2011.04.15

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THEE U UNIVE UNIVERSITY ERSITY OF WISCONSIN’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1969 FRIDAY, APRIL 15,, 2011

WWW WW WW.BA BBADGERHERALD ADDGGEERRHER HHEERRAALD LD.CO CCOM M

VOLUME XLII, ISSUE 125

AARTS | PCP

NEWS | ENGINEERING EXPO

R Rihanna’s locks: Ronald McDonald chic, or the M definition of ‘Disturbia?’ d

And don’t forget the robot... page

UW Robotics club presents its newest offering at the annual Engineering Expo

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Palin to join Tea Party tax day rally at Capitol Tea Party officials say celebrity’s presence will energize conservative movement in Wisconsin Katherine Krueger Campus Editor After dust from weeks of protests against the governor’s collective bargaining bill has started to settle, a figurehead of the Tea Party movement is coming to Madison to boost support for the conservative cause. Matt Seaholm, the Wisconsin state director of Americans for Prosperity, said former vicepresidential candidate Sarah Palin will make an appearance at the annual Tax Day Rally and would celebrate recent conservative victories in the state. He said Palin expressed interest in showing support for the movement in Wisconsin, a state that has emerged at the heart of many key Republican battles. “The entire country has had an eye on Wisconsin during the last couple battles to balance the budget and have been of interest to prominent conservatives,” Seaholm said. “It’s also a chance to reeducate ourselves to so much of the public policies that also aren’t enacted yet.” While the event garnered about 5,000 participants last year, he said the event was likely to draw even more people, with attendees converging on Madison from other states. Meg Ellefson, a mother from Wausau, Wisc., helped recruit Palin for the event by sending the governor a description of her group of Tea Party “mama grizzlies” working to plan the rally. While Ellefson said she considered the bid to bring Palin to Madison ambitious, she anticipates an inspiring atmosphere at the rally to keep supporters motivated. “This is a movement that’s not going to go away, and people need to be in it for the long haul,” Ellefson said. “We’ve got to be resolute that we’re going to see prosperity again at some point.” She added the message of the event will be about celebration and a call to remain engaged and involved, particularly in the midst of many important pieces of legislation up for debate. Teaching Assistants’ Association Co-President Kevin Gibbons said supporters of collective bargaining rights for public employees will show up at the rally to continue to communicate discontent with legislators “who haven’t been

PALIN, page 4

Megan McCormickThe Badger Herald

New Union South grand opening today Carolyn Briggs News Editor

OPENING WEEKEND

EVENTS NOON Doors open Union South

2 P.M. Game of Chance Varsity Hall

3 P.M. Formal Dedication Ceremony The Sett: 1st Floor

7 P.M. Comedian Jasper Redd The Sett

7 P.M. Film: The Social Network The Marquee

7 P.M. Fun in the Sett The Sett: lower level

8 P.M. Concert: of Montreal Varsity Hall

9:30 P.M. Film: 127 Hours The Marquee

MIDNIGHT TRON The Marquee

After embattled referendum process, years of design, construction, new campus staple finally ready for student use

It’s here. Today the 21st century incarnation of Union South opens its doors and invites students, faculty and alumni to check out all it has to offer. The building comes after a long embattled referendum process and a lengthy design period. Union President Patrick Callan said the new building, 70,000 square feet larger than the original, would bring the union into a new era. “It was a time for a larger union or... a brand new union,” he said. While the new union houses 17 meeting rooms, a two-story hotel and a 900-person capacity banquet hall, it is the entertainment areas that will interest students most. And those areas are vast. The entrance ushers guests in to a hall of tables and chairs connected to four fully functioning restaurants including an ice cream stand, a pizza place, a sandwich shop and a pan-Asian restaurant that will not open until next fall. Also in the area is a convenience store selling candy, snack and grab-and-go sandwiches as well as UW spirit gear. Students can also stop by the coffee shop and wine bar, where the roughly 30 wine offerings will be chosen from organic and Wisconsin wines by a trained student. The three-story entertainment area, named the Sett after the scientific name for a badger’s den, houses pool tables, a two-story rock wall, eight bowling lanes, an area to buy beer, a concert stage and ample seating including custom designed booths. The concert hall will be able to accommodate 800 people. Callan called the area a ‘proper’ place for live music on campus. “The terrace is iconic but is not the greatest location for live music,” he said. Doors from the Sett lead outside to a terrace where students can lounge, and yes, the brightly colored union tables and sun chairs have made their way to the south campus spot. The second story houses the Marquee, a 350seat movie theater. Opening weekend will heavily

feature Oscar nominated movies including Black Swan, The Social Network, Toy Story 3 and The Fighter. Callan assured the red seats are stain resistant and encouraged students to bring food, soda and even beer into the theater. Callan said the design process included “anyone (on campus) who has a voice.” Broad interest surveys sent out to the entire campus as well as union members yielded some 32,000 responses weighing on on the design aspects of the new building. One of the biggest aspects of the design process was an attempt to remain ‘green’ in

On-street carry-ins to be allowed at Mifflin party

Walker claims budget good for economy before U.S. congress

For first time since 1990, police will not ask attendees with beer in street to move off public property; glass bottles still not permissible Plans for the Mifflin Street Block Party have been significantly scaled back following an announcement from the Madison Police Department that its officers would not enforce attendees only being allowed to drink alcoholic beverages bought at the event. The event’s sponsors, Scott Lesie and Matt Gerding of Majestic Live, met with members of the event’s co-sponsors from Capitol Neighborhoods, Inc. to put forward the modified plans for the April 30 event. CNI member Scott Kolar said the ideal plan was originally to have private

security enforce students’ voluntary compliance of a rule that would only allow partygoers to consume beer bought from the event on public property. Upon presenting the plans to MPD, Majestic was told MPD would not enforce the rule and did not want private security brought in. With the likely drop in revenue brought in from beer sales given the lack of enforcement, Kolar said Majestic had no choice but to scale back the event. “For us to be involved in the event is obviously a significant time sponge, and we’ve been working diligently on it, but it’s not

UNION SOUTH, page 4

UW professors say Kucinich getting Walker to admit collective bargaining ban not monetary issue significant Andrew Averill State Editor

alcoholic beverages in the street. Kolar said the decision would save the city time and money in resources because MPD officers would not have to

The governor spent more than three hours Thursday fielding questions from members of the federal House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on the actions he took during his first months in office to deal with the state’s budget troubles. Gov. Scott Walker, along with Gov. Peter Shumlin, D-Vermont, were invited to speak before the committee, which serves as the House’s main investigative council, during a hearing titled “State and Municipal Debt: Tough Choices Ahead.” A common theme of the hearing centered around whether the

MIFFLIN, page 4

WALKER, page 4

Grant Hauser The Badger Herald

Event sponsors Scott Lesie and Matt Gerding of Majestic Live say the money lost from beer sales means they will have to eliminate a stage. a cheap event to produce, so there needs to be some kind of financial incentive,” Gerding said. “To tackle that burden, the idea was that we would sell beer.” This will be the first time since the 1990s that partiers will be allowed to consume

© 2011 BADGER HERALD


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