THE UNIVERSITY Y OF W WISCONSIN’S ISCO INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1969 Thursday, November 3, 2011
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SPORTS | FEATURE
NEWS | HOUSING
Wisconsin’s defensive problem
A developer presented plans Wednesday night for a student high-rise near campus, but it is not yet clear if it will pass city processes | 3
Allowance of several longer runs per game puts damper on otherwise solid defense. | 12
Volume XLIII, Issue 43
ARTS | COLUMN The new Facebook experience Do news articles belong on the Spotify model, or should media companies let users find their own? New tech columnist Rainey chimes in. | 12
Affirmative action legislation sees halt Following marathon Assembly meeting, bill to eliminate race as grant factor stalls Pam Selman News Content Editor Democrats in the state Assembly managed to temporarily stall a vote on a controversial surprise amendment on affirmative action brought into Tuesday night’s floor meeting, which flowed into the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The original bill provides grants to students who are in poverty and are nontraditional. For a student to qualify as nontraditional, he or she must either be in prison, a first generation college attendee or black, Indian, Hispanic or Hmong. The amendment, introduced by Rep. Peggy Krusick, D-Milwaukee, proposes eliminating race as a factor in college grant applications that consider minority status as a qualification. While intermittent
Abstinence-only goes to schools
debate continued for nine hours after the proposal was originally introduced at 11 p.m. Tuesday, the proposal received initial preliminary approval from the Assembly Wednesday around 8 a.m. Democrats managed to block final passage of the amendment until tonight, when the proposal is set to be further discussed. The session marks the final opportunity for any legislation to be passed through either the Senate or the Assembly as the houses go into recess until January.
During tonight’s debate, Democrats can object to the amendment being sent to the Senate, blocking the final passage until lawmakers return in January. Regardless of when it passes, approval by both houses would further require Gov. Scott Walker’s signature. Krusick said the bill was important because it would allow the grants to continue to be needbased with talent criteria, regardless of whether or not a student qualified as a minority. “It includes all
ethnicities; they will all receive equal treatment,” Krusick said. While the bill had the backing of the entire GOP body. Krusick was the only Democrat in support of the bill while others were left outraged at the proposal. After the Assembly reconvened from caucus around 4:30 a.m., the amendment was preliminarily approved with a 57-34 vote along party lines sans Krusick. Krusick’s Democratic counterparts said the proposal was insulting to the rights of minorities.
Those opposing the amendment also argued the proposal is part of a greater GOP desire to squash minority rights and remove affirmative action from the higher education system. Rep. Brett Hulsey, D-Madison, said the amendment was a “racist race to the bottom.” According to Hulsey, the measure could potentially culminate in roadblocks for minorities trying to obtain jobs after graduation.
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, page 2
A tribute to the fallen University of Wisconsin sophomore Reyna Guzman leaves a memento on the altar as part of the Altar del Dia de los Muertos in memory of a lost loved one. The display is open to the public throughout the week at the School of Education’s Commons Lobby Art Gallery, where students can also leave gifts on the altar. Megan McCormick The Badger Herald
Senate: Contraception must no longer be taught as effective to avoid pregnancy, STIs Sean Kirkby State Reporter In one of their final meetings before the the end of the fall session, the Wisconsin Legislatures narrowly and divisively passed a bill which promotes the teaching of abstinence instead of contraceptive methods in public schools. In a 17-15 partisan vote Wednesday, the Senate passed a bill that eliminates a statewide policy requiring schools with sexual education programs to provide instruction on the proper use of contraceptives to students. The bill also requires schools to present abstinence as the only reliable way to protect oneself from unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. During the meeting, Sen. Jon. Erpenbach, D-Middleton, said the measure irresponsibly ignores the pressures today’s teens face from their peers and the media to be sexually active. By not requiring schools to show the accurate consequences of unprotected sexual behavior and how to go about such behavior in a safe manor, he said the state puts minors at a greater risk of unwanted pregnancy and infection. Bill author Sen. Mary Lazich, R-New Berlin,
said the bill in no way bans schools from teaching about birth control, but rather allows local school boards to create a sexual education plan that works best for their students. Sexual education curriculum will also now include more parental input, she said, allowing for a more personalized and localized version of these courses. Erpenbach said teenagers generally make the choice to engage in sexual activity when they are told in school to wait until marriage. “You can’t argue with the plain and simple fact that kids and children do get pregnant,” Erpenbach said. “’Just say no’ doesn’t work.” The Senate also passed two bills during the special jobs session portion of Wednesday’s meeting, one that lowers the interest rate for paying legal settlements and another that makes property owners liability free if trespassers hurt themselves on their property. Sen. Jim Holperin, D-Conover, said the bill to protect property owners if trespassers hurt themselves is not a bill that should be included in a special session to create jobs. “This is not a jobs creation bill, as it has
ABSTINENCE, page 3
Wis. law on self defense loosened Homeowners no longer face burden of proving imminent threat during invasion Matt Huppert State Editor A bipartisan bill that would give homeowners more legal protection if they injure or kill an intruder may be taken up by the Wisconsin Senate today. The legislation, known as the Castle Doctrine and passed during Tuesday’s floor meeting of the Assembly, gives homeowners the right to shoot an intruder out of self-defense without having to prove first the intruder was a threat.
Rep. Dean Kaufert, R-Neehah, author of the legislation, said in a situation where a homeowner encounters an intruder, the homeowner would be granted civil immunity under this bill if he or she injured or killed the intruder. Consequently, if the homeowner was prosecuted for harming the intruder, a jury would presume that he or she had the right to do so until the prosecution could prove otherwise. “[The bill] makes it
more difficult for that intruder to bring a case of action,” Kaufert said. “[However,] if the prosecutor felt the homeowner did go too far, he can still press charges.” Kaufert said the bill has received support from both parties, having two Democratic cosponsors and the support of nearly three quarters of the Assembly floor during the bill’s passage. Rep. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, voted against Kaufert’s bill during Tuesday’s
assembly meeting. She said the bill is an excuse for homeowners to “shoot first, ask questions later.” Roys said she felt the law as it stood provided enough of a protection for homeowners, given that they were already protected if they killed or injured someone in selfdefense with reasonable proof. She said not having to prove the intruder poses a threat first opens the door for accidental killings.
SELF DEFENSE, page 2
Ousted ASM representatives reinstated Before taking up budgetary concerns, government brings back officials who violated bylaw Katherine Krueger Deputy News Editor
Zhao Lim The Badger Herald
Sen. John Erpenbach, D-Madison, said a bill to teach abstinence education as the only viable form of protection against pregnancy and STIs would not succeed under today’s societal norms.
Representatives of the University of Wisconsin’s student government voted to reinstate two members previously removed for election violations on Wednesday, a decision which drew criticism to both the policy and publicity of the process. Beth Huang and Niko Magallon, who
previously served as Associated Students of Madison vice chair and Nominations Board chair respectively, were sworn in immediately after the vote was completed. Members of Student Council debated whether to vote on the nominations for two vacant Council seats in the College of Letters and Science, with some representatives characterizing the selection
© 2011 BADGER HERALD
of previous ASM officers as “cronyism.” Officials also scrutinized the Nomination Board’s process of interviewing applicants and called into question whether the timing for releasing the candidates to be presented in council violated open meetings law. Rep. Tom Templeton said the votes from the board’s meeting last night, which were six to zero for
Huang and five to one in favor of Magallon, should not be considered because he said these figures are skewed as a result of the process. Several representatives also urged members to hold off on the vote until next week’s meeting, due in part to it being the first official meeting for newly elected officials.
ASM, page 2