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The Oracle T H U R S D AY, J U LY 1 6 , 2 0 1 5 I V O L . 5 2 N O. 1 3 5

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The Index

News.................................................................1 Lifestyle......................................................4 Opinion.......................................................6

classifieds..............................................7 Crossword.........................................7 sports............................................................8

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

T H I S I S T H E L A S T O R A C L E O F T H E S U M M E R . W E W I L L R E S U M E P U B L I C AT I O N O N A U G U S T 2 4 . L O O K F O R O U R B O R E D O M S O LV E R O N M O N D AY.

Inside this Issue

USF prepares to suit up students for jobs

Title IX charges dismissed

By Isabelle Cavazos S T A F F

LI F E STYLE

USF Riverfront park features third annual Glow in the Park.

Page 4

Montage

S PORTS Two USF football players leaving for junior college.

BACK

Students such as Enactus President Kenny Lynch (right) will help lead Suit-A-Bull in its new location in the SVC building down the hall from Career Services. ORACLE PHOTO/ADAM MATHIEU

By Alex Rosenthal E D I T O R

I N

C H I E F

After years of moving around campus, the Suit-A-Bull program may have finally found a home that is just the right fit.

For more than eight years, the Suit-A-Bull program led by the USF chapter of Enactus has loaned students suits for professional engagements that could lead to their first job or job interview.

At a small gathering of university employees and administration on Wednesday, the new permanent home of Suit-A-Bull, located on the second floor of the Student Services Building and down the hall from Career Services, was unveiled and featured a store-front look and changing rooms that appeared closer to a Men’s Wearhouse than the desk space for Testing Services that used to occupy the space months before.

However, the transformation was far from seamless, as Enactus President Kenny Lynch said he remembers pushing racks of donated suits across campus and out of stor-

age units and even temporarily storing the suits in the garage of USF President Judy Genshaft before partnering with Career Services for the new location.

“Now that we have this space, we’re planning to expand Suit-A-Bull’s operation,” Lynch said. “Normally it was on an appointment basis where students had to contact us 72 hours in advance, set up an appointment, then come in to look at what we had.”

Suit-A-Bull started when a member of Enactus heard that recruiters at career fairs voted USF as one of the more underdressed colleges. Through a group of Enactus students, suits were collected and lent out to students, with each student trading a photo ID for a suit during the time the suit was needed for an interview.

Until 2013, the Suit-A-Bull program was staffed by volunteers in a room on the second floor of the USF Bookstore.

However, once the renovations started in the Bookstore, the suits had to be pushed out.

In the interim, after moving from a brief storage locker off campus, the suits found a

temporary home in Genshaft’s garage for almost a year.

Though members of Enactus said the program was not wellknown on campus and had few resources, it makes an important impact for students.

“We want students to feel confident and the ultimate end goal is to land an interview and get the job,” said Angie Osborn, Enactus vice president for marketing at USF. The most significant events for Suit-A-Bull are the career fairs, sponsored by Career Services every semester in the Marshall Student Center.

During one career fair, Lynch said Suit-A-Bull can help about 100 students borrow suits to meet potential employers.

Before the move in the fall of 2013, he said one career fair had about 300 students asking for suits.

“Now that we have this permanent home, we will be open on a consistent basis, a set amount of hours, at any time students can walk in and look at what we have,” Lynch said.

In addition to finalizing what those hours will be and what

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W R I T E R

Last month, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit of a USF student accused of sexual assault in 2012 and sued the university on the basis of gender discrimination and the denial of his right to due process.

Claiming the pseudonym John Doe, the student argued USF violated his due process rights because he wasn’t notified of the sexual assault charges made against him, which were in violation of the university’s code of conduct.

Doe also made a Title IX claim against USF, stating male students accused of sexual assault are found guilty despite the evidence.

Title IX is a federal law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender in educational programs.

Doe reported to receive two separate emails from Chiqui Aldana, an administrative specialist at USF’s Student Affairs, in April 2012, both of which he deleted, as he claimed to have done with unusual or unsolicited emails.

After receiving a call and later meeting with Winston G. Jones, USF’s assistant dean and director of the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities, Doe learned he was being suspended for failing to respond to the emails. Doe then wanted his suspension lifted and called for a re-examination of his charges, which USF declined.

He also noted the accuser, his former girlfriend, had a history of violence and previously threatened to falsely

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Florida universities still behind in relations with Cuba

By Russell Nay A S S T .

N E W S

E D I T O R

Next week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to hoist the American flag above a reopened U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba, according to a press conference given by President Barack Obama on July 1.

This will mark the first operation of an American embassy in the island nation since the previous embassy’s closure more than 50 years ago, and it is another step in Obama’s initiative to normalize relations with Cuba since last December.

These recent developments are a stark contrast to the political atmosphere previously surrounding the U.S. and Cuba, and public universities in Florida are still feeling the effects of past legislation.

USF College of Marine Science professor and biological oceanographer Frank Muller-Karger said he first began working with Cuban oceanographers in 1991.

He said USF researchers and Cuban researchers from the Institute of Oceanology in Havana embarked on a series of collaborations in which up to three Cuban researchers traveled to USF for several months at a time.

Muller-Karger said the oceanographers developed the first studies of the waters around Cuba using satellite data. These studies led to new discoveries in the field, including how El Nino storm patterns affect ocean productivity and how the waters around Cuba,

Mexico and Florida are connected by ocean currents, causing a biological transport of marine species between the three.

He said Cuban researchers also sailed to Tampa Bay in 1998 for an oceanographic expedition to Mexico, Cuba and Florida. He said this was the first time a Cuban research vessel came to U.S. waters in about 40 years.

“We were able to do things that were quite unique,” Muller-Karger said. “We have literally tens of thousands of satellite images of the waters around Cuba which we were analyzing together with (Cuban researchers).”

Then, Florida legislators passed SB 2434 or “Travel to Terrorist States” into law in 2006. This bill barred state institutions, including public universities and their faculty, from using state funds, or even non-state funds like personal salaries, to finance any activities related to travel involving any country on the U.S. Department of State’s list of nations sponsoring terrorism.

This list included Cuba at the time the bill was passed.

“All of a sudden, everything stopped because we ended up in a politically difficult situation in the 2000s, and we’re still there,” Muller-Karger said. “(Researchers) are not allowed to study the factors that affect our own waters.”

SB2434 was recently nullified after the Obama Administration removed Cuba from the list of nations sponsoring terrorism on May 29. However, an earlier Florida statute enacted in 1996

may still legally prevent any state agency employees, including professors at public universities, from traveling to countries with which the U.S. does not have full diplomatic relations.

Muller-Karger said the Florida Board of Governors has specifically told USF faculty members that they are not allowed to engage in any work with Cuba.

“The state of Florida put an embargo on knowledge,” MullerKarger said. “The tragic part is that the rest of the country is engaging

“The state of Florida put an embargo on knowledge.”

Frank Muller-Karger USF College of Marine Science professor

with Cuba for academic exchanges and student exchanges and education … while the State University System in Florida is paralyzed.”

Noel Smith, curator of Latin American and Caribbean Art at the Institute for Research in Art at USF, said she has not been able to receive the support of USF to conduct her research in Cuba because of these laws. She said she had to personally fund her trip to a large Cuban international art gathering in May. “It’s absolutely essential for anyone who is involved in Latin American art in general to attend that,” she said. “I had to take vaca-

tion time, and I had to pay for the trip myself.”

Smith said the laws hamper the Institute for Research in Art from bringing artists from Cuba to USF, and the institute can only collaborate with Cuban artists who already live in the U.S. or another country. She said she has not been able to take USF students to Cuba since 2004.

“Why would you want to come to Florida to do Cuban studies if your graduate students can’t be funded, if your faculty can’t be funded or if you can’t take students to study abroad to Cuba?”

Smith asked.

These laws have no effect on private universities and colleges, however, and Eckerd College associate marine science and biology professor William Szelistowski and 10 Eckerd College students recently returned from a twoweek marine science expedition to Cuba.

Szelistowski said they met with five students from the University of Havana to work with them on existing research projects at the university and he plans on setting up more joint research projects in the future with the university.

“It never would’ve gone off the ground … if we didn’t have access to Cuba,” he said.

Szelistowski said the team encountered few barriers during the trip, and he said it was much more straightforward and simple than he thought it would be. He said the biggest problems were paying for expenses without the use of American credit cards and

leaving behind certain electronics that could not be brought through Cuban customs.

While the Obama administration significantly loosened travel and trade restrictions under the existing embargo between the U.S. and Cuba in January, the embargo as a whole remains untouched and is still in effect.

Szelistowski said if he were unable to travel to Cuba, this joint research venture, as well as similar research projects requiring travel to Cuba, wouldn’t be possible. However, he said he imagines researchers working for state institutions could embark on a research trip to Cuba through some other organization or obtain grants from private institutions.

“If we had a project we wanted to do in Cuba and couldn’t get to Cuba, we wouldn’t do it,” he said.

“What other alternatives would there be?”

Harry Vanden, a USF professor in the department of government and international affairs and author of more than a dozen books on Latin American politics, said it is a necessity to travel to Cuba for conducting academic research on the island nation.

“You can’t do research on a country’s conditions without going to the country. You can’t study the flora and fauna unless you go to the country to see it,” he said. “Because of very politicized policies, (these laws) put Floridians in the university (system), including professors and students, at a disadvantage compared to their

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HIV infection rate on the rise in Hillsborough County

By Christopher Collier A S S T .

N E W S

E D I T O R

Though nowhere near the HIV/AIDS scare of the 1980s, the scourge may be resurfacing in increasing numbers of infected Floridians.

Despite national HIV infection rates being lower than what they were in the 1990s and 2000s, the number of infections has begun to steadily rise in Florida. According to the Florida Department of Health, there were 273 new cases of HIV in Hillsborough

County during 2012.

In 2013, there were 347 and in 2014, there were 445.

Hillsborough isn’t the only county to suffer an increase in the amount of recorded HIV infections. Between 2012 and 2014, there have been 2,599 new cases of HIV in Broward County and 3,892 in MiamiDade County.

There is still no cure for HIV although the amount of support for individuals has grown since the outbreak in the 1980s.

The Tampa Bay Times report-

ed that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) granted Florida-based Metro Wellness and Community Centers $350,000 over a fiveyear period to stem the spread of the virus by educating the community on the risks and offering free HIV testing.

This is part of a national $216 million initiative to relieve the hardest hit areas – such as Hillsborough, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

These numbers show the HIV infection rate has increased 63 percent across a

three-year period. While HIV can be contracted for anyone who is sexually active, the demographics most at risk are gay and bisexual men between the ages of 13 and 24, according to federal AIDS information site AIDS.gov.

According to AIDS.gov, one in eight individuals living with HIV are unaware of their infection and many of them are increasing the need for sexually active people to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV. The CDC estimates that 1.2 million

people are currently infected in the U.S. The financial costs associated with the disease can be devastating for those who can’t afford to pay expensive medical bills, like the homeless and drug-addicted. Many infections occur when individuals share needles with strangers.

The Drug Abuse Comprehensive Coordinating Office (DACCO) offers free HIV testing at USF every second and fourth Thursday of the month from 1-5 p.m.

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CUBA

Continued from PAGE 2

counterparts in private universities and state universities outside of Florida.”

Vanden said the re-establishment of the U.S. embassy in Cuba should make the 1996 Florida statute restricting state worker travel void, however, and he said he does not expect the state to pass further legislation limiting Florida’s relations with Cuba.

“Unless Florida passes any additional legislation … there are no (state) restrictions on Florida state employees, Florida university personnel or Florida students within

SUIT

Continued from PAGE 1

volunteers will staff the program, Assistant Vice President of Career Services Russ Coughenour said there is still some preparation that needs to be done before the program’s full opening during this fall’s Week of Welcome.

Though the new venue for Suit-A-Bull has suits on the walls, many of the racks

TITLE IX

Continued from PAGE 1

accuse him of rape.

On May 29, a U.S. district judge denied Doe’s claims and dismissed his lawsuit on June 15 on the grounds that Doe couldn’t prove USF discriminated against him and that he couldn’t identify a woman accused of sexual assault who

public universities,” he said. “(The 1996 law) is a self-defeating policy and flies in the face of intelligent diplomatic relations.”

Despite this, Vanden said he is not as confident that USF will create any study abroad or research projects involving Cuba soon after the restrictions are lifted. He said the university has not been able to develop any programs, as the quickly disappearing state restrictions are still in effect.

“USF, I’m afraid, has not been at the forefront of establishing better (academic) relations with Cuba … Hopefully that will change,” he said. “Some (faculty members) wanted to (develop programs) and were basically told that we can’t

and shouldn’t. They went to the Office of General Council who basically said that was illegal.”

In an email to the Tampa Tribune, USF spokeswoman Lara Wade-Martinez said the university will consider the potential development of new programs when the law permits.

“While there has long been scholarly interest in Cuba from faculty and students across various disciplines at USF, the university has, and will continue to comply with federal and state law,” she said. “Should any applicable laws change, the university will evaluate opportunities for research or education abroad at that time.”

remain half-empty. To remedy this, Coughenour issued a challenge to the deans and vice presidents of USF, asking each administrator’s office to assist in collecting suits to fill the walls of the new shop.

Coughenour said there was a larger need for ties to go with the suits as well as professional attire for women, and all donated clothing should be conservative in nature, emphasizing quality over quantity.

In upcoming weeks, admin-

istrators’ offices will have a collection box for donations, and the office with the most donations will be announced at the annual Career Services Cookout event in September.

In future years, Coughenour hopes to take the challenge to local companies to collect suits to sustain the program.

For more information on donating to Suit-ABull or volunteering, visit enactususf.wordpress.com/ suit-a-bull.

was treated more favorably.

Additionally, the judge ruled USF did not violate Doe’s right to due process since he did not exhaust his remedies, such as not participating in the appeals process.

A spokesman for USF declined to comment on the lawsuit, and Doe’s attorney did not respond to calls made by The Oracle.

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Lifestyle UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

Going with the

By Russell Nay A S S T .

N E W S

E D I T O R

Summer is usually about fun in the sun, but beginning at 7 p.m. on Saturday, USF students can come out to USF’s Glow in the Park to light up the night.

Cathy Stedman, coordinator for USF Outdoor Recreation, said the USF Riverfront Park event will feature glow-in-the-dark body paints, light shirts, a DJ, free food and drinks and a variety of “glow games.” She said students at the park can play blacklight volleyball, ladder ball, cornhole and even glow canoeing. “(Glow canoeing) is like our regular moonlight canoeing, only for a shorter time period,” she said.

“You get to go out on the Hillsborough River with glow sticks in the dark —

it’s pretty fun.”

All students will need is their USF ID, which will allow them to go canoeing and ride the Bull Runner for free transport between the park and campus. The Bull Runner will be running from 7 to 11 p.m. between Juniper Poplar and the park.

Glow in the Park is a collaboration between Campus Recreation, Housing and Residential Education and Student Government, and this is the third year of the event.

Stedman said the event started as an opportunity for resident assistants to do something with their residents as a group and for introducing new students to the USF Riverfront Park.

Crystal Bissada, Campus Recreation’s communications and marketing specialist, said the first Glow

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GLO W in the Park was a collaboration between Campus Recreation and SG. She said an event SG had planned was rained out, and SG contacted Campus Recreation about combining its event for the first Glow in the Park.

“It was such a great event, and the students absolutely loved it that it was a no-brainer to do it again,” she said. “Now it’s become one of the signature events of the summer.”

Stedman said this collaboration between Campus Recreation and SG is really what made the event popular among students.

“What really made the event a success two years ago was SG joining with us and offering glow games,” Stedman said. “Last year we had over 750 people through the gate at the park.”

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY USF CAMPUS RECREATION

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O’NEAL

Continued from PAGE 8

day. Most of us were only getting about five hours of sleep a night because of the time change.”

When he was rested, O’Neal also faced the obstacle of competing against athletes much older than him — something he’s never encountered at the collegiate level.

“Before going there, I saw the age group that was able to come and I saw it went up to about 27 or 28, so I knew countries would bring athletes of that age,” O’Neal said.

When he was able to find free time, O’Neal said he was able to see one of USF guard Courtney Williams’ games.

Entering his senior season, O’Neal will give up playing soccer to spend the entire year training for the track and field season with his eye on more international competitions and avoiding injuries.

“This year I’ll be able to train an entire year for track, so I’m looking to do a lot better and continue to do my best,” O’Neal said.

“If the opportunity comes, I’ll definitely try out for the Olympics.”

Matthew O’Neal survived two rounds of cuts at the World University Games and finished in eighth place.

SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/GOUSFBULLS.COM

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Opinion

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

the Oracle the University of South Florida’s student newspaper since 1966

Editor in Chief Alex Rosenthal oracleeditor@gmail.com

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Obama finally draws Raising smoking age isn’t attention to prison reform answer to end teen smoking Isabelle Cavazos

Pallavi Dheeja Gopee

COLU M N I ST

COLU M N I ST

President Barack Obama will not only be the first president to visit a federal prison when he visits Oklahoma today, but has also commuted more sentences than the last four presidents combined — efforts calling attention to the administration’s role in prison reform.

On Monday, Obama announced he would be commuting the sentences of 46 drug offenders, bringing his total number of commutations to 89, as reported by the New York Times. At a speech given to the NAACP in Philadelphia the next day, Obama discussed his plan to improve the juvenile and criminal justice systems, especially to reduce the racial disparity in prisons.

Though some have called the president’s commutations “publicity stunts and political pandering,” as mentioned in the N.Y. Times, they are actually the first steps in fixing a system that hands out sentences harshly disproportionate to the crime.

Regardless of one’s opinion on clemency, Obama’s initiative is based on creating a fairer justice system, which, as noted by the NAACP, as a nation with 25 percent of the world’s prisoners but only 5 percent of the world population, the U.S. desperately needs.

As reported by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD), one in 100 citizens are incarcerated. But this isn’t just a problem with capacity, as 80 percent of offenders abuse alcohol or drugs and 50 percent of inmates are considered clinically addicted. It’s clear drugs play a role in crime in the U.S. While the effectiveness of clemency is questioned, as commutations don’t overturn a conviction, but only reduce a sentencing, it’s still a step forward in terms of challenging the existing mandatory minimum sentencing requirements.

For instance, as addressed by

the American Civil Liberties Union, federal and state drug laws can require sentences of up to 30 years or even life for dealers and addicts, even for those of a lower level.

Though Obama’s commutations don’t give nonviolent offenders a clean slate, many of those who received note of their commutations on Monday now don’t have to spend the rest of their lives in prison.

The problem is only worsened when it thrives in a racially-biased structure. As reported by the NAACP, 14 million white people and 2.6 million black people report using illegal drugs, conversely, African-Americans are imprisoned at 10 times the rate of whites.

More disturbing, blacks spend about as much time in prison for drug crimes as whites do for violent crimes, according to the nonprofit Sentencing Project.

In addition to WhiteHouse. gov’s suggestions for enforcing more probation strategies, such as Project HOPE, which aims to reduce drug use and keep people from returning to prison, the president also called for legislation to reduce mandatory minimum sentences, or to get rid of them altogether.

As reported by the Tampa Bay Times, three men from the Tampa area were given clemency Monday, two of whom were serving life sentences after the fall of a cocaine trafficking regime in St. Petersburg.

In Florida, a total of 11 prisoners were granted clemency.

In the grand scheme of things, Obama’s actions seem to hardly chip away at the problem, especially since the Justice Department has received over 6,600 petitions for clemency, as reported in the N.Y. Times.

However, it’s a good start in an effort to allow nonviolent offenders access to a better life.

Isabelle Cavazos is a senior majoring in English and Spanish.

While Hawaii recently set a new example by raising the smoking age to 21, the rest of the states should think twice before following in its footsteps.

Late last month, Hawaii Gov. David Ige signed a bill to raise the state’s smoking age to 21 in an effort to prevent youth from smoking, a law that will take effect next January, as reported

by NBC News. Currently, few other states have set the smoking age at 19 and some local areas such as New York City and Hawaii County have set it at 21. While other states such as California and Washington also want to raise the age, this law wouldn’t prevent today’s young generation from trying to smoke even before age 21.

It’s understandable why states would agree with this initiative. As mentioned in NBC News, about nine out of 10 smokers in Hawaii begin before they turn 21, with many of them having access to cigarettes from friends or relatives who can buy them. Florida ranked 16th in the nation based on the percentage of adults who smoke cigarettes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It’s clear today’s youth are the main target for the new law, and it’s fostered on concrete grounds. Still, according to the American Lung Association, 68 percent of adults who smoke began at age 18 or younger.

Each day, nearly 3,900 children under 18 try their first cigarette.

When focusing on whether Hawaii’s law will have longterm benefits, there’s more to consider.

For one, it doesn’t seem the law can help the welfare of the total population, but only the welfare of those to come. Those under 21 will be restricted from purchasing cigarettes, but the other portion of the overall pop-

ulation above the age of 21 will not be affected and will be able to continue smoking without having to worry about their own health.

Regardless, young people will still smoke. As reported by the Office of Adolescent Health (OAH), 450,000 12- to 13-year-old and about 4.4 million 14- to 17-year-olds have already smoked. While tobacco use among adolescents has declined in the past four decades, as mentioned by OAH, adolescent smoking is clearly still relevant.

One of the major downfalls of the law is that smoking at an early age will still be a continuing problem, and smoking can still pose a threat to those below age 21 even though they wouldn’t be supposed to smoke.

Though Hawaii wants to strengthen the vision of bringing up a smoke-free generation for the future, the law seems to be of nil effect despite catering to the idea that an older legal age will prevent youth from having easy access to cigarettes.

Youth could still smoke despite raising the legal age, and smokers who are of age can continue to do so.

In Florida, programs and campaigns such as Tobacco Free Florida’s Students Working Against Tobacco and Truth get youth involved to spread awareness of the tobacco industry’s advertising practices and shed light on tobacco use in popular culture. The focus should instead be on finding ways to get youth involved to fight against smoking rather than pretending that raising the age will make smoking less appealing.

Pallavi Dheeja Gopee is a sophomore majoring in business administration.

Classifieds UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

To place a classified ad go to HELP WANTED Veterinary Technician/Assistant or Receptionist needed for animal hospital close to campus. Part-time or full-time.

Experience a plus, but will train. Email resume to acahhiring@gmail.com.

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http://www.usforacle.com/classifieds

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Sports

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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Notebook

Track and Field

Report: Two Bulls set to transfer O’Neal

finishes season in South Korea

By Vinnie Portell S P O R T S

E D I T O R

With less than a month remaining until USF football opens its training camp, reports indicate at least two players won’t be with the program when the Bulls put on their pads Aug. 6.

Redshirt sophomore running back Sta’fon McCray sent out a tweet Monday morning that read: “12 more days and I start my new journey in Arizona.”

As a three-star recruit from Kissimmee-Osceola High School in the class of 2013, the 5-foot-11, 196-pound running back had offers from Boise State, North Carolina State, Iowa State and three other AAC schools.

Shortly after McCray’s tweet was sent out, 247sports.com reported McCray was transferring to Arizona Western Junior College.

After news of McCray’s transfer broke, a tweet about another USF transfer by JuCo Football Forer surfaced.

According to the tweet, which was sent out June 10, USF defensive back Kendall Sawyer will join McCray at Arizona Western.

Also a three-star recruit, Sawyer came to USF from East Lee County High School and had several offers from Power Five schools such as Florida State, Miami, Ole Miss, West Virginia, Louisville and Arkansas.

USF has yet to confirm the two players’ departure from the program.

Young guard commits to Bulls Coach Orlando Antigua continued to use his connection to Dominican Republic basketball when he added recruit Andres Feliz to the Bulls 2016 class Monday.

First reported by rivals.com, assistant coach Oliver Antigua was the lead man on Feliz’s

By Vinnie Portell S P O R T S

Coach Willie Taggart has added several transfer players over the offseason, but will likely lose two players to Arizona Western Junior College prior to the beginning of the 2015 season.

ORACLE FILE PHOTO/ADAM MATHIEU

recruitment and coached him during the FIBA U19 World Championships, which concluded July 5.

At 17, Feliz was one of the youngest players to play for the Dominican Republic national team and just recently reclassified from the class of ‘17 to ’16.

Despite being roughly a year younger than the other competitors, Feliz led the tournament in scoring with 18.9 points per game. He also added five rebounds and 3.7 assists per contest.

Last season in his junior year at West Oaks Academy in Orlando, the 6-foot-2, 180pound guard led his team to the Sunshine Independent Athletic Association state championship, earning MVP honors along the way.

Aside from competing in high school and playing for his home country, Feliz also plays for one of the top AAU teams in the country, Team Breakdown.

“He had been a very big part of what we have done with Breakdown,” Team Breakdown coach Jordan Fair said in an interview with rivals.com. “He brought leadership, toughness and elite-level point guard play.

He’s a great kid, rises to every occasion and loves the game.”

Feliz will continue representing the Dominican Republic when the Pan American Games begin July 21 in Toronto.

Bulls basketball in Spain Both of the USF men’s and women’s basketball teams have strong connections to Spain, and the two teams will have an opportunity to strengthen that when they travel to Spain for an 11-day tour.

Teams are allowed one foreign trip per every four years under NCAA rules, and both Bulls teams will be taking advantage of that chance when the teams head off to Spain on Aug. 8.

Four players in total from

both teams are from Spain and many of the players and coaches have Hispanic heritage, including both head coaches.

Both teams will be afforded 10 practices and play in four games against professional talent.

The games begin Aug. 11 in Madrid.

Eriksen adds assistant Following the departure of assistant coach Monica Triner, USF softball coach Ken Eriksen added Tommy Santiago as a replacement Wednesday.

Triner coached USF for 10 years before deciding to coach privately.

Santiago joins the Bulls as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator after helping lead Maryland to a 27-win season last year.

He will enter his eighth season coaching at the Division I level.

E D I T O R

USF track and field athlete Matthew O’Neal got his first taste of overseas competition over the past few weeks when he placed eighth in the World University Games in Gwanju, South Korea.

O’Neal made it through the qualifying round, which began with 23 athletes. After qualifying for the final day, O’Neal survived another round of cuts before finishing eighth out of the remaining eight competitors.

“It was, in a sense, the Olympics for the university-level athlete,” O’Neal said. “They had 20 or so sports represented by different nations. It was a great experience and kind of a preview of what the Olympics could be like.”

O’Neal said he could have finished as high as third place if not for fouling on his best jump in the final round, but he said he’s still pleased with his finish in an international competition with some of the best competitors in the world.

“I was definitely happy with my performance to make the final in a competition such as this, especially when my season is pretty much done,” O’Neal said.

In his first experience competing on the other side of the world, O’Neal said his toughest challenge was finding a way to sleep at night due to the 13-hour time difference.

“I really didn’t get used to the time until the end of our stay there, about two weeks in,” O’Neal said. “You really had to make yourself stay up during the

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