Peter Corsa focuses presidential campaign on putting USF on top

 

Presidential hopeful Peter Corsa, right, has focused his campaign on increasing attendance at sporting events as a way to improve USF as a whole. ORACLE PHOTO/MARIA RANONI

Student body president and vice president hopefuls Peter Corsa and Julius Jackson are a bit more inconspicuous in their campaign tactics and have one goal.

Corsa said this goal would involve creating a unique identity for USF that is currently not there. The way to do this would be through attendance at sporting events.

“We’re trying to develop an identity for the school, an identity is nonexistent,” Corsa said. “We don’t feel like we’re at home when we go to a Ray-Jay to see a football game. When we go to the Sun Dome to watch a basketball game, there’s no students for it. It’s really disappointing to know that the school here — the stature of our degrees here are basically the last in the state when we’re smarter than everybody else and the only university that is curing cancer right now.

“So there’s a complete disconnect. Like instead of us being on top, we’re on the bottom. So we want to put us on top where we’re supposed to be. We want to turn everything around. The way to do that is through the fans, through students.”

Students may notice that Corsa is of a non-traditional age, which is unique for a person running for student body president.

“Although I am of non-traditional age, I was once 18 and I recall that the ethos of university/collegiate life was always around academics and school,” Corsa said. “Students supporting one another for all endeavors.”

Students can find Corsa and Jackson giving out no-nonsense flyers describing this goal on simple white sheets of paper with no flashy designs. This campaign tactic is indicative of their approach to designing their platform.

According to Corsa, current SG leadership is missing the mark with their platform.

“All of a sudden we start winning championships and we have fan support and student support,” Corsa said. “It’s going to generate so much money for the university that nobody even understands that. Then we’ll be able to build the parking that we need. There’s more money. Then they’ll do it. Then we’ll be able to fund more research. Then we’ll be on the top of it. But our current student president doesn’t understand this and that’s the reason why we’re running.”

Jackson said this would not only generate more revenue for the school, but would put it on the map.

“We’re not in the conversation,” Jackson said. “When you talk to people about what schools they want to go to in Florida, it’s all about UF, FSU, UCF, but USF is just as academically proficient as those schools. But the only reason those schools are a level above us, some – some of it has to do with historically they’ve just been here longer but a lot it, like FSU – it's literally their sports. It’s because they’re seen on a national stage and that draws so much attention.”

This is no small feat, however. Corsa said it would be achieved through making sporting attendance a part of students’ classes.

“We want to get the president to incorporate into various classes the – part of the course is that they have to attend sporting events that they would get credit for,” Corsa said. “Now we don’t – we don’t want to have to go to Tallahassee to get this done. We can get this done internally. We can do it at all the schools to develop their foundation, their fan base.”

According to Corsa, supporting USF sports is a necessary attitude to propel the university’s prestige.

“It’s an unselfish attitude,” Corsa said. “We have to have an unselfish attitude and if you’re a Bull, be a Bull. Do what a Bull is supposed to do. Because if you do, at the end of the day, we’re going to be on top. When I go out into the marketplace, what are they going to say? ‘Oh, you got a degree from USF, they’re the best.’ Right now, it’s not like that.”

The ticket debate will be held in the Marshall Student Center Ballroom tonight at 6 and voting starts Monday.