The Oracle
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Heartbreak
w w w. u s fo r a c l e. co m
U N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H F LO R I DA
Bulls lose to UCF 49-42, ending their shot at AAC championship Page 8
FCC looks at changes to net neutrality regulations Page 3
Anti-discrimination laws should not have exceptions Page 6
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the Oracle the University of South Florida’s student newspaper since 1966
Editor in Chief Miki Shine oracleeditor@gmail.com @MichaelAZShine Lifestyle Editor Isabelle Eugene oraclelifestyleeditor@gmail.com Sports Editor Josh Fiallo oraclesportseditor@gmail.com @ByJoshFiallo Multimedia Editor Chaveli Guzman oraclemultimediaeditor@gmail.com
@ChaveliGuzman
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Staff Andrea Martin Samantha Moffett Sam Newlon Maria Ranoni Graphic Artists Destiny Moore Mark Soree Jessica Thornton Advertising Sales Matthew Comstock Tadge Haskins Destiny Moore The Oracle is published Monday and Thursday during the fall and spring semesters, and once weekly, Wednesday, during the summer. The Oracle allocates one free issue to each student. Additional copies are $.50 each and available at the Oracle office (SVC 0002).
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NEWS
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
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Things you might have missed: Net neutrality up for debate ●
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By Miki Shine E D I T O R
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Over the break, students surely saw a variety of internet memes concerning net neutrality. However, the issue is more complicated than a single image can explain. Simply put, net neutrality is a regulation by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that keeps internet providers from charging extra for certain sites. In April, the FCC announced it was reconsidering the regulation and opened itself up to public comments on the issue. Pulling back this regulation would allow internet providers to impact the speed at which its consumers can access certain sites. FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai insists that there’s no evidence of this happening. He’s suggested having providers voluntarily agree to not obstruct or slow down consumer access to web content by putting the agreement in their terms of service, according to Reuters. He’s also argued that it puts too much regulation on companies. Those arguing in favor of net neutrality say it creates an equal playing field for all creators, which protects innovation and ensures everyone has the same freedom of expression online while still monitoring illegal behavior. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman wrote a letter to the FCC addressing an additional concern that the process used for the public
The FCC is looking at lifting regulations on internet providers that keep them from charging extra for certain sites while some have concerns about the public input method the FCC uses. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE to provide input into the decision has been corrupted by hundreds of thousands of fake or automated comments. He wrote that some of these comments were made using fake names and addresses while others used actual citizens’ information. He said the FCC has not provided further information, such as data logs, that would allow for his office to properly investigate the incident.
Some consumers have complained directly to the FCC about their names and addresses being used to submit false comments that they did not support, according to the Washington Post. They sent a letter to the FCC back in May asking for an investigation and for the FCC to delete the “dishonest and deceitful” messages made in their name. The FCC declined to comment on the potential issue.
President continues backing Roy Moore despite sexual assault allegations The special election for a Senate seat in Alabama is set to be held in a little over two weeks between Republican Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones. The election is to fill now Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ old seat. Moore has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple
women, most while they were still underage and he was in his 30s. While multiple high-ranking Republicans have come out in support of the women with some calling for Moore to step aside, President Donald Trump has stayed in support of him. This was reinforced Sunday morning when Trump tweeted that Jones is weak on crime and border patrol, is bad for
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Bulls take lead into second half, fall to EMU 65-47
Men’s Basketball
By Brian Hattab
C O R R E S P O N D E N T
Looking for its first three game winning streak since Nov, 2014, USF (4-3) had no answer for Eastern Michigan’s (5-1) explosive second-half. The Bulls fell 65-47 to the Eagles in the final game of the Hoosier Tip-Off Classic Sunday afternoon, in front of an announced crowd of 2,050 at the Sun Dome. While USF was able to take a 29-27 lead into halftime, the Eagles doubled the Bulls points in the second half, out scoring USF 38-18. Eastern Michigan had four players score in double digits, with two of them posting double figures in the second half alone. The Eagles were led offensively by junior guard Paul Jackson, who led all scorers with 15 points. Junior center James Thompson IV recorded a double-double, with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman guard Malik Ellison and senior guard Tim Bond also recorded 11 points. Despite the loss, USF head
The Bulls shot a season-low 29.2 percent from the field in their loss to EMU. ORACLE PHOTO/MIKI SHINE coach Brian Gregory praised the the second half USF was only able loss. first half performance of his team. to force two turnovers and eight “The last game, against “I thought defensively, we defensive rebounds. Arkansas State, their zone was were really good,” Gregory said. Offensively, USF was led by kinda spread out,” Martin said. “Rebounding-wise, we were really graduate guard Payton Banks with “Eastern Michigan is always really good. That’s how we’re gonna 10 points. Although Banks led the packed in, so it was hard to get the have to compete in games, Bulls in scoring, he missed his last ball in the middle.” especially when you play better five shots of the game and only Graduate guard Terrence teams like Eastern is.” shot 23 percent from the field. Samuel played through pain, USF forced seven turnovers and Freshman guard David Collins recording four points and nine recorded 14 defensive rebounds and junior forward Malik Martin rebounds over 30 minutes. in the first half of the game. In each recorded eight points in the “I hurt my (right) ankle a little
bit right before the (first) half ended,” Samuel said. “There was nothing I could do. I didn’t want to complain, but I had to play through it. “You always gotta play through injuries. It just shows how bad you want to win. Despite what point of the year it is … this coulda been the national championship game, and your ankle hurts, you gotta play.” While the Bulls have had a busy schedule recently, playing four games in seven days, Gregory didn’t want to make excuses for the sluggish second half. “[Eastern Michigan] played on Friday night, on the road, and had to fly here” Gregory said. “So that would be an excuse. During this process of building our program, we’re going to try to stay away from those.” Next up for the Bulls is a twogame road trip to North Carolina, where they will face Elon on Thursday and Appalachian State on Saturday. Both games are set for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
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OPINION UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
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Businesses should not be able to opt out of anti-discrimination laws
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What you said Multimedia Editor Chaveli Guzman asked students whether they think businesses have the right to not follow anti-discrimination laws just because they don’t agree with it?
“No. Just because they don’t believe in a law, does not mean that they are exempt from it. You can’t selectively believe in laws.” — Don Swartz a freshman majoring in political science
Opponents to marriage equality in Australia are trying to push for religion exemption laws, but this isn’t an issue only in Australia. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE By Samantha Moffett C O L U M N I S T
With 62 percent of the Australian public voting “yes” to extend same-sex marriage rights, Australia recently introduced a law legalizing marriage equality. This was a huge win for equal rights activists and the LGBTQ community. Opponents of marriage equality, however, are working on proposals to allow businesses or government officials in Australia who are in disagreement with the law to refuse to serve or recognize any same-sex couples, despite the national law in place. These proposals argue that religious or moral beliefs take precedence over equality or democratic laws, and turn a blind eye on the act of discrimination because of personal prejudices. These “allowances to discriminate” undermine the win for marriage equality and puts the rights of the LGTBQ community in jeopardy. While Australia is currently facing this concerning issue regarding equal treatment, the allowance of personal exemption from anti-discrimination laws is present in many other countries as well, including the U.S. When the U.S. passed the law that states cannot discriminate against samesex couples, the “love wins” movement
reigned successful. However, since the June 2015 passing of the law, there have been many cases of businesses or government officials who would like to be exempted from following the law. The most recent case in the U.S. of personal exemption from antidiscrimination laws takes place in a small Colorado cake shop. The shop owner said he believes cake making is an art form and that by having to follow anti-discrimination laws his first amendment rights were being violated and his artistic expression hindered. The Supreme Court will take a vote in December on whether or not the cake shop management should be allowed to discriminate against the LGBTQ community. At first glance the case could seem like a frivolous issue, but the law about not discriminating against a customer because of their background or preferences dates back to the civil rights era. The constitution does not protect the right to discriminate, according to Louise Melling, the deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union. If the U.S. Supreme Court votes to allow this one cake shop in Colorado to explicitly discriminate against customers because of their sexual orientation, an entirely new standard could be set for businesses across the country.
If one minority group is allowed to be discriminated against, those who have personal prejudices can argue that any minority group can be discriminated against. While this case is just the most recent in discussion, the personal exemption from anti-discrimination laws is not a new concept. “This is just the latest in a decadeslong attempt to undermine public accommodations law, it’s an old staircase in a new building,” Rebecca Cokley, of the Liberal Center for American Progress said, as reported by The Guardian. There are currently over two dozen countries that have marriage equality laws in place, according to the Pew Research Center, but if these proposals are allowed, it seems as though none of these laws are relevant. The personal prejudices against people simply because of who they are have no place in a world that is filled with such diversity. The laws that protect minority groups should be mandatory if we want both our communities and economies to thrive. Samantha Moffett is a sophomore majoring in mass communications.
“It’s a complicated issue because this country boasts the freedom of speech and religion, especially in separation of church and state. So, you would think that a business should be able to practice the beliefs that they want. However, it gets to a point when you are denying certain people’s civil liberties, that’s an infringement on their personal rights. For businesses to deny service to people or deny employment because of who they are is immoral.” — Richard Hendrix a graduate student majoring in environmental science “No, I don’t think so because diversity is really important in the workplace and I don’t think that people should be denied to work where they need to because of their sexual orientation, race or religion.” — Yasmeen Khalifa a junior double majoring in biomedical sciences and psychology “I don’t believe that they shouldn’t follow anti-discrimination laws because of the importance of diversity in the workplace.” — Yousef Qanni a junior majoring in finance
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the military and the second Amendment, and that he wants to raise taxes. Jones’ spokesman responded to the New York Times saying they are staying focused on finding common ground and “getting things done for real Alabamians.” Current polls have Jones and Moore neck and neck. AAAS Honors six faculty members The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) announced accepting six USF faculty members for research in biology, marine science, engineering and business. • Mya Breitbart with the College of Marine Science is being honored for research developing new virus detection methods and discovery of singlestrand DNA viruses. • Clifford Henderson
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with the College of Engineering is being honored for advance chemical and material science. • Jennifer Lewis with the College of Arts and Sciences for chemical education research. • Lynn Martin II with the College of Arts and Sciences for discoveries in ecological immunology. • Jason Rohr with the College of Arts and Sciences is being honored for contributions to disease and climate change ecology. • James Stock with the Muma College of Business is being honor for research into supplychain management. Last year USF had five faculty members honored by the AAAS with a total of 62 faculty members honored in school history.
Military Times ranks USF second best public university for veterans
CROSSWORD
The university has been in the top five universities in the nation for veterans for the six years in a row. This year, USF was placed second by the Military Times. The publication highlighted USF’s veteran-centered programs and increased number of veteran students. “We are once again honored to be recognized by Military Times,” Larry Braue, director of the Office of Veteran Success, said. “At USF, we believe our comprehensive and innovative approach to supporting student veterans as they transition out of the military truly leads to academic success.” Last year, the university was named first in the nation for veterans by the Military Times.
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Sports
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Commentary
Enjoy Flowers while you can
After USF’s loss to UCF, he only has one game left as a Bull By Josh Fiallo S P O R T S
E D I T O R
Despite p re s e a s o n predictions that favored USF football to win the AAC, after its 49-42 loss to UCF on Friday, the Bulls are out of contention. There’ll be no first conference championship in program history, at least, not in 2017. The Bulls won’t even be in the championship game, and, as a result, won’t make it into their first New Year’s Six bowl game. Just a bowl game against a power-five opponent. Maybe in Boca Raton. Maybe in Annapolis. Maybe in St. Pete. All of which, four years ago, would’ve been considered a huge success for a program that had won only two games in former coach Willie Taggart’s first season as head coach — but not in 2017. Not with the expectations that were set for the Bulls and coach Charlie Strong in his first season at the helm. Coming off of an 11-2 season in 2016, some national With conference losses to Houston and UCF, the Bulls will have to wait another year for the chance to experts, such as ESPN Analyst make it to their first championship game. THE ORACLE/MIKI SHINE Kirk Herbstreit, were even last year!” bound, with senior leaders be traveling to the game or mentioning USF as a potential Even one regular season such as quarterback Quinton watching it on TV. dark-horse candidate to make loss would’ve been a letdown, Flowers and linebacker Auggie Why? it into the college football but two? Sanchez leading the way. Not There’s only 60 minutes of playoff. Unheard of. Especially how Military Bowl bound against Flowers in a USF uniform left. “I think Charlie Strong and the losses came. USF failed to Wake Forrest (7-5), as Sports Easily the greatest USF the USF Bulls have a chance beat a single opponent that’s Illustrated and ESPN projected player in history to watch, to be that team,” Herbstreit bowl eligible in 2017, while the Bulls bowl game destiny Flowers has put up video-game tweeted in response to defeating Tulsa (2-8) by only a would be in an article Sunday. numbers throughout his foura follower asking if a non- touchdown at home on senior Regardless of where USF year career as a Bull on paper. Power-5 team could make night. plays, however, Bulls fans Juking and jiving throughout the playoff. “16 starters back The Bulls were destined should watch the game in the backfield, Flowers evaded including Q.Flowers -Won 11 to be Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl some capacity, whether it rushers effortlessly in 2017
and in five out of 11 games, amassed more yards of total offense than his opponent’s entire team did. Against the Knights on Black Friday Flowers shined, throwing for 503 yards and four touchdowns, while adding another 102 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Both the passing yardage and total yardage totals were program records for a single game. “A lot of people always say I can’t throw, I can’t do a lot of things,” Flowers said. “I was prepared for it and I just told myself, ‘Make it happen. This is the moment you’ve been waiting for. They aren’t going to expect you to pass the ball a lot like that.’ I just came out and I just gave my guys a chance.” As far as career-long records go, Flowers can be found all throughout USF’s record books. He’s currently tied with Marquel Blackwell for career passing touchdowns with a game still to go. He’s the lone leader for career rushing touchdowns and total yards. His 107 career touchdowns are 20 higher than the next Bull up. It could be a long time before USF ever fields a player as special as Flowers again. So, regardless of whether it’s the Military Bowl, Boca Raton Bowl, Birmingham bowl or even the Independence Bowl, Flowers deserves your attention.