University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Weekend, March 13-16, 2014
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State Senate approves campaign finance, absentee voting legislation By Andrew Hahn THE DAILY CARDINAL
The state Senate passed a package of bills Wednesday that would limit absentee voting times and change rules relating to election officials. The bills’ approval came after Senate Democrats temporarily stalled the legislation’s passage Tuesday night with a procedural move forcing the Senate to take up the legislation Wednesday. State Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, and her Democratic colleagues condemned restriction of absentee voting as an attempt to disenfranchise voters of certain demographics, especially seniors, students and minorities. “It’s like going back to Jim Crow days,” Taylor said.
Senate Minority Leader Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, accused Republicans of limiting citizens’ right to vote, saying, “At the end of the day you are trying to abort democracy in the state of Wisconsin.” No Republicans comment-
“It’s like going back to the Jim Crow days.” Lena Taylor state senator Milwaukee
ed on the legislation during Wednesday’s session. A second bill passed Wednesday would allow partyaffiliated election observers to
stand within three to eight feet of voters in polling places. State Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, called the legislation an opportunity for voter intimidation and predicted the state would see problems with its implementation. “[This bill will] create profiling,” Erpenbach said. “It’s going to create tension, it’s going to create shouting and the police will be called to the polls.” State Sen. Mary Lazich, R-New Berlin, defended the bill and said it would give election officials authority to set appropriate rules within polling locations and escort disruptive people from the area. The bill, which also outlines proper certification of
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Police still searching for local burglars Three St. James Court residents in their twenties found laptops and other items missing after a burglary Tuesday, according to Madison police. The residents contacted the Madison Police Department at approximately 4 p.m. Tuesday when they realized their laptops were missing, along with a jacket and calculator. Police believe the suspects entered an unlocked sliding glass door at the residence, 1321 St. James Court, because there were no signs of forced entry. According to police, two suspects were reported searching for unlocked doors in the area at around 2:45 p.m. earlier that day. Police described one of the suspects as a six-foot-tall black man who was wearing camouflage pants and a dark hoodie. The second suspect is described as a shorter black man wearing a Chicago White Sox jacket, according to the report. Madison police strongly urge students to avoid possible burglaries by taking precautions before leaving their residences for upcoming spring breaks.
ASM dissects recent draft of Diversity Plan By Emily Gerber THE DAILY CARDINAL
LAKE MENDOTA
Snow way!
A man takes advantage of the frigid weather Wednesday as he snowkites across the frozen lake. + Photo by Amy Gruntner
Senate committee blocks cancer legislation debate The Senate Committee on Organization made a rare move Wednesday to prevent a cancer bill from being debated in the state Senate’s morning session. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, chairs the committee and is responsible for scheduling debates on bills after their original committees approve them. Instead of assign-
EMILY BUCK/THE DAILY CARDINAL
ASM Chair David Gardner presents a resolution to request more funding from UW Athletics for the Master Plan Wednesday.
ing the bill for floor debate, Fitzgerald scheduled the bill for a public hearing after the Senate’s session ended. Senate Committee on Insurance and Housing unanimously passed the bill, which would prohibit insurance companies from requiring a higher co-payment for oral chemotherapy treatment regardless of the
The spring break you’ve probably never heard of
insurance policy. State Sen. Chris Larson’s, D-Milwaukee, Communications Director, Gillian Drummond, said the public hearing was scheduled as a tactical move to keep Democrats from pulling the bill onto the Senate floor. The public hearing was canceled shortly after Wednesday’s Senate session adjourned.
Representatives from the committee responsible for drafting an updated University of WisconsinMadison Diversity Plan fielded questions from Associated Students of Madison Student Council members and detailed the future of campus diversity efforts Wednesday. In the current draft of the plan, the Ad-Hoc Diversity Planning Committee found nine areas where campus diversity needs improvement. Each goal is accompanied by recommendations for plan implementation as well as accountability measures for how each goal will be enforced. Co-chair of the planning committee Ryan Adserias said this plan focuses more on changing the culture associated with diversity than improving diversity statistics in the university, which was a characteristic of the 2008 Plan. “You can’t change a culture overnight, you can’t even really change it in a year,” Adserias said, emphasizing the plan is not intended for yielding short-term results. Though some council members questioned the draft’s occasional vagueness, co-chair Ruth Litovsky said by explicitly detailing each element of the plan university members would lose a possibility for creativity in the plan’s enactment and may feel the issue of tackling diversity to be confined to set tasks. Litovsky said engagement sessions regarding concerns and
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Goaltender Alex Rigsby plays for 100th win Saturday
comments for the plan are scheduled for early April, following the release of the document to campus members later this week. After making changes, the entire plan will be up for a vote at a Faculty Senate meeting in May. Faculty Senate approval will not prohibit alterations. “It’s not a document that will live on the shelf and will be forgotten,” Litovsky said. “It will be an intermittent framework.” Student Council members also passed a resolution to request the UW Athletic Department put more funding toward the recently approved Recreational Sports Master Plan. The resolution, introduced by ASM Chair David Gardner, highlights the group’s goal of ensuring college affordability. In an effort to decrease the contribution currently fronted by student segregated fees, ASM requests the department put forward a comparable amount of funding, between $30 million and $127 million, as presented by the chancellor and the state. Campus members also spoke to Student Council on behalf of a motion asking the university to divest from fossil fuel companies, citing concern for continuing climate problems that stem from their use. A decision on the resolution was tabled until after spring break, as various council members said extra time for research would allow for a more informed decision.
+SPORTS, page 7
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