2013.02.28

Nap time

We know you hated naps in pre-school but love them now. Should we put nap stations on campus? OPINION | 4

THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1969 Volume XLIV, Issue 85

Thursday, February 28, 2013

www.badgerherald.com

UW's SEARCH FOR A NEW LEADER: PART FOUR OF FOUR

Candidate emphasizes liberal arts Chancellor finalist stresses breadth of education, value of collaboration at UW Muge Niu Higher Education Editor University of Wisconsin chancellor search finalist Nicholas Jones, the current dean of the Johns Hopkins University Whiting School

can compare and contrast the ways they operate.

He said the biggest challenge facing UW’s new leader in the next decade is figuring out how to sustain and grow its academic programs while continuing its educational missions with diminishing revenues.

“I spent quite a bit of time in fundraising, which I see as a good way to support a school’s educational mission,” Jones said of his experience as

of Engineering, is no stranger to UW or Badger sporting games.

Jones said he gained exposure to UW and its sports secondhand when he worked as the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department Chair at the University of Illinois.

Sports aside, Jones said his work experience at both private and public institutions has taught him great lessons because he

the Dean at Johns Hopkins.

“I see great potential in working with the University of Wisconsin Foundation… they are a big possibility for Madison.”

While the expectations for UW to be a contributor to the state’s economy are very reasonable given the investments the university receives, the university is much more than a generator of jobs, according to Jones.

“It has a mission that

transcends simply job creation and there are many more things that the institution does,” Jones said. “Certainly contributing economic vitality is important and should be a focus but other missions of the university are important as well.”

One of these missions is liberal arts education, Jones said.

Jones said he has been a

Jones

CANDIDATE, page 3

Revelry event details emerge Muge Niu Higher Education Editor The student leaders behind Revelry, the student body’s first official end-of-the-year celebration, announced Wednesday the musical event will take place at Engineering Mall and Union South Plaza from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on May 4th, the same day as the Mifflin Street Block Party.

Revelry will be a ticketed music festival featuring artists that cater to a large student audience, according to Bess Donoghue, Revelry spokesperson.

Donoghue said the festival is not anti-Mifflin although both events share the same weekend.

“It is the last weekend of the academic semester, so that’s just the day [Revelry] fell on,” she said.

Tickets for the festival are tentatively scheduled to go on sale April 8.

The price for University of Wisconsin students will fall in the range of $5 to $10, according to Revelry Executive

Committee Director Sarah Mathews.

“The primary audience for this event is UW-Madison students,” Mathews said. “We are structuring everything ... entry and ticket pricing to [target] students.”

The event’s planning committee has not formally decided whether to allow nonUW students at the event and whether the ticket price would be significantly higher for people outside of UW should they attend the event.

According to Mathews, one potential model is requiring student to present their ID at entry but allowing them to also sponsor college-age guests.

The committee will announce the musical lineups four to five days prior to ticket sale. The committee is in the process of negotiating offers with musicians. There will also be other art-related activities at the festival, Donoghue said.

Mathews said the committee aims to encompass a wide variety of music genres at the

White Swan A model gazes down the catwalk Wednesday as part of the inaugural “Strut: Madison Fashion Series” which continues all week. See page 3 for more.

REVELRY, page 3

Ian Thomasgard The Badger Herald

Senate narrowly approves contentious mining bill Despite Republican lawmaker breaking ranks, legislation passes by 17-16 vote Noah Goetzel State Politics Editor After 10 hours of grueling debate, Wisconsin’s Senate passed a bill Wednesday by a single vote to make changes to Wisconsin’s iron ore

mining regulations.

Sen. Dale Schultz, R– Richland Center, was the lone Republican to cross party lines and vote against the bill, which passed 17-16.

“We are one vote short of restoring the Wisconsin state Senate back to the one that respects…a legacy of fairness, a legacy of preservation, and a legacy in which we make decisions that aren’t good for the short-term, but are good for the long-term,” Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, said.

“Nobody wins tonight.”

If the Republicancontrolled Assembly passes the bill, the first bill introduced in the 20132015 legislative session will be forwarded to Gov. Scott Walker, who will very likely sign it into law.

Sen. Robert Cowles, R– Green Bay, could have been the last senator standing in the way of the bill’s narrow passage because he said he was concerned about the measure’s environmental

impact groundwater.

However, he said that amendments and work on the bill during the last session had addressed his concerns.

Schultz said he voted against the bill because its detrimental ramifications on the mining area outweighed political policy interests.

“It is important for us to remember in this day and age, when I think virtually everyone has a conscience about our environment that we don’t willy-nilly wander

into a test stage that will have long-term ramifications on our environment because of partisanship,” Schultz said.

The mining bill, which was introduced in the previous session but failed to pass, eases iron ore mining restrictions and paves the way for Gogebic Taconite to open a large-scale mine in northern Wisconsin.

Republicans have said the proposed mine in Ashland and Iron Counties will create hundreds of jobs for the state.

Sen. Tom Tiffany, R-Hazelhurst, co-sponsored the bill and said the legislation will not only stimulate the economy but also avoid serious environmental damage.

He added legislators often reduce the bill to a choice of jobs or the environment.

“The point I’m making to you is we can have both,” Tiffany said. “The technology we have is completely

MINING, page 3

Students clash with ASM INSIDE over conservative event Alice Coyne Reporter University of Wisconsin student organizations spoke out against the student government’s decision to use segregated fees to fund a student trip to a conservative political conference at an open forum Wednesday evening.

The Conservative Political Action Conference is a national conference held in March in Washington, Chris Lotten The Badger Herald D.C. sponsored by the In an Associated Students of Madison meeting, students leaders met to address conflict over the body’s American Conservative choice to fund a trip for several members attending the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Union. The conference

will feature Republican speakers including Gov. Scott Walker and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, according to the conference website.

The Associated Students of Madison will reimburse several students attending the event for hotel and airfare costs and CPAC registration fees. The students attending will be representing various groups and committees within ASM. ASM heard from a variety of leaders of College Democrats of Madison as well as the

© 2013 BADGER HERALD

Vice Chair of Young Progressives.

Both organizations argued this funding violated ASM’s mission and the Wisconsin Idea, while ASM committee members defended their decision to support students’ professional development.

“ASM supports a variety of organizations. We support students with ideas across the spectrum,” Rep. Jamie Wheeler said.

College Democrats Chair Chris Hoffman said ASM leaders refused

EVENT, page 2

Bo Knows: UW head coach deserves COY

Senior writer Ian McCue argues that Badgers’ leader best of the best in toughest conference

SPORTS | 8

Walker sees approval rating drop Public Policy Polling data shows slight dip in numbers since November

NEWS | 2

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Poll: Walker’s approval drops

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Madison’s Vending Oversight Committee continues to try to resolve conflict between food cart owners and business owners who say they are encroaching.

Food cart vendors clash with restaurant owners Stephanie Awe Reporter Owners of downtown area restaurants and late-night vending carts continued to butt heads over location and its effect on their businesses at a city committee meeting Wednesday.

The Vending Oversight Committee has been trying to come up with probable solutions to the sudden spike in late-night food carts since last fall, according to Ald. Scott Resnick, District 8.

Competition has especially risen on Broom Street, where Silver Mine Subs, Asian Kitchen and Pita Pit are located.

“We had no idea coming in this would be an issue,” Courtney Pawn, a Pita Pit manager, said. “We pay a huge portion of rent to be in a high traffic area.”

There have been up to six carts in front of Pita Pit, Pawn said, mostly during their busiest time such as summer and football seasons. She added some of these vendors then allow customers to use the restaurant’s trash and bathroom facilities. This has affected business, she said.

Pawn said the restaurant and the food carts worked

together and had a better understanding of each other last year. The food carts respected the restaurant was there and had to stay in one spot, she said.

Steve Lawrence, owner of the Fried and Fabulous food cart, said he was concerned for his business as well. He described his customers as “creatures of habit,” who will not visit his business unless they know where it is. He said he did not want to move. “[Moving] scares the crap out of me,” he said.

According to Pawn, the ideal solution would not allow food carts on Broom Street late at night and instead find a location for a food cart center.

Future renovations to Library Mall may allow this, but Resnick said these plans have yet to be discussed by the city council.

The committee considered several additional options to the problem, including expanding the number of areas food carts could position themselves, setting a minimum distance between a food cart and a restaurant or limiting the total number of food carts in the city.

Resnick said the decision for late-night food carts

has yet to be made, and the committee will revisit it.

The committee also unanimously approved a proposal allowing all sidewalk cafes to serve alcohol until 1 a.m. throughout the city.

Additionally, sidewalk cafes may stay open during a given business’s regular hours.

According to Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, there has been confusion, especially among the police department, on the existing ordinance since the times restaurants must clear alcohol from the sidewalk vary throughout the city.

“My personal goal is to have a uniform ordinance throughout the city,” he said.

In the new proposal, all city restaurants would be required to clear alcohol from the table by 1:30 a.m., Resnick said. This would not apply to bars located in the neighborhood, he said.

The proposal is a great and strong compromise, Resnick said, adding that it should clear up any confusion and improve nightlife in the city.

If passed by the city attorney, Resnick said the committee will revisit proposal for a change in the sidewalk cafes ordinance will after it faces City Council.

A poll released Tuesday found more voters disapprove of Gov. Scott Walker’s performance than approve, although he still leads most potential Democratic opponents who could face him in 2014.

According to a Public Policy Polling report, 49 percent of Wisconsin voters approved of Walker’s performance, while 49 percent disapprove.

Walker had an approval rating of 51 percent last November, when Public Policy Polling conducted its last survey.

PPP conducted 1,799 phone interviews of Wisconsin voters statewide to track Walker’s approval from Feb. 21 to Feb. 24, the poll report said adding that polls began the day after Walker released his new biennial budget proposal.

The margin of error was 2.3 percent, the report said.

The Democraticleaning polling firm also surveyed voters’ support of five possible Democratic gubernatorial opponents against Walker in 2014, the report said.

PPP asked respondents their likelihood of voting for the other Democratic candidates versus Walker in the upcoming election, along with their favorability of each candidate, the report said.

The Democratic candidates included Assembly Minority Leader Rep. Peter Barca, D-Kenosha; Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton; former U.S. Representative Steve Kagen, D-Green Bay; President of the Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin Mahlon Mitchell and former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold.

According to the report, Feingold was the only candidate voters said would have the potential to edge out Walker in 2014, with a 49-47 percent edge, the report

said.

Dustin Ingalls, assistant PPP director, said while Walker’s ratings have decreased, he remains more popular than many Tea Party governors in other states.

University of Wisconsin professor of journalism and mass communication Dhavan Shah, an expert on public opinion, said there has been a national shift away from Tea Party politicians.

“Nationally, public approval has stood behind a less aggressive stance than members of the Tea Party would want to advance, but nonetheless, there has been a push back against [those policies],” Shah said.

Ingalls said Walker is likely to repeat his lucrative fundraising efforts he demonstrated during the recall when he runs for re-election in 2014. Still, Ingalls said a deep-pocketed Democrat could pose a challenge to Walker.

According to Shah, Feingold is a seasoned candidate and he said the former senator may have a better chance to unseat Walker compared to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, for example, who has lost twice to the current governor. “[Feingold was] a respected former senator…and many people view it as a mistake that we took away this respected senator in favor of [Ron] Johnson,” Shah said. “[People] see Feingold as having name recognition, respect and stature.”

According to Shah, many think Feingold is a candidate who has a thoughtful voice, some bipartisan support and a strong civil libertarian backing.

With still about a year and a half until the gubernatorial election, Shah said a number of issues could change this opinion.

He said Wisconsin’s unemployment issue is decreasing, but not at the rate Walker promised.

UW System selects new top official Polo Rocha Senior Legislative Editor The University of Wisconsin System has promoted an official to the top financial position, replacing the interim vice president who was also a finalist for the spot.

David Miller, the UW System associate vice president of capital and budget, will replace Interim Senior Vice President for Administration and Fiscal Affairs Michael Morgan, who will finish his three-year term in July.

Miller was selected for the position after being one of four finalists in a search and screen committee, which also named Morgan as a finalist.

“Through greater

EVENT, from 1 College Democrats Vice Chair Austin Helmke’s open records request for emails relating to ASM members attending the conference, claiming “I don’t believe [this] warrants compliance.”

Hoffman criticized ASM leadership in responding to and making false claims in these emails.

“If this is indeed constitutional, let’s find out the details. Let the whole student body know what you are doing,” Hoffman said.

“Funding a trip to CPAC is unconstitutional via its violation of ASM’s mission and discrimination clause of not only ASM, but UW and

efficiencies, innovative partnerships and courage to face whatever challenges come our way, our central officers will be able to serve the Board of Regents and the institutions, as well as students, staff, faculty and all Wisconsin taxpayers,” Miller said in a statement.

“I am pleased to have this opportunity to help lead the System toward an even brighter and stronger future.”

Miller has worked at the UW System since 1997 and has managed system relationships with universities, lawmakers and state agencies, according to the statement.

At his current position, Miller works with biennial budgets that are often more than $750 million

and oversees building projects. He was also the main representative to a legislative task force on UW System flexibilities.

“In this new senior role, he will build upon that record of success and provide longterm stability in this key leadership position,” UW System President Kevin Reilly said in a statement.

Reilly praised Morgan, the outgoing administrator, for being willing to stay on until July and continuing to focus on the overpayments issue at the UW System.

Morgan was brought on in 2010, in part to help replace a nearly 40-year-old human resources system. But since implementing the new HR system, the UW System overpaid more than $34 million, about $20 million

of which has already been recovered.

UW System spokesperson David Giroux said the overpayments issue was not why the search committee chose someone other than Morgan. “[The overpayments] certainly fall under [Morgan’s] area of responsibility, so it’s not unrelated, but I wouldn’t attribute the decision to that,” Giroux said.

Chair of the Assembly’s Colleges and Universities Committee Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, called for Morgan to remove his name from the committee’s consideration because of the overpayments. Nass’ spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.

the State of Wisconsin.”

Opponents stressed this particular funding is supporting a group that blatantly gives money to Republican interests.

Young Progressives Vice Chair Sean Hoey pointed out the ACU is allowed to get involved with political campaigning and raised concern funding may support Republican candidate lobbying through its political intent.

ASM Vice Chair Maria Giannopoulos said ACU supports student education, and the money contributed for the conference will be designated to its mission to provide such education.

Giannopoulos also

directed attention to the United States Student Association’s Legislative Conference— a three day training that takes place in D.C. on the same weekend as CPAC. The conference is similar to CPAC but with a more liberal agenda, and ASM will send student representatives there as well.

Giannopoulos said part of the organization can be involved in political campaigning, but again, is committed to educating students and not furthering a political agenda. She said ASM heard fewer concerns over their decision to use student segregated fees to fund this conference.

“We’re sending people

to CPAC because it is a marketplace of ideas. It trains people who might have a different viewpoint,” Giannopoulos said, clarifying USSA has the same financial backing as CPAC. CPAC’s social agenda was also brought to the floor as a concern. LGBT Caucus Chair of College Democrats Jacob Hollnagel spoke to the 2012 incident in which the conference banned GOProud, a conservative student organization for LGBTQ students, from the conference without explanation. He said since then, there has been no LGBTQ involvement in CPAC.

The Badger Herald | News | Thursday, February 28, 2013

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City celebrates fashion showcase Bill could impact public data access Allie Johnson City Life Editor

Clothing designers and consumers from across the city came together Wednesday night for a runway show celebrating local fashion.

The runway show held at Monona Terrace was part of the inaugural weeklong event, “Strut.

Madison Fashion Series,” a fashion week for the city and surrounding community, according to the “Strut.” website.

Wednesday’s runway show, “Catwalk, Couture & Cocktails,” and the Saturday show, titled “Local Lookbook Runway Show & Fashion Market After Party” are the two featured events for the week, according to Natalie Bass, owner of Madison boutique ZipDang. Both shows will feature local designers and boutique owners from Madison and the surrounding suburbs and

CANDIDATE, from 1 big supporter of liberal arts education while working as a dean of at the Whiting School of Engineering. He said the best engineers are those who have a depth of technological education combined with the breadth of a liberal arts education.

But the liberal arts are important even in addition to the role they play in educating a competent workforce, Jones added.

“I think the liberal arts is a critical core of the university in their own right,” he said. “The mission of liberal arts education is critical to our society as a tool to continue to question and improve our understanding of ourselves, and that’s

showcase both men and women’s clothing, she said. “[Strut.] is about independent artists and people who are creating clothing lines getting recognition in Madison,” Bass said.

Wednesday’s event featured a diverse group of people and clothing, from bridal wear to t-shirt designers, Bass said, adding that the runway show was an opportunity to meet other designers she was unfamiliar with and see what other people are doing in the city.

Strut. allows people to experience a lot of different types of fashion they may not know is going on in the city, Bass said.

Sheryl Batten, one of the owners of Middleton Dress Co., said Strut. is also a marketing opportunity for the company.

“I think it’s a great

opportunity for introducing us because we are a new company and it is an opportunity to show our fashion,” Batten said. “A runway show is a great way of promoting what we have to sell.”

Kelly Miller, the marketing director for Lu Anders Boutique said in an email to The Badger Herald that Lu Anders chose to participate in Saturday’s runway show to expand their market reach. The boutique serves many customers in the 35-and-older age category and is looking to appeal to a wider age group, she said.

“We are hoping a lot of different groups of people attend this event,” Miller said. “College students through sophisticated professionals can find looks they love and can afford.”

According to Batten, the city needs more progressive or high

profile events for the fashion industry.

There are not a lot of fashion shows in the Madison area that show off the talent of designers and the lines local boutiques carry, Miller said. Strut. is designed to bring attention to designers and shops few people know about, she said.

“I hope this event makes people appreciate all the fashion trends available right here in Madison and that they can support their local boutiques in the process,” Miller said. “Keeping it local helps the economy.”

While Madison is on a smaller scale than other cities when it comes to the fashion scene, Miller said she hopes Strut. is well-received by the city. Fashion can still be appreciated in the Midwest because women of all demographics love to look and feel good, she said.

exactly the sort of things one should learn coming out of the university.”

In order to resonate with the wide range of cultures on campus, Jones said he plans to make the most he can out of existing structures.

He also said he wants to collaborate with student government in its various forms and getting to know students as much as possible.

“I will get out constantly to talk with students,” Jones said. “I’m not the sort of person who likes to sits in an office all day.”

He hopes to engage students in more intimate settings like inviting a group of students for coffee, dinner, or perhaps ultimate frisbee.

Jones described his leadership style as collaborative, asking a lot

of questions and listening to a lot of answers for those questions.

He described himself as a believer of “teams.”

“My job is to trust, empower and support my team and my constituencies because for an institution like UW-Madison, you simply can’t manage such a large, complex organization in any way other than taking full advantage of all of the talents that exist there,” Jones said. “The notion that you are the boss and you rule from the top is kind of crazy.”

Jones came to the Unites States from his native New Zealand to earn his masters and doctoral degrees from the California Institute of Technology in 1981 and 1986.

He said he was fortunate to have studied

in the U.S. and called it a “transformative” experience that opened up a new world for him.

“I was able to…look way beyond where I grew up and I learned some great personality lessons from [that experience],” Jones said. “I think the opportunities these days for students to take advantage of everything the world has to offer is tremendous and it’s something I strongly supports and endorse.”

He said he believes the Wisconsin Idea effectively contributes to the community and the state.

“Madison is an extraordinary place and it has a great future. I’m just glad to be a candidate and hope that I may be a part of that future,” he said.

Jones will visit the campus on March 5.

Laura Pettit The Badger Herald

Students involved in the planning of this year’s inaugural May 4 event said student tickets will cost $5-$10 and the event lineup will be announced April 8.

REVELRY, from 1 festival.

“One of our criteria…is mass appeal, what students want to see, and we want to value gender and cultural inclusivity and diversity,” Matthews said. “We also want to program for the wide variety of music tastes.”

While the projected budget for the Revelry festival was $60,000 to $90,000, through fundraising and general supports from the university and private entities, the committee now has a budget over $100,000, Donoghue said.

According to Mathews, the artist fee was the

MINING, from 1 different from what it was 50 years ago…the rock characterization process we have written into this bill is thorough.”

Tiffany said the bill was a 21st century iron mining bill. However, Democratic senators proposed 13 amendments primarily intended to prevent contamination of the entire state’s water supply, which

main reason behind the fundraising because the artist fee in the original budget was too modest to match the vision of the event.

Projected private funding makes up 53 percent of the budget, according to a release by the Revelry Executive Committee, and no funding for the event comes from segregated fees.

“As students ourselves, we are committed to keeping Revelry as accessible to our peers as possible,” Donoghue said.

The UW Police Department will focus primarily on Revelry since Mifflin is out of its jurisdiction, according to

Josh Levin, a member of the planning committee.

Madison Police Department has offered to supply forces for Revelry, he added.

The committee is in the process of applying for a permit for Randall Avenue with the city.

Donoghue said the event has received positive support from the city government and UWPD. The event is endorsed

by Interim Chancellor David Ward, Mayor Paul Soglin, Associated Students of Madison and Damon Williams, vice provost and chief diversity officer for the division of diversity, equity and educational achievement.

the Senate voted down.

Senate Minority Leader Chris Larson, D–Milwaukee, said he believes the way the bill is written would allow for waste rock to be dumped in watersheds.

“We can’t afford an oops,” he said. “We only get one shot. They screw this up, and we’re going to be cleaning it up for decades, for centuries. Let’s get it right.”

According to the bill, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will have 420 days to act on the application for the mining permit as soon as the bill is passed and the application is complete.

Jauch added Democrats will not be silenced even if Walker writes the bill into law.

“This is an invitation to litigation,” he said.

“Everyone knows it.”

Noah Goetzel State Politics Editor Media officials and government transparency advocates expressed their opposition to Wisconsin lawmakers Wednesday against a proposed bill permitting government institutions to charge for access to public records.

Those against the bill said applying charges to the right to use records inhibits access to them and helps bureaucrats who want to keep such information secretive.

Public custodians, such as city clerks who keep track of public records, testified in support of the legislation drafted by eight Republicans and one Democrat at an Assembly Committee on Government Operations and State Licensing’s open hearing.

Public officials, including a Washington County supervisor, University of Wisconsin records keepers and police department representatives, said it is appropriate to be compensated for the time they spend removing confidential information from these records.

“Transparency of government is important, but there has to be a balance,” Melanie Rutledge, assistant city attorney for Milwaukee, said. “There has to be a sharing of costing responding to some of these requests.”

Representatives on the committee did not vote on the proposed bill at the end of the hearing. Committee Chairman Rep. Tyler August, R-Lake Geneva, said the earliest possible vote for the bill would occur at the end of March, but only if he decides it is worthy of a vote.

The open records law under scrutiny went into effect in 1981, but came under reconsideration last June when the Wisconsin Supreme Court unanimously ruled government bodies could not charge for access to these

public records.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel won the ruling in this case after the Milwaukee Police Department requested more than $4,500 from the publication to cover costs of redacting approximately 750 crime incident reports, according to the case facts.

“We consider [the bill] a serious threat to the open records law,” Michael Juley, the Journal Sentinel’s police and courts editor, said. “We strongly believe there is no need to revise the current law.”

Part of the reason state institutions want to charge for public records access is because superfluous requests for the right to use them place a burden on public custodians, according to Washington County Supervisor Dennis Myers.

Juley said that Journal Sentinel reporters routinely work “closely and tirelessly” with public records operators to ensure the records they request are specific and do not waste custodians’ time.

Rep. Brett Hulsey, D-Madison, said public records keepers have the right to ask for specific titles when citizens or members of the media request the right to use information that may be unnecessarily difficult for custodians to access.

“In your business, you have reporters on deadline, so you don’t have reporters running around trying to get frivolous open records access,” he said.

Hulsey added municipal officials could save on these costs by delegating public records redaction to clerks who make lower annual salaries. He also said the digital age technology could save printing costs and make the process of records sharing more efficient.

UW Director of State Relations Don Nelson said there is a higher cost associated with processing more records, and legal officials must check off on privacy enforcement as well.

Editorial Page Editor Charles Godfrey oped@badgerherald.com

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The Badger Herald | Opinion | Thursday, February 28, 2013

Opinion

State (black) and federal (gray) funding increases for Medicaid

Walker’s plan 460.6 million, 320.3 million

Student loans unsustainable Nathaniel Olson Columnist

Dems’ plan 4.38 billion, 66.7 million

Third plan 4.1 billion, savings of 164.2 million

Projected growth in Medicaid enrollment, by plan Walker’s plan: 5,000

Dems’ plan: 175,000

Third plan: 116,700

Gus McNair The Badger Herald

Walker puts politics before health Joe Timmerman Editorial Page Content Editor Earlier this month, Gov. Scott Walker declined federal funds to expand Wisconsin’s Medicaid coverage to more of the state’s citizens. The exact details of the expansion and Walker’s alternative proposal are not important — suffice to say that, as compared to Walker’s plan, expanding coverage as part of the Affordable Care Act would provide more Wisconsinites with insurance while costing the state less.

Now, I realize there are many complicated, unresolved issues of public policy. This is not one.

When you have the chance to save your state money AND expand health care coverage — two things almost always mutually exclusive — you do it. You don’t play politics with people’s health. And you don’t use people’s health as a way to jockey for a political advantage.

Part of Walker’s reasoning — or at least the reasoning he’s chosen to share with the public — is that he “[cares] too much about the people of this state not to empower them to control their own destiny.”

While this reasoning is a little ridiculous, given I could easily rephrase that

to “I care too much about the people of this state to let more of them have healthcare,” it’s at least consistent with Walker’s broader ideology. While I personally don’t feel forcing government-provided insurance on someone is an egregious assault on his or her liberty, I can understand valuing freedom over security. I’ll give Walker the benefit of the doubt on this count.

However, Walker also claimed he was uncertain the federal government, with its accumulating debt, could afford to keep its funding promise. This claim has no basis in fact and is nothing more than fear-mongering and political jockeying. There is no evidence the federal government will have any trouble maintaining its fiscal obligations — indeed, demand for treasuries, including 30-year bonds, has remained robust.

Walker may not like that the federal government is borrowing money, but if that’s how he feels, that is what he should say – not that he doubts the government’s ability to fulfill its obligations.

Walker’s claim is particularly ridiculous because the state could reverse its expansion at any point if the federal government reneged on its promise.

Other states have had to make similar decisions.

Surprisingly, several staunchly-conservative governors chose to accept the Medicaid expansion, including Gov. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Gov. Chris

Christie, R-N.J. In the case of Scott, the decision to accept federal funds was most likely a result of his comically-low approval numbers, which are barely more than 30 percent. He has already exhausted most of his political capital and knows he must do something different to avoid being humiliated in his bid for reelection – although it’s probably too late.

Christie’s decision, on the other hand, does not seem politically motivated.

His statewide approval numbers continue to remain remarkably high — over 70 percent —

“You don’t play politics with people’s health.” and he should have no trouble burying whichever unfortunate Democrat runs against him. What, then, was his reasoning? Is it possible Christie made the decision simply because it was the right thing to do? Occam’s Razor would certainly suggest it.

Interestingly, the careers of Christie and our own governor have some similarities — both were swept into governorships of traditionally Democratic states as part of the Tea Party wave of 2010. Now, both Christie and Walker are frequently mentioned as potential contenders for the Republican presidential ticket in 2016.

If the 2016 Republican primary is anything like 2012, the candidates will

be trying to prove how, in the words of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, “severely conservative” they are. If Walker is indeed eyeing a presidential run, this decision sets him up quite well for it. The Affordable Care Act will likely still be a favorite rhetorical target in 2016 — at the expense of the state’s greater good.

Christie’s approach to governing, on the other hand, appears to be to do what he considers best for his state. This is further evidenced by his praise for Obama’s handling of Hurricane Sandy, which earned him the ire of many prominent Republicans. He said what he said because it was true, not because it would earn him political points in the future. While I’m not a huge Christie fan, I’ll trust the 74 percent of New Jersey residents who approve of him. Walker could stand to learn a thing or two about how to be a conservative governor of a blue state from Christie.

Walker’s decision to spurn federal funding for Medicaid was foolish, regardless of his reasoning.

If he had rejected funding out of simple incompetence, that would have been one thing. But it appears he cost the state money and reduced the number of Wisconsinites who have healthcare for his own political advantage, and that is entirely another.

Joe Timmerman ( jtimmerman@ badgerherald.com) is a sophomore majoring in economics and math.

Another day, another debt crisis.

Last Saturday, The New York Times published an article about the dangers of student loan debt from graduate school. Which graduate programs you ask? Surely law school, where reports of six-figure debts, unemployment or underemployment are commonplace. Perhaps a special on for-profit schools, institutions where approximately 86 percent of students receive federally subsidized loans.

Not this time.

Last weekend, the buck was passed to veterinary schools, where a median cost of $63,000 a year far exceeds the average starting salary for students of the profession, a comparatively paltry $45,575 a year. While many people in this economy would be delighted to make that much money, it’s not much for someone who needs twice as much just to keep their head above water.

Much has been said in the last few years about the explosion of student loan debt. According to American Student Assistance, a nonprofit organization designed to assist students and their families with college financial planning, American college students have racked up somewhere close to $1 trillion in borrowing debts.

Approximately 85 percent of this debt is owed to the federal government, while the remaining 15 percent is owed to private lenders.

Reforming the student loan system is an extraordinarily complicated issue that desperately needs to be dealt with. To do it right, policymakers will have to strike the right balance between personal responsibility and collective investment.

Very few people have sympathy for students who take on $200,000 in student loan debt to pursue four-year degrees in drama at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville – this sort of story inspires reactions along the lines of “What were they thinking?” and “This is why we can’t have nice things.” If this sort of tough love seems callous to you, then feel free to make a donation to their cause, but don’t ask the rest of the taxpaying public to join you.

At the same time, longterm investments in the quality of America’s work

force are undoubtedly well worth (most of ) the time and capital. There is a long, long list of smart, hardworking and motivated students who did not have the option of borrowing money from their parents when they graduated from high school. These individuals need assistance from the collective to climb the social ladder.

And don’t think these programs are simply a way to redistribute wealth from the very top to the very bottom. Children of middle and upper-middle class households draw on government loans to pursue degrees in biochemistry, journalism and nuclear engineering, fields that are (mostly) under-supplied, not underdemanded.

The beauty of living in a society valuing social mobility is that we create and support public programs which help people help themselves.

But these programs have strayed too far, and today it is far too easy for wellintentioned 18-year-olds with a fatal lack of financial knowledge to make decisions that can haunt them for their entire lives.

As in any structural debt crisis, blame falls on both the lender and borrower.

There need to be stricter limits for individuals borrowing six-figure sums and a higher degree of accountability for those granting the loans.

The most successful government program in the history of this country was the G.I. Bill, a program where men who made a substantial sacrifice upfront were rewarded with cheap loans they could use to buy a home, start a business or go to school. But this program was great specifically because it demanded real character-building sacrifice upfront. Today’s loan programs throw money at young adults and ask them to go develop their character on borrowed time and money. When they fail, for whatever reason, society bears the cost.

While college is still a great investment for individuals and for society, the law of diminishing returns is becoming a creeping reality. There’s an old saying that college is where you go to find yourself. That shouldn’t come at the cost of losing your future.

Nathaniel Olson (naolson4@wisc.edu) is a senior majoring in political science, history and psychology.

Nap stations would rejuvenate, re-energize student body Garth Beyer 34 percent and alertness by

54 percent. Employers who Columnist prefer to have well-rested employees on the job, such I grew up hating naps. as Google, Ben and Jerry’s This may have been due to and Zappos, have added the traumatic experience of designated napping areas to waking up from a nap when their facilities.

I was six years old to the Being college students, sound of chainsaws cutting you and I both know how down my favorite climbing valuable, beneficial and tree. revitalizing a nap is – Or it may have been I felt I especially if you’ve had to was wasting nearly an hour – pull an all-nighter or are sometimes accidentally more passing between classes that – of my day that could have just exhaust you. been spent doing homework, I’ve seen students plop working on a creative project outside and nap under a or getting in touch with tree. I’ve seen students curl someone who could help me up in corners of classroom get the job I wanted. buildings and Union South.

Or in the worst case, that I’ve also heard students tell I was just procrastinating. their friends after class they Really, the list is endless are going home just to nap. because anything is more Let me ask you this: would beneficial than a nap. Or is it? you be willing to advocate According to OnlineMBA, for napping stations on studies show a simple campus?

26-minute nap can boost For any nurses, doctors performance by as much as or medical assistants

reading, I’m going to beg your forgiveness for this comparison. Students are like workers in a hospital: overworked, underappreciated, racing from one room to another and always given more than they can handle. The working lifestyles are not too different.

The solution hospitals have arrived at has not been to lower the workload, hours or expectations.

They merely allow their workers – surgeons, nurses and practitioners – a place to rest.

If your mind jumps to the “nap station” in the TV series “Grey’s Anatomy,” let’s save those thoughts for a later column.

Now I know there are possible objections, so let me take a stab at rebutting them. Worried about stolen items? Add lockers or cuddle with your backpack. Worried

about the nap stations not positively representing the campus to visitors? Track the grades of students who actively use the nap stations. Worried about it not catching on? Let me respond to this in two parts.

“Being college students, you and I both know how valuable, beneficial and revitalizing a nap is — especially if you’ve had to pull an all-nighter or are passing between classes that just exhaust you.”

First, I’m not advocating for the high-tech sleeping pods used at Google. Nor am I hoping for a new

building specifically created in which to nap. What seems acceptable is a room or two, in certain buildings scattered around campus, dedicated to providing a comfortable and relaxing location to nap.

This idea isn’t so farfetched. Yuqi Hou, a Harvard College sophomore, recently got a petition signed and handed over to the dean for review, advocating for “a campus nap room, complete with individual cushions, which would be divided by curtains to allow privacy.” Hou agrees with me when he writes, “going back to the dorm to nap is not time-effective.”

While I opened with a discussion of the negative consequences of napping, I now realize creating an area to rest and recuperate has exactly the opposite effect.

Realistically speaking, it’s plausible students are

the largest demographic of nappers. At the University of Wisconsin, we need to continue to discover new ways to help students put in the maximum amount of effort and creativity. We need to assure energy levels are high, and no student is ever found dozing off even in the most – for lack of better term – boring class.

A nap station isn’t too much to ask for, and I cannot think of a way that it would negatively impact our campus.

If you can think of any ways nap stations would negatively impact our campus, or if you want to support nap station advocacy, visit the online version of this article and leave a comment or send me an email.

Garth Beyer (gbeyer@wisc. edu) is a junior majoring in journalism.

Your Opinion · Send your letters to the editor and guest columns to oped@badgerherald.com. Publication is based on space and takes into account relevance and quality. Letters should be sent exclusively to the Herald. Unsigned letters will not be published. All submissions may be edited by the Herald for length and style. Reader feedback on all articles and columns can be posted at badgerherald.com, where all print content is archived.

Comics

Finally Free of Human Waste Noah J. Yuenkel comics@badgerherald.com

5

The Badger Herald | Comics | Thursday, February 28, 2013

WHAT IS THIS

SUDOKU

HERALD COMICS

PRESENTS

S

U

D

O

K

U WHITE BREAD & TOAST

toast@badgerherald.com

MIKE BERG

NONSENSE? Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, and F. What? You still don’t get it? It’s not calculus or anything. Honestly, if you don’t know how to do a sudoku by now, you’ve probably got more issues than this newspaper.

TWENTY POUND BABY

DIFFICULTY RATING: That was a scary couple of years

HERALD COMICS

CLASSIC MADCAPS PRESENTS

K

A

K

U

R

O

baby@badgerherald.com

STEPHEN TYLER CONRAD

madcaps@badgerherald.com

MOLLY MALONEY

HOW DO I

KAKURO?

I know, I know. Kakuro.

Looks crazy, right?

This ain’t no time to panic, friend, so keep it cool and I’ll walk you through. Here’s the low down: each clue tells you what the sum of the numbers to the right or down must add up to.

Repeating numbers?

Not in this part of town.

And that’s that, slick.

C’EST LA MORT

paragon@badgerherald.com

PARAGON

The Kakuro Unique Sum Chart Cells Clue 2 3 2 4 2 16 2 17

DIFFICULTY RATING: Classifieds, however: still 38% poops

MOUSELY & FLOYD

NOAH J. YUENKEL

Possibilities { 1, 2 } { 1, 3 } { 7, 9 } { 8, 9 }

3 3 3 3

6 7 23 24

{ 1, 2, 3 } { 1, 2, 4 } { 6, 8, 9 } { 7, 8, 9 }

4 4 4 4

10 11 29 30

{ 1, 2, 3, 4 } { 1, 2, 3, 5 } { 5, 7, 8, 9 } { 6, 7, 8, 9 }

5 5 5 5

15 16 34 35

{ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 } { 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 } { 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 } { 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 }

6 6 6 6

21 22 38 39

{ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 } { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 } { 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 } { 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 }

7 7 7 7

28 29 41 42

{ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 } { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 } { 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 } { 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 }

8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8

36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44

{ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 } { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 } { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 } { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 } { 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 } { 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 } { 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 } { 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 } { 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 }

nyuenkel@badgerherald.com

BUNI

HERALD COMICS

THE SKY PIRATES

YA BOI INC.

COLLIN LA FLEUR

VINCENT CHENG

random@badgerherald.com

skypirate@badgerherald.com

yaboi@badgerherald.com

BEADY EYES

BRONTË MANSFIELD

comics@badgerherald.com

YOUR COMIC

YOUR NAME

comics@badgerherald.com

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

27 Sweater material 28 It stops at 17 18 Manhattan’s 19 20 Washington Square and 21 22 23 24 25 Rockefeller 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 Center 29 Affair of the 33 34 35 36 37 1980s 38 39 40 41 31 Bygone political inits.

42 43 44 45 34 Sushi fish 46 47 48 49 50 36 Part of the Iams logo 51 52 53 54 40 Fraternity 55 56 57 58 59 60 letters 45 Side by side 61 62 63 64 47 See 67-Across 65 66 49 “You’re 67 68 welcome, amigo” 52 Line that Puzzle by Michael Shteyman ended in 11 Dangerous whose name one or two Across 1917 family is Spanish for sides 1 Chiquita 54 Consistent 12 Meal morsel “race” 35 Part of a import with 13 Type letters 66 Decorative baby’s daily 8 Sailor’s heavy 14 Medicine melody schedule jacket 56 Leave rolling amt. added above 37 Port ___ 15 1968 to the in the aisles 20 Colorful fish 57 “Good job!” a simple 38 City that’s present, in 23 Country lads 58 Ride in musical home to tennis 24 Newsweek theme three Unesco 16 Gathers on London and others 67 With World the surface, 59 Rice-A-___ 25 She was on 47-Down, Heritage Sites as a layer of 60 Talk show the cover of popular hotel 39 Tabloid molecules times: Abbr. back-to-back chain TV show 17 Small image 61 Pal issues of Time co-hosted by 68 Goddess displayed in 62 “Kapow!” in September with a golden Mario Lopez a browser’s 63 City 1997 chariot 41 Atomic address bar community, 26 Metalworker’s 18 Quick break 42 “Broccoli informally tool Down again?,” e.g.

19 Subject 1 Sockeroo 43 Tale of a 2010 2 On ___ with 44 Put on guard biography Rocky the Herald Comics Raccoon™ 3 Gulf of 46 Hollywood’s subtitled I find that Finland Roberts and “The Voice” it’s quite easy to feeder others 21 Marie stave off seasonal 4 Have ___ 48 Part of P.S.T.: Antoinette’s affective disorder by holistically treating with Abbr. loss the affliction with a 50 Several “Boris 5 Unimaginative 22 Title modicum of therapy, gift, maybe Godunov” boy in a solar-spectrum 6 Sprang parts Humperdinck lighting and a self-prescribed 7 “Madness put 51 Lapsed opera measure of rum, to good uses,” 53 Back 26 Forearm taken orally. per George 55 Compact bones Santayana since 1982 30 Word before 8 Nickname for 61 Bordering and after Haydn state “yeah” 9 First lady of 64 Two 32 “Whoa, the 1910s 65 Line of baby!”

10 Off course Porsches 33 It may have 15

ERICA LOPPNOW

PRESENTS

CROSSWORD 1

RANDOM DOODLES

pascle@badgerherald.com

RYAN PAGELOW

16

Get today’s puzzle solutions at badgerherald.com

ArtsEtc. Editors Tim Hadick & Colin Kellogg arts@badgerherald.com

6

The Badger Herald | Arts | Thursday, February 28, 2013

ArtsEtc. THE BADGER HERALD PRESENTS “HERALD ARCADE”

Fantasy world of ‘Ni no Kuni’ New game from Level-5 brought to life by studio behind ‘Spirited Away’ Christian Moberg Herald Arcade Columnist

Courtesy of Slow Life Games

The dean, professors, assistant professors, dissertators and teaching assistants serve as player options in ‘Ivory Tower Defenders’ against student invaders in campus game setting.

Video game satirizes academia First release from Slow Life Games features professors armed with books as weapons Bennet Goldstein ArtsEtc. Staff Writer Tower defense games make me anxious. The combination of Tetris-like time limits and impending doom brings out feelings of childhood inadequacy, and the multitasking becomes overwhelming.

As soon as I opened “Ivory Tower Defenders,” however, I laughed at the start menu’s satirization of academia. The levity of the game’s premise – college staff blockading the entrances of campus buildings against hordes of students – eased my fears. Seven hours later, I was one point from beating the game.

The design and setup of “Ivory Tower Defenders” is saturated with insider knowledge only a graduate student would know. Indeed, this is the case because game co-designer Dorothy Finnigan was enrolled in a graduate program before she left the academy. Finnigan and her partner Django Zeaman went on to found an independent game company, Slow Life Games. “Ivory Tower Defenders” is their first release and available for download on iPhones and iPads, as well as Android devices.

Gameplay is straightforward.

Five

Tim Hadick

caricatures of students enter a campus building and walk through corridors in which players place defender characters: teaching assistants, dissertators, assistant professors, tenured professors and deans. Each university staff member uses a unique weapon to knock out students before they sit down in chairs scattered throughout the room.

Cleverly, the designers provide a rationale for the cost and weapon choice of staff.

Because TAs are “fast, cheap and plentiful,” they are the beginner’s weapon and easiest to upgrade. In contrast, the full professor is expensive to purchase because tenure does not come easily. Thankfully, his crankiness – a result of excessive research – translates into his throwing massive books at students, causing great damage. Likewise, the dissertator’s tome is heavy, but he takes considerably longer than the professor to throw it.

While university staff are appropriately fitted with weapons, the enemy students’ abilities (namely speed and stamina) are not as rationally chosen. For example, art students inexplicably “travel in groups.”

The designers also claim players must vary their strategies to knock out the

different kinds of students.

While this sounds good in theory, it does not translate into gameplay. Given the small lengths of corridors, strategy often boils down to placing the most powerful staff in a long row near the entrance: basically blast the students with the biggest guns you can afford as soon as possible.

Nearly all of them succumb in the same length of time once the most powerful staff are deployed. Given the relative straightforwardness of this strategy, gameplay loses its novelty quickly. Players may tire of the repetition, magnified by the game’s inclusion of only four levels.

However, for real-life graduate students, this tedium may be abated by the opportunity to digitally live out their discussion section fantasies of throwing blue books at frustrating students.

On the other hand, as chairs fill, students alter their paths.

The unpredictability of this feature adds suspense, often pleasantly helping players win.

Another source of variety are the shapes of the corridors themselves. Students enter from multiple doorways.

Paths split. As such, staff must be placed in multiple rows, sometimes semi-circles.

The graphics of “Ivory Tower Defenders” are basic,

To pirate or not to pirate?

ArtsEtc. Editor

Access to TV, film via paid streaming sites limited, unfriendly to college budget Many college students pirate TV shows. They do so for various reasons, including not wanting to pay for premium cable subscriptions or their favorite shows are not online the day after they air. While anyone could argue that students should budget their finances or watch shows as they air, in this day and age, with college expenses and not having time to watch shows at their scheduled times, there’s no practical way anyone can manage paying for more than Netflix. It comes down to the fact that viewers want to enjoy popular shows and sometimes cannot do so through mainstream channels.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports “Game of Thrones” director David Petrarca as saying “illegal downloads did not matter because such shows thrived on ‘cultural buzz’” in an article online Tuesday. It’s this buzz surrounding “Game of Thrones” that drives student fans to pirate the show: there’s no easy, cheap access to it.

Another Morning Herald article published online two days later reports Petrarca backtracking on his previous statement.

I encourage TV lovers to watch shows on Hulu,

Netflix and individual, official TV streaming sites, but some shows (“Girls,” “American Horror Story” and “Californication”) are generally out of reach for a student. Those privileged enough to have parents with an HBO Go subscription are able to enjoy “Game of Thrones’” latest episode; the hype they create among their friend groups leads to a need to watch the show.

While the University issues a message to freshmen about not pirating, those warnings are generally geared toward using torrent software and downloading content. These warnings are geared toward peer-topeer services, where the active downloader is also the uploader of content. Most of my pirate friends just watch shows on streaming sites: a nice window pops up on our screens and the files that play disappear as soon as they close out of the window.

There’s very little guilt involved, and there shouldn’t be.

Piracy should always be a last resort to viewing content, but it should be tolerated when circumstances push viewers to watch shows illegally.

If only they didn’t have to resort to watching shows on sketchy sites.

sometimes pixelated, as characters move. Nonetheless, the game maintains its visual appeal for two reasons. While some objects are not drawn in fine detail, the arrangement of objects is intricate and thoughtful. In the seminar classroom, students scoot their chairs to face one another as they sit. In the library (which has an uncanny resemblance to the Wisconsin Historical Society’s reading room), students push lamp switches, casting a glow underneath the emerald glass lampshades. The colors are vivid and engaging.

Ultimately, the game’s leniency in scoring was the biggest factor in curbing my trepidation. As long as all but one of the incoming students are stopped, players advance to the next level. Given two levels contain 40 seats, it is safe to say players of all skill levels will manage to succeed.

However, try as I might, a brainiac student always fills that final seat on the last level.

Damn, another excuse to keep playing and risk actual academic failure.

Further information about “Ivory Tower Defenders” is located at slowlifegames.com.

The game is available for download in the iTunes Store and Google Play for $0.99.

Colin Kellogg ArtsEtc. Editor

Paying for content shows respect for creativity, worth avoiding malware Even though you may not be paying for pirated content, someone else is.

I’ve often heard people rationalize the use of pirated content by saying, “Well, it’s not like the highly-paid stars will miss the cash,” but celebrities are not the only ones whose work goes into TV shows and full-length films. A television episode or movie is the work of so many other people: writers, producers, cinematography staff, the sound and effects teams, as well as hair and makeup artists. And then there are the engineers and tech people who make sure we are able to enjoy the content we love in the variety of digital formats we crave it. As someone who hopes to be involved in the media industry someday, I don’t watch pirated content out of respect for the hard work and creativity that goes into making the magic of TV and film.

Sites like Netflix and Hulu Plus are relatively inexpensive when you consider the multitude of documentaries, TV episodes and movies literally at your fingertips. In a time where movie tickets often average $10, spending that same amount per month to enjoy hours and hours of recent

releases in the convenience of my apartment isn’t bad at all. With Hulu Plus, I am able to watch FOX shows like “New Girl” only a day after they air. This allows me to be caught up on the shows I love, not a week behind. If the shows you love are really that important, forking over a few extra dollars a month shouldn’t be a problem.

Though I personally struggle with my limited access to HBO shows (I’m obsessed with “Game of Thrones” but have only been able to buy season one), the ability to own DVDs of some of the most well-written, beautifully filmed shows on television (without spending time to search through sketchy sites on my computer) is well worth the wait.

Pirated content comes with risks - and even the slightest risk of contracting malware on my computer makes me balk. My entire life is on my computer, and potentially exposing very personal information to the eyes of hackers - not to mention dealing with my computer being out of commission while malware is removed - is not worth satisfying my privileged, first-world desire to watch any show or movie I want.

Earlier this year, the highly anticipated “Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch” was released in North America exclusively for the PlayStation 3.

Created by Level-5, the developers of the popular “Professor Layton” games, “Ni no Kuni” employs many familiar elements from other popular franchises. It employs a battle system with a similar construction to the successful “Tales” series and a monstercatching system reminiscent of any “Pokémon” game.

“Ni no Kuni” draws its popularity in part from Studio Ghibli, the Japanese film company that created “Spirited Away” and “Howl’s Moving Castle.” The story was crafted to feel like the player is watching a movie while playing the game. Like in many of Studio Ghibli’s films, Joe Hisaishi composed an amazing score to further bring the worlds of “Ni no Kuni” to life.

“Ni no Kuni” begins in Motorville, a town resembling an average American neighborhood, with the young Oliver. He is an average boy who hangs out with his friends and listens to his mom. The story picks up when Oliver’s mother dies of heart complications after saving him from drowning. Oliver goes back to his home and mourns his mother while clutching a doll she had given him.

When Oliver cries on the doll, it comes to life and it introduces itself as the King of the Fairies, Mr. Drippy.

Mr. Drippy tells Oliver there is a way to save his mother.

The only way to save her is to travel to Ni no Kuni and save it.

After Oliver agrees, Mr. Drippy teaches him the spell to go to Ni no Kuni, and the real adventure begins. Right away, Oliver learns he has the ability to heal those with a broken heart, anyone with anything from a lack of enthusiasm to a lack of kindness. Most of the story revolves around mending the hearts of people in both worlds.

The real challenge is the innovative battle system.

The first battles of the game are very basic: the player controls Oliver and can cast magic or strike the enemy with his wand.

The battles take place in a circle battlefield with free movement of Oliver allowed. Level-5 makes the battle interesting by making each action take a set amount of time. This creates the need for strategic timing during the battle. After some progression in the story, Oliver will get a familiar, a monster companion to aid him in battle that gains levels as Oliver does.

The familiar system adds another level of strategy to battle.

When Oliver calls on a familiar to fight, the player loses control of Oliver and gains control of the familiar.

Each familiar has a time limit for how long it can remain on the battlefield at one time.

Being able to switch between Oliver and his familiars is essential to surviving battle.

Unfortunately, the learning curve is a little steep.

Eventually, Oliver can begin to recruit more familiars, but each human character can only have three familiars at a time.

Each of these familiars can be fed in the menu to increase various stats. It works a lot like a pet game where the more a pet is fed the stronger and healthier it becomes.

The familiars, much like in Pokémon, can evolve to new forms.

Unlike Pokémon, once a familiar evolves, it reverts back to level one.

To throw one final wrench into the battle system, Level-5 added other playable human characters that battle with Oliver: Esther and Swaine. One big challenge is that only one player controls all three of these characters, and their subsequent familiars, at the same time. The player must learn to effectively switch between them and their familiars in order for the battle to go smoothly. This is where the addition of multiplayer would be incredibly convenient.

Level-5, however, did not provide any form of multiplayer gameplay, so the player must quickly adapt to the triple control.

“The story was crafted to feel like the player is watching a movie while playing the game.”

To make the game more player-friendly, Level-5 included two different types of gameplay: easy and normal.

Although this may be a game more directed toward a younger audience, normal mode should not be taken lightly. It has a level of difficulty that can make average gamers have a difficult time with boss battles.

“Ni no Kuni” is not without its problems.

The story itself is rather simplistic and is almost too much like a children’s movie for average gamers to take part in. The battle system, while unique, has a steep learning curve that can halt story advancement until the player has a decent grasp for switching between humans and familiars.

The explanations ingame are very basic and don’t really give the user a sense of what battle is like.

Although the game is childlike in many senses, fans of Studio Ghibli’s movies and fans of complex battles will not be disappointed with “Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch.” It holds all the magic of a Ghibli film while maintaining the strategy expected of games today.

Christian Moberg is a junior studying computer science and Japanese.

To place an ad in Classifieds: Elise Watson ewatson@badgerherald.com 257.4712 ext. 311

7

The Badger Herald | Classifieds | Thursday, February 28, 2013

Classifieds SC to blonde girl who works at Steenbock with the hot bod and the gorgeous face.

SC to James in English 220. I’ll take some of that! Thou art totally fineeeee

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VACATION

SC to Vinnie. I saw you on the 80 the other day and was reminded of how incredibly attractive you are. You probably don’t remember me because we had bio together over a year ago, but you are still as hot as ever!

SC to the ridiculously hot guy who donated blood next to me at the blood drive in Ogg yesterday. I can’t tell if I almost passed out from the blood loss or from you saying you were a lacrosse player.

SC to the blondie ID checker who works at the NAT. Your face makes Thursday mornings very enjoyable ;) SC to the gorgeous guy in the “St Baldricks” T shirt and blue shorts at the serf gym last night around 730pm. You are are a god!

SC to Sam. I will

make you strong black coffee and join you at the Shell any day of the week! You’re a weird boy, but it’s been worth every fucking second.

SC to MP. Time is love... You know I’m interested. If the feeling is mutual-show me! If it’s not--don’t hurt me, because that felt right and I’m falling hard.

SO to the brunette in the white laced top at Brats last night. You looked like you were having the time of your life on the dancefloor and it was adorable. Couldn’t help but smile. Come back same time next week so I can buy you a drink.

SC to the guy who helped me push out my black passat on spring street today.

I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you!

SC to a pretty girl in CS class whom I occasionally see wearing cute hat at South Union during lunch time. ASO to myself for not talking to her after trying to make eye contacts during the whole lecture.

SC to the auburn hair bearded fellow I see literally every day in the union whether I’m working or studying. You’re cute and I know I’ve served you beer before, but I forgot your name. - short haired slavemaiden to the union SC to Jay (AKA Silent Bob`s heterolife-mate). You have been and always will be my dream man...

SC to the smokin’ hot girl with short brown hair that works in the IMC. I’d let you hold my boom pole. ;) SC to the gorgeous brunette, blued eye girl I made eye contact with multiple times sitting diagonally behind me in Poli Sci 408. Promise we will be talking after lecture next week!

SC to Kelsey M in my Poli Sci seminar today. You are quiet in class, but you still have my attention. So beautiful.

SC to the computer lab watcher at Union South own Monday night. Thanks for letting me borrow your pen! Next time use it to write down your number.

8

The Badger Herald | Sports | Thursday, February 28, 2013

Ryan should be favorite for B1G Coach of Year award Ian McCue Right On Cue Understanding the success of the Wisconsin men’s basketball team this year starts with one underlying principle: Bo Ryan doesn’t change.

As the world surrounding him gets caught up in the Twitter-verse, as coaches toss out playbooks and start anew in search of the best system for today’s game, head coach Ryan remains a beacon of consistency in the college basketball world.

The critics — and there are more than a handful — say he wins through his system.

They say he wins ugly. They say his glacially-paced squads are nothing less than painful to watch. But he doesn’t care, flashing his 11 (and soon-tobe 12) consecutive NCAA tournament appearances as evidence that he may be stubborn, but damned if it doesn’t work.

In his 12 years in Madison, he may never have produced so much from such few resources as he has with a Badger unit that is making a last-second charge for the Big Ten title with three games remaining in conference play, the same Big Ten that has earned universal recognition as the nation’s most competitive college basketball conference in 2012.

He’s guiding a team without a single player averaging over 11.6 points per game to the edge of a Big Ten title, a team that the media selected to finish fifth in the preseason polls — and that was before junior starting point guard Josh Gasser went down with a torn ACL. Many have said this may be Ryan’s most masterful work of a career replete with surprisingly strong finishes, and they are right. It is just that body of work that should peg him not just as the front-

runner, but indeed the clear victor for Big Ten Coach of the Year honors.

It is an honor he has already earned twice — in his first year with the Badgers in 2002 and again in 2003 — and he is even more deserving of this one.

The only other season that compares to his body of work in 2012-13 came back in 200102, when UW earned a share of the Big Ten title despite the sizable hurdles of a new staff and a fresh (though still defensively-minded) system.

Though his 19-win campaign in his first season with Wisconsin was certainly impressive, the Big Ten was not stacked with the depth it has this year. In 2002, the Big Ten sent five teams to the NCAA tournament, none of them higher than a 4-seed despite Indiana (a 5-seed) making a run to the national title game.

If ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s latest predictions hold true, seven Big Ten squads will take part in March Madness this year and three of them will be either a No. 1 or No. 2 seed. The top-tobottom strength of basketball in the Midwest is nothing less than stunning and provides a massive boost to Ryan’s coach of the year resume.

So just who, exactly, are his competitors to win the award for the first time in a decade?

The most compelling case comes from Indiana’s Tom Crean, who has restored the glory to the cream and crimson in his fifth season with the Hoosiers. Crean deserves considerable praise for reversing the fortunes of a program that was in absolute shambles when he arrived in Bloomington in 2008. But Indiana was supposed to be an elite power this year.

With Cody Zeller returning after a star freshman campaign, highly-regarded freshman Yogi Ferrell manning the point and an even better-than-expected Victor Oladipo emerging as a National Player of the Year candidate, Crean’s roster is loaded with talent. At least two of his current players will likely be top-15 picks in June’s NBA

Jen Small The Badger Herald

Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan has led the Badgers to an impressive 20-8 record this season and is well in the running for a third career Big Ten Coach of the Year award. draft, and Indiana has lived up to the tremendous hype it faced as the nation’s top-ranked team in preseason polls.

Ryan, on the other hand, has relied on a much different case: three senior forwards who spent the bulk of their careers as role players (Jared Berggren, Mike Bruesewitz and Ryan Evans), a streaky shooter previously

regarded as a defensive liability ( junior Ben Brust), a sophomore guard who had seen sparse minutes forced to play out of position and man the point (Traevon Jackson) and an immensely talented freshman forward still learning the intricacies of the college game (Sam Dekker).

The fact Wisconsin has lost only one more conference game than Indiana despite a massive talent gap is a tribute to Ryan’s ability to shape his gameplans around his available pool of players.

The only other serious competitor for the award is Michigan State’s Tom Izzo.

Izzo has composed another marvelous year for the Spartans, a team also firmly planted in the conference

title race, but he still had more to work with than Ryan. And he just won the award in 2012 for the third time, and, as we all learned in kindergarten, sharing is a good thing, right?

When woeful shooting plagued the Badgers earlier this year, Ryan responded by convincing his players to fully buy in to his defensive principles, gradually sculpting them into one of the top defenses in not just the Big Ten but the nation.

In the words of the one freshman who has been an invaluable piece of the most unlikely of runs for the conference crown, Ryan’s way has become the Badger way.

“We’re just playing better Badger basketball, and that’s what we’re built [for] and

that’s what we’ve worked on to this point to get at,” Dekker said Sunday. “We think we can win every game, no matter where we’re playing, no matter who we’re playing.”

They have worked for this moment and that moment has arrived. It’s only fair to hand the hardware to a conductor of an orchestra that has grown all the more harmonious with time.

Because some things — like Wisconsin being in the mix for a Big Ten title come late February — will never change.

Ian is a senior majoring in journalism. Do you think Bo Ryan is the premier candidate for Big Ten Coach of the Year?

Let him know on Twitter @imccue or email him at imccue@badgerherald.com.

UW faces must-win series against UNO Nick Daniels Sports Content Editor When the No. 16 Wisconsin men’s hockey team heads to Omaha, Neb. Friday for a two-game series with the No. 13 NebraskaOmaha Mavericks, fans will be in for a battle between two teams that have found their success this season using very different styles of play.

Heading into the weekend, the Badgers (1411-7, 10-7-7 WCHA) currently lead the WCHA in fewest goals allowed with 2.21 per game, while the Mavericks (18-12-2, 14-8-2 WCHA) hold the top spot in goals scored per game averaging nearly 3.5.

For sophomore defenseman Jake McCabe, this classic matchup between a prolific offense and a stingy defense could be the deciding factor between the WCHA foes.

“The system we run is really effective on a small sheet of ice, which is what UNO has,” McCabe said.

“So I think that is what our focus is … taking away their time and space, giving them no outlets, and getting them to turn the puck over in the neutral zone.”

With senior center Derek Lee out indefinitely with a leg injury, which he sustained Monday in a 3-2 overtime loss to Penn State, the Badgers will be without their second-leading scorer, causing them to rely even further on their defense to

keep them in the game.

But the Mavericks aren’t leading the conference in goals without reason.

Boasting the leading scorer in the WCHA, junior forward Ryan Walters — setting the curve with 35 points this season — and three players in the top-ten point-getters this season, UNO has a number of players that McCabe and company will need to be aware of when they are on the ice, as any one of them is capable of putting Wisconsin down a goal.

“I think we’ve just got to be more aware he is out there,” McCabe said. “He’s a guy that likes to shoot the puck everywhere, all over the ice.”

“So for us defensively, we just have to be aware when [Walters] has the puck. He can score goals and put up points otherwise.”

After a frustrating loss in their final game at the Kohl Center Monday against future Big Ten opponent Penn State, Wisconsin returned to the ice Wednesday for practice with an obvious renewed intensity.

Having climbed up to No. 17 in the PairWise rankings — a poll that indicates a team’s chances at making the NCAA Tournament — after Sunday’s 5-0 win, the Badgers plummeted back to No. 28 and could now potentially be set for their third-straight missed tournament.

Despite the disheartening loss, the coaches and players

are not dwelling on it. In fact, they have moved on from it completely.

“We came to the rink today, and we didn’t even talk about that game,” McCabe said. “I expected maybe a little video of what we did, but that just kind of shows that we’re all moving forward.”

“The guys are focused,” assistant coach Gary Shuchuk added. “They know what they have to do. …

They can’t look back.”

However, even with renewed focus, finishing out the regular season with four straight wins, which may be the only way that the team qualifies for the NCAA tournament, will be no easy feat — a fact which the players are quick to admit.

“I’m not going to beat around the bush, it’s going to be difficult,” junior forward Mark Zengerle said.

“But we’ve beat some good teams before, it’s just going to be a matter of beating them back-to-back.”

Even if they can manage a pair of crucial victories over the Mavericks this weekend, one final WCHA series against conferenceleader St. Cloud State at the Coliseum in Madison stands between the Badgers and a potential at-large bid and season-long goal.

“We’re just going to have to play our best games,” Zengerle said. “It’s a gut check for us and we will need to be on top of our game if we want to make the tournament, which is the goal.”

The Badger Herald | Sports | Thursday, February 28, 2013

9

Learning curve unnoticable for Wisconsin pitcher The Badger Herald sits down with B1G Frosh of the Week Taylor-Stewart Paige Chris Lopez Sports Writer Recently named Big Ten Freshman of the Week, Wisconsin freshman pitcher and utility player TaylorPaige Stewart has been solid in her rookie year for the Badgers. Posting a 1-0 record with a spotless ERA and a save this past weekend in the Diamond 9 Tournament, Stewart has given her team a much needed boost on the mound, providing as a solid option besides veteran pitchers junior Cassandra Darrah and senior Meghan McIntosh.

The Badger Herald got a chance to sit down with the new kid on the mound and talk about New Zealand, awards and her idolization of Darrah among other things.

The Badger Herald: You had your fair share of schools to choose from, so why did you pick Wisconsin?

Taylor-Paige Stewart: I absolutely fell in love with the school and I absolutely love the coaching staff. When I came on my first trip, everyone says sometimes there’s that school that you just know [it’s for you] and I just fell in love with it.

BH: What was it like adjusting to the college lifestyle, especially being an student-athlete?

TS: I think being an athlete made it a lot easier. You have a builtin support system, and the girls here are very engaging. We had the captains take us to all our classes, which made it relatively easy.

BH: What do you plan on majoring in here at Wisconsin?

TS: That’s definitely up in the air right now, I had goals of going pre-med but we’ll see.

BH: Has Wisconsin lived up

DECKER, from 10 being so competitive,” head coach Mark Johnson said with a chuckle. “Whether we are playing ping pong or video games or on the ice playing shinny hockey, she wants to win, and I think that’s what ultimately drives her is that competitiveness.”

“Sometimes that helps her and sometimes that’s a hindrance to her but she is who she is and that’s a wonderful player and a pleasure to coach.”

Her competitive drive appears to those who watch Decker as an asset, and nothing else, to the young star. The 21-year-old has put up some of the most impressive numbers UW women’s hockey has ever seen, including the second highest mark in career game-winning goals (25), scores (113) and points (239). Decker also holds the program record for longest point streak, 32 games, lasting nearly a year, spanning over two seasons beginning Feb. 11, 2011 and ending last season on Jan. 6, 2012.

Not surprisingly, even as a youth player in a boys league she was on the ice with only winning in her mind.

“She would go around and throw some bodies around with the guys because back then we were close to being the bigger ones,” junior goaltender Alex Rigsby, who played on the same team with Decker at age 9, said laughing with an earto-ear grin. “So she would throw her body around.

Yeah, she has always been competitive.”

As the journey ahead remains unknown, what Decker has done up until this point is nothing short of remarkable.

A Golden Pupil Turns Teacher The freshman that showed up on campus back in the fall of 2009 had already found success, winning the national title

to your expectations academically?

TS: Definitely.

Wisconsin has very good academics, you can tell.

My courses have been challenging, but I have done all right.

BH: You grew up in California ... since this is your first year away from home, do you miss it?

TS: Yeah, sometimes when it was getting really cold I do. But I definitely wanted the change so I’m embracing it.

BH: Are you going to have a lot of family watch you play this next weekend at the tournament in Fullerton [Calif.]?

TS: Yeah, but I’m definitely trying to stay focused on this weekend.

BH: You grew up in California so have you gone to see CaliforniaBerkeley or Stanford play?

TS: Yeah, I have multiple times and I grew up playing against some of the girls at those schools, so it will be interesting.

BH: Would you say those teams are talented?

TS: Definitely. They have a huge reputation of being very good and have a huge reputation throughout history.

BH: What will it mean to beat one of these teams this weekend?

TS: I think it will say a lot about our program, and what our whole coaching staff has done in the last three years and where we’re headed, and just say, “Wisconsin is an up-and-coming program.”

BH: What’s your favorite softball memory at any level?

TS: I guess one, when I committed here, and two, when I made the New Zealand national team.

BH: You played softball for the New Zealand softball national team ... how did that happen?

TS: I am a dual citizen, so my mom was born in New Zealand. When I went to go train down there one summer just visiting family, I became really good friends with a family and [one of the daughters] was already

with her high school, Shattuck-St. Mary’s, senior year and having played as member of the national U-18 team.

While her momentum briefly went astray by breaking her wrist in her first series as a Badger, causing her to miss nine games, Decker went on to finish her opening season with 27 points, third most for Wisconsin, and 15 goals, earning three WCHA Rookie of the Week titles and a spot on the all-WCHA Rookie Team.

It was after this season when Decker decided she could be even better.

“She decided between April of her freshman year and September of her sophomore year that she was going to make a step and she put in a big effort over the summer and got big results out of it,” Johnson said. “And she has been one of the most dominating players in the world since that point.”

Despite her remarkable individual stats, it was the gold medal hanging around her neck that has meant the most.

“Winning the national championship my sophomore year was something that I never thought I was going to accomplish,” Decker said.

“It was awesome to get that under the belt kind of right away.”

Besides the shining badge of accomplishment, Decker also took away invaluable experience playing with 2011’s star senior Meghan Duggan.

Decker has consistently credited her mentor with who she tries to emulate both on and off the ice.

Now stepping into the leadership role Duggan held two years prior as captain, Decker is found after practice still on the ice teaching her younger teammates as Duggan once did for her.

“I think that [Duggan] stayed almost every day after practice with me and

Courtesy of UW Athletics

Taylor-Paige Stewart has made a quick splash for the Wisconsin softball team this season with a team-best .82 ERA, allowing just 14 hits and 2 earned runs in 17 innings of work. on the team. So, they got me connected and I went and tried out and I ended up making the team. So, I made the juniors team and then after juniors I ended up making the women’s team.

BH: What was your favorite memory from that experience?

TS: I guess two memories stand out. The biggest highlight of the tournament was learning how to play for a country, and the second was when I found out I was pitching against the U.S. team. Nerve-wracking to say the least ... an 18-year-old pitching against a bunch of women that you completely idolize and grew up thinking about.

BH: Would you say that experience helped you?

Do you fall back on that experience?

TS: Definitely, if I’m lacking some confidence now and then you kind of find a rough patch, you have to stop and think you have

had the experience. You just let yourself go out there and do what you know how to do.

BH: You were named Big Ten Freshman of the Week.

Did you celebrate at all?

TS: I think my teammates celebrated more than I did.

My roommates decorated my dorm room and went and got me cupcakes.

My teammates made the experience what it is.

BH: What has it been like learning from Cassandra Darrah?

TS: I have told Cass before that I love being on the same staff as her. I idolize her. I always ask her for help and she is a huge role model for me. I love watching her demeanor on the mound, definitely somebody to look up to.

BH: Did last week’s sixgame tournament wear you guys down?

TS: You’re always going to feel tired after six games; they were tough teams. On paper, they were supposed

to be better than us and we came out and played really hard. But now we’re all just really excited for California.

BH: Do you think last weekend’s experience is going to help you once Big Ten play rolls around?

TS: Definitely, you can always use experience for other games. There was a few times when we had to come back this weekend and it proved a lot about this team’s character and I think that is what we are going to take from it.

BH: What do you think your team needs to work on to keep getting better; anything in particular?

TS: I can’t think of anything specific but as long as everyone stays committed in working hard and improving on how we can support the team and what our different roles are I think we’ll be all right.

BH: Did you set any individual goals for yourself this season?

TS: As a pitching staff we set different goals every weekend. I guess the main goal is fulfilling my role wherever I can as a pitcher and doing everything I can when I go in.

BH: The team is off to a 10-1 start, what does that say about your team?

TS: I think we have a really good mix of girls, everyone is really focused on the goals our coaches have set for us. I think everyone has the right head on their shoulder and we’re all going in the same direction and we’re mixing really well right now.

BH: This program has never won a Big Ten championship, is this going to be the year?

TS: I think this definitely could be the year if we all stay focused and keep working on what we have to work on and everybody stays on the right path and works together. I think we’ve got a good group of girls here.

helped me out so I now try to stay out there and help these girls out whether it be little skills out on the ice or different learning aspects off the ice as well,” Decker, who aspires to be a coach one day, explained.

And no one has benefited more from Decker’s leadership than freshman forward Courtney Burke, who rooms with Decker on the road.

“It’s the leader she is. She is a great leader on and off the ice … you can come up to her and ask anything you want,” Burke said of the player she’s called a mentor all season long. “And [Decker] has a lot of confidence on the ice and it helps the team when we see that.”

No Regrets

Decker’s leadership has been one of the big reasons that a rocky 3-3-2 start to the season turned into one that saw Wisconsin earn its 21st win to end regular season play last weekend, helping the team enter the playoffs with a load of confidence.

The humble player won’t admit to being as stellar of a leader as those who have preceded her, but her role on the ice — leading UW in points (50), goals (27) and assists (23) — is one she takes seriously every game.

You can see it in each and every game in her determined, unpredictable and neverforgiving stride, accompanied by a look that always has one eye on the net.

“I have the same routine. I take a pregame nap … and get mentally ready,” she said. “I think that is a huge part of my game, being mentally prepared because I have to show up every game. My team counts on me so I try not to let them down.”

When her number of games as a Badger are finally set in stone, Decker will be heading off for her next big opportunity: a shot at an Olympic gold medal. Decker will tryout for Team USA in June and, if she makes it, will prepare nine months for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. Either way, she will return to UW at some point to finish her final semester.

“I want to make the Olympic team and hopefully win a gold medal,” Decker said.

“That’s what I have dreamed about ever since I was a kid so hopefully I can fulfill that within the next year.”

“Hopefully will not have to come back to school in the fall and take a year off,” she added, trying to hide back a big smile.

But right now her entire focus is on game 141, a battle in her home LaBahn Arena Friday night against St. Cloud State and remembering the journey that has got her to this point.

“I don’t have any regrets or anything, and no one should ever complain about going to school here and having a fun time,” Decker said.

Sports Editor Nick Korger sports@badgerherald.com

10 | Sp ports | Th Thurs ursday d ,F day ebr eb bruar aryy 228, 8 201 8, 2013 2013 Sports Thursday, February

SPORTS

Sigrid Hubertz The Badger Herald

Caroline Sage Associate Sports Editor An infectious leader. A fierce, intimidating competitor. A humbling character.

And unimaginable success.

That is what the Wisconsin women’s hockey team has gotten from four years of Brianna Decker.

One hundred and forty games after first putting her silver blade on the

ice for UW, the standout senior center is faced with the reality that this number could be forever frozen as she enters the playoff season with her Badgers for the last time.

Where that number ends up is entirely in the hands of Decker and her teammates. Losing two games this coming weekend in the first round of the WCHA tournament would make it a lowly 142. Or it could soar as high as 148 and a spot

in the NCAA title game — a place Decker is no stranger to with two trips in the past two seasons.

But it is up to this ambitious Badgers team (21-9-2) and their fearless leader as to where this season, and her UW career, will meet its end.

For Decker, the storybook ending with one last championship on the ice would be her obvious choice, but what matters more is the moments

off the ice in between.

“Win the national championship, of course,” she said about her final hopes for her time at UW. “But I think I want to just continue to have fun. I think we have a lot of fun on the team and I want to carry that with us no matter what.”

“Yeah, she has always been competitive” What separates the 2012 Patty

Kazmaier Award winner — given to Decker as college hockey’s top women’s player after leading the nation in goals (37) and tying for most points (82) last season — from most other hockey players is her unparalleled competitiveness that, when unleashed each time the puck drops, can’t be taken away.

“Stubborn, it’s between that and

DECKER, page 8