MINARET UNIVERSITY OF TAMPA’S NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1933
THE Vo l u m e
80
Number
15
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February
13,
2014
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“You’re Moving In a Week”
All HoJo Residents Suddenly Dorm-Dwellers
By KHADIJAH KHAN
so unorganized,” said Pedro Garcia, a freshman and biology major. “This whole thing was unnecessary and unfair. We were treated like pieces in a board game.” Eric Cardenas, the director of Public Information at UT, relayed information from ResLife to The Minaret. When asked why the sudden move, they explained, “We had the space on campus to accommodate all of the residents so we brought everyone back to campus. Our goal is to house as many students on main campus as possible, and this semester we were able to accomplish that goal.” Garcia stressed that the moves were not voluntary. “There was no consent from us,’’ he said, “and we were only given a few days notice.’’ “Of course we would have preferred to notify students earlier. But, students moved back to campus from winter break on Jan. 16-17,” Cardenas said. “Residence Life may not have necessarily immediately
News Writer
Within the past two weeks, one email caused an uproar among the many students who once lived in The Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel. On Jan. 31, Residence Life sent out an email to approximately 90 students residing in the HoJo, which said, “We will be consolidating all Howard Johnson Plaza residents to main campus this week.” The University of Tampa gave students until Feb. 9 to move out of the Howard Johnson and into their new residence halls, according to the email. The University provided boxes and moving supplies as well as a team to move the students’ belongings. Students said they didn’t understand why they weren’t told over winter break that this was going to happen so they could have prepared and bought the necessary things like twin-sized sheets, TVs and other supplies. “We settled in and two weeks later we had to pack and unpack everything all over again. This was
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Taylor Sanger/The Minaret
See HOJO Page 4
Football Petition Gains Close to 2,000 Signatures
By JESSE LONG News Writer
One afternoon last month, freshman and finance major Austin Villa’s gateways advisor presented a question to the class regarding school spirit on campus and how the class felt it could be improved. Villa thought the answer was obvious: a football team. Villa knew that the addition of a football team would create more of a sense of community around campus, so immediately after class, Villa printed out a petition form and started getting signatures in an attempt to get a football team at UT. By Feb. 7, he obtained around 1,700 signatures, just over a week after he started the petition. “My goal is to get 2,000 signatures, but at this point, I want to continue on once I get there,” Villa said. He said he can usually get the 300 signatures he is short in a day. “Having a football team will create new events around campus, like tailgating, to bring the school closer together,” Villa said. “It will also bring more male students to UT, which will even out the female-tomale ratio on campus.” The female-to-male ratio among UT’s 6,143 students is 56 percent female to 44 percent male, according to 2014 statistics from U.S. News and World Report. Villa also wanted to understand the
The Minaret University of Tampa used to have a football team in the past. Students have been more adamant than ever about getting one again.
dynamics behind starting a football petition, so in an effort to better know the process and requirements and gain support, he met with Dean of Students Stephanie Russell Krebs and Student Government President PK Creedon. He also met with a marketing professor, Hemant Rustogi, this past Tuesday. In addition, Villa also set up a meeting with Athletic Director Larry Marfise. According to Marfise, the reason why UT does not have a football program is one major road block: funding. “It costs around $2,000 to equip a player with the needed equipment,” said Marfise. However, the cost of equipment for each player is a small number
compared to the needed renovations for UT to manage a football team. “The major costs associated with starting a program here at UT, is that adding football would result in a need to have more locker rooms, additional office space for coaches, and the addition of football fields,” said Marfise. “Most schools have at least two fields for their football team.” To meet these needs, the university would need to purchase additional land. This can be very costly due to UT’s downtown Tampa location and the limited land available. On top of that, four to six coaches, an additional trainer and equipment manager would See FOOTBALL Page 4