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The Oracle

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News Students aim to diminish USF’s ecological footprint PAGE 3

Opinion Educators deserve better pay wages PAGE 6

Sports The quarterback spot is far from decided PAGE 8

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

Annual spending budget bill saga continues

By Jesse Stokes E D I T O R

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C H I E F

The endowment has caused frivolous discussions on campus between faculty, staff and students for the past month, but contentions have peaked over the past week.

The endowment was a lineitem of the Activity and Service Fee Recommendation Committee’s (ASRC) proposed budget bill for the 2018-19 fiscal year. However, it was also the source of conflict that lead Dr. Paul Dosal, the Vice President for Student Affairs and Student Success, to throw out the budget in its entirety and revert to the last “lawful” budget proposal which came from the 201718 fiscal year.

In doing so, an uproar from members of Student Government (SG) ensued resulting in a call-toaction video being released and an email being sent to student organization leaders notifying them their organization funding was in jeopardy from ASRC chairman Aladdin Hiba. The video and email asked students to reach out to members of administration

expressing their concerns.

“Our response is guided by a sound legal interpretation of the proposed endowment,” Dosal said.

“That endowment violates university policy and has rendered the entire budget invalid. That is the heart of the matter.”

In acting as Genshaft’s designee, Dosal also made it clear that the actions he has taken thus far have the support of the university’s senior leadership.

Dosal also said that he has every intention of finding a way to fund student organizations that are eligible, despite the narrative that organization leaders may have heard.

“We recognized from the start that this was a real issue, so in both cases we tried to make it clear that we do not intend to zero fund organizations,” Dosal said. “So, legitimate organizations that have applied for and received funding and are active, I want them to receive their funding.”

Moving forward, Dean of

The proposed budget bill was not approved by administration and as such was rendered invalid. ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN Students Danielle McDonald said that she hopes that members of SG and administration will keep an eye on the future and not dwell on the conversations of past terms. As a part of this, she has taken part in meetings with the leadership of both the executive and legislative branches of SG to come to a resolution on what the forthcoming fiscal year will entail.

According to Sen. Yousef Afifi,

the endowment ad hoc committee chairman, he and senate president Sarah Lucker declined taking part in the process of examining the 2017-18 budget in conjunction with the forthcoming fiscal year because they “did not feel comfortable going forward with it because the concept itself violates, in our opinions, the hard work that we all put in, not to mention that the legal justifications

n See BUDGET on PAGE 3

Supreme court ruling to affect college athletics

By Josh Fiallo M A N A G I N G

E D I T O R

Legal sports gambling could be coming back to Florida for the first time since 1992.

The Supreme Court struck down a federal law that once prohibited sports gambling Monday, which now gives states the freedom to choose whether it wants to legalize sports betting.

Though sports betting is not guaranteed to pass in Florida immediately — the state

Legislature is not in session until next year — experts from ESPN.com predict that by 2020 all states will have legal sports gambling, with Utah, a state that banned all forms of gambling in its constitution, being the lone exception.

With legal sports gambling in Florida likely, eventually any adult will be able to place bets on USF athletics’ sporting events.

The NCAA’s concern, however,

is that the betting might not be exclusively to fans and could, in some cases, trickle into studentathlete gambling or bribery.

USF athletics could not be reached for comment about the supreme court decision by the time of publication on 8 p.m.

Tuesday. The AAC said an official statement would be released later this week or next week.

The NCAA’s concerns are not baseless.

Results of a 2012 study commissioned by the NCAA found that 57 percent of male student-athletes and 39 percent of female student-athletes reported gambling in some form during the past year.

Point shaving, a type of match fixing where perpetrators try to prevent a team from covering a published point spread, has been an issue specifically in college

n See GAMBLING on PAGE 4

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The Oracle THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1966

Editor in Chief Jesse Stokes @JesseStokes813

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Multimedia Editor Chaveli Guzman @ChaveliGuzman

Staff Writers

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NEWS

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Students work to reduce university’s carbon footprint

By Matthew Cutillo S T A F F

the release of harmful carbon dioxide into the ozone, mostly commonly through vehicle exhaust,

an issue affecting all students who spend time on campus.

Adam Burrell, a recent graduate

and the head of marketing for the project, is attempting to help reduce carbon emissions throughout campus.

“Around half of USF’s carbon footprint comes from students, faculty and staff commuting to campus,” Burrell said. “Being in Tampa kind of forces you to have a car because of the city’s public transportation system.”

Neutralize Bull Gas began in 2017, but with a new push in marketing, organizers are hoping that it will encourage new donors.

Donations are currently being accepted throughout the USF website from anyone willing to help participate, according to Burrell.

(administration) will get what they want if this plan goes through.”

Until that time, however, Afifi is working to exhaust all options for a resolution and continues to weigh hypotheticals and “what if” scenarios, including ones that could result in legal ramifications.

“We (he and Hiba) have talked about the legality of this happening,” Afifi said. “Now, the conversations that me and Hiba have had in terms of us, as in SG, suing or us as individuals suing, that has not been the main focal point of the conversation. It has more so been talks about if a student organization gets an alteration in their budget now … could they sue the university and allege that there were serious illegalities that were thrown into the budget and this process that resulted in getting this alteration.

“If more than one student org alleges that, which all of them have the right to, because almost all of them will have their budgets altered, then the university, not student government, but the university

itself could potentially be open to all kinds of legal ramifications.

That is not something that would be on us. We were not the ones that asked for the 2017-18 budget to be implemented into 2018-19.”

According to Afifi, however SG has yet to receive any sort of “serious legal consultation,” as he does not feel the situation has reached that point.

Dosal said that he does not expect any legal ramification from student organizations and that the concern of members of SG as to what is and is not legal seems to be ironic.

“We are confident in our decision and the legality of what we are doing,” Dosal said. “It is ironic to have concerns like that expressed from people who have been promoting an endowment that violates university policy, and they have ignored repeated warnings that the endowment would violate university policy.”

Afifi did confirm that if Dosal had chosen to perform a line-item veto

on the endowment that members of SG could have technically created and passed an unallocated cash request to fund the endowment, regardless, though he did say that he nor any other member of SG to his knowledge had the intentions of doing so because he felt that would be “deceitful.”

Afifi also mentioned that if Dosal were to have line-item vetoed the endowment as was expected, the money allocated in the bill to fund it would have likely been spent on other unallocated cash requests such as extension of payroll for student affairs departments and materials for certain student organizations as normal, despite Dosal’s reservations about this being the case.

For McDonald, however the core issue lies in SG’s perception of what Activity and Service Fee (A&S) dollars are to be allocated for.

“The way they (SG) look at the A&S Fee is problematic,” McDonald said. “It is not student government’s budget, it is not the senators budget.

It is supposed to be for the student

W R I T E R

The USF Student Green Energy Fund Council has begun its “Neutralize Bull Gas” project, which will use student and faculty donations to help offset carbon emission issues on campus.

Though the specifications of how the emission issues are going to be addressed moving forward has not yet been determined by project organizers, it will be put to use toward developing new resources and projects that will lower emission rates.

Centered around commuters, the project aims to tackle the issue of carbon emission in a community driven way. Carbon emissions are

BUDGET

Continued from PAGE 1

are not clear and a little bit shady, so we did not want to involve ourselves in that.”

Such conversation would include brainstorming with McDonald as well as members of SG’s executive branch. According to Afifi, a large portion of the conversations were going to revolve around the reallocation of funds for student organizations, but because it went beyond this, he did not want to remain an active participant of such conversations.

Afifi plans to present an alternative to Dosal’s decision to he and other members of administration during a sit down he will have with them on Friday.

However, because the details are still being discussed, he did not feel comfortable disclosing what the alternative would entail by the time of publication at 8 p.m. May 15.

He did however claim that, “we (SG) will get what we want and they

Students are working to improve the environmental affects caused by the university. ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN

The task of reducing USF’s carbon emissions has been underway for quite some time, Burrell said.

In 2008, USF System President Judy Genshaft signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment which pledges campuses to an ever growing carbon neutral stance.

“The university’s mission can help be fulfilled through donations to carbon offsets, allowing the commuters to help lessen their own carbon footprint while helping the university’s as well,” Burrell said.

Burrell said taking reins of marketing strategies meant ensuring that students and faculty

body and I think that has been lost along the way. There is still the ultimate authority and the ultimate responsibility with the President of the university.”

Dosal echoed the points made

by McDonald and said that checks and balances are in place for good reason, even at the university level.

“Budget authority is not unchecked,” Dosal said. “We all have to operate within certain guardrails and unfortunately this budget proposal went far beyond the guardrails.”

Despite the turmoil, McDonald and Dosal insisted that working together moving forward is the way to reach a resolution and rebuild trust between SG and administration.

“They can continue to beat me up,” Dosal said. “That might be fun for a while. I have thick skin, I can take a lot, but at some point we need to focus on moving forward.”

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QUARTERBACK Continued from PAGE 8

Barnett has completed 24 passes in his career. Kean has completed 25 passes and Oladokun one.

Barnett, a pocket-passer who rarely extends plays by running from defenders, is labeled as a prostyle quarterback.

During his four seasons as Louisville’s coach, Charlie Strong’s offense focused on pro-style quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.

Bridgewater was successful under Strong’s system and threw for 9,817 yards before becoming a top NFL Draft prospect.

EMISSIONS Continued from PAGE 3

were aware that donations had begun to be accepted, as well as making sure people understand how to donate.

Samantha Szatyari, a recent USF graduate with a degree in environmental science and policy, wanted to insure it would be easy for people of all status to help with donations.

“All donations are open, one can donate at any time,” Szatyari said.

“Anybody can donate. Even faculty and employees. When you purchase a parking permit there’s a link that will take you to the foundation page.”

Donations are put towards purchasing carbon offsets that allow for improving USF’s carbon emission rating among the community, according to Szatyari. USF currently stands as a “Gold” rating among the Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System (STARS) program.

“Donations go into the fund that was set up and it is overseen by the foundation, but the money that’s donated is going to be allocated by the Student Green Energy Fund to projects that help offset carbon emissions,” Burrell said.

As the project progresses, Burrell said he hopes different milestones may be met in a timely manner.

“It’s a long term goal with milestones along the way that we’re

So, while Kean and Oladokun have experience with USF’s playstyle, coach Strong has more experience with a pocket-passing quarterback.

To this point, Kean and Oladokun have shown consistently that they are friends and will continue to push each other to be the best for the team. Throwing a transfer quarterback in the mix could set a fire underneath the pair to spur them into a more competitive battle for the starting spot.

The Bulls now have three backup quarterbacks contending for the top spot on the depth chart. Barnett is not the man for that job. trying to reach,” Burrell said. “USF is actually the first university in the state university system to implement this type of program.”

Historically speaking, it is common practice for USF as a whole to do environmental related work, with many projects already completed or still underway.

“We’ve been supporting sustainability in other ways before this,” Burrell said. “The LED lights in the parking garages and car charging stations are completed issues under our belts.”

A solid stance on campus sustainability comes from an administrative cooperation between faculty and students. In the past, the two would work together on solving problems and the Neutralize Bull Gas project is no exception.

“USF has made a lot of progress already in sustainability with LED lights, solar panels, and electric buses,” Burrell said. “However, a difficult area to tackle is the commuters themselves who have to go back and forth to campus.”

Allowing students to donate to the carbon offset fund lets the campus create a sense of community, according to Szatyari.

“We wanted to get a project started that involved everyone on campus,” said Szatyari. “It’s even better that it’s also for a good cause.”

GAMBLING Continued from PAGE 1

basketball for years.

On the NCAA’s website, it says: “The NCAA opposes all forms of legal and illegal sports wagering, which has the potential to undermine the integrity of sports contests and jeopardizes the welfare of student-athletes and the intercollegiate athletics community.”

While the governing body has, for years, vehemently fought against sports betting, it’s statement after Monday’s decision didn’t reveal its vast opposition to the practice inyears past.

“While we are still reviewing the decision to understand the overall implications to college sports, we will adjust sports wagering and championship policies to align with the direction from the court,” the statement read.

Though the statement neither indicated if the NCAA was for or against the decision, the amount of additional revenue sports betting could bring to it is astounding, according to Mark Cuban, a businessman and owner of the Dallas Mavericks.

“It makes the value of a team double, at least,” Cuban told CNBC in regard to the supreme court decision. “I think this

SOFTBALL

Continued from PAGE 8

In the 12th inning, senior Lauren Evans drove home the game winning run with a base hit toward the right side of the infield. The ball bounced right as UConn second baseman Ryne Nakama attempted to field it, which allowed pinch runner JoJo McGill to score from second.

The dramatics continued the next day for the Bulls, as they faced a Memphis team which eliminated UCF the day before.

is something that benefits everybody even generally associated with sports.”

In his interview with CNBC, Cuban elaborated, saying the decision will allow all sporting events to be, “more interesting and fun for all fans” as they become more invested into games.

Some schools in states which are predicted to pass legislation legalizing sports betting are already preparing for profiting off of the practice. According to David Purdum of ESPN.com, West Virginia and Marshall already have agreements in place that will enable them to receive “a cut of sports betting.”

West Virginia and Marshall would be the first two schools to have an agreement directly with a sports book. USF and Florida as a whole could reap the same benefits in the future when the state officially legalizes gambling.

“Florida is uniquely positioned to take advantage of sports betting,’’ Marc Dunbar, an attorney at Jones Walker in Tallahassee, which represents several gaming interests, said.

“This ruling specifically benefits destination states like Florida and could result in a significant boon for the state’s tourism economy.”

USF walked off the second night in a row on an RBI single by junior Samantha Worrell in the bottom of the seventh inning, sending the Bulls to the championship game against No. 6 seed Tulsa — the eventual tournament champions.

Evans, Cook and junior Lindsey Devitt represented USF on the AllTournament team. The only team with more representatives than USF was Tulsa, which had four.

The Bulls and Buckeyes open play in the regional Friday at 5 p.m.

The game is set to be broadcast nationally on ESPNU.

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OPINION

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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Florida’s educators deserve better

lags behind the national average by about $8,900.

In order to attract and maintain quality teachers in Florida schools, legislatures need to raise the public school teacher salary to at least the national average.

It is no secret that many college students struggle with finding their major and career path. Many students base their choices off of an average income they would earn

in a specific career to lead an ideal lifestyle. The Florida Chamber of Commerce launched a website called Launch My Career Florida that helps people who are struggling to find a path, like the typical college student, estimate the kind of lifestyle that comes along with different careers. According to the website, a college educated, experienced Florida teacher with a child would not earn enough to afford an apartment and a car. There is no reason that a trained professional, often with certificates and master’s degrees, should be struggling to make ends meet. Florida legislatures are doing a major disservice to public school teachers by significantly underpaying them.

In 2017, Gov. Rick Scott proposed that grants are boosted from $250 to $350 for Florida teachers to buy classroom supplies. While it is a slight improvement, it is a miniscule amount in comparison to what needs to change. The Education Market Association reports that teachers spend an average of about $500 dollars annually on classroom

that there are few legislatures in American history that have endured and overcome more than he has. While serving his country in the U.S. Navy, McCain was captured and held as a prisoner of war for nearly six years in North Vietnam. McCain did not use this as an excuse, but rather turned this into developing an admirable outlook on foreign policy and experience.

In today’s political climate, elections, especially those for the office of President of the United States, can become beyond

tumultuous and downright ugly.

Not to say that McCain conducted the “perfect” campaign in his 2008 bid for the office of the presidency, but he certainly had a level of respect for his opponent, now former President Barack Obama.

In an infamous encounter with one of his supporters at a town hall during his 2008 campaign, McCain came to the aid of his then political foe, while the individual asking a question made outlandish remarks about Obama being an “Arab” and not American.

Educators across the country have resorted to striking in their fight for better wages. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

By Samantha Moffett A S S O C I A T E

E D I T O R

While many college students choose to major in education, the continuously disappointing statistics regarding teacher pay can be a turnoff to pursuing a career in the education field entirely. According to the U.S. Department of Education, the average salary for Florida public school teachers

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supplies, and it goes without saying that much of this comes directly out of pocket. While local efforts in individual school districts are helpful, ultimately it is up to Tallahassee to make the proper increases that are necessary to sustain a well-run classroom.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that within five years of starting in the Florida public school system, 40 percent of teachers are choosing to leave. This represents a large-scale problem within Florida, one that legislatures are well aware of. While legislatures are working to fix the issue, the proposed changes are minor. Upgrading Florida’s testing regulations and teacher-bonus programs is the bare minimum that legislatures can do. Addressing serious issues with these meager solutions is counterintuitive.

Legislatures must raise the Florida public school teacher salary to at least the national average. The budget issue that plagues Florida public schools trickles down to the student experience as well, with underfunded and underappreciated

teachers running the increasingly overpopulated classroom. While local efforts are appreciated, the power that is held by the state is not being used properly. Instead of increasing classroom supply budgets by an embarrassing amount of $100, reallocate those funds to secure teacher salaries. While Tallahassee scrambles to find solutions to a lack of interested Florida school teachers and increasing tensions coming out of the public schools, it seems they are dancing around the subject of increasing salaries. The minimal attempts to improve teacher salaries is essentially like placing a Band-Aid over the wound that Florida public school teachers bare. The state of public school systems as a whole depends on the decisions that are coming out of Tallahassee, whether legislatures decide to improve or ignore their teacher’s demands.

Samantha Moffett is a junior majoring in mass communications

Future legislators should follow in Sen. John McCain’s footsteps

By Jesse Stokes E D I T O R

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C H I E F

Sen. John McCain (R) has been serving the American people in politics since 1987 and has done so with a level of poise and professionalism that his peers and successors should look up to and aspire to resemble.

Despite his brain cancer diagnoses and treatment McCain is carrying himself with dignity as he remains an active member of the American political process.

In taking a look at the life of McCain, it would be safe to say

“No, ma’am,” McCain said at the town hall. “He’s a decent family man (and) citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that’s what this campaign’s all about. He’s not (an Arab).”

This is just one example of McCain habitually putting decency before partisanship, something that he has been in the headlines for recently as well.

Last July, McCain went against the right-winged mold and voted against repealing portions of the affordable care act, something

that President Donald Trump was in major support of and used as a cornerstone for his campaign.

John McCain is a man of dignity and is an example of what all future American politicians should be — certainly not perfect, but always striving to do what they feel is best for the American people as a servant not of oneself, but one of their constituents.

Jesse Stokes is a junior majoring in political science

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CROSSWORD

Classifieds To place a classified ad go to http://www.usforacle.com/classifieds ANNOUNCEMENTS

MOTORCYCLES,SCOOTERS

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Immediate openings for all positions, including Skate Guards, Cafe Associates, Birthday Party Hosts, DJ’s, and Assistant Managers.

Flexible day, evening and weekend hours available. Personality a must. Apply in person or send resume to sbritt@usa-skating.com. Attention Sonya Email sbritt@usa-skating.com

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HELP WANTED

2017 TAO-TAO 50 Motor Scooter 40 miles driven. Ample storage. Gets 100 mpg. (813) 602-8315 Email vanjels@aol.com

Sports

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

RUNDOWN Quinton Flowers signed to the Bengals

The Cincinnati Bengals tweeted a list of undrafted free agents who signed a contract with the team. Among the list of names was former USF quarterback Quinton Flowers.

Flowers, however, was without the “QB” designation next to his name.

Instead, he was listed as a Quinton Flowers halfback.

SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/ GOUSFBULLS

“Everything happens for a reason,” Flowers told Bengals. com. “So after the draft, I just sat back and the Bengals were the first team to text me and they wanted me to be a part of the organization and I talked to my agent and we made it happen.”

Bengals offensive scout Mike Potts called Flowers “Magic with the ball in his hands.”

Since the draft, Flowers has been active on social media by posting videos of some of his workouts. In the videos, Flowers was running routes and catching balls.

According to the Bengals website, Flowers will start as a halfback and rotate through different positions including returner and a slot receiver.

With an uncertain future for the former Bull, one thing is certain: Quinton Flowers’ days of playing quarterback are over for now.

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Commentary

The race for quarterback is far from over

By Sam Newlon

Jalen Hurts, a true freshman at The quarterback race for USF the time, led the team to a victory just got more competitive, but the against USC and earned the addition of graduate transfer Blake starting spot.

Barnett may have an unintended A trend with USF’s newest effect on the position battle quarterback started there. Barnett that was previously exclusively became a backup quarterback between Brett Kean and Chris for Alabama before transferring Oladokun. within a few weeks. He then went It is highly unlikely that to Arizona State, which went Barnett, who is transferring for 7-6 last season, where he again the second time in his threelost the starting job, this time to year collegiate career, will earn a Manny Wilkins. starting quarterback spot for the Barnett, while talented, has Bulls in the fall. Having him in the not been a consistent starting Following former quarterback Quinton Flowers’ graduation, mix, however, will push Kean and quarterback for a collegiate there is a large opening to fill in the offense. ORACLE PHOTO/ Oladokun into a more competitive CHAVELI GUZMAN program. It is hard to believe that position battle. he will break from this trend in Barnett is already starting three athletes to concede the time. Barnett, whose playing time just one summer working with behind the bill, as he was absent job to each other. I certainly in college is minimal, is on the USF. from spring workouts while don’t expect Oladokun or Kean same level as the duo, if not below.

Though his time with USF is Kean and Oladokun had the to leave the team in reaction to Barnett is a former five-star shorter, Barnett does have roughly opportunity to work with the Barnett’s transfer. With no shot recruit out of California. He played the same in-game collegiate Bulls’ offense all last season and at overtaking former quarterback for Alabama and was poised to be experience as Kean and Oladokun. during spring camps.

Quinton Flowers in years past, the starter in 2016. He opened the n See QUARTERBACK on PAGE 4 I don’t expect any of the the two stayed put, awaiting their game for the Crimson Tide before

S P O R T S

E D I T O R

Softball

Bulls fall in AAC championship game, earn NCAA tournament bid

By Brian Hattab C O R R E S P O N D E N T

Host and top-seed USF found itself in familiar territory at the end of the AAC tournament on Saturday – though it took some dramatics to get there.

USF dropped the championship game 4-1 to a dominating performance by Tulsa pitcher Emily Watson on Saturday. Watson allowed no earned runs on three hits and struck out eight batters against USF en route to the Golden Hurricane’s third straight AAC tournament championship.

Watson’s performance over the weekend earned her the

tournament’s MVP award. Watson pitched complete games in all three games for the Golden Hurricane during the tournament, throwing 21 innings and allowing only one earned run, which came against Houston on Friday.

Despite the loss in the conference championship game, the Bulls’ 38-21 overall record was good enough to earn an at-large bid to NCAA regionals. The trip marks the 13th time in program history that USF will head to the NCAA tournament.

USF will be playing in the Gainesville regional, opening play Friday against Ohio State. The

regionals other two teams are No. 2 Florida and Bethune-Cookman. The regional will be double elimination.

“What a great opportunity for us and our fans to head to Gainesville for the NCAA tournament,” coach Ken Eriksen said. “To have the opportunity early in the tournament to face quality teams like Ohio State, Bethune-Cookman and No. 2 Florida is fantastic. We can’t wait to get to work at practice this week.”

Saturday’s AAC tournament championship game was USF’s second in three years. Before the Bulls reached the game, however, they produced walk-off wins against

No. 8 seed UConn on Thursday and No. 5 seed Memphis on Friday.

USF opened the scoring in the bottom of the sixth inning with an RBI by junior Macy Cook that drove in senior Astin Donovan. The Bulls had UConn down to its final out in the ensuing top of the seventh, but the Huskies managed to tie the game up thanks to an error by USF catcher Cook.

The Bulls responded by putting a runner in scoring position in every following inning except the ninth, but were unable to score until the 12th inning.

n See SOFTBALL on PAGE 4