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The Oracle

W E D N E S DAY, M AY 2 3 , 2 0 1 8 I VO L . 5 5 N O . 5 8

News Dollars spent on parking improve conditions PAGE 3

Opinion Celebrities should better use their influence PAGE 6

Sports USF begins its AAC Tournament run 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

A compromise is on the horizon for the ASRC budget bill

By Jesse Stokes E D I T O R

I N

C H I E F

After an initial rejection of the Activity and Service Fe e Re co m m e n d a t i o n Committee (ASRC) budget bill by administration, Student Government (SG) has proposed an alternative, though details are yet to be released.

Currently, if the alternative is not accepted by administration, Vice President of Student Affairs and Student Success Dr. Paul Dosal will revert back to last year’s 2017-18 fiscal-year budget.

Dosal originally denied SG’s proposed budget due to a $1.375 million that he deemed in violation of university statutes.

Senate President Sarah Lucker and Senate President Pro Tempore Yousef Afifi presented

Following weeks of back-and-forth debate, members of Student Government and administration are close to a compromise on the ASRC budget bill. ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN this alternative to Dosal last week, but were unable to come to an official agreement yet due to some major line-items of the proposed bill, such as the $1.375 million endowment.

According to Dean of

Students Danielle McDonald, the endowment was a “nonnegotiable” line-item when discussions were taking place and would not be allowed to move forward into the 2018-19 fiscal year, no matter which

version of the budget bill is implemented.

“If we cannot come to this compromise, then Dr. Dosal’s decision will stand that we implement the 2017-18 budget,” McDonald said.

However, she added that if administration and the members of SG are able to come to an agreement, Dosal would instruct Business Services to suspend the activity of uploading the 2017-18 budget and the university would move forward with a revised version of the proposed 2018-19 budget.

The proposal is still yet to be finalized, though Lucker is hoping for a decision to be made within a week.

“There are so many different

n See BUDGET on PAGE 3

USF Football schedules three-game series against UF

By Josh Fiallo M A N A G I N G

E D I T O R

In an eight-season stretch that already included multiple non-conference games against BYU, N.C. State, Louisville and Texas, USF and the University of Florida agreed Tuesday to a three-game series in football, beginning in 2022 in Gainesville.

Two others meetings –– at USF in 2023 and in Gainesville again in 2025 –– against the Gators have also been scheduled. USF

will receive a total of $750,000 for it’s two trips to Gainesville.

“We are very excited for our program and our fans to add three games against the University of Florida to our schedule,” USF athletic director Mark Harlan said. “I would like to thank Coach Strong for his desire to play a challenging non-conference schedule and the leadership at Florida for their partnership in making this happen.”

As a result of the Bulls’ games

against Florida, they will have to reschedule previously scheduled games against San Jose State (2022) and FAU (2023) to later dates.

Should either Florida or USF back out of any of the three games scheduled, it will have to pay the other institution $2.5 million per game.

The buyout sum is much higher than prior USF contracts with Power Five teams. In 2017, Michigan State bought out a game at Raymond James for

$250,000 –– a next-to-nothing fee in comparison to USF’s current contract with Florida.

USF also had to honor Wisconsin’s request to move a game from 2017 to 2018 out of fear it would opt to use it’s buyout.

The Bulls’ and Gators’ Sept.

17 meeting in 2022 will be USF’s second game against Florida in its history, with its first ending in a 38-14 defeat. After facing the Gators in the second week

n See FOOTBALL on PAGE 4

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

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T H E O R AC L E

Parking dollars are used for upkeep of garages and lots

By Alyssa Stewart S T A F F

W R I T E R

The hefty parking permit fee that is paid every year or the citations that can be found on car windshields can be frustrating for some students.

However, these payments are recycled back into USF to maintain lots and strengthen commuter’s experiences when traveling to campus.

For the 2017-18 school year, 31,262 parking permits were sold creating a total net revenue of $8,085,130. There were 63,430 citations issued and 28,352 warnings, which totaled to $541,845.

According to Raymond Mensah, the Parking and Transportation Services director, the department

BUDGET

Continued from PAGE 1

parties involved and trying to get everyone on the same page has been a little bit more difficult than we originally anticipated,” Lucker said. “Hopefully by next week we should know for sure one way or another what is going to happen, but for right now we are going to look internally to see what we can do.”

McDonald said a decision must be made relatively soon, as they are racing against the clock pending a meeting with System President Judy Genshaft next week and the start of the new fiscal year on July 1.

“Budgets have to be uploaded before (July 1),” McDonald said.

“Really the deadline to upload budgets is supposed to be this Friday, but the Business and Finance office is extending that

is considered an auxiliary, meaning no state funding can be used to alleviate costs. Since parking and transportation is self-supporting, income is generated through permit sales, citations, events on campus that charge for parking and the transportation access fee (a $3 per credit hour fee charged to students through tuition).

Mensah said all the revenue that is generated is used for operations to pay for utilities, staff, construction costs, repaving roads, fixing potholes and for funding the Bull Runner. The Bull Runner’s total expenditure for the fiscal 2016-17 fiscal year was $3,971,306 with a deficit of $248,632. Citation and parking permit fees are deposited toward a debt service which pays for the

parking garages. The mortgage is approximately $4 million a year.

“There are four garages and

once they are built they are financed, so each one is like financing a home,” Mensah said.

Reserves left over at the end

of the year are retained for future projects in case another

deadline for us to be able to make this. But, what is hinging on it right now are student employment hirings.”

McDonald said student employment is at a standstill due to Student Affairs departments — such as Campus Recreation and the Center for Student Involvement — not yet knowing which fiscal year’s bill they will be working with and as a result, if their departments will be receiving the cuts as suggested by ASRC in their budget proposal for 2018-19.

With an eye to the future, Lucker and McDonald agreed the situation they are currently in regarding the ASRC budget shouldn’t arise again in subsequent years.

“We want this to be something that is going to have the best possible outcome for

the student body,” Lucker said.

“That is something that all of us can collectively agree on. We do not want to see students losing their jobs or organizations not receiving the funding that they should have received and whatever compromise that we come to, ideally it would work out in the best interest of all of these different departments, organizations and students.”

McDonald shared these sentiments and said: “It does not do anyone a service to be in this situation again.”

A point of contention throughout the discussion has been how student organizations would be funded. McDonald clarified, saying that there is a discrepancy of $400,000 between the two fiscal year’s budgets, and that it would be left up to SG to determine a

way of how such dollars would be allocated following the final budget decision.

She also said to ensure such issues do not reappear in the future, Dosal and Student Body President Moneer Kheireddine have created a taskforce to work with one another.

“The task force would be pulled together to look at what are best practices, what changes need to be made, feedback that student orgs and departments have … and then being able to hopefully create a process that no longer leaves us in these situations and that respects both the purposes of the A&S Fee, but also the strategic initiatives of the university,” McDonald said.

Despite the start of the task force and any responsibilities that may come with being

senate president, Lucker said that her priorities remain communication with the student body, her fellow members of SG and administration.

“Our biggest goal right now is to make sure that we are establishing open lines of communication … we work best when we are all on the same page and we are all communicating with one another and I think that at some point in the 58th term that communication broke down … We can move into a direction of progress that is going to be better for the student body and that can only be done by making sure that we are all talking to each other.

That is (what) we are going through right now, it takes a lot longer and the end result would hopefully be a lot better.”

The revenue that is generated is used for operations to pay for utilities, staff, construction costs, repairing, repaving roads, fixing potholes and the Bull Runner.. ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN

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PARKING

Continued from PAGE 3

garage needs to be built. The cash balance left over at the end of the 2016-17 fiscal year was $1,854, 265. The leftover funds are used to subsidize permit fees, which is why rates have not been raised in five years, according to Mensah.

The Laurel garage is currently undergoing preventative maintenance and the Crescent Hill garage is subject to receive improvements in the fall. A project in conjunction with the Student Green Energy Fund will implement LED lights in the Collins and Laurel garage to reduce the cost of utilities.

In relation to new parking garages and lots, there have been

conversations on the matter, but no finalized decisions have been made, according to Mensah. A study is said to take place on campus for students to discuss their concerns and viewpoints in terms of parking management.

“We plan on taking a deep dive into our operations to see how we can make some changes and make things better,” Mensah said.

An engineering firm evaluates the conditions of the parking garages to formulate a plan on where improvements need to be made. A garage is chosen based on the time of the year and the engineering firm then return to do a thorough survey, which mostly consists of preventative maintenance. To consolidate the life of the garages, routine

cleanings are done such as pressure and window washing.

In the fall, the judicial branch of Student Government issued an option to avoid a first parking citation ticket by taking a onehour class. Mensah said details are still being worked out for how Parking and Transportation Services will approach the new policy.

“We’re using it as an opportunity to educate students of the do’s and don’ts,” Mensah said. “Most people just don’t know which parking garages to park in, where to park or what to do so we hope the class will teach people so there won’t be another occurrence for them.”

Mensah said there will most likely be no significant impact on the revenue accumulated

from citations since 50 percent of citations are warnings, downgraded or appealed.

Parking and Transportation Services conducted a study to compare rates from FSU, UF, and UCF, which revealed that USF has the cheapest prices, according to Mensah’s analysis.

Mensah said some schools have fees that are built into the tuition based on the amount of credit hours a student takes. For USF transportation, the university charges $3 per credit hour.

UF is about $9.10 per credit hour according to the analysis conducted, which would make USF fees lower.

According to Mensah, FSU does not charge a fee separate from the transportation and access fee, therefore there is

one combined fee. Mensah said when those numbers are added, USF has lower rates than FSU. “You can’t just compare the permit rates between schools because it is not a true comparison,” Mensah said.

Mensah said garages can cost $20 million to $30 million dollars when financed.

Increased fees in the community such as parking permits would have to be generated since there is no additional funding.

“We worked hard to keep the permit rates low,” Mensah said. “I don’t wake up every morning trying to make your life miserable, I’m just trying to make sure you have a place to park, which doesn’t make everyone happy.”

FOOTBALL

footprint for us and our players will love playing another game in an NFL stadium,” he said.

Florida and USF are separated by 125 miles along I-75, making Florida the second closest Division 1 football program in proximity to USF, with UCF (96 miles) being the only team closer.

Though it’s unlikely many –– if any –– of Florida’s current roster will remain on the team by the time USF plays Florida in 2022, the Gators roster currently have eight players from the Greater Tampa Bay area.

Florida has a history to play in-state schools in its recent past. Over the past 15 years, Florida has played Florida State, Miami, UCF, USF, Florida A&M, Florida Atlantic and Florida International.

Also potentially playing a factor in scheduling Florida is USF head coach Charlie Strong’s past coaching experience with Mullen. The two were both assistants at Florida in its 2008 national championship season.

Continued from PAGE 1

of their 2022 season, the Bulls will have a game at home against Texas and one away at Louisville.

“We are committed to scheduling opponents that our fans are excited to see the Bulls compete against and Florida certainly ranks very high on that list,” Harlan said.

In regard to why Florida accepted the three-game series with USF, Florida athletic director said in a statement released by the school that it was a “unique scheduling opportunity.”

USF will travel to Florida for the first of it’s three-game series against the Gators. The Bulls will play away in 2022 and 2025, while playing at Raymond James Stadium in 2023. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

He added: “A lot of Gator fans will have the opportunity to attend that game and we are looking forward to being able to play a regular-season game in central Florida.”

Florida coach Dan Mullen shared the same sentiment.

“The Tampa/St. Petersburg area is an important recruiting

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BASEBALL

Continued from PAGE 8

Spectrum Field.

If they win against Wichita State, the Bulls will play the winner of No. 6 Cincinnati and No. 3 UConn. If they lose, the Bulls will play the loser of the same game.

Because of the schedule rearrangement, there is a possibility that the Bulls will end their AAC tournament the same day they start it — two losses and the tournament is over for USF. No. 1 seed Houston already started its uphill battle in the tournament.

With their 11-6 loss to No. 8 Tulane, the Cougars fell to 1-5 in neutral site games this season. Tulane advanced to the second day of the tournament along with ECU, which also advanced after beating UCF 8-4.

UCF and Houston will face each other at 12:30 p.m. in the first elimination game of the AAC Tournament.

To win the AAC championship, USF will need to win five of its next six games.

SOFTBALL

Continued from PAGE 8

State, put them to the test all year. The Bulls were able to play against top-ranked talent on several occasions.

The seniors led the team in the final stretch of the regular season in hopes of going far into the postseason.

Lauren Evans hit a walk-off single in the 12th inning to keep USF’s AAC tournament hopes alive and Astin Donovan led the team in hits. Cassidy Boyle went 3-for-3 in the Bulls’ win over Bethune-Cookman and Amber Atkinson recorded a run in each game of the NCAA Regional. Each of these players were seniors.

“If you think about where we were after 19 games this year, we could have been in the dumper,” Eriksen said. “But there’s no clock in this game.”

USF went on to win the regular season championship and reached the championship game of their conference tournament against Tulsa.

“It’s not over until it’s over,” Eriksen said. “I think that this was the best team that has done that in a really long time.”

After losing to Tulsa in the championship game of the AAC tournament on May 12, USF traveled to the Gainesville Regional six days later. Just 30 minutes after a sudden death win against Bethune-Cookman, the Bulls would go on to face Ohio State in an elimination game.

USF fell 3-2, ending their season Saturday.

According to Eriksen, softball goes beyond the scoreboard and into the stands.

“We had such a great following and the support we had from the community was outstanding,” Eriksen said. “That stadium is a great place to watch a ball game.”

After a tremendous season from a special team, Eriksen left the season saying one thing.

“100 percent graduation, 100 percent dedication and 100 percent green and gold,” Eriksen said.

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OPINION UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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Appetite suppressant lollipops are an What you said example of toxic celebrity health advice

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

E D I T O R

Whether you like it or not, we live in a time where social networks like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter have a tremendous impact on our culture, celebrities with a large following like Kim Kardashian-West can have a significant influence on their followers.

Kardashian-West took to Instagram recently to advertise Flat Tummy Co’s “appetite suppressant lollipops,” which causes users to feel full.

The ultimate goal of these lollipops are to promote weight loss by not eating for hours on end. Instagram “mistakenly” deleted three of Kardashian-West’s posts about this product but has since apologized and restored them.

Despite Instagram’s “mistake,” the post received more than a million likes from mostly young, female users.

Social media influencers, most of whom have no business giving health advice because they are not doctors or dieticians, are gaining a profit from promoting the idea that being hungry and eating as a bad thing.

The post was met with outrage from fans and critics alike, including actress, model and radio personality, Jameela Jamil.

“You terrible and toxic influence on young girls…

MAYBE don’t take appetite

suppressors and eat enough to fuel your BRAIN and work hard and be successful...”

Jamil said in a series of tweets.

One Instagram user commented, “Appetite is NOT something to suppress.

Hunger is your body telling you it needs fuel. Hunger is ok. Hunger is natural. Hunger means your body is working as it should. Hunger is HEALTHY.” In a study including social media users aged 16-40, The Center for Eating Disorders reported that 51 percent those studied felt more conscious of their weight and overall body image after spending time on various social sites. As a social media user myself, I can absolutely understand how sites like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter can affect users in a negative way.

Celebrities with a large following who promote these meal replacement products like “skinny teas” and “appetite suppressant lollipops” are using their platform to rake in money from advertisers regardless of the message they are sending to their audience.

For a typical Instagram p ro m o t i o n , Ka rd a s h i a n West makes an average of $250,000, as reported by Page Six. Kardashian-West has yet to make a statement or acknowledge the backlash she has received.

While Kardashian-West is not the only celebrity who

advocates for these kinds of unhealthy diet products, though she is undoubtedly one of the most influential.

It does not take a dietician or a psychologist to understand that this toxic trend of celebrity health advice can have an extremely negative effect on users who may struggle with body image issues already.

Despite the rise of a bodypositive modeling industry in the U.S., countless celebrities continue to jump on the bandwagon to give out their brightest ideas of how to be skinny. While most sane adults can recognize the fact that these diet techniques are not healthy, can we say the same for the young children who idolize these celebrities and may not know any better?

As a society that loses someone to an eating disorder every 62 minutes, according to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, we must do better than this.

We must do better than the social media influencers who receive constant praise and monetary rewards for their unrealistic representation of body image and health.

Samantha Moffett junior majoring in communications.

is a mass

Multimedia Editor Chaveli Guzman asked students how celebrities should use their influence on social media platforms.

“I feel like they should use it to do what they want to push whatever is on their mind.”

— Sheldon Lord, a sophomore majoring in molecular medicine.

“They can use it to create an awareness of the products that they use instead of promoting brands that just pay them.” ­ Anob Nagerha, a — graduate student in business.

“I think they (celebrities) should look into the ethics of the company that they are endorsing first.”

— Preksha, a graduate student in business.

“I feel that sometimes their influence is too much. With that much influence it influences other people to think that way, or at least agree with them.”

— Ashley Detore, a junior majoring in finance.

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CROSSWORD

Sports

8

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

RUNDOWN USF to host NCAA T&F prelims

USF hosts the 2018 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Track and Field East Preliminary this weekend.

Events are scheduled to begin Thursday at the USF Track and Field Stadium and will conclude Saturday, however, a heavy storm is projected to move through Florida as the week goes on, which could rearrange the schedule.

D’angelo Ennis

SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/ GOUSFBULLS

Over 1,800 athletes will compete in the events, six of which are from USF. D’Angelo Ennis is one of the few USF athletes in the field.

Ennis, a junior from Jamaica, placed second in the AAC Championship in the triple jump.

USF pole-vault schoolrecord holder David Bell will also represent the Bulls in the competition. Bell won the Tom Jones Memorial with a mark of 17-7.00.

Three-day “all-session” passes are available for purchase for $35 each and single session passes are also available at $15 each.

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Baseball

USF to start AAC Tournament on Wednesday

By Sam Newlon S P O R T S

E D I T O R

After rescheduling due to projected rainstorms, USF will open their AAC Tournament Wednesday at 9 a.m. against Wichita State instead of their original 11 a.m. time slot against the Shockers.

The Bulls have the advantage of playing the closest to home of any of the teams in the tournament, which will be held at Spectrum Field in Clearwater. Entering as the No. 2 seed, the Bulls are projected to do well in the tournament, but will face an opponent who gave them trouble in the regular season it their opening game.

USF (32-18-1, 14-9-1) split a series with Wichita State (34-19-1, 9-14-1) this season with one win, one loss and one tie each. In the Bulls’ Friday matchup, Shane McClanahan was credited with the team’s loss when the team gave up 17 runs to the Shockers.

The following night, Peter Strzelecki pitched 5 innings and was

USF could face its toughest opponent at 9 a.m. Wednesday against Wichita State. The Bulls travel to Spectrum Stadium in Clearwater for the AAC Tournament. ORACLE PHOTO/THOMAS PRETTYMAN credited with the win. Offensively, the team was more productive when they scored 9 runs, which dwarfed Friday night’s two-run performance.

Coach Billy Mohl, who couldn’t

be reached by 8 p.m. Tuesday, has a tough decision forthcoming. Will he give the ball to McClanahan, his season-long ace who gave up 6 runs in 3 innings? Or Strzelecki, who showed he can give his team an

edge over their first hurdle?

Win or lose, the Bulls will play at 4 p.m. Wednesday, either at Spectrum Field or Robin Roberts Field, which is adjacent to

n See BASEBALL on PAGE 5

Softball

Success on and off the field is equally important

By Josee Woble

C O R R E S P O N D E N T

USF’s season ended after a 3-2 loss to Ohio State in the NCAA Gainesville Regional on Saturday, but the season wasn’t a total loss.

To coach Ken Eriksen, the success of the team off the field is almost as important as its success on it.

“For us to compete like we did, get to regionals, and play some close ball games really says a lot about the diversity of the classes

that we had,” Eriksen said. “The senior class themselves did a phenomenal job in being very intricate in the successes that the team had over the last four to five weeks.”

The seniors not only led the team on the field, but in the classroom as well with a 100 percent graduation rate.

Eriksen made it clear in past seasons that a high graduation rate is important to him as he has consistently produced classes of

graduate athletes. His 7 seniors this year were no different.

“I’m very proud because being a student athlete is the most difficult thing that someone can do in their life,” Eriksen said. “You hope to prepare people for real life because it’s not just about the game.”

As a former USF baseball player himself, Eriksen said he knows how difficult it is to balance life on the field and in the classroom.

“Having to study every day, go to class every day, get up early

for practice and then perform at a high level for a whole year and times that by four years — you’ve accomplished a lot,” Eriksen said.

“If you take care of business in the classroom, it’s easy to play ball and for that to happen in the competitive nature that we play in says a lot about those seniors.”

USF played a challenging schedule this season. Competing against ranked opponents Tennessee, Florida and Oklahoma

n See SOFTBALL on PAGE 5