University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Tuesday, February 3, 2015
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Students, faculty plan state budget response By Andrew Hahn and Bri Maas THE DAILY CARDINAL
On the eve of Gov. Scott Walker’s long-awaited budget proposal, including $300 million in cuts to the UW System, student and faculty organizations around the state are planning their reaction to the expected hit. “This is pretty severe. We’ve been dealing with cuts for the last 12 years or so, but they’ve not been of this magnitude,” UW-Madison journalism professor James Baughman said. “I think we’re going to have to think of more draconian ways to reduce our expenditures.” Baughman added these reductions will damage the overall quality of education, a
common concern among faculty and students. The greater freedom from state laws presented in the proposal would only increase workload, according to Student Labor Action Coalition member Melanie Meyer. “To me, that’s what greater autonomy represents: layoffs and more work for faculty and staff that are already pushed to the limit,” Meyer said. The Associated Students of Madison fear the promised autonomy could result in a reassignment of the role of shared governance, the body that allows students to make decisions about fee allocation, student life and services. “Without those rights, students lose their seat at the table.
They could lose the right to allocate their fees and decide where their money goes,” ASM chair Genevieve Carter said. “I think the worst thing that could happen would be if students no longer had their rights and their voice.” At least three Facebook pages cropped up over the weekend calling for protests against the cuts on different days and in different locations. Baughman said these disjointed efforts could be in vain. “I don’t think it would do any good,” he said. “I think it’s incumbent on students and others to reach out to their legislators and others of influence in the state to suggest that this is
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MPD forum highlights community divides By Irene Burski THE DAILY CARDINAL
Tensions ran high in the first of six public forums hosted by Madison Police Chief Mike Koval at the Madison Central Library Tuesday. Questions regarding how the police should facilitate protests, address mental health issues in the community and eliminate existing racial disparities in the city fell short of reaching consensus. “The chasm between the haves and the have-nots has never been more pronounced, and is growing by the hour,” Koval said. Koval’s recent rebuke of the language in an open letter from the Young, Gifted and Black Coalition, the organizers behind the Black Lives Matter protests, that called Madison police “occupying forces,” came under fire from attendees as too harsh and failing to grasp the greater issue of policing discrepancies between crime committed by black and white citizens. “Officers have been entrusted with a great deal of discretion. Discretion that can be used for right, and discretion that can be abused,” Koval said. “I’m not saying I have 455 choir boys.” But some audience members stressed strong concerns regarding how much the police department can really do to effectively change a system that has long been in place. “I get that no one wants to say that I’m part of the system, I’m part of the racial disparities,” Young, Gifted and Black Coalition activist Eric Upchurch said. The emotional and passionate
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MPD Chief Mike Koval emphasizes a growing gap between Madison’s affluent and disadvantaged neighborhoods. testimony, characterized by Koval and other community members as “difficult to hear,” included one man’s personal experience being wrongfully incarcerated and now living on the streets. “I can only imagine how tough it was to actually live that,” Upchurch said. “That man is a homeless man. No matter how sorry you are, he is still living that experience.” Koval affirmed a commitment to continuing to facilitate
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protests in a way that would allow both freedom of expression and also prevent unreasonable inconvenience, but some felt the necessity of protest outweighs inconvenience. “The inconvenience is good because it makes us think about [the disparities],” activist Amelia Royko Maurer said. “We could really turn around and not care, we have that option every day. Protest is the speech of the unheard.”
+ ARTS, page 4
GRAPHIC BY CAMERON GRAFF
Groundhog bites mayor Sun Prairie Mayor Jonathan Freund’s first-time participation Monday in the city’s Groundhog Day celebration sparked controversy following Jimmy the Groundhog’s snarky welcome to the mayor. Jimmy arrived in a limo with his caretakers Jerry and Maria Hahn. The sky was clear, implying Jimmy would see his shadow and predict a longer winter. But Freund broke with normal Groundhog Day custom by leaning in to hear Jimmy “whisper” his prediction. According to Channel 3000, Jimmy subsequently bit Freund’s ear, after which Freund stammered that Jimmy told him there would be an early spring. The city of Sun Prairie issued a press release citing that tradition says only the mayor can translate the groundhog’s prediction. “The mayor’s translation this morning was clearly for an Early Spring. The break with tradition is unusual, but not unprecedented,” the release said. But Jerry Hahn wondered if the mayor interpreted Jimmy’s prediction wrong.
Jimmy’s predictions have a surprising reliability, according to groundhogcentral.com. Since 1994, Jimmy’s accuracy has been above 80 percent with more than 66 percent of his predictions pointing to an early spring. The website says he is one of the most accurate groundhogs in the world. Sun Prairie Director of Economic Development Neil Stechschulte said in the release the city counts on the mayor’s interpretation because Jimmy is not like other groundhogs. “We count on Jimmy to actually predict the weather … not just have an automated response based on current weather conditions like other groundhogs across the country,” Stechschulte said in the release. Pennsylvania’s famous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil conversely predicted six more weeks of winter, CBS reported. Members of the top-hat-wearing Pennsylvania contingent announced Phil’s prediction as “your best bet.” —Laura Grulke
Man arrested for pellet gun incident Early Sunday morning, an intoxicated 22-year-old Waunakee man was taken into custody for carrying a concealed weapon and resisting arrest on the 400 block of West Gilman Street, according to a Madison Police Department report. The suspect, Noah L. Carpino, was approached by a Madison Police officer at approximately 12:03 a.m. and took off running on West Gilman Street. He dropped what seemed to be a handgun while being pursued by the
officer, according to the report by Public Information Officer Joel DeSpain. The object was confirmed to be a pellet gun. Carpino declined to say why he was carrying the weapon while wearing a ski mask and a bandanna, DeSpain wrote in the report. Originally, the officer arrived at the downtown site to check into the welfare of a masked man, who appeared to be “very unsteady on his feet.” The suspect is currently on a probation hold.
UW frontcourt: ‘nightmare’ for Hoosiers
+ SPORTS, page 8
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”