THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1969 Volume XLIII, Issue 128
Friday, April 20, 2012
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Student govt postpones MCSC vote Despite Ward’s deadline, ASM fails to make decision on funding controversy Katie Caron Higher Education Editor In the next step toward the culmination of a conflict that has spanned the entirety of the school year, members of a student organization presented on their funding eligibility Thursday evening in a meeting in which a decision on the matter was unexpectedly postponed. Members of the Multicultural Student Coalition presented on their eligibility for General Student Services Funds in the Associated Students of Madison Student Council meeting. The meeting was supposed to include both the presentation and the group’s eligibility decision, which comes after Interim Chancellor David Ward released a decision Sunday mandating that Student Council take up MCSC’s eligibility decision within five school days.
Before the group’s presentation, which stretched most of the meeting, members of Student Council voted to postpone the eligibility decision until the next meeting when Rep. Maria Giannopoulos motioned to do so. Chair Allie Gardner spoke to the motion and said new information, which she declined to describe in specific detail, was introduced before the meeting that could affect some of the process, but that it was unclear to her at that point. In an interview with The Badger Herald, Gardner said the new information could require a different process and that she was unsure of how to explain or talk about the change of events because it “literally happened two hours before the meeting.” She said despite this, the reasoning for postponing the eligibility decision had less to do with the new information and more to do with the fact that members were trained yesterday and wanted more time to look over the application and apply their training.
Megan McCormick The Badger Herald
Members of MCSC address ASM Thursday night during a special meeting called for the group’s funding hearing. While the group expressed needs for UW funding, a decision will not come out until ASM’s next meeting. “To rush a process in two days is ridiculous, and we also found out today that we could potentially have more time and that that timeline of five days isn’t so concrete,” she said. Gardner said she talked with members of Ward’s office Thursday, and they
said the timeline does not need to be strict to the fiveday timeline. Following MCSC’s presentation and some other items, Diversity Committee Chair Niko Magallon voiced his concern that the body “ignored the chancellor’s mandate.” He
DOJ appeals Voces maps
Sean Kirkby State Politics Editor
Rebecca Hovel The Badger Herald
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Doug La Follette sits down with The Badger Herald and expresses a need for change in Wisconsin government.
Environment, jobs, UW at forefront for La Follette Sean Kirkby State Politics Editor Secretary of State Doug La Follette is one of four Democrats running for the party’s nomination for governor in the upcoming recall. La Follette served as secretary of state between 1975 and 1979
and again during a second stint between 1982 and the present. A former University of Wisconsin-Parkside professor, La Follette sat down with The Badger Herald to discuss his candidacy. The Badger Herald: The UW System is currently facing major
funding cuts. How do you think the System should deal with them? And if you became governor, what would you do about them?
LA FOLLETTE, page 2
Voters may not need to show photo identification at the polls for the recall elections after a Dane County judge extended a court case on a challenge to the law Thursday. After hearing evidence for the past four days, Dane County Circuit Judge David Flanagan set a briefing schedule. Flanagan said because of the complexity of the case, he wanted to give attorneys time to formulate their arguments in briefs. He set June 18 for the last set of filings, extending the case beyond the recall elections for governor, lieutenant governor and some senators scheduled for June 5. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera brought the suit against the law, claiming it burdens voters who have to get state sponsored IDs. Flanagan issued a temporary injunction against the law in March. Department of Justice spokesperson Dana Brueck said in an email to The Badger Herald that the court
Union Council explores MUR impact on landmarks While artwork in Der Skiftskeller not historic, officials plan to preserve murals during upcoming construction Allison Johnson Herald Contributor The governing body of the Wisconsin Union evaluated the progress of the Memorial Union Reinvestment project and the impact upcoming redesigns could have on the area during a Thursday night meeting. MUR is currently in Phase 1, which includes renovations to the west wing of Memorial Union, particularly the fifth floor and several outdoor features. After the conclusion of
MCSC, page 3
State working to gain 2 stays overturned, hopeful law will be in effect for recalls
State Politics Editor
MAPS, page 4
64 percent of its time to direct services to students, surpassing the “50 plus one” requirement in ASM bylaws. She also addressed the group’s role on campus. “We believe there is systematic oppression that
Judge sets timeline in voter ID lawsuit
Sean Kirkby Democratic leaders are criticizing Wisconsin’s appeal to the federal Supreme Court against a recent redistricting decision to back plans for two Milwaukee Assembly districts. Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said in a statement the redistricting laws that the Legislature passed over the past session were upheld by the courts in virtually all respects, and the state’s Department of Justice appealed Thursday the part of the court’s decision where the state did not prevail. “While some view the adverse portion of the district court decision as being inconsequential, I disagree,” Van Hollen said in the statement. “Any time a federal court rejects a state redistricting statute and decides to redraw or adjust a legislative district, it is a
said it was rude to MCSC to postpone the decision and he did not understand why the body could not take up the decision when it was supposed to. In the presentation to Student Council, MCSC representative Althea Miller said the group allots
Union Council’s Design Committee’s meetings last week, several new changes have been made to the design plans for the project. The council was given the opportunity to review these changes and clarify any questions. These changes include reducing the plans for increased deck access and altering the stairwell on the Hoofers side of the Memorial Union Terrace. Wendy von Below, a member of the design committee, said these changes also involved a “simplification of the brat
stand that would include a more code compliant brat space.” Von Below said these changes were intended to increase efficiency and reduce the scope of the project. She said with the alterations to the previously proposed plans, Union Council would have more certainty of the costs involved. In addition to the changes, the Union Council also reviewed updates on the impact of construction on the artwork adorning the walls of Der Skiftskeller.
Von Below said the Design Committee has been looking at what art would be impacted by construction. Union Council Treasurer Hank Walter said many of the artistic issues have already been addressed. “The murals in Der Rathskeller are staying, and the historical murals in the Paul Bunyan room are being preserved. We don’t want to downplay the significance of the murals in Der Skiftskeller because they have sentimental value, but they are not historic,” he said.
© 2012 BADGER HERALD
The Union Council also addressed a desire to see more students involved in the MUR project as it evolves. “The thing about this project is something is changing constantly,” said Colin Plunkett, student project manager. The body also heard an update on a new project that had been put in place last August, presented by Heidi Lang, the current Wisconsin Union Directorate director for the Distinguished Lecture
UNION, page 2
of appeals in the case could also remove the temporary injunction put in place. She said DOJ does not think the briefing schedule is going to be determinative of whether the voter ID law will be applied to the May primaries and June elections. She added another injunction exists in another case brought against the law by the League of Women Voters. “We don’t know if courts will stay the injunctions, as we have requested, before the upcoming elections,” Brueck said. “For the law to be reinstated, both courts of appeals would need to enter a stay. A single stay would leave the other injunction in place.” Barbara Becker, first vice president of the Milwaukee branch of the NAACP, said NAACP is confident the case will result in a permanent injunction. She said nearly 200,000 people could be disenfranchised because of the law. She said NAACP as well as the state presented their own expert witnesses, and Flanagan will have to weigh the testimony from both sides of the case. She said the law unfairly
VOTER ID, page 4
INSIDE Dinner and a movie. And another movie. And another. The Wisconsin Film Festival wraps up this weekend with dozens of movies for just $5.
ARTS | 6
Mosque resistance shows ignorance The backlash toward a recent proposed mosque shows residents of Waukesha don’t understand Islam.
OPINION | 5