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Thursday, March 4, 2010
Urban Design Commission debates signage at new Target By Taylor Curley The Daily Cardinal
The city Urban Design Commission discussed signs both in and outside of a proposed Target store at Hilldale Mall Wednesday. Other issues raised were traffic lanes, the width of the sidewalk and the plaza entrance to the store. The committee was primarily concerned with a wall mural on the front entrance of the store. Target proposed the idea of using the entry wall for placing a large graphic, yet the committee viewed it as a billboard and pressed the limiting of its size. “We don’t want the logo of Target jumping out from the sign, rather, we want an actual design portrayed,” committee member Jay Ferm said. Target representatives and committee members discussed the importance of the sign, coming to an agreement that the graphic will reflect the “prevalent family definition in graphics.” Monument signs directing customers to the store were also criticized. “The signs are too close to the sidewalk and too big,” Ferm said. “We don’t want them to interfere with pedestrians.” The proposal set forth by Target was eventually approved under certain conditions: Target must make their crosswalks bigger and provide access ramps to all of the bike areas. The monument signs will likely receive their final decision in an upcoming meeting. The committee also discussed the demolition of existing structures along 430-432 W. Dayton St. and replacing them with a two-unit apartment building. The floor plan of the new building currently includes five bedrooms, a garage stall, bike storage and a balcony. The committee concluded with initial approval of the site, pending a final approval because the site has not yet presented all necessary materials to the committee.
Waisman Center to host Dalai Lama at re-opening ceremony The fourteenth Dalai Lama will be in Madison May 15-16 for the grandreopening celebration of UW-Madison’s Waisman Center’s remodeled Center for Investigating Healthy Minds. The CIHM studies the development of healthy qualities of the mind, such as happy and compassionate emotions, and how to cultivate these developments in children and adults. Richard Davidson, a UW-Madison neuroscientist who established the center, studies the effects of meditation on cultivating these emotions. The Dalai Lama has worked with Davidson on his research in the past, last visiting Davidson’s lab in 2001. The Dalai Lama and Davidson will speak together at 2:15 p.m. on Sunday, May 16 at the Overture Center for the Arts. For ticket information, visit http:// www.investigatinghealthyminds.org.
isabel ÁLVAREZ/the daily cardinal
Chancellor Biddy Martin, along with several other UW-Madison campus community members, spoke at a rally on Library Mall Wednesday held in response to an online Holocaust-denial advertisement. Video of the rally is available at dailycardinal.com.
Holocaust-denial ad draws protest By Ryan Hebel The Daily Cardinal
More than 100 UW-Madison students rallied at Library Mall Wednesday afternoon in response to a recent controversy surrounding a Holocaust-denying advertisement placed on The Badger Herald’s website. “We’re here today because of remembrance, and remembrance of the Holocaust in particular,” Chancellor Biddy Martin said at the rally. “Memory is a way of honoring the victims, the innocent victims of this criminal murder. A murder about which there can be absolutely no doubt.” UW graduate Abram Shanedling said that, as a former journalism and political science student, he was upset by the Herald’s decision to run
the ad in the name of free speech. “Providing a platform for the denial of such a genocide gives legitimacy to a mangled view of our past that we all know is false and is deeply hurtful to our university family,” Shanedling said. “Denying the Holocaust, and thus implying some sort of Jewish mass conspiracy, is a dishonor to academic principles, to history, and most importantly, to the memory of millions of innocent lost souls.” A response article last week from Herald Editor-in-Chief Jason Smathers defended allowing the ad on First Amendment grounds and said the revenue it generated would be donated to countering the Holocaust-denial movement. “The basis of these decisions does not rest on a desire to collect
money for these advertisements, but on the editorial principle that no opinions or assertions can be so offensive that we cannot bring ourselves to hear them. If we run from manifestly vitriolic, destructive and false arguments when they present themselves, they will continue to roam and perhaps proliferate,” Smathers wrote. Simone Schweber, a UW professor of Education and Jewish Studies, said the Badger Herald staff “made a mistake” in running the ad, regardless of their intentions. “It’s a mistake to let that advertisement remain on the Badger Herald’s website for the rest of its run,” she said. “It’s a mistake to allow its seemingly academic call for open debate on the Holocaust stand unchallenged, to seem legiti-
mate or go undenied.” Andrea Steinberger, a rabbi at UW’s Hillel Foundation, said the campus must also challenge its more implicit cultural stereotypes, such as using the term “coastie” as an attack on Jewish students. “Is that what we, here at our beloved University of Wisconsin, want to be known for? For how we refer to our fellow Jewish students?” Hillel Director Greg Steinberger concluded the rally by asking students “to participate in a constructive conversation … so that we can take a bitter pill and turn it into precious nectar.” Hillel and the Office of the Dean of Students will cosponsor a discussion on journalism sensitivity and ethics Thursday from 4-6 p.m. in Bascom Hall Room 272.
City assesses possibility of Google Fiber proposal By Beth Pickhard The Daily Cardinal
Members of Madison’s Economic Development Committee discussed possible benefits of Google’s broadband Internet experiment for the city of Madison Wednesday night. Last month, Google announced it would select one or more areas to provide ultra-high speed Internet access through a program called Google Fiber. According to Google, participant pools may range from 50,000 to 500,000 depending on their decision. Google Fiber Internet access would be more than 100 times faster than the average household. According to Paul Kronberger, information technology director for the city of Madison, investment costs from Google may be as much as $97 million. He said there would be the potential to create hundreds of new jobs. Kronberger said Madison
might look attractive to Google because it recently became involved in Metropolitan Unified Fiber Network, a nearly $6 million federal grant program establishing a collaborative fiber-optic network in the Madison area. “We think Madison is a great profile for this, but we ultimately don’t know what our chances are,” he said. UW-Madison, the Madison metropolitan school district and area businesses have expressed interest, according to Kronberger. Additionally, committee member Matthew Younkle said there has been an enthusiastic reaction to Google Fiber from the community. “There clearly is a lot of support and a lot of excitement about this initiative,” Younkle said. “There are a lot of people who really want to help out.” Committee members agreed the decision is hard to determine because
Google’s criteria is not detailed and their decision date is unknown. “We want to try to channel this energy somehow, but we don’t
know how to,” he said. There will be a public meeting late next week to gain input on the potential project from Madison residents.
photo illustration by isabel Álvarez
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”