STUDENT MEDIA AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2018 · VOL 49 Issue 18 · BADGERHERALD.COM
BRUSHED ASIDE
Students of color struggle with an ethnic studies requirement clearly designed for a white majority
pg. 14
Photo by Sam Christensen Design by Yusra Murad
MADTOWN CRIER
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Madtown Crier Madtown refuses to slow down. Here are some upcoming events The Badger Herald recommends to keep you up to speed.
Friday 2/23 Porches w/ Girl Ray + Kevin Krater (of Hoops) at High Noon Saloon, doors open 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m., tickets starting at $15
Tuesday 2/20 History Sandwhiched In: Black Suffrage in Early Wisconsin at the Wisconsin Historical Museum, 12:15 - 1 p.m., $3 donation suggested
Wednesday 2/21 Tunes, Taps & Tacos at The Wise Restaurant & Bar, 6-8 p.m.
Thursday 2/22 The Mowgli’s w/ Mainland at High Noon Saloon, doors open at 7 p.m., show starts at 8 p.m., tickets $15
Friday 2/23
Saturday 2/24
Monday 2/26
WUD Music Presents: Palm w/ The Spirit of the Beehive at Der Rathskeller, 9 p.m., FREE
Saturday 2/24 Taleb Kweli presents the Radio Silence Tour at High Noon Saloon, doors open at 9 p.m. show at 10 p.m., tickets starting at $20
Sunday 2/25 Flow for Education at Inner Fire Yoga, 2-3 p.m., tickets $15 Rose Gold Hip-Hop Theater at Memorial Union, 7:00 p.m. (2/25 3 p.m.), FREE
2 • badgerherald.com • February 20, 2018
Madison Mixtape: Live, Free and Local at High Noon Saloon, 8 p.m., FREE
Monday 2/26 An American In Paris Master Class by Madison Ballet at 160 Westgate Mall, 6:30 - 9:30 p.m., tickets starting at $40
152 W. Johnson Suite 202 Madison WI, 53703
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Anti-Defamation League reports white supremacist propoganda on campuses rose 258 percent.
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Former UW student accused of 21 counts will plead guilty to five, just ahead of scheduled trial.
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COOK TO PLEAD GUILTY
SCREENWRITER, ACTRESS LENA WAITHE SPEAKS TO STUDENTS
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FRANK KAMINSKY RETURNS TO MADISON FOR UPSET WIN
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Queer, black creative provides insight to rapidly changing entertainment industry.
Badgers honor Kaminsky with ceremony, upset win against No. 6 Purdue
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Program aims to protect, improve quality of Dane County lakes
Plant Dane sells more than 40 native plants to residents at discounted price, informs individuals how they can help environment
by Abby Doeden City Editor
Dane County announced plans early February to continue the Plant Dane program this upcoming spring. The program’s goal is to protect the Dane County lakes, rivers and streams by selling native plants at a fraction of the regular price, said Dane County’s Land and Resources Department stormwater education coordinator Christal Campbell. The only stipulation is the plants have to be planted within Dane County, Campbell said. Customers can choose from more than 40 native plant species. All orders must be placed by March 19. Plants are $2.25 each and will be ordered in multiples of four. “Native plants have very long roots, in comparison to non-native plants,” Campbell said. “That helps for more infiltration so the water doesn’t run off as quickly into the streets, where it goes directly into the storm sewers.” Unlike North Chicago or Milwaukee, Madison’s storm sewers go straight into
lakes, rivers and streams without being filtered, Campbell said. Native plants also don’t need to be fertilized. Less fertilizer means less nitrogen flowing into lakes and rivers, University of Wisconsin professor emerita Joy Zedler said. “[Lately], we have more nitrogen and phosphorous and total suspended solids in surface water, runoff and flowing into our streams and rivers, wetlands and lakes,” Zedler said. Zedler said the increase in nitrogen and phosphorus in waters has been linked to a wider trend in the U.S. in the last decade — the spread of aquatic invasive species. As Dane County lakes receive more phosphorus, an algae bloom develops, turning the lakes into “pea soup,” Zedler said. Increased levels of nitrogen in county wetlands trigger invasions of Reed Canary Grass (RCG), Wisconsin’s worst invasive wetland weed, Zedler said. Where waters are nutrient rich and a bit salty, they likely favor invasive species more than natives, she said.
“RCG outcompetes our native wetland plants,” Zedler said. “It uses nitrogen more efficiently, so it overgrows them. My student found RCG reduces plant diversity by one half, as it invades our native sedge meadows. With so much wetland area already lost to urbanization, we need to keep every remaining bit and prevent it from being transformed by weeds.” While Plant Dane doesn’t directly prevent the spread of invasive species, in the past 14 years the county has seen an improvement in the water quality, Campbell said. But there are many programs in place to create better waters, Campbell said. The goal of Plant Dane, Campbell said, is to inform the public of what they can do to help. “What we’re trying to do is to encourage people to implement practices that reduce runoff into our storm drain, that leads to our surface waters,” Campbell said. Campbell also noted they want to promote infiltration, as dirt acts like a filter, cleaning stormwater before it gets into lakes.
While Plant Dane will help to decrease the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous in the waters, there is much more contributing to the county’s polluted waters, Zedler said. “Everyone everywhere [causes poor water quality],” Zedler said. “It’s caused by agriculture, urban lawns, street runoff and vehicles that have tires.” As tire treads become smooth, the material wears off onto the street, rainfall washes the water into the gutter and the water flows to the streams, Zedler said. Additionally, salt on the streets during the winter washes off sidewalks and streets and into the surface water. But Zedler believes the Plant Dane program is a good start and will help the public realize their effect on the environment. “A small garden project can have a huge impact by teaching people to be more mindful of the soil and native vegetation,” Zedler said. “When we all get the message, there will be visible effects wherever large areas are set aside and managed for native species.”
Hospitals across Wisconsin report prolonged IV solution shortage After Hurricane Maria, hospitals across the state, country have found certain treatment therapies increasingly unavailable by Gretchen Gerlach State Editor
A prolonged shortage of intravenous (IV) solution has begun to take a toll on hospitals and health systems throughout Wisconsin. In response to a February survey by the Wisconsin Hospital Association, 49 pharmacy leaders responsible for over 70 hospitals and health systems reported actively rationing IV solution to mitigate the effect on their patients and staff, according to a WHA press release. This shortage in solution is due to the hurricane season in Puerto Rico, where Hurricane Maria damaged, and temporarily closed, major drug manufacturing facilities. Months later, hospitals across Wisconsin and the U.S. have felt the repercussions — small-volume IV bags, amino acids and other treatment therapies are now increasingly unavailable. WHA vice president of workforce and clinical practice Ann Zenk said WHA was highly suspicious of a shortage following the hurricane. By mid-October, many hospitals had stated a shortage in IV solution, Zenk said. As a result of the shortage, a few organizations particularly low on IV solution have been forced to reschedule procedures or send patients to other facilities, according to WHA’s press release. As of now, however, 4• badgerherald.com • February 20, 2018
no hospitals have had to transfer patients or postpone treatments. Hospitals are having to cope with the shortage in solution by implementing different methods in which they administer drugs to patients, which can reduce efficiency among staff and raise healthcare costs, Zenk said. Jessica Benjamin, a medical safety pharmacist at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison, said her patients are fortunate as St. Mary’s is still able to give them the necessary drugs. Benjamin said, however, the shortage has imposed an extra workload on staff. At an intermediate level, Zenk said, hospitals are no longer using large IV-fluid bags which hang from a pole and drip through IV-fluid lines. Instead, hospitals have begun using syringes to administer fluids to patients. “Whereas before the shortage we were able to buy ready-made solutions, [pharmacists] now have to compound the fluid ourselves and make it accessible for syringe use,” Benjamin said. “We have to think about now, how will this solution be OK for a syringe.” This method of treatment does take more time compared to the IV-drip line, Zenk said. Patients with an IV drip can take their treatment with no nurse in the room, but the syringe method requires a nurse to come in periodically and sit by the patient’s bedside to administer the fluid.
Zenk also said substituting certain IV fluids for other IV fluids is also possible in some cases, and all hospitals are willing to share their supply of fluids if a neighboring hospital is lacking.
“Because this shortage has been so prolonged, what we are seeing now is a domino effect.”
Ann Zenk WHA vice president of workforce and clinical practice “We are used to a waxing-waning of shortages in things like small vials of sterile water used for injections, different kinds of medication, etc.,” Zenk said, “But because this shortage has been so prolonged, what we are seeing now is a domino effect. First, it was mini bags, then bigger bags, then IV solution and now syringes.” According to Zenk and Benjamin, the
shortage of solution has only compounded the effects of the flu season, with a much higher census of patients seeking influenza treatment and needing the necessary fluids to bring them back to health. Combined with the prolonged shortage, the flu season has the potential to be longer too, they said. “We have not had to turn patients away though,” Benjamin said. “We are trying very hard to maintain our inventory, to conserve and be mindful.” WHA is also urging members of the Wisconsin Legislature to sign a letter by the American Hospital Association encouraging the Federal Drug Administration to address the crisis with all its available resources. While the FDA has recently taken steps to alleviate the crisis by allowing the importation of saline products from other countries and also approving new saline products, the letter addresses hospitals nationwide who are concerned about the uncertainty as to when these products will be available and if there are any long-term solutions to this prolonged shortage. Hospitals everywhere are hoping to see this shortage come to an end soon, Zenk said. “We were told it would be months until this shortage ends,” Zenk said. “But now we are hearing relief in the coming weeks and months.”
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New UW lupus clinic looks to help Alec Cook pleads guilty to five of patients reclaim lives from disease 21 charges, waits for sentencing UW Health announces resource looking to bridge gap between treatment, providing emotional, psychological support for patients
Former University of Wisconsin student’s attorneys said deal was reached in light of negotiations, after judges ruled out evidence
by Madeline Boulanger Reporter
by Matt O’Connor Digital News Editor
University of Wisconsin Health opened a clinic Feb. 12 dedicated to offering comprehensive care to lupus patients. Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease more common in women than in men, and especially in young women, UW professor of medicine Kevin McKown said in an email to The Badger Herald. Common symptoms of lupus include fatigue, fever, joint pain, facial rash and chest pain. “The body’s own immune system attacks the body by mistake,” McKown said. “Any part of the body can be affected, but skin, joints, kidney and brain are commonly affected.” UW Health rheumatologist Shivani Garg noticed other effects of the disease on patients during her fellowship. As Garg built relationships with young lupus patients and noticed the patients were under stress as they were receiving treatment, the idea of the clinic began to grow. “When I was going through my fellowship I developed a bond with lupus patients,” Garg said. “[I saw] how much social and psychosocial stress they’re undergoing and how lupus diagnosis affects a human being overall, not just physical health but mental, emotional and financial health.” Garg said a gap exists in the treatment of the disease, as patients receiving treatment self-report poor qualities of life. The UW Health clinic has emerged to seal that gap. “After controlling the disease we still found that the patients are struggling through life and their quality of life isn’t that great,” Garg said. “These are young females who should not feel that way.” Garg said lupus involves both nonspecific and specific symptoms. Nonspecific symptoms include fatigue, headache, hair loss, rashes, joint pain and oral sores. Specific symptoms are often more serious and can cause permanent damage, Garg said. “More serious problems can affect any part of the body and include seizures, strokes, myocardial infarction, inflammation or blood clots in the lungs which can interfere with breathing and loss of kidney function, leading to the need for dialysis or kidney transplantation,” McKown said. “As a group, patients with [lupus] have higher rates of depression and more difficulty with daily
function and being employed.” The UW Health clinic aims to help patients with all symptoms to help patients reclaim their lives from lupus, Garg said. The clinic will offer comprehensive care to address all patient needs and provide patients with support at all levels, Garg said. “The multi-disciplinary nature of the UW lupus clinic will improve the care of patients with [lupus] by giving them access to rheumatologists who are lupus specialists, social workers who will be instrumental in getting social, emotional and psychological support to the patients and their families, and pharmacists who will discuss their medication plans in-depth,” McKown said. With regular treatment, many patients are able to lead normal lives with their lupus in remission, though there is still a stigma around the disease, Garg said. Garg said the clinic will help raise awareness about lupus and the struggle lupus patients face. “We still feel that lupus is a very wellknown disease but still there is a stigma behind not telling or how to express how other people would take a diagnosis of lupus,” Garg said. “This would spread awareness and then patients would be benefited in a comprehensive manner in better knowing their disease and expressing it out and living with lupus instead of letting lupus live their lives.” It is not only Madison residents who will benefit from the clinic’s services. Garg said the clinic serves the people of Wisconsin, as well as neighboring states. While the clinic isn’t free, it offers resources for those whose insurance does not cover its service, Garg said. “For the patients who don’t have insurance, we do have a UW charity fund,” Garg said. “If they don’t have insurance, definitely there are resources available, and we try to help them as much as we can.” The clinic is available to UW students living with lupus, Garg said. The clinic offers flexible hours to work with with class schedules, including early morning appointments and lunch hour options. The lupus clinic will be open Mondays from 8 a.m. to noon, and from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. “This clinic makes [lupus patients] manage their own symptoms and take their lives in their hands rather than just leaving it up to lupus,” Garg said.
In a plea deal reached Monday, lawyers for former University of Wisconsin student Alec Cook said he will plead guilty to five criminal charges largely involving sexual assault and stalking against female UW students. The plea deal came days before the first of Cook’s seven trials was set to begin early next week. The trial, which was to be held in Jefferson County, was set to try Cook on six counts involving sexual aggression with a female UW student. In the plea deal reached Monday, Cook’s attorneys said he will forgo his upcoming trials and will instead plead guilty to five of the 21 outstanding charges against him. Cook now waits roughly three months for a sentencing hearing, following a presentencing investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. The plea deal would dissolve the seven trials Cook currently faces. While the remaining counts against Cook would be dismissed, Cook’s attorneys said the judges could still take those counts into consideration when sentencing him. Cook’s attorneys said the deal was reached in light of ongoing negotiations between the state’s prosecuting attorneys and Cook’s legal team, and after judges
ruled earlier this year that Cook’s notebooks could not be used as evidence in his trials. Judges said the notebooks, which detailed Cook’s sexual improprieties, were outside the purview granted to detectives in a search warrant of Cook’s apartment.
Photo · Alec Cook’s plea deal came days before his trials were set to begin in Jefferson County. Alice Vagun The Badger Herald
February 20 ,2018 • badgerherald.com • 5
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Representative calls for stricter security after gun shop burglaries Store owners voice support for stricter measures to ensure firearms go to individuals who are ‘authorized’ to own them
by Molly Liebergall City Editor
Following the three-day span in late January when suspects burglarized Armageddon Supplies, Max Creek Outdoors and CTR Firearms in southern Wisconsin, Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison, renewed her call for a hearing on a bill that would require stricter retail gun shop security. The Legislative Reference Bureau first analyzed the bill in October, shortly after burglars drove a car through the front of PT Firearms in Cross Plains, Wisconsin and stole 14 guns. In December, Subeck and other representatives officially introduced Assembly Bill 728, which requires retail shops to secure guns when the store is unattended. Feb. 12, the legislature amended the proposed bill to detail the required materials and thickness of the vaults, cabinets or safes, as well as other semantics. “I was shocked by the ease with which these criminals were able to steal multiple unsecured firearms,” Subeck said in a press release. “As a result, these guns are now out on the streets posing a danger to the community.” Current federal rules only require firearm store owners to lock the doors to their shops after closing. Because of this, suspects in the recent burglaries were able to slip away with guns in tow before authorities arrived on the scene. The sole store where only cash was stolen was CTR Firearms, where owner Chris Endres had already chosen to establish extensive security measures for community safety reasons. “We made that decision from day one,” Endres said. “I would be absolutely devastated if I found out a little kid was shot with a gun that was stolen from my store.” Endres’ store security has already surpassed what Subeck’s bill would require — securing all guns sold at stores in Wisconsin using a safe, locked steel cabinet or a rod or cable running through the trigger guards. Endres supports Subeck’s bill because he believes no alarm system or amount of cameras will stop burglars if they can still physically reach the guns. For this reason, CTR Firearms contains a secured vault Endres said cannot be breached even if a car drove into it, as was the case for PT Firearms. PT Firearms assistant manager Daniel Riley declined to comment specifically on the
6• badgerherald.com • February 20, 2018
store’s support for the bill but said he is never opposed to procedures aimed at protecting the public. After last October ’s robbery, the store made “serious” changes — the specifics of which Riley could not disclose for security reasons — in order to ensure the prevention of another burglary. “We’re in the business of selling a product that we want to make sure only goes to people who are authorized to have it,” Riley said. “Something like this only hurts the community.” According to a report released in 2016 by the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, an average of 50 guns were lost or stolen from federally licensed dealers every day, amounting to 18,394 for the year nationwide. Captain Todd Christiansen of the Rock County Sheriff’s Department believes it is important to make it harder for firearms to be robbed from gun shops. As for the store owners, Christiansen said he at least hoped they would want to improve security in order to protect their investment if nothing else. Dane County Sheriff David Mahoney voiced his support for Subeck’s push to pass the bill, citing its ability to benefit the community. “Any protections that can keep guns out of the hands of those who cannot legally possess firearms is good public safety,” Mahoney said in an email to The Badger Herald. Unlike Mahoney, Gov. Scott Walker recently said he was unsure if the bill is necessary, according to reporting done by WKOW. Walker believes store owners would want to establish security measures autonomously, before any piece of legislation, should this “epidemic” of burglaries continue. Endres countered Walker ’s view, comparing the assumption that owners will establish security improvements to the assumption that people will not burn themselves on hot coffee – if cups have to be labeled “hot” so individuals know to be careful, gun shop owners have to be required to establish the proposed security measures. “This common-sense security measure will help keep our communities safe,” Subeck said.“With gun violence on the rise and mass shootings becoming all too commonplace, this is a simple measure to keep firearms off our streets and out of the
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Technology could change doctor’s decision-making process
Digital Intern software developed by UW Hospital professor has potential to improve quality of care delivered to patients
by Grady GIbson Reporter
A new form of medical technology designed to save hospitals money by helping doctors make more effective decisions is in the works at the University of Wisconsin Hospital. UW Hospital neurosurgery professor Joshua Medow is the brains behind the creation of this new software — known as the “Digital Intern.” The Digital Intern software helps medical professionals set goals, Medow said. Using the software, a doctor could set a goal of getting a patient’s platelet or hemoglobin count or get it to a certain level. The Digital Intern would run a series of complex algorithms surrounding the goal and offer a suggestion to the doctor on the best course of action to achieve it. “We’re able to improve the quality of medications that are being used and reduce the costs,” Medow said. “That’s really the value that we want to provide.” The Digital Intern software also takes into account a hospital’s electronic medical records and is capable of adapting to individual needs. The software also prioritizes less expensive means of treatment. “Sometimes a doctor just uses a drug because they like it, but it happens to be a really expensive drug,” Medow said. “[The software] allows organizations to prioritize drugs that are less expensive and actually reduce costs.” Medow likened the Digital Intern technology to an autopilot mode on an airplane.
By no means does the software override the doctor ’s intuition and judgment, Medow said. Instead, it aids their decisionmaking process, saves time and vastly improves the quality of care delivered to the patients. The Digital Intern would also allow doctors to manage significantly more patients. Medow gave an example of how if there is only one doctor in an Intensive Care Unit with three patients who are doing poorly and a fourth patient who is an organ donor and already brain-dead, the doctor ’s focus would mainly be on the first three patients, rendering the fourth patient a less-viable candidate for organ donation. Medow believes the Digital Intern could change that. “It became pretty obvious that you could do something far more complicated to improve the quality of medical care provided in the right circumstances, ” Medow said. Cutting down on unnecessary costs is not just a matter of concern for UW Hospital, UW Hospital neurologist Luke Bradbury said. Any hospital is working on cost containment, Bradbury said. With Digital Intern’s
Photo · UW Hospital neurosurgery professor Joshua Medow aims to have this technology implemented in hospitals across the country. Alex Arianga The Badger Herald
capabilities of prioritizing lessexpensive medicines and forms of treatment, hospitals across the country will receive a helping hand in minimizing expenses, Medow said. Medow aims to have this new technology implemented in hospitals across the country and anticipates it being a fairly simple process. One of the most crucial steps in introducing this software is getting
access to a hospital’s electronic medical records (EMRs), Medow said. Hospitals allowing this new technology access to its EMRs are a critical part of Digital Intern’s operations. Without records of how patients react to certain things and without a knowledge of the patient’s medical history, it would not be able to perform up to its full potential, Medow said. “I think the biggest obstacle [will be] actually getting people to try it. Nothing like this has ever existed to this degree,” Medow said. “Most people, when they think about algorithm-based designs, think about an algorithm that’s rigid . . . and that’s not what medicine is. This machine is able to learn and adjust accordingly.” Other obstacles include possible mishaps from doctors, like setting the wrong target and having the machine guide them towards a false goal, Medow said. There is also the potential for interns working at teaching
hospitals to become far too reliant on the guidance of the software — their digital counterpart — and not fully learning medical processes for themselves. Medow believes it is possible to avoid these complications by assuring interns are still able to learn under these new circumstances and successful operation of the new system ultimately comes down to faculty and individual workflow. “It is the future of medicine,” Medow said. “Most people didn’t even think this was possible to do, and we have actually accomplished it.”
February 20 ,2018 • badgerherald.com • 7
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Photo · Organizers such as the Chinese American Student Association served Chinese food including noodles and spring rolls at Rheta’s Market to celebrate Chinese New Year. Ella Guo The Badger Herald
Photo · Numerous activites were organized at the Lunar New Year Culture Night, including paper cutting, calligraphy and games. Daniel Yun The Badger Herald 8• badgerherald.com • February 20, 2018
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UW alumnus recognized as one of top 35 millennial influencers in US
Keven Stonewall uses his platform to increase health literacy, provide motivation for next generation of students interested in STEM by Mackenzie Christman Campus Editor
The Next Big Thing Movement named University of Wisconsin alumnus Keven Stonewall as one of the top 35 Millennial influencers late January. The Next Big Thing Movement seeks to bring together top millennial influencers from across the U.S. to help make a social change for humanity. At 17 years old, Stonewall started conducting medical research for Rush University Medical Center. It was there he began his first cancer-based research, working toward determining the impact age had on a mitoxantrone-based tumor vaccine in mice. The experiment Stonewall conducted consisted of injecting the tumor vaccine into mice, both young and old, followed by a second injection of aggressive colon cancer cells. The vaccine was effective on the young mice in just three days, and the results of Stonewall’s research have put a vaccine for elderly people with colon cancer in the works. Having started his work at such a young age, Stonewall felt honored to receive such a high recognition from the Next Big Thing
Movement. “I’ve put in a lot of hard work and sacrifice over the years, so it’s a great feeling to be recognized on the same platform as [other millennial influencers],” Stonewall said. During his undergraduate years at UW, Stonewall continued the cancer research he’d started during his internship at age 17. At UW, Stonewall studied preclinical models of allogeneic blood and marrow transplant to treat osteosarcoma and neuroblastoma. Stonewall said it was his time at UW that introduced him to his ability to impact the world. The starting point of his realization was working under the mentorship of UW assistant professor Dr. Christian Capitini conducting pediatric cancer research, Stonewall said. “Four years ago, if you would have told me I would be graduating from one of the top research universities in the world, I would not have believed you,” Stonewall said, “I met some pretty amazing people here at UW, and I am confident that Badgers truly are the future leaders of the world.” Stonewall focuses his research mainly
on the fight against colon cancer but has broadened his work to include studying a type of cancer called neuroblastoma. But Stonewall’s research has not stopped inside the lab. Stonewall said he shares his findings and spreads medical knowledge through various speaking engagements such as TEDx talks,
“ I met some pretty amazing
people here at UW, and I am confident that Badgers truly are the future leaders of the world.” Keven Stonewall and in media outlets like USA Today, the New York Daily News, MSNBC and Chicago SunTimes. “Increasing healthy literacy is a crucial step in order to eradicate diseases such as cancer
and diabetes,” Stonewall said. Stonewall also gives motivational speeches to a wide range of people, from high school and university students to members of churches and civic organizations. He shares with them his story of how he got involved with cancer research at such a young age. Stonewall said he uses his established platform to increase health literacy and wellness for all members of society, focusing his work as a motivational speaker on people from underprivileged communities. Stonewall hopes to prevent citizens from those demographics from becoming the next victims of illnesses such as cancer and diabetes. Those diseases tend to be silent killers of underprivileged communities who don’t have the access to health resources affluent groups do, Stonewall said. “Through [this focus], I am inspired to pave the way for the next generation of students interested in pursuing careers in medicine and science, technology, engineering and math,” Stonewall said.
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Lena Waithe sheds light on role of black culture in Hollywood ‘The Chi’ creator made first visit to Wisconsin, verbalizing impact on entertainment industry on sexually diverse, black creatives by Ben Sefarbi ArtsEtc. Editor
Almost all 1,000 seats in Varsity Hall were full when Emmy winning screenwriter Lena Waithe, the Black History Month keynote speaker, set foot in Wisconsin for the first time to speak on her unique rise within the television and media industry. The recently engaged Waithe is known for her role as Denise on the Netflix television series “Master of None,” which earned her aforementioned Emmy. The award made Waithe the first Black woman to win the award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. The 33-year-old Chicago native identifies as queer, which is imperative in understanding the character she plays on the show. A scene from “The Thanksgiving Episode” gives viewers a visual when Denise comes out to her mother, played by the legendary Angela Bassett. Bassett’s character is completely distraught when Denise comes out as gay. The scene is autobiographical as Waithe had a similar experience with her own coming out story. Being an African-American woman in this country comes with countless and substantial challenges, and viewers responded strongly to Denise and her experience. Talking to student media prior to her
presentation, Waithe said she believes the empathetic reaction to Denise was natural. “This is a human story. It’s not just a black story and it’s not just a lesbian story,” Waithe said. People see themselves in it. Waithe believes art serves a purpose when its content pushes society to become more progressive. Hollywood is now frantically searching to find the next big trend, and a renaissance of sorts is in full swing. Black artists like Waithe are having more of their work move to the mainstream, and executives are eager to capitalize. Waithe is gaining recognition for seizing the opportunity to present real experiences from the perspective of black communities. Waithe recognizes that if creative output can generate black dollars, a black creator will earn the chance to tell a story. The only color the entertainment industry sees is green, she says, and creators of color now have a greater platform to make the product. Nonetheless, while black success in the industry is without question a sign of progress, it’s just a drop in the bucket. There are dozens of movies with a predominantly white cast, production and executive staff that come out annually. The number for visionaries of color isn’t even close. “We get seven, we get four. It seems like an abundance because when we step up to
Photo · Undergraduate Kaitlynne Roling, a Chancellor-Powers Knapp Scholar, talks with Waithe during a meetand-greet session with invited UW students. Jeff Miller/UW Communications 10 • badgerherald.com • February 20, 2018
Photo ·Waithe talked to members of the UW community prior to her presentation in Vilas Hall. Jeff Miller/UW Communications the plate, we have to be Babe Ruth,” Waithe said. The comparison wasn’t made for the Chance The Rapper “3” fitted hat Waithe had turned back around, alluding to the New York slugger ’s jersey number, but for his legacy of always getting the job done with the bat in his hands. Waithe’s thoughts turned to the political atmosphere and the role it plays in black culture. “I don’t care about the police; I care about the policed. There’s a difference,” Waithe said. The policed are held to a higher standard. There’s no room for error as a person of color working to make a name for themselves in today’s environment. Especially from the role of a producer or director, black creatives like Waithe carry the added pressure that she calls the “Barack Obama rule.” She elaborated that if black people in positions of power aren’t perfect, their mistakes become ammunition in support of why people of color don’t deserve those powerful roles. Projects like Waithe’s “The Chi” are examples of black creators excelling in their craft. But if the quality of the content isn’t delivering at such a high level, the project might not reach fruition. Minority creators feel that they have to be phenomenal to break through the clutter or they won’t be given a chance to begin with. Waithe suggests that black artists won’t
be equal until they can be mediocre. They haven’t been given the luxury of being able to try something and fail. On the other hand, Waithe feels that white critics have a fear of seeming out-of-touch that makes it hard for them to give harsh assessments of shows and movies created by people of color. She proposes more people of color who understand the content of films and television shows should serve as critics and arbiters of taste and culture. From the exclusive media chat to the presentation to those in attendance on campus, the elephant in the room was never discussed. No one mentioned the sexual assault allegations against Waithe’s colleague and co-worker, “Master of None” star and creator Aziz Anzari that emerged in a nowinfamous Babe magazine article. That doesn’t mean they went without any allusion. “When people ask what I’m wearing, it’s a political statement,” Waithe told the crowd. She cares about fashion and her choice of clothing makes up her uniform, a personal dress code that signals strength and encompasses a suggestion of masculinity. Every day Waithe leaves her home, she feels as if she’s going to war, making her wardrobe a collection of armor. It did not escape notice when Waithe’s assistant threw back her scarf before the presentation to reveal just two words on the top of her black sweatshirt. “Believe women.”
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Big Dill and the Boys build strong reputation across isthmus
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After four short years of ‘fooling around,’ group has achieved dream of playing at venues such as High Noon Saloon, The Frequency by Celeste Benzschawel ArtsEtc. Staff Writer
There’s never a bad time to listen to some funky tunes, and Big Dill and the Boys have got some good ones. Over beers at Der Rathskeller, The Badger Herald talked with them about history, influences and their “psych-a-dill-ic” sound. The band is made up of University of Wisconsin seniors Will Hansen (guitar/vocals), Kevin McNamara (guitar/vocals), Brendan Andrews (bass guitar) and junior Nick Spiroff (drums). The boys are all from Milwaukee, but they never really grouped up until senior year of high school into their freshman year of college, they said. Jamming became a regular occurrence, and when Spiroff got to UW, they turned it into something official. “Fooling around” is how it started, the band said, but it’s grown into something else completely. They’ve been writing tunes inspired by bands like New Riders of the Purple Sage, the Grateful Dead, Neil Young, The Allman Brothers Band and the likes, Hansen said. McNamara threw in The Velvet Underground. They also spoke on behalf of Andrews, who drawn inspiration from Primus and Jaco Pastorius. “It’d be pretty blasphemous if I didn’t say the Grateful Dead,” Hansen said with a laugh. “Nick, he was mostly into hip-hop. I don’t know how to classify him — he likes hip-hop and Led Zeppelin.” Their music sounds like a ‘70s dream. They’ve got groovy baselines, some slide guitar (thank you!) and jazzy drums. Then McNamara’s Lou Reed-esque voice tops it off. Hansen and McNamara are the two who truly build the skeleton of the songs. Their process stems from anything creative, whether it’s right before bed at 3 a.m. or inspiration from poetry, they said. Everyone fills in their own parts, which then leaves room for change. “They definitely evolve,” Spinoff said. “They’re organic.” What was once a dream of theirs has become a
reality: playing gigs at venues like the High Noon Saloon and The Frequency. Having talent is obviously a big component, but knowing people helps, too. Madison poet FlowPoetry has been a big help to them in getting shows. “He’s like the Santa Clause of the jam scene — he just gives out shows to everyone,” Hansen said. Before the connections started falling in line, it took a lot more work to get their name out there. McNamara was relentlessly emailing venues, Spiroff said. Making music friends in and out of town has also made a huge difference. Having some friends in Colorado helped them land shows in Denver and Boulder, as well. Now that they’ve surpassed these milestones, the next step is completing their first album. They’ve had a few studio sessions already, and hope to finish it by late spring. Called “Dead on the Run,” there’s that feel of running from the law or doing something worthwhile, Hansen said. “There’s a song, ‘Black Widow,’ and one of the lines is ‘woke up to a dancing black widow,’ which is like an in-your-face ‘wake up, you’ve got to do something’ or you’re just gonna die,” Hansen said. In the end, it’s their love for jamming that drives everything forward. Never playing a song the exact same way twice keeps it interesting for them, they said. Working towards that peak where everyone is improvising and you end up on the same page during a show makes it fun. “It’s pretty wild cause you don’t know how you got there, but you’re all playing on the same plane,” Hansen said. While the boys are still in the same place, they’re going to keep playing together for the immediate future. So, watch out for Big Dill and the Boys if you’re ever in the mood for some groove.
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GAELIC STORM Photo · Big Dill and the Boys blends spices of rock, Americana and jazz to create a funky stew. Courtesy of Matthew Norman
2090 ATWOOD AVE • BARRYMORELIVE.COM February 20, 2018 • badgerherald.com • 11
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Avant-garde art-rock band Palm to perform at Der Rathskeller Group will bring rule-breaking alternative to simple, formulaic verse-chorus-bridge-chorus format to Madison campus by John Zack ArtsEtc. Staff Writer
Avant-garde adaptations of modern rock are difficult to come by. Oftentimes rock artists can easily be compared to those that came before them. Palm, coming to Der Rathskeller at Memorial Union Friday, Feb. 23, is not one of those artists. There are a multitude of descriptors that try their best to encapsulate Palm’s particular genre. Palm has been described as math rock, pop-rock and art rock, just to name a few. Eve Alpert, Palm’s guitarist and vocalist, understands genre identification is a hot topic. “I’ve thought about a lot of us as sort of the death of rock music in general, and how that’s such a conversation piece in the last few years,” Alpert said. “We are trying to embrace the genre, despite all of its problems and all of the regurgitation that occurs in the genre. We’re trying to celebrate it and twist it on its head.” With such a mission in mind, Palm’s music often abandons the formulaic verse-chorusbridge-chorus format, instead offering a more complex conversation between instruments that brings mesmerizing repetitions to the table. Alpert and fellow bandmate Kasra Kurt sought to form Palm during their time at college, where
they found local bands to influence their sound. “I think we got lucky we were able to see a lot of weird, uncommon music,” Alpert said. Alpert said local no wave bands were greater influences on Palm’s sound during their formative years, as well as the likes of Sonic Youth and Stereolab. Palm’s dense instrumentals and vocals seem to complement each other in a enthralling rhythm that functions and networks like a welloiled machine — a machine that will grab your attention and charm it into staying a bit longer than it initially intended to.w It’s difficult to rival such a sense of captivation invoked by a multiplicity of sounds and rhythms that can be heard throughout a number of their tracks. This anomalous rhythm-making is what makes Palm’s music almost hypnotic in nature. Alpert said Palm’s music could best be associated with the visuals of a skipping record, or the lines that appear on a paused VHS tape. Alpert described their music as “bright and colorful, but still really fragmented.” Palm released their latest album, Rock Island, on Feb. 9. Since Palm originally formed in 2011, they’ve been carefully crafting a distinctive sound ever since. This record in particular is a notably intentional effort by the band, Alpert said. “We’re all really happy with everything about it,” Alpert said. “It was much more of a conscious
effort to make the songs cohesive. We were able to really think about the record as a whole and what it could be, so it’s thematically more intentional.” That’s not to say that Palm’s previous releases are with any less merit, but Rock Island is markedly more aware of how it wishes to present itself. Even more to the point, even the title Rock Island denotes the hard work they’ve put into their new music. Distinguished from previous works by this strive to test their own limits and create a unified album, Rock Island has truly resonated with its band members. Alpert said that’s the signifying difference between Rock Island and previous releases like 2015’s Trading Basics. “It first popped into our heads when we visited Rock Island, Illinois on tour,” Alpert said. “When we felt like we were really being productive in our basement, working really hard in this dank, dark, dungeon-like basement, we felt like we were on ‘rock island’ and really pushing it.” Palm’s seeming constant upward sprawl into the world of innovative rock music has taken them to new heights that seem Photo · The unique rock group will bring an inventive unfettered by the modern approach to take on the genre. songwriting. To see this band’s inventive take on rock music in action, find them performing at Der Rathskeller on Feb. 23 at 9:00 p.m. Dylan Pearce/Palm - Rock Island
MFA student creates artwork centered on complexities, beauty of family Noël Ash encourages young artists to pursue their craft even while in the process of finding their inspiration and purpose by Melissa Simon ArtsEtc. Staff Writer
Master of the fine arts graduate student Noël Ash, has always been interested in depicting a theme of the struggles and beauties that come along with family life through her art. Ever since she was a little girl, she has loved expressing herself through her paintings. An artist from her church originally taught Ash and her sister the basic skills. She then took art classes at a small liberal arts college and later received her undergraduate degree from the Art Institute of Chicago. During her childhood and earlier life, Ash created paintings that generally reflected family life as a whole. She specifically focused on societal pressures: how strangers in public often closely monitor children’s behavior, making it more difficult than it already is to be a parent. After becoming a mother of three, Ash shifted her focus to center on the complexities of raising children. As a university housing resident, along with a community of other student parents, balancing the dedication that goes into schoolwork and raising children is a situation that never leaves Ash’s mind. She is currently working on a series about the country’s political divide and how that tension affects family relationships. Ash is interested in the issues that result from family members who hold opposite 12 • badgerherald.com • February 20, 2018
views on the political spectrum. The technique Ash uses is oil painting on canvas — she is classified as a realist figurative painter. In the past, families have acted for her paintings, yet she still made sure to depict the people for who they are, not someone else she wanted them to be. Ash is currently working on paintings of actual families living life naturally. She is lucky to have the opportunity to paint those who live with her in the university housing neighborhood. Art education requires creativity and attention to detail — hard work inevitably coincides with challenges. “The biggest challenge I have is that I don’t like to ‘hit the nail on the head’ … I don’t like to create pictures that are a direct obvious lesson,” Ash said. “I am always a little too coy and I try to allow the picture to hold more meaning that people have to get out of it on their own, and I think needs to be more obvious … or be clear without being overly obvious.” Ash enjoys illustrating the chaos that results from having children and spending time with the entire family. In order to make family a priority, the turmoil must be accepted, Ash explained. One of Ash’s personal favorite pieces is called “A Portrait of a University Family,” which portrays one of her neighbors’ family living life naturally. Ash sets the scene by describing that the mother is helping the oldest son with his homework and the daughter is
outside with her aunt, who is knitting and chatting on the phone. The husband is sitting on the couch with the youngest son, who is acting a little wildly. There are suitcases and a mattress behind the couch for the family members who constantly come to visit. “There is just a lot going on, and that is what it feels like in this place, [at home]” Ash said. “It’s not miserable, you know, it’s a beautiful space and there’s some nice light coming into the living room, but there’s a lot going on.” It’s important for Ash to include images of her own family in her painting series as well. The aspect of her relationship with her children that she tends to represent is an affectionate closeness with them, even though she may not have as much time as she would like to give to them. The painting illustrates herself with her daughter on her lap, portraying a physical closeness, even though they are each focused on their own task. Another piece includes her husband, who is reading a book, with all three kids on his lap who are watching a YouTube video. Ash feels a strong bond with her family, despite each of their hectic and busy individual lives. Ash advised younger artists and other students striving to pursue art to figure out what they want to create and follow that desire even if they are unsure about the significance. “Sometimes it’s important to make the work first
and figure out later why it draws you,” Ash said. After graduate school, Ash hopes to move to New York with her husband and children, where she will work on getting gallery representation. Almost all of Ash’s work is currently in the art show in Wausau until Feb. 25.
Photo · Ash’s sophisticated artwork includes images of her own family and children. Noël Ash/Ahrnsbrak Gallery
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Local comic pursues international recognition through sketch comedy
Originally from the Dairy State, Becky Chicoine continues rising in comedy ranks thanks to collaborations, intense work ethic by Jake Zinda ArtsEtc. Staff Writer
From a young age, Becky Chicoine knew she wanted to be involved in comedy. SNL, and specifically Molly Shannon, were staples of her television viewing diet, inspiring Chicoine to re-create an SNL skit in forensics class with her friends in high school. She transcribed the skit — her first foray into writing. She began to realize there was more to comedy than simply being a funny actor. After high school, Chicoine attended the University of Wisconsin for her undergraduate degree, focusing on theatre studies as well as legal studies. “You always have to have the fall-back plan, it also kept my parents happy,” she said when talking about how much she personally believed she would go into legal studies. During her time at UW, Chicoine mainly focused on theatrical acting, partially because she was mainly involved with the acting crowd who looked at it from a “stuck-up actor who thought what they were doing was more serious” perspective. She performed in multiple theatrical shows during her tenure — a performance of the ‘Crucible’ at Madison-Area Technical College, a few shows with the Community Theatre Guild in Madison, as well as a performance with the Madison Children’s Museum. After graduation, Chicoine moved to Chicago to pursue theatre more intensively, where she ended up performing musical theatre. While this was enjoyable, it wasn’t quite what she wanted, with thoughts of being an SNL-type actor still bouncing around in the back of her head. After a few years in Chicago performing inv shows here and there, she decided it was time to move to the city of Broadway and start doing
comedy. In New York City, Chicoine began to experiment with improv comedy while trying to find her voice. Chicoine said much of the reason her first foray into comedy became improv was due to her lack of confidence when it came to writing comedy down. It was at a intern comedy showcase that Chicoine met her soon to be partner, Sam Reece. While they didn’t know each other beforehand, they conveniently found themselves performing together. “Someone came up to us and told us that we would be funny together and we should go for it,” Chicoine said. Reece had a skit written up, which Chicoine agreed to perform in, marking the first time the “Girls with Brown Hair” got on stage and performed together. From there, they began to write together and perform around New York, their first show being at the nowextinct Upright Citizens Brigade theatre in Chelsea, which has since moved over to 42nd and 8th St. It wasn’t the most extravagant theatre, but there was something about it that, in Chicoine’s mind, always made it feel like she grew up there. The sketches between Chicoine and Reece grew in popularity, and they were soon featured on CollegeHumor, Splitsider, Mashable and more. It wasn’t too long until Reece and Chicoine decided to join up with O.S.F.U.G., a sketch comedy group known for their bits aimed to be under two minutes. They continued to perform at the UCB theatre, selling it out for more than four years, creating sketches that ended up on the ‘Funny or Die’ front-page, as well as other major internet-comedy platforms. Writing comedy can be pretty tricky, as what is funny to one person might not be funny to
Photo · The hilarious actress’ career gained traction from content posted on social media and YouTube. Becky Chicoine/Official Website
Photo · Sam Reece and Becky Chicoine have written work featured on Mashable, Slate, College Humor and more. Becky Chicoine & Sam Reece/Girls with Brown Hair the next. Live comedy doesn’t get the benefit of a laugh track that television or movies does to ensure the audience gives a positive reaction to the performance. Improv is one of Chicoine’s favorite ways to get the creative juices flowing, although she only performs improv once a year or so in order to keep her sharp. Having a group of people to write with can definitely help the process, which became evident as Chicoine broke down the process that “Girls with Brown Hair” use, as well as O.S.F.U.G. Both use similar techniques to get their ideas out with workshops and practices. O.S.F.U.G. is more intensive than “Girls with Brown Hair,” as more people always makes the process complicated, Chicoine said. O.S.F.U.G. performs a new show monthly, which gives the group the time they need to prep. There are four rehearsals leading up to a new show, with each one playing a specific role. The first meet-up is to give out different assignments for sketches, which are general outlines that aren’t always followed. “I’ll show up with what I want to do, regardless of the assignment,” Chicoine said. The second meeting is a table read, to workshop ideas and edit them to make them smoother or funnier. A third meeting focuses on rehearsing the material, and the final rehearsal is for final show preparations. A lot of work goes into sketches that start and finish as fast as possible, but for “the fast fucking sketch show,” it’s a labor of love.
It took Chicoine a while to find her footing within the comedic community, from being a young child enthralled with SNL to being a theatre major at UW. She found herself performing dramatic shows on campus, to musical theatre in Chicago and finally to the big city to make it all happen. For up-and-coming comedians, Chicoine wants young talent to focus on getting involved early and not being scared. “Start writing your own skits early on, get involved, because as cool as improv is, you want pieces that are polished. There isn’t money to be made in improv nowadays unless you’re touring the country,” Chicoine said. There was a disconnect between being a comedy actor and working within a SNL format when Chicoine was young, as Chicoine didn’t realize the amount of work that went into writing all of those sketches. By starting early, an aspiring comedian can hone their skills before it is do-ordie, as well as creating their own sketches for the internet in hopes of being found or going viral. It has been eight years now since Becky moved to New York and began working on her comedy career. She has come a long ways, with O.S.F.U.G being invited to perform at the 13th annual Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival in March. If you’re interested in checking out her comedy or simply learning more about Chicoine and her career, you can go to osfug.com, girlswithbrownhaircomedy.com or her self-titled personal website. February 20, 2018 • badgerherald.com • 13
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studies course, it’s not enough time for that kind of interpersonal transformation that we are looking for,” Sparks said.
A white design
STUDENTS, FACULT Y STRUGGLE TO DEFINE WHAT ETHNIC STUDIES MEANS AT UW
In classrooms, minority students feel equal parts tokenized, erased
Breanna Dioni enters through a set of double Managing Editor doors, scanning the room for an empty seat. A few moments pass as she unpacks her materials before the professor picks up where she left off last week — identity, black womanhood, post-reconstruction. Dioni’s arsenal of experience in Afro-American studies classrooms has mostly desensitized her to the piercing gaze of white eyes on her black body, demanding her intellectual labor. Still, her focus slips from underneath her fingertips, which graze a syllabus outlining her story with chapter titles and page numbers of others. It is a story she already knows, written in the scars from her ancestors on the palms of her hands. Chin resting in the palms of his white hands, Tommy ValtinErwin leans forward on his desk, absorbing his professor’s every word. This class has flipped his world around, and forever changed the way he understands how people move through their lives. Six semesters into his African cultural studies major, he is by Yusra Murad
grateful for a course which investigates racism not as a history but a component of the present. He believes many white people were put off with the title of this course, etched across his syllabus — “The Problem of Whiteness.” He is not one of them. The study of difference and power. This is the ethnic studies classroom. Given the history of non-white people in the U.S. and at UW, the need for ethnic studies curriculum is clear for many. But how to best administer such coursework at a predominantly white university can test the mind of the educator. And how to navigate the ethnic studies classroom as a student rather than the subject matter plagues the heart of the underrepresented student.
A painful history
In spring 1987, students at the University of Wisconsin, donning blackface, arrived to a “Fiji Island” party. A large caricature of a black island “native” greeted them on the Phi Gamma Delta lawn, with distorted lips and a bone through his nose. The incident was later cited in an October 1988 New York Times report on a different incident at another UW fraternity — a “slave auction,” which added yet another link to a string of events that “stirred racial unrest” on campus. In the fall of 1989, 92 percent of undergraduate students were white. As discussions of race relations at universities drew the national eye to Bascom Hill, these students became the first to greet the UW ethnic studies requirement. In 1989, the L&S Curriculum Committee developed the requirement to “better prepare students for life and careers in an increasingly multicultural U.S. environment, add breadth and depth to the university curriculum and improve the campus climate.” One decade later, complaints about the efficacy of ESR courses prompted the creation of operational guidelines by a review committee to better inform the process of reviewing courses proposed to carry the ethnic studies designation. The most recent review of courses was completed in 2003-04. But the study of difference and power does not exist in a vacuum. Thirteen years of an evolving, increasingly Designs by Anna Larson
14 • badgerherald.com • February 20, 2018
turbulent campus climate and a nation grappling with immense socio-political race-related movements have landed with great impact on the ethnic studies classroom. In 2016, the University Academic Planning Council initiated the second ESR review to confirm ESR courses still met the requirements and inform an effective teaching methodology. The review has produced nearly 20 recommendations. But much about the ESR — its implementation, its impact and the vocabulary used — remains nuanced and complex, for students and faculty alike. Campus-wide apathy The four learning outcomes of the ESR are awareness of history’s impact on the present, ability to recognize and question assumptions, consciousness of self and other and effective participation in a multicultural society. With over 200 courses fitting the requirement, the objective must be broadly stated, Elaine Klein, associate dean for academic planning, said. During the 2016-17 review, 225 ESR courses submitted their syllabi to renew their ESR designation. Sixteen syllabi were denied, leaving 209 courses. Despite the wide course array, three courses account for 32 percent of all ESR enrollments: Cultural Anthropology and Human Diversity, Problems of American Racial/Ethnic Minorities and Population Problems. Though Cultural Anthropology produced nine of the 16 syllabi that did not receive renewed designation, it alone accounts for 17 percent of enrollment. Sophomore Mahad Siad, currently enrolled in Cultural Anthropology, said his identity as a black man is especially salient to him in this course. Most students in his discussion section openly admit to taking the course to meet the ESR, not because they care. Siad’s observation is replicated in the data. Eighty percent of graduates take only one ethnic studies course, and administrators, faculty and students challenge the notion that this is adequate. Though it’s good that students complete their ESR within their first four semesters, Shannon Sparks, professor of American Indian studies and the chair of the ethnic studies subcommittee, notes the consequences of many students stopping there. “While students learn an immense amount in their ethnic
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It was her belief in the purpose of the ESR, compounded by reservations about how courses are taught and received, that motivated junior Anisa Yudawanti to serve as a student member on the ethnic studies subcommittee in 2016-17. “I think that ethnic studies courses are especially difficult and taxing for students of color,” Yudawanti said. “In my own experience, I am one of the only people of color in the room. And I struggle to find the balance between wanting to ... call out offensive things my white peers are saying, and not wanting to be seen as the representative for all people of color.” Seventy-five percent of undergraduates at UW identify as white, meaning students of color can be few and far between in every classroom on campus. UW junior Zawadi Carroll notes microaggressions in ethnic studies classrooms are often unaddressed by the professor. As a black student, she feels the onus put on minority students to use their lived experiences as tools to educate white students. “They really do rely on students of color, even when we just want to sit there and be students,” Carroll said. “I feel so bad for the black women in black women’s studies classes, because they don’t learn much.” Carroll is one of many students who challenges the ESR framework. The fourth ESR learning objective, “effective participation in a multicultural society,” states that the courses should teach students “to participate in a multicultural society more effectively, respectfully and meaningfully.” But minority students, by virtue of their identity, have no choice but to participate in a multicultural society. This outcome hardly applies, leading students like Carroll, Yudawanti and Dioni to question whether the ESR intends to serve their own educational needs. “I was hoping to get into these classrooms where I was critically analyzing … but then I get to class and I’m like, why am I still recycling information? I don’t feel like I’m being challenged,” Dioni said of her experience as an Afro-American studies major. “I wanted to apply and nuance my knowledge. But it felt like I was constantly arguing when I wanted to learn.” At UW, students from places with no ethnic diversity and little background knowledge share space with students of color, and it is a challenge to teach students with a broad range of knowledge with one brush, Sparks said. In theory, general education requirements must align with the capability of the greatest number of students, so the committee crafts learning objectives with the needs of the majority of students in mind. But taking an ethnic studies course specifically curated for white people is disturbing, Carroll said. “It’s traumatic — [we] have to come to class every day to convince
other students that we are human beings,” Carroll said. Even from his perspective as a white student, Valtin-Erwin said the structure of the courses and the vocabulary used in the requirements are problematic. Valtin-Erwin, who has taken a dozen or more ethnic studies courses, said they seem to be structured to serve white students. “The ESR is designed to benefit white people and their ability to function in a world where they’re not the only people in the world,” Valtin-Erwin said.
Resisting resentment
Valtin-Erwin and Sparks are two of many who believe this framework is difficult to break away from in Wisconsin, a place where it can feel like white people are the only people in the world. “I teach students that are like, ‘UW is such a diverse place,’” Sparks said. “No, it’s not — it’s the least diverse place I’ve ever been in my life. This is a state with horrific disparities across the board, some of the worst in the nation, and campus climate issues are reflective of larger issues.” According to the ethnic studies subcommittee survey of ESR faculty, 65 percent of respondents noted a major challenge is students lacking racial/ethnic vocabulary. As a teaching assistant for Masterpieces of African-American Literature, Meredith Nnoka also has observed resistances to learn in her students. Nnoka, who moves through a white institution as a minority student and a teacher, deeply appreciates the ESR, but acknowledges the problematic situations that arise in the classroom. “I can sense it. A lot of students question why they’re here,” Nnoka said. “‘I’m not racist, why do I need to be here?’ If something charged or controversial is said, people fall silent.” These controversial moments are not inconvenient byproducts of the courses, but written into the second learning objective: “to challenge students to question their own assumptions and preconceived notions on these topics.” But while the experience of challenging problematic beliefs on race and ethnicity may be enlightening for white students, the students and faculty of color sharing the space tend to bear the burden of hostility along that journey. Christy Clark-Pujara, professor of Introduction to AfricanAmerican History, notices resistance from students in the form of body language, questions asked and evaluations. “You’re teaching a course that a good chunk of students don’t want to take, teaching them a history they haven’t heard that is in opposition to a master narrative that they believe to be true,” ClarkPujara said.
Troubles with teaching
For Dioni, a troubling aspect of the ESR is not what students want to learn about non-white people, but who should be teaching it. While taking Black Women in America, Dioni grew tired of being
“I took Language, Race and Identity. My old, white, male professor got really excited about teaching us black vernacular.” - Rachel Haynes “The title implies, learn a little about people of color while you’re here. Wisconsin is huge on othering. The administration pushes stuff to the side for students of color, and ethnic studies is an example. The fact that it’s seen as an extra burden needs to be broken down.” - Zawadi Carroll “For the sake of my own emotional and mental health, I make the conscious decision to step back and engage in these conversations at times. I think that UW needs to invest in having ESR instructors go through proper training to engage in these conversations.” - Anisa Yudawanti
February 20, 2018 • badgerherald.com • 15
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“The most common comment I get from white students is, ‘why didn’t I know this earlier?’ Most students feel they enjoy the class, learned something from it.” - Christy Clark-Pujara “Empowering TA’s who are on the front lines in terms of interacting with students, grading their material — those are all things that take time and practice. Having clearer and more focused training would be really useful.” - Meredith Nnoka “If a class cannot be taught by a person of color, there does need to be a discussion among faculty on how to not marginalize students of color. And that discussion cannot be led by a white person.” - Liz Haberland-Ervin “I am hoping that UW steps up to the plate and makes these changes, and I don’t mean ‘fostering community’ for the sake of paper. I mean restructuring the way we look at each other.” -Breanna Dioni
16 • badgerherald.com • February 20, 2018
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graded on knowledge of her own lived experience by a white professor. “It felt really easy for me to be silenced in that class,” Dioni said. “The testimonies of black people deserve to be taught by black people. And if we look at [ethnic studies] departments that are chaired and led by white people, what does it say to the students?” The Afro-American studies department is one of those chaired by a white person. But Dioni said this is unsurprising. Among the 2,000 faculty, just shy of 21 percent are minorities and 2.5 percent are black. UW junior Jordan Owen credits her professor for her experience in Settlement and National Belonging. As a biracial JapaneseAmerican, learning her history from a woman of color she identified with made the classroom a space to explore her heritage. Owen said the faculty should have the lived experience of the identity they are teaching. “We can get into the whole debate about who is more qualified in the academic sense, but we can’t downplay the significance of representation — professors representing the material they teach,” Owen said. But among faculty, not all share Dioni’s and Owen’s perspective. Clark-Pujara believes courses must be judged by lectures, materials and readings. Successfully understanding and writing about the experience of others does not necessitate having experience, she said. Any professor trying to teach an experience that is not their own, as though it is firsthand, is problematic, Nnoka said. But she said there is “there is nothing wrong with a white professor teaching history.” Still, white professors must take note of their identity when leading an ethnic studies course, just as all educators in any subject should consider their privileges, Clark said, which can help prevent missteps. Yudawanti recalls a syllabus from a professor seeking ESR designation. It included a self-guided walking tour of south Madison, which troubled her. “If you reflect on the history of south Madison neighborhoods where immigrant families have been historically marginalized, it is irresponsible to tell groups of students to just wander around … like they’re at a zoo,” Yudawanti said. This underscores the need for an ethnic studies review committee, Yudawanti said. After voicing her concerns, members expressed agreement with holding instructors accountable and teaching them to enter communities with respect and responsibility, the way the ESR aims to teach students.
A loaded 3 credits
When sophomore Liz Haberland-Ervin draws on her experience in an ethnic studies course, she recalls it being tainted by feelings of dehumanization. But when asked whether the ESR should be eliminated, there was pause in her voice. “If the school were to take away the ESR, 75 percent of students wouldn’t have to, at least once, acknowledge the histories of people of color,” Haberland-Ervin said. For Clark-Pujara, teaching ethnic studies courses is an overwhelming positive. Through the semester, she witnesses hostility fade away, as students come to understand the history of non-white people is American history, central to who they are. Beyond anecdotal evidence, the data also suggests a change in attitudes before and after the completion of their ESR, Klein said. And ESR faculty overwhelmingly choose these courses because of a confidence in their transformative potential. Still, many seek a more holistic approach. “With any requirement, expecting transformation in a three-credit course experience is just too much to put on the faculty teaching,” Klein said.
While the ESR is necessary, Clark-Pujara said, it is also insufficient. One class over a college career will not address issues of inequality in today’s society. According to the ESS survey of ESR faculty, a clear majority believe increasing the ESR to two courses would be extremely valuable or have quite a bit of value. Sixty-nine percent of instructors rated lack of diversity in the classroom the most frequent challenge faced by ESR courses. This figure jumps to 82 percent among women of color faculty. While this is difficult to solve at the academic planning level, Klein and Sparks speculated the second largest challenge — students lacking racial/ ethnic vocabulary — could be lessened if students had more than just basic introduction. But expanding the ESR will give rise to obstacles. “Limited classes, limited instructors for these classes and ultimately limited funding in general are huge reasons why this would be difficult,” Yudawanti said. Klein stressed the already comprehensive process of giving courses the ESR designation with just a 3-credit requirement. The review found ESR classes already struggle to find sufficient faculty and TA’s. And Haberland-Ervin and Owen worry about increased resentment from students having to take more credits. As the ESS appoints a task force to assess implications of a 6-credit requirement, Owen says ethnic studies courses could make small but meaningful improvements, such as viewing this requirement in a historical context. “In the class, we talked about the history of ethnic studies in institutions. That was essential — every class should discuss the meaning of ethnic studies, and why it matters,” she said. Eventually, the university aims to infuse diversity across the curriculum, and the ESR is a step toward this future. But for the time being, a distinct program remains critical. Still, at a predominantly white institution, classrooms meant for non-white histories can lead to tense dynamics landing squarely on students of color — and cases of the latter demand review, Carroll said. One thing remains sure — the ESR is going nowhere. Armed with the recommendations of the 2017 review, the University General Education Committee plans to implement the first wave of new criteria by fall 2019. While the guidelines may need work before becoming productive learning experiences for all, the existence of an ethnic studies program is remarkable for the UW campus. “Ideally, those of us who teach the experiences of non-white people would love to be out of a job — if we actually had holistic histories,” Clark-Pujara said. “It’s a response to non-white people being ignored, marginalized and written out of existence in the academy. There is no greater violence than to deny people a place in the human story. That is what was normative before ethnic studies.”
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White supremacist propaganda has no business on college campuses Individual students must take on responsibility of standing up to prejudiced, bigoted rhetoric on campuses nationwide by Aly Niehans Columnist
Between the fall of 2016 and the fall of 2017, the amount of white supremacist propaganda distributed on college campuses across the country rose by 258 percent. Forty-four states and the District of Columbia have suffered from the increase in white supremacist propaganda, with Texas, California and Pennsylvania hit the hardest. According to the AntiDefamation League, white supremacists’ targeting of college campuses is not new, but gained traction in the fall of 2016, perhaps due to the troubling rhetoric of then President-elect Donald Trump. Of the 346 reported incidents occurring since Sept. 1, 2016, 290 took place in 2017, with 15 incidents already reported in 2018. The active white supremacist groups deploy different strategies to try to recruit college students. Identity Evropa, the most active of the groups, tends to stray away from typical white supremacist messages or images, instead choosing more innocuous slogans such as “Our generation. Our future. Our last chance. Identity Evropa also capitalizes on historical images of powerful white, predominately male figures, to showcase white power over other races. Other groups stick closer to the
color of their skin. It is not surprising that white supremacist groups are attempting to tap into the voting power and the moldable minds of college students. In some of our most formative years, where students are growing into adults, many on their own for the first time in their lives, political ideologies are subject to change. It is also
our responsibility to exercise our “FirstIt isAmendment rights to prevent white supremescist groups from gaining traction. and gaining a platform to continually marginalize minorities on campuses.
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not surprising that white supremacists are choosing now to further their twisted agendas, considering politicians nationwide are becoming more apt to spew racist rhetoric and support racist
policies. Moreover, it is undoubtedly true that college campuses have long been places for political ideas to be formed, disseminated and challenged among students and faculty. University of Wisconsin students protested the Vietnam War and rallied for civil rights for African Americans in the 1960s. More recently, students at UW have protested President Donald Trump’s election, marched for women’s rights and for the rights of immigrants. But organic rallies led by students that students actively wish to participate in are a far cry from what white supremacist groups are attempting to achieve on campuses. These groups are trying to infiltrate a university, spreading hateful rhetoric and messages in an environment where every student, regardless of their gender identity or color of their skin, deserves to feel safe and welcome, to cater to a minuscule minority of students
who identify with their harmful message. The majority of students are not asking for these groups to come to their school and preach about how white people are better than minorities. The majority of students don’t believe that this is true. The First Amendment grants white supremacists the right to spread their propaganda, to speak on college campuses, to hold rallies. But the same First Amendment also gives students the right to vocalize their disagreement with ideas that they deem harmful to their university’s community. It is our responsibility to exercise our First Amendment rights to prevent white supremacist groups from gaining traction and gaining a platform to continually marginalize minorities on campuses. Aly Niehans (aniehans@badgerherald.com) is a sophomore majoring in political science and intending to major in journalism.
Photo · Colleges are home to moldable minds that can easily be influences by new political opinions, causing white supremacist groups to use them as recruitment hubs. Katie Cooney
These groups are trying to infiltrate the “university, spreading hateful rhetoric and messages in an environment where every student, regardless of their gender identity or color of their skin deserves to feel safe and welcome...
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traditional propaganda, employing swastikas and other Nazi imagery or using slogans such as “It’s okay to be white.” Infamous white supremacist and alt-right leader Richard Spencer, when asked why college campuses were being targeted, responded, “this is a young person’s movement.” Eli Mosely, leader of Identity Evropa and one of the people responsible for the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville this past summer, believes not only have universities served as a political platform for decades but that they are fundamentally some of the most anti-white institutions in the country. Academia in America, according to Mosely, teaches white students to hate themselves and feel guilty about the February 20, 2018 • badgerherald.com • 17
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Philanthropy for UW System Math Initiative masks deeper issues
Private math education grants beneficial, but indicate flawed math curriculum, failing national education system by Adam Ramer Columnist
The UW System’s Math Initiative program has recently received a generous boost. Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation & Affiliates, a student-loan servicer based locally in Madison, has pledged $2.3 million toward the Math Initiative, a creation of the UW System. Math Initiative’s main objective is to decrease the number of students placed in remedial math courses, where students receive the brunt of financial cost but earn no official college credit. The Math Initiative program, verified by research, has proven impactful in making graduation more attainable for those students caught up in remedial work. Simply put, if they can learn the foundational math concepts in year one, they’re more likely to return in year two and spark a positive domino effect toward success in their academic careers. This generous grant is a meaningful contribution toward the ultimate aim of the UW System’s goal to alleviate the financial
burden of catching up for students who often come from low-income households or may be first-generation college students. Programs such as these fill crucial voids in the educational infrastructure in this state and most certainly should be expanded to reach more students. It’s truly troubling, that this is such a stringent issue for the UW System. A whole host of students are arriving at college without the key essentials to guide them towards success. Indeed, the burden falls upon the UW System to try and coherently fast-track what typically amounts to years of falling behind on academics. This failure is indicative of strapped high school systems whose instructional resources are simply not keeping up with the demands of students and the unceasing innovation defining today’s workforce. While private philanthropy is absolutely encouraged and particularly beneficial, the state simply hasn’t invested as much as it can, and absolutely should, toward preparing students for college and beyond.
Perhaps too, the state government should truly recalibrate the impact of its current mode of funding to achieve a more desirable outcome for a greater number of students. More broadly, this is a predicament plaguing the U.S. education system at large. Every year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development sponsors the Programme for International Student Assessment, which compares educational data in the subjects of reading, science and mathematics from participating nations around the globe. For the past several years, the U.S. has ranked in the middle of the pack on nearly every educational measurement, and when they’ve missed the middle of the pack, they have been outright appalling. Countries like Slovenia, Vietnam and Macao routinely top the U.S. in all three categories. Moreover, Asian and westernEuropean countries hold a comfortable dominance over the best of the U.S. in this annual reaffirmation of mediocrity. Students nationwide are bound to this sad state of
affairs, and sans any substantive reflection and prevailing change, we can expect no deviation from the consistent norm. Education is a persistent thorn in the side for policymakers in every corner of the country. Even before the days of No Child Left Behind, the U.S. ranking was deserving of nothing more than the term “abysmal.” NCLB elicited only marginal gains in educational attainment for the U.S., and while any gain is welcome, it has been 17 years since the last tangible nationwide effort to make U.S. standards the envy of the world. The burden of correcting this persistent problem has fallen into the hands of the very capable universities in the U.S., but even they alone cannot solve the problem. Until policymakers address the larger issue coherently, large donations on the part of private organizations are only symptomatic of immense structural issues at play. Michael Sauer (mjsauer2@wisc.edu) is a freshman intending to major in political science.
Madison officials must make decision about Confederate monuments After six months of inaction, removal of statues memorializing racism deniers in city-owned cemetery would be a welcomed change by Lucas Johnson Opinion Editor, Ed Board Chair
In America, the tension – oftentimes violent – between bigoted racists and marginalized groups and activists fighting for racial equality is a defining characteristic of our nation. This festering, unresolved conflict culminated in one of the most brutal protests in recent memory, which occurred Aug. 12, 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Unite the Right march was meant to voice opposition to the removal of Confederate monuments, but given how blatantly prejudiced the protesters were in terms of purpose and behavior, a counter-protest quickly developed, resulting in several injuries and the death of Charlottesville resident Heather Heyer. This is old news. But now, six months after this fateful protest, America sits in the same situation as it has since August. In fact, the fight has come even closer to home than ever before. As a consequence of the events in Charlottesville, Madison Mayor Paul Soglin called for the removal of two Confederate monuments in the city-owned Forest Hill Cemetery. 18 • badgerherald.com • February 20, 2018
This was Aug. 17, 2017. Authorities only took down one monument — a small plaque placed in 1981, which referred to the soldiers as “unsung heroes.” The larger monument, which memorializes 140 Confederate soldiers who died as prisoners of war at Camp Randall, still stands.
To say removing the monument in the “Forest Hill Cemetery would erase hsitory is hypocritical, to say the least...” This month, a public forum and a joint meeting of the Landmarks Commission, Parks Commission and Equal Opportunities Commission have come together to attempt to determine a plan for the remaining monument, but to no avail. Attendees of the joint meeting presented multiple perspectives on the issue. Madison resident Paul Sherman asserted the monument should stay put, as he believes politicizing the dead is inappropriate. “I don’t think that we need to have a historical debate within the confines of
the cemetery,” Sherman said, according to Wisconsin Public Radio. “Let’s just leave these soldiers’ markers as they are so they’re identified as human beings who are buried there like everybody else in the cemetery.” A marker for the dead seems appropriate, but one honoring their hateful reasons for war is insensitive. The monument was put in place in 1906 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a southern heritage organization maintaining the beliefs of the Lost Cause interpretation of the Civil War, which claims Confederate soldiers should be honored for their fight for states’ rights or defense against “northern aggression.” The Lost Cause interpretation is essentially the only way Confederate supporters could maintain a shred of honor — by erasing the inhumane, disgusting treatment of black slaves in America. To say removing the monument in the Forest Hill Cemetery would erase history is hypocritical, to say the least, given the erectors of the monument have tried to erase the shameful, treasonous past of the Confederacy since the surrender at
Appomattox. The fact a monument honoring men who have fought for racial inequality — the repercussions of which still affect black Americans today — lies in Madison, in a state which belonged to the Union, is preposterous. What is even more preposterous if the fact over half a year has passed without effective, meaningful action from Madison politicians. Racism is terrible. Honoring racists is even worse. This is a simple issue which should not take more than six months, nor multiple public meetings. Dismantling this monument does not erase history. The Civil War happened, and removing a monument does not change that, nor does it remove it from the American consciousness or the thoughts of Wisconsinites. What it does show is the denial of racial inequality is no longer acceptable. But if lack of action tells us anything, Madison still has a long way to go. Abigail Steinberg (asteinberg@badgerherald. com) is a freshman majoring in political science and intending to major in journalism.
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New welfare requirements harm beneficiaries, perpetuate inequality Instead of making coverage more difficult to obtain, minimum wage must increase to encourage financial independence by Cait Gibbons Columnist
Gov. Scott Walker is currently touring the state to propose a package of welfare reforms, set to be enacted January 2019. The package, which includes ten Senate Bills, proposes increased drug testing of welfare recipients, including the implementation of drug testing for all those vying for public housing, as well as increased work requirements for food stamp recipients. The proposals also stipulate an extension of the work requirements to parents with school-age children, who were previously exempt. Under the new bills, all able-bodied adults, including those with children aged 6-17, would be required to work 30 hours per week in order to be eligible for food stamps. Sen. LaTonya Johnson, D-Milwaukee, argued, “I believe it is morally unfair and unjust to threaten reduced access to food and shelter for low-income families with children.” And she is right. Given that more than 60 percent of FoodShare beneficiaries are families with minors in them, reducing allocations for non-compliant adults with children would be tantamount to reducing the allocation for the entire household and in turn, the children. The governor’s office specified, “any sanctions for noncompliance would be partial, only affecting the noncompliant adult’s portion of the allotment.” But FoodShare are allocated by household, and the governor’s office has failed to outline specific plans to implement these sanctions in such a way that would not impact the children. Scott Manley, a Wisconsin lobbyist, lauded Walker’s proposals, boasting, “Gov. Walker’s proposed reforms would actually incentivize work while making sure our government is still providing a hand up to those in need.” But Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison, said the issue is not that recipients aren’t working — the majority of able-bodied adults are working, but are unable to make a livable wage. The bigger issues, she explained “is about the people in this state who are working hard every day and are still living paycheck to paycheck and still need this extra help in order to make ends meet.” Massachusetts Institute of Technology outlines three baselines for income: poverty wage, minimum wage and a living wage. Poverty wage is defined as the amount of income needed to make to stay above the poverty line, while the living wage is “a market-based approach that draws upon geographically specific expenditure data related to a family’s likely minimum food, child care, health insurance, housing, transportation and other basic necessities.” The minimum wage in Wisconsin sits at $7.25 per hour, which, for someone working
full time, comes out to about $15,000 of annual income. Based on data compiled by MIT, $7.25 is just barely a high enough wage to keep one single adult above the poverty line. The livable wage for a single adult was calculated to be about $11.00 per hour. Additionally, Wisconsin’s current minimum wage isn’t even enough to keep one single parent with two kids out of poverty — this wage would need to be $9.00 per hour. According to the 2017 U.S. Census Bureau, there are about 11,667,000 single-parent households in the U.S. Of these, 35.6 percent were living in poverty, and 31.6 percent were food insecure, but 72.5 percent were employed for all or part of the year. This means there was a significant population of single parents who were employed but were still poor and/or food insecure. With unemployment in Wisconsin at just 3.4 percent, but poverty at 12.8 percent, it is clear that just working is not enough financial support for Wisconsin recipients. Such a low unemployment rate means the labor market is becoming increasingly competitive, meaning it is harder for
people with long bouts of unemployment to find jobs. Given that finding a job is already so hard, people who do manage to find jobs shouldn’t then still be struggling financially. If Wisconsin wants to support welfare recipients enough to help people establish financial independence, the governor’s office, first and foremost, needs to commit to raising the minimum wage. If someone is working full time at minimum wage, they should be able to live more comfortably than just paycheck to paycheck. Instead of spending money on unnecessary drug testing, we should be working to raise the minimum wage and establish beneficial programs that will help Wisconsin residents establish living wages for their families. If we do that, then families will actually be able to establish independence from welfare, as opposed to continuing around the poverty cycle. In an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio, Milwaukee resident and welfare recipient Bianca Shaw said, “I’ve picked myself up by the bootstraps time and time again, and I’ll tell you
making the decision to break a generational cycle of poverty and work myself off benefits is not as easy a task as you seem to think it is.” This new set of welfare reform bills will do nothing to break that cycle. It will instead continue the culture of humiliation of welfare recipients, punishment of those unable to find a job in the competitive job market and creation of insurmountable barriers for single parents — especially single mothers — who make up 80 percent of single-family households. The most effective way to break this cycle is, indubitably, raising the minimum wage to a point where families are able to establish financial independence. After all, no one actually wants to have to be on welfare. But the solution is not to discriminately kick people off — the solution is to build people up and aid them in creating a sustainable life for themselves and their families. Cait Gibbons (cgibbons3@wisc.edu) is a sophomore majoring in Chinese and statistics.
Photo - Per a recent annual survey, progress centered around tolerance made during the Obama administration has been more or less reversed since President Donald Trump took office. Joey Rueteman The Badger Herald
19 • badgerherald.com • February 20, 2018
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Frank Kaminsky returns to Kohl Center for ‘Frank Kaminsky Night’ Reflecting on Wisconsin legend’s rise to glory during his experience at UW on night of celebration, nail-biting win by Danny Farber Associate Sports Editor
After Thursday night’s ceremony, Frank Kaminsky’s No. 44 joins Ab Nichols No. 8 — the only numbers immortalized in the Kohl Center rafters. The Wisconsin Badgers honored Kaminsky not only with this commemoration but also with their play, as the team pulled off an enormous upset win against No. 6 Purdue. Kaminsky’s career in Wisconsin was illustrious, to say the least: two Final Four appearances, a Big Ten Championship and the John R. Wooden Player of the Year award are just a few of the accolades the star player earned during his stay in Madison. Kaminsky, however, was not the same figure leaving campus as he was entering it. During his halftime speech at Thursday’s game, Kaminsky even joked: “Day one I was a 6-foot-2 squeaky-voiced freshman, who — if a girl would have saw me — would have run in the other direction.” In 2011, Frank Kaminsky was a threestar prospect out of Benet Academy in Lisle, Illinois. As a redshirt freshman, then assistant coach Greg Gard admitted he wasn’t sure if Kaminsky was going to make it. This sentiment was further enforced by his first two seasons, where he averaged just 1.8 points in his freshman year and 4.2 points in his sophomore season in just around ten minutes of play a game. Fortunately, the hard work paid off for Kaminsky. By his senior year, the star center was averaging 18.8 points and 8.2 rebounds while shooting 42 percent from the three and 58 percent from the field. “He’s a poster child in terms of being very lightly recruited,” Gard said. “It was us and Northwestern, Indiana was kind of involved. That was it. He’s really a great role model for guys that are in the program and coming that you continue to work. You had two very non-effective years. If you continue to commit yourself and you continue to work, put in some time on your own, and invest in your body — in terms of what you do in the weight room and nutritionally — good things can happen, if you stay after it.” While a hard work ethic certainly helped Kaminsky become the player he is today, genetics also contributed to his late development. Kaminsky was a late bloomer, both statistically and physically. It is not typical for a 6-foot-2 high school freshman to become the tallest player on a Division 1 basketball team by their first year in college. 20 • badgerherald.com • February 20, 2018
“He’s very unique in that he was a point guard until he grew to 6-foot-10, 6-foot-11, 7 feet, so not a lot of guys have that,” Gard said. “We were fortunate. We’ve had a lot of guys who have come in and were guards and hit the growth spurt. When you can take that type of skillset and then all of a sudden you become a big guy, that’s unique. It’s a lot easier to teach somebody post skills that has played on the perimeter than it is to teach a post player perimeter skills and make decision making, shooting, those type of things. You can’t really flip it both ways.” Since Kaminsky grew up playing point guard, he already had his perimeter skills relatively polished by the time he came to UW. And as Coach Gard mentioned, it is a lot easier to learn how to play inside as a big man than it is to learn how to play around the perimeter. Another current Badger who had a similar growth spurt is the team’s leading scorer, Ethan Happ. Kaminsky is widely known for helping Happ’s development as they practiced Photo ·Kaminsky’s jersey will sit in the Kohl Center rafters as a reminder of his illustrious career. together when the forward was a redshirt freshman in the 2014-15 Chase Byington season. The Badger Herald Ethan Happ elaborated on how his time with Kaminsky helped him improve his game. Kaminsky’s own favorite memory on the “The biggest thing Frank did for me was, court was going to the Final Four twice, he didn’t really sit me down and tell me The biggest thing Frank did for me, he said. But beyond being a star player ‘Ethan, you should play defense this way “ was he didn’t really sit me down for the basketball team, Kaminsky was, or use some post moves,’” Happ said. “He anyone else, another student. Another more so just did it to me in practice every and tell me ‘Ethan, you should like Badger. day and eventually I just learned how to play defense this way or use some With his current obligations as an NBA play defense in a more efficient way and how to score more efficiently.” post moves.’ He more so just did player, Kaminsky doesn’t get opportunities to visit Madison too frequently. Don’t rule Kaminsky may have scored on Happ it to me in practice every day and out “Frank the Tank” making a return to countless times during practice, but Happ eventually I just learned how to the program, however, in some kind of role retained these lessons and grew through after his playing days are over. experience. score more efficiently. ” “What’s my contract? I’ll leave right While Kaminsky was both a role model now if you give me the exact contract I and a mentor during his time in Wisconsin, Ethan Happ want,” Kaminsky joked. “I hope one day I, he will perhaps be remembered most for at least, stay involved in the school at some his larger-than-life personality. capacity. But obviously, things can change.” With three years passing since their What will not change is the mark championship appearance, Aaron Moesch Kaminsky left on Wisconsin basketball. The is the only remaining Badger to have team’s level of play over his tenure will shared a court with Kaminsky. Moesch had not only help motivate current players but some words on the experiences he shared the confetti out of his mouth in the Big Ten Championship. When he walked out inspire future recruits to join the program. with Kaminsky during their two years the tunnel his senior night with a go pro The Badgers have usually been regarded as together. a good team over the past few decades, but “He looks like a goofball and he is a strapped to his chest. Those are the things goofball,” Moesch said. “The pictures that where you’re like, it was kind of off-the- Kaminsky’s superb play helped make them court, but it was probably too much on-thegreat. are going around with him trying to catch court for him to be having that much fun.”
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Badgers knock off no. 6 purdue in upset win
Photo Frank Kaminsky Night just may have inspired the Badgers to upset No. 6 Purdue. As a result, students stormed on the coutrt to celebrate with the team. Chase Byington The Badger Herald
February 20, 2018 • badgerherald.com • 21
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Joint Korean team creates major questions on international stage 2018 Winter Olympics scheduled to close Feb. 25, but may be only begining for new era of Korean diplomacy narrative.” Rather than continue to trot out the image of Kim Jong Un and the North Korean military, they are looking to put their athletes front and center. The 2018 Winter Olympics theme While many of their athletes are not top has got to be an underlying current of notch — Fields noted any less-than-par precariousness. I’m not only referring to performances would not be broadcasted the dare-devils riding skeleton or jumping back home in North Korea — the figure300 feet on skis, but also the geopolitics of skating duo of Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju the Korean peninsula. Sik performed quite well, though they fell The University of Wisconsin proudly short of the podium. watches as current and former Badgers Fields noted all of it amounts to what alike compete in the games in men’s and he called a “diplomatic charm offensive.” women’s ice hockey for Team U.S.A., Another motive he sees is an effort by Canada and even the joint team for Korea. North Korea to try and “drive a wedge” But their performances, win or lose, are between the South and the U.S. bookended by the possibility of a thawing “There’s a big gulf between how – ever so slightly – of Korean relations. South Koreans view the North and how A joint Korean team has marched at the Americans view the North,” Fields said. opening ceremonies of past Olympics but “We view North Korea as an enemy, as never competed together. very much a pariah state. The South The joint women’s hockey team this Koreans have a much more complicated year features 12 North Koreans, 22 South relationship with North Korea. They were Koreans and the massive weight of more only recently divided and for the previous than 70 years of division. 4,000 years it was one country.” Fields described the nature of how South Koreans view North Koreans as “family members, as kin, as brothers.” He clarified they understand the danger and it is not as if South Koreans are supportive of the North Korean State. However, they have “a fundamentally different view of North Korea than we do.” During a nuclear test in North Korea, when all the 24-hour news channels in the U.S. have Kim Jong Un’s face plastered next to a missile silo for two days, South Koreans are aware — but it is not nearly the same kind of media circus. Not only is it a callous grown from years of living next to a rogue nation — or, as Fields said, “a sense of fatalism” — but an understanding North Korea wouldn’t use these weapons on Photo ·Team USA Women’s Hockey features former Badgers Brianna Decker, Meghan Duggan, Hillary Knight and Alex Rigsby. them. by Will Stern Sports Editor
Peter Wayne Photography
22 • badgerherald.com • February 20, 2018
UW professor David Fields —a former Fulbright Scholar and current affiliated faculty at the UW Center of East Asian Studies — is an expert on U.S.-Korean relations. Fields is aware of much of the narrative perpetuated about this athletic unification. Depending on who you ask, this is either a heart-warming display of affinity or a Machiavellian scheme. But, he takes a much more measured approach to evaluate the event’s consequence. “It’s amazing how we look at a country like North Korea and try to ascribe a singular motivation to them,” Fields said. “Why are they developing nuclear weapons? There are all kinds of reasons.” Fields compared the way we look at North Korea to the very different way we evaluate something like the Iraq War and the U.S. decision to invade. The point is: Things are complicated, and state motivations are rarely cut-and-dry. In joining the Olympics, Fields said one of their efforts seems to be to “change the
Americans and onlookers across the world have a tendency to limit their consideration of the Korean conflict to only North Korea. South Korea is a democracy and a close ally, so many make the mistake of overlooking the South for the more bombastic, intriguing and dangerous North. This was quite overtly evident during these Olympics by the broadcast of NBC anchor Joshua Ramo. “[Japan] was a country which occupied Korea from 1910-45, but every Korean will tell you that Japan is a cultural, technological and economic example that has been so important to their own transformation,” Ramo said at the presence of the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the opening ceremony. Fields spoke of why he felt this obvious blunder, which disregarded years of Japanese colonization of Korea, was doubly offensive coming from an American. He made sure to note there are 50 million South Koreans and they all have their own view, but boiled down the majority of opinions to two sides. “Some Koreans view the U.S. occupation of South Korea after the Japanese colonization as salvation of half the peninsula,” Fields said. “Others view it as a continuation of the colonization of Korea — ‘the Japanese left just in time for the Americans to show up.’” With this in mind, it is hard not to shift your notion of the prevailing narrative which tells the story of the righteous U.S. defending their democratic pals from the hands of their evil twin neighbor. It is so much more complicated. As the Olympics carry on in Pyeongchang — 183 miles from the North Korean Capital Pyeongyang — know there is more to the story than Badger men’s hockey coach Tony Granato leading a ragtag team sans NHL’ers to possible Olympic glory, or Team U.S.A.’s women’s hockey team filled to the brim with Bucky’s friends trying to knock off Canada. In these Olympics, the most fascinating and complex rivalry plays on the same team.
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Figure skating club glides into second place in synchronized skating Despite worries over inexperience, unfamiliarity, team’s high placement at regionals signals bright future on ice by Will Stern Sports Editor
Amid the hullabaloo of the Winter Olympics, among the voices of novice figure-skating viewers critiquing Biellmann spins and bracket turns from their couches as if they have any clue what they are watching, sits Tolu Igun. And she is right at home, with a pretty good clue of exactly what she is watching. That’s because while the rest of us think about figure skating once every four years, or perhaps once more if a new Tonya Harding documentary premieres, Igun practices with her synchronized skating team at 6 a.m. Monday and Thursday mornings. The junior transferred to UW this year and immediately joined the synchronized team. The figure skating most of us see on television during the Olympics is known as freestyle. Synchronized skating is a team event, where skaters compete against other teams to woo judges with the “shapes of their elements” — displays such as an interlocking circle between all of the skaters, and how well they move in harmony. Igun is a psychology and philosophy major and sees the sport and its inherent connectivity as something truly special. “When you are out there skating with so many in unison, the power just increases,” Igun said. The team is full of excellent skaters, but not all of them are natives to the realm of synchronized skating. In fact, there are freestylers by trade like Igun, who only took up the sport recently, and even an athlete whose background
is in theater-on-ice. Then, of course, there are the skaters who have been doing it their whole life. “As long as you have the skills, you can compete,” Igun explained. Nobody embodies this more than the team’s coach, Briana Norys. Norys is a life-long skater, and thanks to a nationally-recognized synchronized skating club near where she grew up outside of Chicago, she had the opportunity to win five national championships and compete for Team U.S.A. Norys competed with the team as a student, and in her senior year became the coach. She is now in her third year. In basketball, casual fans know coach Greg Gard will be yelling at his players to box-out, take smarter shots and play tougher defense during the game. But in synchronized skating, coaching is all in the preparation. “Since this sport has the word ‘synchronized’ in it, my main focus as a coach is unison and detail. The smallest details matter like the position of their arms, the direction of their heads or the expression on their faces, to name a few,” Norys said. Practice is the time to make, and perfect, all of the adjustments. And then the team is given just one chance to show the judges exactly what they can bring. But anyone on the team will tell you, the season did not start off on the right skate. “We weren’t necessarily ready at the beginning of the season, we had nine new members,” Igun said of the rocky start. Norys explained how the team overcame their obstacles of inexperience and unfamiliarity.
Photo ·The 2017-18 UW Figure Skating Club. Photo Courtesy of Brianna Norys So well in fact, that by the season’s end, the team had placed second in regionals to cap off the year. “Experience on a team is always important, and with nine new team members it could definitely be a
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challenge, but all of the new girls on the team are talented and hard-working skaters,” Norys said. “The girls who came to this team with experience skating at a high level helped the returning skaters mentor and set a great example for the ones who were new to synchronized skating.” Admittedly, she was still somewhat surprised with their placement considering the strength of the other teams they were up against this season, and the early struggles they had. But Norys knew this quietly talented team had a great performance in them when she saw their attitude before regionals. “Their skate didn’t surprise me given the confidence these girls had displayed leading up to this competition and their demeanor before they got on the ice to compete,” Norys said. Nowadays, with the synchronized season in the rear-view mirror, the team looks to South Korea for inspiration. Though synchronized skating is not a sport in this year’s Olympics, the club co-president Clara Temlitz hopes that will change in four years at the Beijing Games. Temlitz and the rest of the team can’t get enough of the action in this year’s Olympics. “We love watching skating,” Temlitz said. “It’s a great way to relieve stress while staying motivated to keep getting better.” The entire club, which combines freestyle skaters and the synchronized team, boasts around 60 members. Igun always finds it odd how something which is such a large part of her life can be completely unknown to so many people. “The club is pretty big, and nobody knows about it,” Igun said. But if — and when — the team continues to trend upwards and places well in competitions across the Midwest in the next few seasons, people may just have to start taking notice. February 20, 2018 • badgerherald.com • 23
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