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Fifth floor library renovations to include more study areas
June 7, 2017 Vol. 54 No. 61
By Jesse Stokes
C O R R E S P O N D E N T
Libraries have entered a new age. They have morphed from book storage to collaborative workspaces for students. The campus library staff doesn’t intend to be stuck in the past. Through innovations the library is striving to meet the demands of students. The current renovations on the fifth floor are just one example of progress. “The use of libraries has changed,” Thomas Cetwinski, Director of Planning and Accountability for the USF Library, said. “It was originally just a warehouse for books. Now, however, it acts as more of a social aspect. The library has become a destination point for students.” Cetwinski also said the purpose of the renovations is to create a common area that is safe, secure and responds to the needs of students’ study habits. The renovations began in February and the projected completion date for construction is Aug. 18. This results in the space becoming available for students beginning fall 2017. The estimated cost of the endeavor is upward of $4 million. The funds are drawn
from Collective Investment Trust and central funds. The cost includes construction work and new furniture. “With the new housing, the fence, and now this, it seems like the university is spending a lot of money,” Adam Bakst, sophomore majoring in mass communications, said. Cetwinski said cost efficiency is a focal point for the project. Energy efficient products that result in lower energy costs are being installed. These products include new ductwork, air systems and lighting that automatically balances with the natural light from the windows. Additionally, environmentally conscious efforts are being utilized with the recycling of original carpeting, ceiling tiles and metals. The furniture is designed for individual study and will have electrical outlets incorporated into each workstation since a lack of power is a concern students express, according to Cetwinski. There will be enough seating for 400 persons in the workspace. “These new additions will be beneficial because outlets are usually what students struggle to find the most, especially during busy times like
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Art gallery looks at Pulse anniversary needs USF baseball season the black experience to push for action comes to an end Page 4
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the Oracle
News........................................................3 Lifestyle................................................4 Opinion.................................................6 Classifieds...........................................7 Crossword..........................................7 Sports.....................................................8
Editor in Chief Miki Shine Sports Editor Josh Fiallo Graphic Artists Destiny Moore Mark Soree Advertising Sales Alyssa Alexander Ashley Bazile Destiny Moore Tadge Haskins BY PHONE
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CORRECTIONS The Oracle will correct or clarify factual errors. Contact Editor in Chief Miki Shine at 974-5190.
T H E O R AC L E
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NEWS
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
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News Briefs
patent lawsuit
against Whirlpool
Tampa gas prices increase
for water dispenser
This past week, Tampa Bay had the largest gas price increase of any major metro area in the state, according to AAA. The average price increased by $0.13 a gallon in Tampa and $0.12 a gallon in Orlando. Tampa’s average price is the same as a month ago and $0.05 more than this time last year, according to AAA. The highest price on record by AAA for Florida during this time of year is $4.079 in 2008. However, at the same time in Tampa, the average was $4.009 per gallon.
By Miki Shine E D I T O R
Special legislative session already in trouble Gov. Rick Scott called lawmakers back to Tallahassee for a threeday special session geared toward increasing K-12 spending, funding the state’s tourism agency and creating an economic development fund to lure businesses, according to the Tampa Bay Times. However, Tuesday’s session moved into hospital funding and overriding some of Scott’s budget vetoes. According to the Times, its unlikely the special session will end on time Friday.
USF enters into
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The renovated fifth floor of the library will include large work areas for students, group study rooms and over 400 additional seats. ORACLE PHOTO/MIKI SHINE
LIBRARY
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midterms and finals,” Lauren George, a senior majoring in public health, said. “I also think the new furniture will update the less modern floors of the library.” Three of the possible new furniture designs were available for student viewing during spring 2017. Students voted for the model they preferred and the one with the most votes is being installed. There will also be two reading rooms, one for
graduate students and one for undergraduate students. Though the majority of the floor will be focused on individual study, there will be eight rooms designated for group study. These rooms will have soundproof walls and glass doors to prevent groups from distracting those studying individually on the rest of the floor. Libraries are also changing the way print materials are stored to more effectively use available space. Compact shelving is one way print storage is being redesigned. It consists of
shelves on tracks that are stacked closely together and move with the turn of a crank to create walkways. This method allows for more print to be stored in a specific space. These shelves are currently used in the library basement. “All libraries are looking for ways to use their space more effectively, as a result, compact shelving is becoming more and more common,” Cetwinski said. Staff are already considering ways to further improve the student experience, according to Cetwinski.
I N
C H I E F
The university is in the midst of a patent lawsuit against appliance-giant Whirlpool over a dispenser that measures out specific amounts of liquid. A similar feature is included in Whirlpool and other affiliated companies’ refrigerators. It allows the user to select the exact amount of filtered water they need. According to the lawsuit, USF received a patent for the technology in December 2007 that was retroactive to April 2003. As part of the lawsuit, USF is demanding Whirlpool stop using the feature and pay damages. University spokesman Adam Freeman said the school doesn’t comment on pending litigations. Among the components the lawsuit claims are substantially similar between the two designs are a “smart valve” that measures the flow of water and a “user interface” that controls the system. Whirlpool is denying the allegations against its products and told 10 News that the company is prepared to dispute the lawsuit. USF has been ranked in the top 10 universities when it comes to patents granted for the past six years and is currently ninth. According to Fish and Richardson Law Firm, a patent lawsuit in federal court takes approximately 11 months from the time the complaint is filed to the time a decision is issued.
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LIFESTYLE New gallery looks at the black experience UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
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By Isabelle Eugene C O R R E S P O N D E N T
We Can’t Breathe by William Villalongo ORACLE PHOTO/MIKI SHINE
USF’s Contemporary Art Museum’s newest exhibit is exploring identity and representation. Artists Mark Thomas Gibson and William Villalongo present their combined work from 1912 to 2016 in the exhibitions Woke! and Black Pulp!. Inspired by current issues of activism and police brutality, the artwork brings awareness to injustices, events and movements such as Ferguson and Black Lives Matter. “I thought it would be very appropriate for our campus since we are a publisher of prints and interested in offering themes of diversity and thought the exhibition was so solid from a scholarly standpoint,” Margaret Miller, USFCAM’s Director of IRA, said. “This is something that our students and faculty and community would want to see.” The exhibit features images from art platforms such as comic books, newspapers and magazines. “I realize now that you don’t know what your actions are going to cause to somebody else, you can have the best intentions and it can go the other way,” Gibson said. “I’m really trying to communicate how to have a conversation.” Gibson and Villalongo’s work exposes audiences to sociopolitical inequalities within our society. The art reveals how the current social justice events personally affected them. “I know that there are young artists, African-Americans artists, people of color who are looking to see themselves in work. I’m
interested in that,” Villalongo said. “I also know that there are people that don’t know the Black Lives Movement is happening or don’t understand why there’s a sign that says ‘We Can’t Breathe.’” The piece ‘We Can’t Breathe’ is comprised of a series of shadow boxes, each houses a different colored diagram of the human respiratory system. Every box contains a letter and spells out the phrase. “After Ferguson I just started thinking ‘I just can’t do it anymore.’ My mind is sort of refocused now, the world in a sense after Ferguson, changed everything for me and everything that I was thinking about,” Villalongo said. “I started thinking about the fact that we have to say something about Black Lives Matter. I couldn’t get that out of my head, and that language, I couldn’t get that out of my head. I can’t believe that we actually have to talk about this.” In an effort to reframe the perspective of the black experience, Gibson and Villalongo present the concept of revolution and the idea of being “woke,” a term used for an individual’s awareness of social issues, to audiences. “It’s about where you are, it’s about what you know, what’s happening, how you actually take the time to actually make the right action, actually move with the right action,” Gibson said. “So it’s not just about being aware about what’s happening, it’s about actually taking the right step and making an action still.”
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OPINION UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
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Time for Pulse shooting to push society toward change
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What you said Sports Editor Josh Fiallo asked students to reflect on the Pulse shooting one year later.
“We as Floridians, as Americans continue to do the day-to-day things that we love and appreciate because if we don’t, we’re letting them win. Their whole goal is to stop us from doing that. The best way to fight it is to acknowledge that it’s there, but overall, to not let them win and not give them the fear they desire..” - Vince Gyongyosi, a junior majoring in finance
The Pulse shooting happened almost a year ago and it’s time for society to fight back for a community in danger. ORACLE FILE PHOTO/JACOB HOAG By Miki Shine C O L U M N I S T
Nearly a year ago the LGBT community awoke to shattering news. Over 100 members of the community had been shot at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Over the next week memorials will be held across the country and blood banks will offer special anniversary t-shirts to those who donate in commemoration and life will go on. But is that what we need? Yes, remembering is important. Yes, encouraging people to donate blood saves lives. Yes, the community needs to be together. However, do these actions move us forward? Even as the fallout of Pulse was being assessed, The New York Times reported members of the LGBT community are the most likely group in the U.S. to be the victim of a hate crime. Eleven members of the transgender community have been the victims of hate crimes in 2017 thus far and only one arrest has been made, according to the Human Rights Campaign. The Daily Beast reported last week that bullying due to sex-
ual orientation or gender identity hasn’t decreased since the 1990s. One out of six high-school aged members of the community seriously consider suicide, according to the Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBT teens and young adults. These are the facts our society must currently face. Whether you support the LGBT community or not, this information should embarrass us as a society and inspire change in how we treat each other. While memorials are important to the healing process after a tragic incident, these events over the next week need to serve as a catalyst for positive change. Pulse happened a year ago on Monday. We’ve had our mourning period with time to be scared and time to recuperate. Now we must push for change and strive to protect one another regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. We need to send a message that even if not everybody agrees with the LGBT community, it has a right to exist. This is the time
when voices need to be heard. The Pulse shooting is a lasting scar on the community. It will serve as our generation’s Stonewall Riot, as a wound that will never fully heal. However, it has had time to scab. The wound doesn’t hurt as much now and is still there as a reminder of what happened. It’s a reminder that more work is necessary to ensure safety for people simply minding their own business. There’s no one simple path to take to cause change. Everybody should do what they can or feel the need to, but something needs to give. The U.S. broadcasts itself as the land of the free and the home of the brave, but members of our society are hurting the brave people of the LGBT community striving for freedom. Those causing harm don’t represent all people in our country, but until change is implemented we all bare the shame of their actions.
Miki Shine is a senior majoring in mass communications.
“There were people I knew that went to Pulse regularly, and just thinking that it could’ve been one of my friends was really scary. A year from then you can see how Orlando has come together. From Orlando pride to Orlando Strong everywhere, to all of the people who came together at blood banks the day after.” - Tiffany Ruano, a junior majoring in medical technology “I’m overwhelmed by the amount of support that’s came in the aftermath. I just went to a LGBT event last week in Orlando and it was so nice to see how people have came out to support despite what’s going on in Washington right now. It’s nice to see how the entire community has come together.” - Larisa Barreto, a graduate student majoring in public policy
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T H E   O R AC L E
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CROSSWORD
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Baseball
Sports
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
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USF’s NCAA Tournament run comes to an end
Going 42-19, USF won its most games in a single season since 1996. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE ners bracket. Next season the Bulls will be By Josh Fiallo USF held the potent Gators without first team all-conferS P O R T S E D I T O R offense to just one run through ence shortstop Kevin Merrell In a repeat of its 2015 NCAA the games first 11 innings and who elected to forego his senior tournament run, USF baseball consistently put runners on season for the MLB draft. was once again ousted from base. However, the Bulls failed Merrell led the Bulls in batthe Gainesville regional after to get hits when it mattered ting average, hits, runs scored losses to Florida and a lower most, stranding 12 runners on and bases stolen this past seaseeded team. base throughout the game. son. Two years ago the lower In the top half of the 12th, In addition to Merrell, USF seeded team was Florida USF yielded UF four runs on will lose five seniors to graduaAtlantic. On Sunday it was No. 3 two errors, leading to a 5-1 vic- tion this season. These seniors Bethune-Cookman who ended tory for the Gators. include pitchers Michael No. 2 USF’s season with a 6-3 On Monday, fewer than Farley, Phoenix Sanders, Mark win over the Bulls at McKethan twelve hours after the Bulls loss Savarese and Ryan Valdes, as Stadium in Gainesville. to Florida, USF – after using well as first team all-conference “It was a tough day for us, five pitchers the night before outfielder Luke Borders. but at this point we’re focus- lost to Bethune-Cookman 6-4 “I have mixed emotions ing on the season as a whole,” and was eliminated from the about it right now,” Borders coach Mark Kingston said folregional, effectively ending its said about playing his last game lowing Sunday’s loss. “I’m very season. as a Bull. “I’m gonna miss it a proud with where this team “These kids were playing lot. It’s been four years of absoand this program are, but we’re until 12:30 in the morning last lute fun, and I’m not too sure going to continue to get better night,” Kingston said after the what I’m going to do without and better.” loss. “We gave our best effort. baseball right now.” Despite going 3-7 in their I would never question, and Valdes felt the same way follast ten games, USF (42-19) I would expect nobody that lowing his last game for USF. had its most wins in a season knows us intimately to ever “I always tell little leaguers since 1996 – where the Bulls question that.” that I coach that the best thing 47-win season also ended in Despite playing on little rest, about baseball is that you get a Gainesville regional – and Kingston insisted fatigue was to play again tomorrow,” Valdes matched the second longest not a factor in the Bulls noon said. “Knowing that you’re not winning streak in program hisloss to Bethune-Cookman on playing again later tonight, the tory with 19 wins in a row. Monday. next day, or next weekend, The Bulls started out the “Anybody that was with us there’s mixed emotions.” regional strong when they pre-game today would’ve saw “You’re happy you made it defeated Bethune-Cookman 9-1 that we were a lively, ready- this far, but sad that you’re on Friday that set up a showto-get-after-it group,” Kingston done,” Valdes added. “I’m just down with the No. 3 nationally said. “I would never question in proud of this team and everyseeded Florida Gators (44-17) a million years that these kids thing we’ve accomplished.” on Saturday night in the winwere ready to go.”
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Basketball
T H E O R AC L E
Former Bulls to play in “The Basketball Tournament”
Anthony Collins, Toralyn Fitzpatrick and Hugh Robertson playing for the Bulls in 2013. Four years later, all three will play for the Tampa Bulls. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE
By Josh Fiallo S P O R T S
E D I T O R
USF basketball alumni are convening for a shot at two million dollars. On Tuesday, a group of former Bulls basketball standouts, known as the Tampa Bulls, were selected as an at-large bid in the South region of The Basketball Tournament. It is a five-onfive, 64-team, winner takes all tournament that’s in its fourth year. All the to u r n a m e n t s games will be aired on an ESPN platform. The “Super Sixteen” semifinals and finals will be on ESPN and ESPN2. The Tampa Bulls’ roster consists of 10 USF players. They will collect a salary of $135,000 apiece, although William McDonald and Dominique Jones will each receive $200,000, if the team wins the tournament. Michael Brown, a USF alumni and former assistant coach under coaches Stan Heath and Orlando Antigua, is the team’s GM and coach. Anthony Brammer, the cur-
rent head basketball coach at Lecanto High School, will also coach the Bulls. The buy-in is $5,000 per team and at least $1,000 per player depending on when the player becomes a member. Free agents can join the team at any point of the tournament as long as the team doesn’t exceed the 15-player roster limit. In each of the four regions – South, Northeast, Midwest and West – nine teams were selected based on the number of “fan votes” they received online. Six teams were chosen as at-large bids and one team from a play-in Jamboree. Tw o - t i m e defending champ, O ve rs e a s E l i t e, belongs to the South region along with the Bulls. They have an “experience level” of 75, just 6 points higher than the Tampa Bulls’ rating of 69, according to The Tournament’s website. The Bulls first game will be on July 8 at Queens University in Charlotte, North Carolina. An opponent has not yet been named.