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dailycardinal.com
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
MIU grants aim to make classes more accessible By Robert Taylor The Daily Cardinal
lorenzo zemella/cardinal file photo
The UW Athletic Board will discuss a proposed $3 increase to football ticket prices Friday.
Alvarez proposes $3 football ticket hike By Sam Berg The Daily Cardinal
Athletic Director Barry Alvarez announced a price increase proposal Tuesday for season football tickets. In a newsletter to UW-Madison football season ticket holders, Alvarez suggested a $3 price increase per game. The Athletic Department will present the proposed increase to the UW Athletic Board in a meeting Friday. Alvarez said in the newsletter he sees the increase as a necessary consequence of the current economic recession. “As we all know, however, the economic circumstances in our country over the past couple
years have been uncertain at best ... Our costs, however, for team travel, scholarships, facilities, equipment, supplies, etc., continue to rise,” Alvarez said. Alvarez acknowledged opposition to the increase but said that after the price increase, UW-Madison’s ticket prices will still only be the sixth most expensive of all Big Ten teams. “We have seven home football games this coming fall, so the football price adjustment will cost you an extra $21 per seat for the season,” he said. Some students see the proposed increase as only a minor annoyance. “I think if it was just three dollars, it wouldn’t matter to me much,” sophomore Kelly Bethke
City officials declare ‘heroin epidemic’ because of spike in heroin, opiate use By Allison Geyer The Daily Cardinal
Madison is at the center of what experts are calling a “heroin epidemic,” with a 400 percent increase in heroin use over the past two years, according to city officials. In 2009, Dane County reported 125 cases of heroin- or opiaterelated overdoses and 18 confirmed deaths. Already in 2010 there have been 14 overdoses and 5 deaths, according to Sgt. Gordon Disch of the Dane County Sheriff’s Office. This recent spike in the use of heroin and other opiates is widespread throughout the county and involves people of every age, ethnicity and income level, said Disch, who has encountered heroin addicts as young as 13 and as old as 65. Heroin addicts often first
experiment with marijuana or abuse prescription opiates such as OxyContin or Vicodin, according to Michael Florek, president of Tellurian UCAN, a drug addiction treatment agency. Once addicted, he said, people search for heroin as a cheaper and stronger drug that is readily available on the street. Tellurian only treats patients over 18 years old, but Florek said most young addicts begin using heroin at around age 15. “The problem with the younger heroin addicts is that they don’t understand how addictive it is and how fast you go downhill when you start using,” Florek said. “They start using heroin for
said. Regardless of whether the Athletic Department accepts the price increase, she said she is willing to buy tickets for the coming season. However, other students say the increase may turn out to be a harbinger of more significant price hikes in the future. “If they do it in little increments, it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it adds up,” sophomore Tara Centeno said. Athletic Department spokesperson Justin Doherty declined comment until after the UW Athletic Board meeting. “After the Athletic Board’s meeting on Friday is when Coach Alvarez would be available to discuss it further,” he said.
UW-Madison committees overseeing the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates presented their recommendations to Chancellor Biddy Martin for a second round of appropriations Tuesday. Many projects were aimed at addressing “bottlenecks” within academic departments that result in long waitlists for classes. Improving access to classes has been a goal of the MIU since its inception, according to Martin. “We want students to learn with the best and to be taught by the best. We want our students to get through in four years,” she said. “At the same time, at the level of pedagogy, we want something transformative.” One project in particular, a proposed multimillion-dollar E-Learning Center, stood above the others in
terms of its ambition and scope. The center would be a collaboration among the libraries and engineering and language departments. The initial proposal for the center said it would cost $6.7 million, but more funds might be needed in the future. “The grander initiative behind it is really spectacular,” Martin said of the proposal. “This is really a game-changer.” According to the grant request, the E-Learning Center would bring together students from across the world using teleconference technology in virtual classrooms and allow UW-Madison students to converse with native speakers. The E-Learning Center also promises to offer a high-tech approach to teachmiu page 3
Protesters rally against uncapped corporate election spending By Ariel Shapiro The Daily Cardinal
Dozens of protesters marched from the Capitol to the federal courthouse Tuesday to rally against the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that lifts caps on political spending by corporations and unions. The ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission in January, which split the court on a 5-4 vote, decided that limits on campaign spending by corporations are a violation of the First Amendment. Those against the
court’s decision argue that corporate interests’ involvement in public elections undermines democracy. “As we look at what this ruling has done, it really has taken the guts out of democracy in this country, and we cannot simply sit by. We have to amend the Constitution,” local attorney and political activist Ed Garvey said. “We have got to tell the corporations that this is a country of people, not of corporate entities.” rally page 3
Nothing to fret about The Richard Hildner Trio performs as part of the Student Performance Committee’s Jazz Jam in the Memorial Union Rathskeller Tuesday night.
grace liu the daily cardinal
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“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”