your carved pumpkin by the Bull and use the Instagram hashtag #UsfspPimpMyPumpkin to enter. More than one pumpkin may be entered. Final entry date is Sunday at 11:59, winners will be announced on the following Tuesday through Connect’s website.

am emailing you regarding the front page of The Crows Nest from Oct. 16. As a student on this campus, I think the placement of this headline paired with a picture of the Homecoming King and Queen was insensitive and poorly planned out.

First, let me make clear who the Homecoming King and Queen are. Sadandré and Shani are two high\ly regarded student leaders here at USF St. Petersburg. They are tour guides, orientation leaders, Compass First Year Experience peer coaches, academically successful and are making a huge impact on hundreds of students here at USF St .Petersburg; they should be celebrated and used as an example of the types of students we have representing us on this campus. They are what USFSP embodies.

Rather than using your platform to making this an opportunity to highlight some of the amazing students that have been able to grow and succeed and become the best version of themselves because of what this campus offers, it’s paired with a headline that says more than what meets the eye. It reminds us of a dark time on our campus that impacted our peers. This is not a copy of The Crow’s Nest that Dré and Shani want to keep as a memory to show their grandchildren one day. Don’t you want your hard work to be remembered that way?

I think The Crow’s Nest has an amazing opportunity to increase the overall spirit and happiness on our campus. So many amazing things happen here. Our students are so transparent and intentional, diverse and talented. They should be used as an example of what it means to be a Bull at USFSP. While it is important to talk about the bad news too, you could have used Volume 49 Issue 7 of The Crow’s Nest as something that would be cherished by so many students forever.

THE C ROW ’S NE ST

October 23, 2017

A protester escorted a white nationalist outside Richard Spencer’s talk: ‘He just smiled and called me a racist slur’

JONAH HINEBAUGH |THE CROW’S NEST

Julius Long (left) and UF student Baghat Singh (right) escorts Randy Furniss, a white supremacist, out of the protest area Thursday. Furniss, who was yelling racial slurs, was spat on and punched by an unknown protester.

By Jonah Hinebaugh jonahh@mail.usf.edu

Editor’s note: Members of the “alt-right” frequently dox, or search for and publish private or identifying information about a particular individual on the Internet, typically with malicious intent.

In order to avoid this, the student interviewed in this story asked to go under the pseudonym Baghat Singh to protect his identity. n a small parking lot at the University of Florida, hundreds of protesters circled a single man with swastikas printed on his white T-shirt.

Tension rose as the man continued to spew racial slurs at minorities in the crowd.

Some of the protesters tried to reason with him. Some tried to engage him in debate, but none of that worked.

The police stood silently, on the sidelines, unwilling to step in. Protesters began to shove him. He smirked, trying his best to stand tall amid the hundreds of people, who were now yelling and spitting on him.

Eventually, tensions rose so high that someone punched him, hard, busting his lip.

As he left, the crowd trailed behind. Helping to escort the

I

man out of the protest zone was Baghat Singh, a senior political science major at UF. “People started pushing (the Nazi) and the crowd started moving, I was right beside him. I was talking to him like ‘C’mon dude I don’t agree with you, you don’t have to like me, but I don’t want you to get hurt.

I want you to leave please.’ He just smiled and called me a racist slur,” Singh said.

Singh said the man showed up, walked through the crowd, and called people “n---ers, sandn---ers, towelheads and racist slurs in Hebrew.

“He was saying propaganda and trying to pick a fight. Some people tried to reason with him, but these people don’t know what they’re dealing with. This man is coming from a standpoint of fabricated history,” Singh said.

On Thursday, a crowd 2,500 of protesters gathered outside the Curtis M. Phillips Center at the University of Florida to protest a speech by white supremacist leader Richard Spencer, the president of the National Policy Institute (NPI).

Leading up to the event, the university spent close to $600,000 on security measures, and Alachua County was placed under a state of emergency by Governor Rick Scott.

Spencer has advocated for a white ethnostate and legal access to abortion because he believes it would decrease the amount of black and Hispanic people. He opposes same-sex marriage, wanting to return to more traditional roles, according to an interview with The Washington Post.

UF initially turned down Spencer’s application to speak in mid-August over what it deemed concerns about violence, not over Spencer’s rhetoric. When Spencer hired lawyers and threatened to sue UF, the university said it would try to accommodate him for a later date. (See story, page 4) “I’ll be honest I don’t like Nazis,” Singh said. “I don’t think they should be allowed to walk around and spread their hatred, endanger people and I’m appalled the state hasn’t called them a terrorist yet.”

“When someone comes up and says we deserve to die, (it’s like) we are not even human to them. Love trumps hate, but when you’re dealing with a fascist, they’re not there to engage in conversation with you. There’s no discourse.”

The university became a mini police state with roads blocked off, troopers posted around every building and snipers on roofs of buildings

JONAH HINEBAUGH |THE CROW’S NEST

Randy Furniss walks past the police line set up to keep the protesters away. Eventually protesters broke through, forcing the police back to the edge of the protest line.

in the surrounding area.

“We went and talked to the police and asked them to do something (about the Nazi in the crowd), but one officer told my friend ‘I’m sorry we are not authorized to do it.’

They were only there to ensure us hooligans didn’t jump over the fence and rush the (Phillips Center),” Singh said.

To Singh, it felt like the university enabled Spencer to speak and have a platform despite claims by university president W. Kent Fuchs that the university did not agree with Spencer or his ideology.

Protesters were denied water, food and access to the bathrooms located on the east side of the UF recreation center. The university also locked the doors to the bathroom and shut off the water fountains.

Singh was tired of the messages Fuchs and others tried to send by urging everyone to stay home.

He said that the protestors goal from the beginning was to come together in solidarity to peacefully use their right to free speech. “(Fascist) ideas and hate are not welcome here,” Singh said.

“We are totally disappointed by the city and by the school who paid $600,000 to protect a Nazi.”

Florida congressman Ted Yoho released a statement Monday Oct. 16 equating all the protester groups to “antifa (short for anti fascist action)” saying they’re all violent.

Yoho called the NPI a misleadingly named hate group and “antifa” a group comprised of radical anarchists and marxists that advocate for violence and chaos. Yoho said that “antifa” was calling on their members to come and protest suggesting the whole crowd of protesters would be comprised of violent people.

Singh disagrees and thinks Yoho’s comments on the protests were off-base.

“He said us protesters were like ‘antifa.’ That is another red scare tactic. Apparently

anyone who shows up or opposes a fascist is a part of ‘antifa.’ He basically said what Trump said, that the people who are standing up to protect themselves, our families and other people of color are equal to the Nazis.

“Our target was to not have a Charlottesville,” Singh said, “We wanted a Boston.

In Charlottesville, they had the tiki marches, people got hurt and it empowered them. In Boston, 300 (white supremacists) faced about 8,000 protesters. They got scared, they ran away and as an effect, 33 white supremacist speeches and rallies got canceled all over the U.S. That was our target.”

Singh said that what Spencer spreads is hateful propaganda and being complicit only harms the marginalized groups that Spencer disapproves of.

Over the years the world has watched extremists rise to power. In 1922 there was Benito Mussolini, in 1933 there was Adolf Hitler and in 1939 there was Francisco Franco.

“One common factor throughout these things: People ignored them. You need to do something about it, you need to actively come in.

You just don’t give a fascist a platform,” Singh said.

He was excited with the lack of violence and the turnout of veterans, students and faculty of the university among others, claiming it to be a win for every group white supremacists are hateful toward.

“I think we sent a message loud and clear that Nazism is not welcome at our university.

Sometimes you have to organize and get people together, whatever it takes to protect the people that have been exploited,” Singh said.

“That was the beauty of it.

I’m proud to say what happened in Gainesville was everyone showing up, sending a message that with all of us united there is power in numbers.”

Information from the Tampa Bay Times was used in this report.