9-14-17

The Oracle

USF deals with aftermath of Irma

T H U S D AY S E P T E M B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 7 I V O L . 5 5 N O. 0 6

n

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

University sustains minimal physical damages; academic impact still being reviewed.

By Miki Shine E D I T O R

I N

C H I E F

Despite Hurricane Irma’s expected landfall in Tampa as a Category 4, the USF Tampa campus came out of the storm with minimal physical impact and a questionable academic future.

Aaron Nichols, the assistant director of administrative services, said the most damage the university sustained was some fallen tree branches and building letters along with some mild “water seepage.”

Irma’s Category 1 brush

by Tampa had less than the expected impact.

After Irma became a potential threat to the Tampa Bay area, the Critical Incident Planning (CIP) group — that includes about 40 different departments on campus and is responsible for planning emergency responses — stepped in to assess the situation. For Irma, the group kept up with the weather and ultimately started preparing the campus.

Campus preparations included looking for potential flying objects, identifying what around campus needed to be secured, deciding what

Damage to the university includes missing letters from buildings such as the Natural & Environmental Science build.

ORACLE PHOTO/MIKI SHINE

construction projects need to be paused and reviewing the overall safety of each building.

Danielle McDonald, dean of students and part of the CIP, is responsible for communicating with students.

Her first message to the student body with information

Florida needs to come together after Irma n Page 6

See ULS on PAGE 3

on how to prepare for Irma went out Sept. 5 and she sent out subsequent messages regarding school closures and advice for weathering the storm.

“We just kept trying to prepare everybody for what we weren’t really sure was

going to happen, which is a talent with hurricanes because of how unpredictable they are,” she said. “Every day it was changing. It wasn’t even going to hit us, it was going to be on the east coast, it was going to go through Orlando

n See DAMAGES on PAGE 3

Bulls prepare for Illinois after break due to hurricane Page 8

2

T H U R S DAY, S E P T E M B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 7

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

Editor in Chief Miki Shine oracleeditor@gmail.com @MichaelAZShine News Editor Jesse Stokes oraclenewsteam@gmail.com @JesseLS03 Opinion Editor Renee Perez oracleopinion@gmail.com

Copy Editor Angela Mossgrove Staff Writer Allaa Tayeb

News........................................................3 Opinion.................................................6 Classifieds...........................................7 Crossword..........................................7 Sports.....................................................8

Graphic Artists Destiny Moore Mark Soree Advertising Sales Ashley Bazile 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).

Multimedia Editor Chaveli Guzman oraclemultimediaeditor@gmail.com

@ChaveliGuzman

Main . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . .

Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Website: Facebook: Twitter:

T H E O R AC L E

The Index

BY PHONE

Sports Editor Josh Fiallo oraclesportseditor@gmail.com @OracleJosh_

●

974-6242 974-5190 974-1888 974-2620 974-6242

usforacle.com facebook.com/usforacle @USFOracle

CORRECTIONS The Oracle will correct or clarify factual errors.

Contact Editor in Chief Miki Shine at 974-5190.

News Briefs

NEWS

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

●

T H U R S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 7

●

T H E O R AC L E

Hand-In-Hand fundraiser raises money for Harvey and Irma relief Celebrities from multiple professions and generations came together to raise funds for the surviving victims of both Hurricane Harvey and Irma.

Aside from individual donors, it was announced that Apple would donate $5 million, Albertsons Cos. $1 million and Merck $1 million. It was also announced that the NBA Players Association would not only donate $500,000, but would also match any personal donation made by NBA Players up to $20,000.

ABC, Fox, CBS and NBC were the four major networks that constituted the collaborative broadcast.

Nearly 16 million viewers were reached. The show included musical performances beyond genre, such as the collaboration between country-star Blake Shelton and pop-star Usher.

Call-in donors had the chance to speak with Hollywood A-listers such as, Justin Bieber, Oprah Winfrey, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Cher.

More than $44 million was raised to support the recovery of individuals and renovations of infrastructure in the areas impacted by both storms.

“It was just so hyped up and then nothing happened”

3

By Maria Ranoni C O R R E S P O N D E N T

Damages to the university include fallen tree branches such as outside of the library (above).

ORACLE PHOTO/MIKI SHINE

DAMAGES

Continued from PAGE 1

and then it started changing again. With every change, we had to adapt.”

In order to be accessible to students and families McDonald remained on campus during the storm with her office serving as a call center. She said most of the phone calls she handled were coming from concerned parents or family members while the students seemed to remain in “good spirits.”

The Tampa campus ended up hosting students and faculty who evacuated from the St. Petersburg and SarasotaManatee campuses in empty rooms in the residence halls.

“I think that any time there is some kind of crisis, one of the positives that come out of it is that the community does come together,” she said. “Really, it

was the whole system that got brought together as opposed to individual campuses.”

There’s not yet a cost or time estimate for repairs, according to Nichols, but he doesn’t expect the storm to have a lasting impact on campus.

While the physical damage to campus proved to be minimal, professors are now faced with the task of making up a week to a week and a half of course material.

As professors are adjusting schedules and resetting deadlines for assignments, a team in the provost office is assembling to look over the remainder of the semester.

“They (professors) will find themselves now with a certain amount of material that they would have normally covered during that time,” Dwayne Smith, senior vice provost, said. “The challenge many of them will have to face is how

to incorporate that into the course given the time they have left.

“We hope to have information available for the faculty some time next week for some options for adjusting the semester due to the time that we’ve missed.”

According to Smith, everything is still up in the air, but the team will look at adjusting days off and reading days during the semester to compensate for the lost class days. The team includes members from different departments around campus and will have to consider issues, such as what impact this could have on the university’s accreditation requirements.

“There’s just a lot of factors we have to take into account,” he said. “I apologize for the lack of information, but we want to be very careful in working our way through this.”

Hurricane Irma has come and gone. The storm touched ground in the Bay Area early Monday morning as a Category 1, and students are still working toward normality after the storm wreaked havoc across Florida.

Samantha Morancy, a freshman majoring in health sciences, decided to ride out the hurricane in her residence hall.

She lives in Kosove and said the hurricane didn’t affect her much.

“It was boring,” Morancy said.

“I didn’t even know it passed, because I slept through the whole thing. It was just super windy and that was it.”

Even though the USF area didn’t sustain much damage, other parts of Florida were not so lucky. Morancy said she is from Naples and her family also decided to stay put during the storm.

The city of Naples received far more of a destructive impact than most of the Bay Area and experienced severe damage, flooding and power outages.

“My family is fine and lucky,” Morancy said. “Our house didn’t get affected by it, but our whole neighborhood was flooded.

Naples got hit hard.”

Many students living on campus decided to stay with their families. With millions of Floridians still without power, students continue to deal with Hurricane Irma’s effects to a large extent.

Lena Santoro, a sophomore majoring in marketing, was one of the students who chose to evacuate with family. She and her family decided the Gainesville area would provide a safer environment to weather the storm.

“It was kind of concerning,

n See REACT on PAGE 4

4

REACT

Continued from PAGE 3

because I’ve never experienced anything like that to that caliber,” Santoro said. “It was just super windy, and I was worried about trees falling on our house, but we were fine. We did lose power there, but that was a big reason why I decided to come back to campus early, because we have power here.”

Jena Shepard, a freshman majoring in biomedical sciences, stayed with her parents in Clearwater.

“It wasn’t what I was expecting,” Shepard said. “There wasn’t any rain, there was just wind. We currently still don’t have power.”

Even USF’s residence halls appear to have retained power and to have received minimal damage, many apartment complexes off campus did not have the same fortune.

Christian Bianchet, a sophomore majoring in jazz performance, rode out the storm in his off-campus apartment.

“A tree fell in the backyard of the apartment complex and it hit one of the building(s), but it didn’t

T H U R S DAY, S E P T E M B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 7

●

T H E O R AC L E

break anything,” Bianchet said. “A bunch of college kids came out and tried to cut it down, which was interesting, because they had no idea what they were doing.

They almost crushed themselves.”

Kiersten Maricle, a freshman majoring in health sciences, decided to join her family in the Clearwater area to endure Irma. Maricle has lived in Florida her whole life and said she has lived through hurricanes before.

Maricle’s experiences with storms of similar caliber to Irma led her to believe the news was exaggerating the impact.

“It was just so hyped up and then nothing happened,” Maricle said. “I was actually terrified for it, like I went home and everything and it was a category one. It was like nothing. I was expecting so much to happen, and I slept Students hunker down inside their residence halls during Hurricane Irma. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/USF FACEBOOK through the hurricane.”

Bianchet also said he believes The economy gets a boost from it, this week. agree Tampa was lucky to receive hurricanes can be emphasized so why not milk it.”

“People were coming into minimal damage from a storm due to the economic benefit they Students working off campus my work and fighting over the that was feared to be catastrophic. bring. in retail stores also experienced 40 packs of water,” Carry said.

“I’m very thankful it slowed “The news overdid it,” Bianchet a hectic week trying to prepare “They were actually getting into down to a category one, because said. They oversaturated the quickly before the storm arrived. fist fights until they were all gone. that was already crazy, so I danger of the situation. It’s so Kyle Curry, a sophomore People were calling all day asking couldn’t imagine anything more,” beneficial economically for a majoring in sociology, works at a whether we had water, gas or Shepard said. natural disaster to happen. People gas station in the Brandon area and propane, and we had nothing.” overstock, they buy so much stuff. said his work was overwhelmed For the most part, students

T H U R S DAY, S E P T E M B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 7

●

T H E O R AC L E

5

6

OPINION UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

Solidarity is key to Hurricane Irma relief

●

T H U R S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 7

●

T H E O R AC L E

What you said Sports Editor Josh Fiallo and News Editor Jesse Stokes asked students if they thought state and local governments were adequately prepared for Hurricane Irma.

“Somewhat. They gave us time to prepare, but I feel like afterwards we’re kind of scrambling to get everything back to normal.”

- Sarah Trachsel, a freshman double-majoring in electrical engineering and mechanical engineering As Floridians struggle to regain a sense of normalcy after Hurricane Irma, we must remember that we are a part of a hurting community. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE prescriptions, calling your loved broken traffic lights as stop signs

By Renee Perez O P I N I O N

E D I T O R

Following Hurricane Irma, it is clear all of us in Florida want the same thing: a return to the comfort of normalcy. However, business as usual will not be restored instantly. It will be an ongoing process that will only be hindered if we allow ourselves to be consumed by the frustrations brought on by Irma.

Although much of Florida – and certainly the Tampa Bay area – avoided the worst-case scenarios forecasted by meteorologists, the hurricane still took a significant physical and social toll on our state, which has rendered habitual tasks unusually challenging, if not impossible.

Florida Power and Light reports power outages have affected approximately 4.4 million of its customers – this figure includes not just homes but also organizations, public services, businesses, etc. The company estimates some of those affected, especially on the west coast, may not have electricity until Sept. 22.

In the face of such widespread and prolonged power outages, the simple luxuries that litter our everyday lives – being at home, buying groceries, paying for

ones to let them know you’re safe, keeping up with the news, going to work, getting coffee – can all become burdensome undertakings.

Even the mere act of getting from place to place has been charged with anxiety and uncertainty due to traffic lights and gas stations being out of service.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office estimates 100 traffic lights have been compromised by the lack of power in their county, while Pinellas County officials report approximately 300 out-of-service traffic lights in their jurisdiction.

These transportation woes are further compounded by gasoline shortages, which are as high as 60 percent in cities like Miami, according to GasBuddy, a crowdsourcing app that tracks gas availability and prices.

It is not in spite of, but because of these hardships, that we must all be more cooperative, compassionate and understanding toward our neighbors as we collectively vie for the restoration of our normal lives.

So in the days and weeks to come, follow the orders of the Florida Highway Patrol and treat

to ensure everyone’s safety.

Don’t take more of any highdemand, low-supply good—such as nonperishable food—than what you truly think you will use.

Don’t allow your frustration with the power outages to translate into anger toward energy company employees; your household is only one of millions left without electricity following Irma.

If you were lucky enough to be mostly spared by the ravages of Irma and are able, volunteer at local shelters and offer your shower to friends who don’t have running water.

Donate clothes, money or food to relief organizations aiding not just local communities but the Caribbean islands that bore a disproportionate amount of Hurricane Irma’s devastation.

Finding ways to exercise solidarity is not difficult in times of widespread distress, and doing so helps ease the turbulence we all so desperately want to escape.

Renee Perez is a junior majoring in political science and economics.

“Yes. I went home to Polk County for Irma, and I pretty much got the full eye wall, but no real signifcant harm was done in my area. Not only would I would say things are going well afterwards, but beforehand as well.” ­— Nicholas Porter, a freshman majoring in chemical engineering

“Yeah. They ordered all the tolls to be suspended and declared a state of emergency early on, started opening up shelters, giving out food and water here on campus.

Everyone was really taking it seriously.”

- Sorush Khalesi, a freshman majoring in politcal science

“They did a thorough job of preparation before Irma, and during the time of the storm there were constant updates and a whole bunch of telephone lines that they made for emergencies that people could call. I was really impressed.”

— Alena Carter, a freshman double-majoring in cell and molecular biology and public health

T H U R S DAY, S E P T E M B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 7

●

7

T H E O R AC L E

Classifieds

To place a classified ad go to

HELP WANTED Shed Sales This position is for selling portable sheds and metal carports or buildings. It requires manning the lot located at the Big Top Flea market 4 days a week Friday , Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

8:00 am to 4:00 pm Friday and Monday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Saturday and Sunday.

Social media marketing is required, phone sales are required. General computer skills necessary for funding web site forms. I.e. Printing, customer signing contract, scanning and uploading files.

You can benefit your career great by joining our team. This is a 1099 position. We will teach you many valuable techniques and strategies for business practice. We offer commission as well Check out our website Shed4less.com Email shed4less@gmail.com

http://www.usforacle.com/classifieds

HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED

Pool Attendant Seeking college students to manage pool and office for the West Meadows Community Club, 8401 New Tampa Blvd, Tampa, FL 33647. Flexible hours 8:30 am to 9 pm daily.

Email mllepage@hotmail.com

Accountant/Tax preparer wanted.

Email resume to sjcpa@axiombusinessconsulting.com.

Gymnastics Instructors

Companion for special needs student (highschool) Prefer student interested in special education or behavioral studies. Need help transporting student in mornings to transition program at high school a few days a week.

Other hours are needed at times during week, vacations or weekend hours as well.

Email Autisticangels@yahoo.com

LaFleur’s is now hiring Gymnastics Instructors. Must love kids and be enthusiastic. No experience necessary.

To apply go to: LaFleursTampa.com/Contact or Call: (813) 264 - 5000

ACTIVISTS NEEDED!!!! PAID DAILY!!!!

Circulate Petitions!! Earn $15-$30/hr++ PT/FT/Anytime!! 813-803-8033

CROSSWORD

Sports

8

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

The Rundown

●

T H U R S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 7

●

T H E O R AC L E

With Irma behind them, Bulls ready for Illinois Football

By Josh Fiallo S P O R T S

Outside USF

UCF cancels game to accommodate Irma relief efforts Georgia Tech vs. UCF, originally scheduled for Sept. 16 in Orlando, has been canceled in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma as the National Guard uses Spectrum field as a base for relief Central FL. efforts. The cancellation is the second game for each team to be affected by the storm. UCF’s conference game against Memphis was canceled last week, and the Yellow Jackets’ Oct. 12 game against Miami was moved to Oct. 14 to accommodate Miami-Florida State’s postponement from Sept. 16 to Oct. 7. Both Florida and Florida State are playing this weekend after cancellations last week.

USF Weekly Sports Schedule

Men’s Soccer

Loyola Marymount (1-4-1) @ USF (1-0-3) When: Sunday, 7 p.m.

Where: Corbett Stadium

Women’s Soccer Mississippi State (6-0-1) @ USF (3-2-0) When: Thursday, 7 p.m.

POSTPONED

Volleyball The USF Classic, originally scheduled for this weekend, has been CANCELED.

E D I T O R

After the passing of Hurricane Irma and the consequential damage it caused throughout the state of Florida, USF players and coaches are eager to start playing football again.

When all school activities were suspended last Thursday, the Bulls’ practices came to a halt as well.

With Hurricane Irma projected to hit Tampa as a Category 4 storm at the time, the team canceled it’s game scheduled for Sept. 9 against Connecticut to allow players, coaches and team personnel to be with their families when Irma hit.

Now, already on a short week with a Friday night game scheduled, the Bulls have only three days to prepare for their biggest test of the 2017 season - Illinois, a Big Ten opponent and the Bulls’ only power-5 conference regular season opposition of the season.

Despite the hardships that accompany short preparation time, coach Charlie Strong said he is grateful for the tireless efforts of the individuals that kept the city safe and secure during the storm more than anything.

“We’re just so blessed that we’re safe,” Strong said Tuesday. “I wake up everyday and my world is just centered around football, but what we went through the last few days really put everything into perspective. It’s more than just football; it’s about us coming together as a community.

“You look at the first responders, the police department, sheriff’s department, the firemen, the medical staff, look all the volunteers at the shelter, our military involved...

Everybody just got involved to make this a safe community so if anything were to happen, we’d be able to get back on track.”

With 91.7 percent of USF’s roster composed of players from Florida, safety was the number one concern in preparing for Irma, not future football games.

“You kind of stop, and you say hey, football, you have to be put aside here, there’s some other things just a little more important,”

Friday night’s game will be the first meeting between Illinois and USF in history. THE ORACLE/CHAVELI GUZMAN Strong said at Tuesday’s press conference. “Some of the guys when we called the game at Connecticut, they kind of got upset and said ‘C’mon coach, we gotta go and play,’ and I said no-no guys, there’s things more important than going and playing that football game right now.

“We can make that game up, but if something happened here, we couldn’t make that up.”

After the storm passed early Monday morning no players reported major home damage to Strong, so the Bulls resumed practice for the first time in five days on Tuesday. After assessing damage in and around Tampa, it was officially announced Monday that USF will play Illinois in Raymond James Stadium Friday at 7 p.m., as scheduled.

Illinois, led by former Buccaneers coach Lovie Smith, is 2-0 this season and are coming off a 3-9 season in Smith’s first year as head coach in 2016. So far, the Fighting Illini have fielded 17 true freshmen in 2017.

“We know they’re a 2-0 football team and they’re going to come in there tough on Friday night,”

Strong said. “You look at the two wins that they’ve had, and even with the Western Kentucky win, they played very well offensively.

“They’re led by their quarterback Chayce Crouch, a really good receiver in Malik Turner and their offensive line is solid with a couple of young guys up front and defensively that do a lot of things… They mix it up a lot and run a really good blitz package.”

Crouch, a junior, has thrown more interceptions (2) than touchdowns (1) in 2017, while junior linebacker DelShawn Phillips has lead the defense with 22 tackles this season.

Smith, who owns a home in Tampa, had his players preparing for Friday’s game as normal, according to The News Gazette (Champaign, Illinois), despite speculation that the game could be canceled.

The Bulls, meanwhile, will only have Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to prepare for the game, but Strong has a solution for the shortened time for game planning.

“You look at us last week, we didn’t get to play that game, so now we take last week and some

of the things we were going to use game plan wise and we’re just going to take them into this week,” Strong said. “You’re right, we only have three days to prepare, but our guys they want to go in there and play and I know It’s been hard to sit for two weeks.”

Despite not playing last week, USF remains No. 22 in the Associated Press’ poll and at the top of the American Athletic Conference power rankings.

To give thanks for their hard work throughout Irma, Strong said Tuesday that all first responders and their families (no more than four people per party) will be admitted free Friday night, along with the players and coaches of any high school football team in the state who want to come.

“It’s all about whose been impacted by the storm,” Strong said Tuesday. “You want (to win) because now we have a way to give back to the community and give back in a really good way, where they have a chance to watch our football team.”

For more information on how to obtain the complimentary tickets, fans can go to gousfbulls.com.