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U N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H F LO R I DA
Open mic discusses impact of suicide By Miki Shine C O - N E W S
O PINIO N
Thanksgiving vs. Christmas: battle of the holidays. Page 6
Montage
S PORTS Men’s basketball verges on tying record for worst season opener. BACK
E D I T O R
As the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S., depression is the cause of nearly 90 percent of adolescent mental health treatments, according to save.org. To shed light on the prevalence and danger of this issue on college campuses, three students arranged Monday night’s Survivors of Suicide event. The event, which took place in the Marshall Student Center Amphitheater, served as a forum for survivors, as well as the family and friends of those who suffer from depression and suicidal thoughts. The open mic-style platform was inspired by the International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day, an event sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and allowed anybody to get up and share their story.
The Survivors of Suicide event offered a platform for survivors along with others impacted by suicide and depression to share their stories. ORACLE PHOTO/ADAM MATHIEU “I come from a semi-artsy background, so it just had to be an open mic — it had to be an art gallery, we just had to have coffee,” Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement (CLCE)
Wellness and Disabilities Coordinator Tiffany Lin said. “And I thought it would be perfect because people just don’t talk about this stuff enough.”
One of the speakers, Mickey, worked for a few months as a responder at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. While he never thought about
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USF staff member struggles with new sick leave policy By Abby Rinaldi C O - N E W S
E D I T O R
Office of Graduate Studies Fiscal and Business Specialist Theresa Freeman, a USF employee of 16 years, was diagnosed with gastrointestinal cancer in 2013. She received surgery to remove it in 2014 as well as subsequent treatments, using up all of her sick leave and sick leave donated to her by coworkers through the Donated Sick Leave Program (DSLP). In August of this year, Freeman received terrible news: her cancer was back. She didn’t have much time to replenish her sick leave and the DSLP had been terminated in January. Susan Shannon, president of the USF branch of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), spoke with Freeman, whose sick leave ran out Oct. 31. She said
Freeman has had to use money from a GoFundMe campaign to pay the university to extend her sick leave through the current pay period. Shannon didn’t ask how much it had cost Freeman.
exhaust their sick leave. According to the Center for American Progress, “On average, workers who are covered take 3.9 days per year for illness and 1.3 days to care for sick family members, while
“It all just goes to waste. It’s our earned benefits that now we have no access to, basically.” Susan Shannon President of the USF branch of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
Shannon said leave ensures continuation of benefits, which keeps people employed at the university when they need to miss days. Shannon said running out of sick leave means “(Freeman) has no job,” which endangers her access to a salary and health insurance. It is not often that employees
workers without sick days take an average of 3 days per year.” The AFSCME said 134 employees have offered the donation of 3,854 hours to Freeman. The hours are those that employees are not using and would not receive total compensation for upon leaving USF. According to the university’s
Division of Human Resources, employees can receive monetary compensation for unused sick leave hours up to a limit, so long as the hours meet certain criteria, when they leave the university. “It all just goes to waste,” Shannon said. “It’s our earned benefits that now we have no access to, basically.” According to the U.S. Department of Labor, “There are no federal legal requirements for paid sick leave.” According to USF Media and Public Affairs Coordinator Adam Freeman, “The decision to eliminate the (DSLP) program was made as part of collective bargaining negotiations in 2014. “At that time, the (AFSCME) agreed to remove the program. Phasing out the donated sick leave program significantly reduced over $1 million per year of financial
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MIC
she could have done, and every single day it is hard to accept Continued from PAGE 1 mistakes, ask for help, check in on friends and keep moving suicide, self-harm was a part of forward. “I have two brothers, one of his life, and through the hotline he got to know over 60 people them is dead, and that’s okay, we can talk about it, we can contemplating suicide. He shared the story of a talk about him. Because who teenage boy he talked with on he was isn’t defined by his his first night who was dealing choice to commit suicide and who you are with financial “Hearing about doesn’t have p ro b l e m s, be defined family problems, all these things is to by suicidal bullying and racism. really nice in the loss, who you lost, or how “I always think about what moment … but after you’re feeling now,” if I had said this this what do you right Amanda said. or done that,” “Because he said. “What do. This gives you we’re more if I wasn’t the person who the opportunity to than that. We are so much answered the phone that night, go and be active in and it doesn’t what if someone your school and in have to be that … it’s been else did — that person might your community.” more than two years and still be alive.” it still feels like A m a n d a Melonie Rosler yesterday I got spoke about her Founder of A Life Worth Living the call that brother and the effect his suicide had on her. he’s not coming home, but I’m She insisted people shouldn’t not afraid to talk about that.” Another speaker, Ashley, be afraid to talk about it — that she still wants to talk about shared her journey with and suicidal him. She said there was more depression thoughts, which started around age 10. She said she used coping methods to fill a void she felt, namely because of boys her mother didn’t approve of. Ashley shared about useless counseling at 12, a close call at 15 and sharing nude photos with her boyfriend that her mother found. “I felt more disappointed than ever,” she said. “My mother started screaming, so I ran to my room and I started pacing back and forth. And I’m crying and I don’t know what to do because she’s calling me all these names and I’m starting to believe it … so I went to the bathroom, looked at myself in the mirror, opened the medicine cabinet and I pulled out a bottle.” Ashley took the whole bottle before her mother found her and got her to the hospital, where she stayed for three days. When she left, she send that it was bittersweet — bitter due to being alive when she didn’t want to, but sweet because she took surviving as a sign from God that she should be alive. The Crisis Center of Tampa
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liability for the university and Florida’s taxpayers.” When AFSCME went to the bargaining table with USF last November, Shannon said, one of the goals was to find a way to make the DSLP work, financially. She said the loss of the program came with a choice: after gaining other things they’d been fighting for, the AFSCME was told by the university that keeping the DSLP would require going back and redoing negotiations from scratch. Instead, the program was disbanded, something USF said was due to cost. Shannon attributes the disintegration of the DSLP to USF’s new business model. “I believe that it is a solvable problem, of course,” Shannon said. “I mean, it’s a university, somebody’s got to be able to figure this out.” Across the U.S., the cost of paid sick leave, however, is a small portion of the larger cost of employee benefits. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of 2012, “(84) percent of private industry workers received vacation, holiday, or personal leave. (72) percent of workers received both paid holidays and paid vacations, and 61 percent were covered by sick leave plans. For employers, the cost for providing these benefits to employees was $1.98 per hour worked, and these benefits made up 6.9 percent of total compensation.” Of that $1.98, 25 cents are attributed to paid sick leave. Other contributors are paid vacation and holiday hours, and while these numbers have changed from 1992 to 2012, the percentage attributed to paid sick leave has remained constant at 0.9 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Shannon said the AFSCME plans to address this issue in its meeting with the university Wednesday at 10 a.m. There still is a way of sharing sick leave at USF, but it is a slightly different program called the employee Sick Leave Pool (SLP), Adam Freeman said. In order to be eligible for the SLP, a USF staff member must have, at minimum, one year of continuous employment where they remained in good standing, a high enough performance rating
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and a minimum sick leave balance of 72 hours for full-time employees. Additionally, they must have applied for membership during open enrollment, contributed a set number of hours to the pool and contributed hours several times to replenish the pool. Temporary employees at USF are not eligible for the SLP. The open enrollment period opens each year in April. According to the university’s website, the SLP “allows members to contribute hours from their accrued sick leave to a central pool that members can draw upon to remain in a paid status for a specified period of time due to a serious, short-term medical condition after exhausting their own leave.” Though the pool covers “serious, short-term medical condition,” Freeman’s condition is long-term. She is currently at risk of losing her status as an employee on paid leave, which means she is at risk of losing her salary and benefits. The SLP allows members to use a maximum of 320 hours over the course of 12 months, while the DSLP had no cap on the number of hours donation recipients could use. Freeman was not a member of the SLP, the reason for which Shannon said she doesn’t know and has been a major criticism. “It shouldn’t be a death sentence for her failure to join the pool,” Shannon said. “We should still be able to help her.” The press release contained a petition Shannon said USF’s branch of AFSCME sent to the university leadership. “We ask USF to reconsider its policy not to allow sick leave donation between employees. We ask USF to allow these people to help Theresa in her time of need, and to work with us to create a system where any USF employee in this situation would be allowed to receive donations of sick leave from their coworkers,” AFSCME said in the release. Shannon stresses the importance of university staff, saying without them there would be no classes in the system, no registration and a dirtier campus. “We’re the invisible people at the university,” Shannon said. “Nothing would function without us.”
Bay had a booth at the event. Among the other preventative organizations present were Come Out of the Dark, CLCE, Life Worth Living at USF, Active Minds, To Write Love on Her Arms and Depression Army. “We all came together as mental health organizations with the same fight to provide support for everybody who was here,” founder of A Life Worth Living Melanie Rosler said. “And to give students more to do besides just attending this event. Hearing about all these things is really nice in the moment … but after this, what do you do. This gives you the opportunity to go and be active in your school and in your community.” Lin worked with Teresa Goff, president of Come Out of the Dark at USF, to start the event after discussing it at a Showcase of Service tabling event. They wanted to create an event that would open up communication about mental health. From there, they connected with Rosler to get
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more organizations involved. To close out the event, participants were welcomed to take one of the biodegradable, yellow balloons that were taped along the edge of the amphitheater and write a message on it before releasing them into the sky. “I Googled how most of these events went down — how do you honor a loved one you lost, and it was like balloon release. So, of course, why wouldn’t we?” Lin said. “It became sort of a theme or a logo on our flyers so we just had to have balloons. I thought it would be cute.” They also set up a Take a Heart, Leave a Heart station where people could write a positive message on a heart, place it in a basket and take one that somebody else had written. “I think it’s an issue that everyone thinks is really private, an issue that you only talk about with family or close friends,” Rosler said. “But having an event like this with a bunch of strangers kind of makes everything real, and makes it seem like this could turn into a community effort. This doesn’t have to be you alone.”
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NCAA Tournament team — to Texas A&M as a graduate transfer. So far, though, it has been a seemingly-consistent regression. In its opener against Troy, USF led by as many as 14 points before Swiss-cheese defensive performance and poor shooting in the second half (24.1 percent from the floor) allowed the Trojans to storm back for an 82-77 win. The story was much of the same in Game 2 against the New Jersey Institute of Technology — which once set a record for 51 consecutive Division I losses from 2007 to 2009 — on Nov. 16 as the Bulls blew a 23-8 lead and lost by three. They’ve shot 38 percent overall from the floor for the season, including a measly 26 percent from 3-point range. Opponents, meanwhile, have shot 41 percent. “We have to learn how to win, we have to learn to how to continue to win,” coach Orlando Antigua said. “We do enough and we’ve shown enough that we can take a lead. Now, we have to continue to play, be smart, execute so that we can finish off games.” Since that Cinderella run to the
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third round of the tournament three years ago, they’ve lost 66 games. Antigua’s former school, Kentucky, has won 130. “Definitely steps forward, but I’m getting to the point where I’m just tired of saying that,” junior power forward Chris Perry said after a 73-67 loss to George Washington on Thursday. In order to build this program into a consistent contender for something more than postseason golf outings, there’s no denying
“We have to learn how to win, we have to learn to how to continue to win. We’ve shown enough that we can take a lead. Now, we have to continue to play, be smart, execute so that we can finish off games” Orlando Antigua Men’s basketball coach
that Antigua is going to need time and plenty of patience from all involved. Much like football coach Willie Taggart, he inherited a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle with about 490 missing pieces. So far, he and his staff have been red-hot on the recruiting trail and the players he has plugged in to fill the void of those who departed with his predecessor have shown promise. Sophomore center Ruben Guerrero is maturing into a quality big man. Freshman guard Jahmal McMurray has emerged as a strong shooter with plenty of room to grow defensively. And before suffering a knee injury during the offseason that will sideline him for most of this season, Oldsmar Christian alumnus Troy Holston was solid from long range. But this is a team sport, and looking at the schedule right now, how many games can be pointed to as a definitive victory? Two? Four? “We still haven’t put a complete game together and that’s my message to them: Let’s see if we can do that,” Antigua said. “No one is feeling sorry for us right now.” That progress needs to show through eventually. A win would be a positive first step.
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be there no matter what.” USF, on the other hand, has bounced back from a lackluster start to the season and has a ton of momentum heading into Thursday. Following a 1-3 start, the Bulls have rattled off six wins in their last seven games, including a 65-27 romp of preseason East division favorite Cincinnati on Friday. Taggart said he’s proud of his team’s resiliency. “The way we started off and being able to overcome adversity is something we haven’t be able to do the first two years,” Taggart said. UCF interim coach Danny Barrett, who took over earlier this season following George O’Leary’s resignation after nearly 11 years at the helm, also knows it will take
everything his team has to slow down the Bulls’ potent offense. “They’re probably the hottest team in the conference right now,” Barrett said. “Because of the proximity of the schools and because of the last couple of years and the type of games that we’ve played in, knowing the intensity of the football game … our guys are going to go out and play hard for sure.” If USF beats the Knights, it needs No. 25 Temple to lose to Connecticut for berth in the inaugural AAC championship game on Dec. 12. USF holds the tiebreaker against the Owls after a 44-23 victory on Nov. 16. “We’ll have plenty of interest in it,” Taggart said. “I’m sure a lot of our guys will be watching that game and it would mean a lot, but only if we take care of our business on Thursday night.”
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Turkey, football and giving thanks
Grace Hoyte COLU M N I ST
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Thanksgiving Traditions
News Editors Miki Shine Abby Rinaldi oraclenewsteam@gmail.com Sports Editor Jeff Odom oraclesportseditor@gmail. com
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Christmas is certainly a premium holiday. According to WalMart, the holiday season begins after Labor Day and lasts until early February. Gifts, decorations and Christmas candy are on sale throughout the year, and the joy of the holiday is undeniable. But jolly December would be nothing without the very important month that leads up to it. November and, by extension, Thanksgiving often get the short end of the stick in terms of holiday cheer — but what Thanksgiving lacks in gifts, it makes up for in ingenuity. For those who are genuinely interested in giving thanks for a prosperous or simply completed year, Thanksgiving is perfect. Without the commercial hypocrisy of buying and giving gifts, families can simply enjoy one another’s company and delicious food. Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to watch the leaves change color (except in Florida), take walks on chilly evenings and then return to a roaring fire and warm cider. In states that actually experience fall and winter, Thanksgiving is just about the last time of the year when snow is light and the shoveling hasn’t started. Since SNL taught us how to deal with bickering at the table (make sure you have a copy of Adele’s “25”), there should be nothing to get in the way of an enjoyable meal with loved ones. To top it off: football. Even nonfootball fans can appreciate a full day off during which those rela-
tives you don’t really want to see are occupied with yelling at the TV and each other. Though the Bucs aren’t playing, there are still a few good matchups to watch. The undefeated Carolina Panthers take on the Dallas Cowboys, and USF takes on winless UCF. Everyone in line at a store in December with a cart overflowing with gifts will talk your ear off about how special Christmas is to them and how profound a holiday it is. But what separates it from Thanksgiving, other than a dozen new toys? A bit shallow, eh? Even if you subscribe to the belief that Jesus was born on Christmas and we bring each other gifts because the three wise men brought baby Jesus gifts, do you think that was the point? Gift giving and receiving has become integral to the holiday, so much so that it has replaced the actual moral of the story. If you are going to give gifts at Christmas because “even Jesus got gifts,” then you ought to give gifts to the Church or simply provide a basic service for someone. This Christmas, pay your sister’s rent or fix the leaky faucet at your best friend’s house. Unless you accept that giving exorbitant and ultimately useless gifts at Christmas is an inherently shallow and materialistic practice, you are lying to yourself and demeaning the spirit of Christmas. Ultimately, Thanksgiving includes all of the things Christmas strives to have — holiday cheer, profound gratefulness for life and loved ones, great deals on shopping (Black Friday, I didn’t forget about you) — and does them better. Happy Turkey Day. Grace Hoyte is a junior majoring in English literature.
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Christmas Traditions
The most wonderful time of the year
Breanne Williams COLU M N I ST
Christmas is by far the most anticipated holiday for people across the globe. Children and adults alike are swept up in the magic of the season as heartwarming traditions mark the most wonderful time of the year. For the entire month leading up to the holiday, people pile into their cars with thermoses of hot chocolate and peruse local neighborhoods to look at the majestic lights on display. Whether it’s a twinkling forest perfectly timed to Christmas music or flashing reindeer pulling a neon sleigh carrying Santa and his toys, lights always succeed at capturing viewers’ awe and evoking a multitude of smiles. Christmas also encourages a warm and cozy atmosphere. People spend hours adorning a tree with shiny decorations and those ornaments you made in elementary school with Popsicle sticks and macaroni that your mom just couldn’t throw away, even though they look more like a colorful lump than a manger scene. While the cold wind or — as the case may be in Florida — mildly chilly breeze whips around the house, friends pile up on the couch and drink coffee or hot chocolate while watching Christmas favorites like “Elf” or “A Christmas Story.” The fact that you’ve seen it 50 times in no way dissuades you from nearly choking on your eggnog in laughter when Flick gets his tongue stuck to the flag pole.
Santa’s cookies and milk are proudly displayed in the living room while children gather around the fireplace to read the hauntingly beautify tales of “A Christmas Carol” and “The Polar Express.” Despite growing up, you still let Tiny Tim grip your heart as you vigorously plead for his survival. Christmas not only has a plethora of touching books and movies, but also comes with its very own soundtrack to match the widespread cheer. While some argue over the appropriate time to begin listening to the festive tunes — which is ridiculous because everyone knows it’s never to early to jam to “Feliz Navidad” — nearly everyone is in agreement they are one of the best parts of the holiday. Without a doubt, the best part of Christmas is the time spent with loved ones. You have one day a year to gather together and bask in the warmth that is only found in the presence of those you cherish. Stockings are hung and cookies are baked as people prepare to celebrate with friends and family. Laughs are frequent and tears are few as people gather together by the tree on Christmas morning. Gifts are passed around and in spite of getting a Barbie for the 20th year in a row from Aunt Bessie you can’t keep from enjoying the love emitted by those sitting around you. While the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving are definitely great, nothing can match the warmth of Christmas day. Spending time with loved ones while decked out in ugly Christmas sweaters is literally the epitome of happiness. You can keep your turkey and football; my countdown clock will forever be set to December 25. Breanne Williams junior majoring in communications.
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Tonight, 7 • Sun Dome • TV/Radio: ESPN3, 820-AM
Cause for
concern
Outside USF
Syracuse’s Shafer will not return in ‘16 Syracuse will dismiss football coach Scott Shafer following Saturday’s season finale against Boston College, the school announced Monday. After starting the season 3-0, the Orange have dropped Shafer eight straight games, including a 44-24 defeat at USF on Oct. 10. “Scott has worked tirelessly to educate our students on and off the field and to build our program. However, I feel a change in leadership is needed at this time,” athletic director Mark Coyle said in a statement. Syracuse is the third ACC job opening — along with Miami and Virginia Tech — and the 13th nationally in Division I-A.
Reeling Bulls will tie the program’s worst start with a loss tonight
Note-a-Bull USF junior outside hitter Dakota Hampton recorded her 16th double-double of the season (21 kills, 16 digs) in the volleyball team’s 3-1 victory over Memphis on Sunday. The Bulls improved to 10-20 and 7-11 in the AAC. ORACLE PHOTO/ROBERTO ROLDAN
Quote of the day
NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon, 44, who retired following Sunday’s season finale at Homestead. Women’s basketball
Butler at USF
When: Wednesday, 7 p.m. Where: Sun Dome Radio: 820-AM
T H E O R AC L E
Albany (2-2) at USF (0-4)
The Rundown
“The competitor in me is still rewinding the race and trying to figure out what we could have done differently. But that won’t last long. The experience of this day will. I’ll be rewinding that in my mind for the rest of my life.”— Four-time
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To say things have been a struggle for the USF men’s basketball team through four games this season would be an understatement. There have Jeff Odom COM M ENTAR Y been blown double-digit leads, zero production from beyond the arc, shoddy defense and plenty of frustration to go around. Oh, and there is a big zero in the win column. Just how bad have things been? You’d have to blow the dust off a 1987-88 media guide to find a poorer start — 0-5 — which stands as the worst in the program’s 45-season history. A loss tonight to Albany at the Sun Dome, however, will match that mark — one that has stood through the dark ages of Seth Greenberg, Robert McCullum and Stan Heath. Another defeat against
No. 1 Kentucky in Miami on Friday will surpass it. After the Bulls fell to Boston University by 12 points Saturday, senior center Jaleel Cousins aired his grievances loud and clear. “I’d say we took two steps back today because of our work ethic,” he said. “I don’t think we went hard as a team. Everybody just didn’t give it their all.” A start like this would have been expected last year. The Bulls entered the season with only three players on the active roster that had seen playing time at the Division I level. They had seen a mass exodus, with four players, including star big man John Egbunu, bolting for other programs when former head coach Stan Heath was fired. This season was expected to be a step forward despite a difficult schedule and the loss of point guard Anthony Collins — the last remaining player from its 2012
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Football
Bulls wary of winless UCF By Jacob Hoag
A S S T .
S P O R T S
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While it might be easy to overlook a team like winless Central Florida, USF coach Willie Taggart knows his team can’t afford to. “We know they’re struggling,” Taggart said during Monday’s AAC coaches teleconference. “We just have to continue to keep our focus on USF and getting USF better. I’m sure our guys will be highly motivated.” The Knights (0-11) are far removed from their BCS glory days
when they dropped 52 points on Baylor in a Fiesta Bowl win in January 2014. Since that night in Arizona, UCF has accumulated an overall record 9-15 and 0-11 this year. Even with UCF’s ineptitude this season, Taggart expects his team’s best effort Thursday night when the Bulls take the rivalry across I-4 to Orlando. “I don’t think it took away from the last two years when we were on the other side of it,” Taggart said. “I think (the rivalry) will still
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USF coach Willie Taggart said despite UCF’s winless record through 11 games, he expects the Knights to give their best effort of the season Thursday night. ORACLE PHOTO/ADAM MATHIEU