University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Thursday, February 15, 2018
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THE DAILY CARDINAL’S COFFEE SHOP GUIDE +SPECIAL PAGES page 4
Want to live off campus? Here are a few tricks to keep in mind
ASM sees influx in complaints under new procedure
By Max Bayer CITY NEWS EDITOR
what our revenues will be each year, we chose to go with what we feel is a very fair and balanced minimum requirement,” he said, adding the plan will ensure long-term stability for University Dining. Novak said the dining program is not struggling financially and added that most dining hall models need a baseline understanding of yearly revenues to appropriately price items. He said that unlike most dining programs, UW-Madison allows unused funds to carry over
So, you and your best friends have decided that this next school year is the year you’re going to live across the street from Cap Centre Market. Well, first, great decision. You can’t beat a 24-hour supermarket. But more importantly, it’s imperative you know the pitfalls that student renters fall into. Director of the Neighborhood Law Clinic, Mitch, said one of the most common issues is that students feel pressure to sign a lease early because of early marketing tactics by management companies. “As a college student, you’re in a pretty happening time,” he said. “And if you sign a lease, most are for a year, but you’re signing it nine or 10 months or even 11 months before it starts, you’re literally committing to where you’re going to be two years from now.” Mitch added that this can significantly impact students who sign early and then have roommates who end up leaving school for whatever reason. He thinks this ultimately has an adverse effect on landlords, because renters who are placed under stress when they have to cover for roommates who leave subsequently have a negative impression about the property. “The landlord is in a worse position by trying to secure the money early,” he said. “That can come back to bite them because by defacto, nine months is more likely that somebody is going to
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rent page 3
By Luisa de Vogel ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
At least 16 complaints have been taken up with ASM Student Judiciary this academic year — a 220 percent increase from the previous year. Most of the cases brought forward have been against Rachel Widra and the ASM Grant Allocation Committee. Widra, the committee chair, attributes this rise in cases to a change in GAC policy. “We used to send out just an automatic [grant] denial notice and now I just updated it to include a line about appealing and the appeals process through Student Judiciary,” Widra said. “I think a lot of people didn’t know that option to appeal.” Registered student organizations can apply for segregated fee funding during each school year. If their request is denied, they can take the case up with the ASM student justices, led by Chief Justice Will Olson. Informing students about their rights through Student Judiciary is important to both Widra and Olson. “[Student Judiciary] serves as the neutral arbitration body to make sure that the allocation process is fair and inclusive, and I hope that we can help give students faith that student government is held accountable for their actions,” Olson said. But GAC is hoping to increase
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JON YOON/THE DAILY CARDINAL
Approximately 100 UW-Madison community members recently protested the meal plan in Gordon.
Amid student protest, official says meal plan will ‘stabilize’ Dining By Lawrence Andrea CAMPUS NEWS EDITOR
Petitions have been circulated. Meetings have been held. Trays have been kicked and thrown across the Gordon Dining Hall floor. After months of opposition to the new university meal plan requiring incoming students to spend a minimum of $1,400 in dining halls, a UW-Madison official said Wednesday the plan is an effort to “financially stabilize” the dining program. While officials previously said the plan was an attempt
to be “upfront” and “transparent” with parents concerned about their student’s spending in dining halls, students had long questioned that claim. According to Housing Director Jeff Novak, UW-Madison Dining’s sales were declining “because of the à la carte nature” of the program. He said students were choosing to dine at many different locations — both on and off campus — and that the new plan would give officials a better understanding of yearly revenue. “In order to establish a baseline understanding of
‘Mark Cook bill,’ named after the late UW professor, would streamline university research projects By Andy Goldstein STATE NEWS EDITOR
With the intention of streamlining approval of cutting-edge research projects, the state Legislature is considering a pair of bills named in honor of a deceased UW-Madison professor. The “Mark Cook Bill” would reform the university’s research contract approval process, speeding up the administration’s oversight role, in order to further encourage research and development in the state. Mark Cook was an animal sci-
ences professor at UW-Madison who started four companies and whose work led to 50 technology patents. Cook died of cancer in September of last year. “Firstly, I would like to say that I am pleased that the bill honors the late Professor Mark Cook,” said Thomas Mackie, a professor of medical physics, human oncology and engineering physics at UW-Madison, during the bill’s hearing. “Mark was a friend and fellow board member of [the Association of Campus Entrepreneurs] and
believed that entrepreneurship was the ultimate extension of science and technology to benefit society.” Under current law, the UW System Board of Regents is given 45 days to review any research contract exceeding $250,000 when faculty have a financial stake in companies involved. Critics argue that while managing conflicts of interest is central to research oversight, Wisconsin is lagging behind in innovative projects, losing such opportunities to other states
with more relaxed requirements. “Every academic entrepreneur has a management plan to ensure that the interests of the university and society are carefully maintained,” Mackie said. “Having a layer of regents’ approval on contracts from spin-off companies over $250,000 does not add to the carefulness but only adds bureaucracy and expense. The Assembly unanimously passed the proposed legislation on Tuesday, while the Senate bill has not yet been scheduled for a vote.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL KIENITZ
The proposal is intended to boost university innovation, faculty say.
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”