Professor Emeritus Dave Nelson reflects on his career in biochemistry +SCIENCE, page 5 University of Wisconsin-Madison
Somehow they manage Part two of an inside look at the student managers of Badger men’s basketball
+SPORTS, page 8
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Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Police report attempted sexual assault on student A 27-year-old male suspect allegedly forced a female University of WisconsinMadison student into a Grand Central apartment elevator Tuesday and will face attempted second-degree sexual assault and false imprisonment charges, according to Madison Police Department Lieutenant Cory Nelson. At approximately 10:15 a.m., the suspect attacked the 22-year-old victim, who struggled and screamed for help before the suspect threw her into an elevator on the ground floor of the largely student-occupied residence, located at 1022 W. Johnson St., according to a police report. The victim’s screams alerted several witnesses, who responded before the elevator door had time to close, causing the suspect to release the student, according to the report. The witnesses then called the police and blocked the suspect inside the elevator while
they waited for police to arrive. Nelson said the witnesses did not need to physically detain the suspect. Police have not officially arrested the suspect as he was transported immediately to the Mendota Mental Health Institute, where he is currently staying for a 72-hour emergency detention while his mental health is assessed. Nelson said police will arrest the suspect once he is released from Mendota. Nelson did not specify what those mental health issues could include, but said suspects are placed in Mendota for their own health and safety, as well as the health and safety of others. Nelson said the attack currently appears to have been random, and according to the report, the suspect is not a Grand Central resident. —Gloria Young
on campus
A little dis “concert”ing The student ensembles concert band, conducted by Mike Lekcrone, performs at Mills Concert Hall Tuesday. + Photo by James Lanser
City passes Dayton Square development amidst debate By Melissa Howison The Daily Cardinal
grey satterfield/the daily cardinal
Police reported a man attempted to sexually assault a female University of Wisconsin- Madison student in a Grand Central elevator Tuesday morning.
Employers could face tax penalties from Walker health-care decision Gov. Scott Walker’s decision not to accept federal funding to expand the state’s healthcare system could contribute to some state employers being collectively penalized by paying millions more in taxes, according to a report released Tuesday. The report, released by Jackson Hewitt Inc., looked into tax provisions state employers could be required to pay under the Affordable Care Act. The “shared responsibility” provision of
the ACA would require employers to pay a tax penalty if employees seek aid from tax credits that help low-income individuals pay for their health-care coverage. The provision applies specifically to businesses that employ at least 50 people. If a business does not provide its employees with health insurance and at least one of their employees qualifies for
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Discussion surrounding the proposed demolition of three residential buildings on campus, for which the Common Council gave final approval Tuesday, incited an impromptu affordable-housing debate at the meeting. Madison’s Common Council approved the plan to demolish the three Dayton Square buildings, located at 415 W. Johnson St., 226 N. Broom St. and 424 W. Dayton St., to make way for a 12-story, 317-unit high rise. While the Council approved the plan, it did so amidst controversy at the meeting. Ald. Brian Solomon, District 10, was one of two Council members who voted against the proposal because he said replacing the affordable Dayton Square apartments with more expensive units would set a negative precedent for future proposals. “I’m not going to support this tonight,” Solomon said. “In the end, we’re not looking at the bigger picture and we’re not addressing what we need to address as a body.” Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, who voted in support of the plan, said maintaining affordable housing should be a priority for the city, but still said the proposed apartment complex should replace the outdated Dayton Square apartments. He added the city’s downtown plan specifies redeveloping the lot. “I think it is absolutely inappropriate, some of the suggestions that we reject this application because of the loss of affordable units,” Verveer said. He added the city needs to address the “tremendous issue” of affordable housing, but said using the Dayton Square demolition proposal is the wrong approach.
“We need to do everything we can beyond this application to address that need and that concern,” he said. Some people see “zero lot line” homes, such as the Dayton Square apartments, as the best affordable housing option in Madison. According to Verveer, the zero lot line architectural-technique consists of constructing cramped, affordable residences on property lines to make room for surface parking spaces and bigger yards on the lot. Verveer said due to the fact that they are outdated and unattractive, there is a high demand to replace them with often times more expensive housing. Still, he said preserving them does not solve Madison’s affordable housing needs. Mayor Paul Soglin said John Urich, the city planner who pioneered the zero lot line residential building technique, helped create some of the most notable structures in Madison. Still, Soglin said Urich was mistaken in believing zero lot line homes were the future of the city. “I think that if John were alive today, he would ask that this one mistake of his career be removed,” Soglin said. Despite the majority of respondent’s criticisms, resident Rosemary Lee said she supports the project because the development will attract residents who contribute to the local economy. “I’m really enthused about this development,” she said. “The target tenants are young professionals and working people downtown and we need these people so they can support all State Street businesses.” The Urban Design Commission will vote on building materials for the new development Wednesday.
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”
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Wednesday, March 20, 2013
An independent student newspaper, serving the University of Wisconsin-Madison community since 1892 Volume 122, Issue 108
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For the record Corrections or clarifications? Call The Daily Cardinal office at 608-262-8000 or send an email to edit@dailycardinal.com.
Scream: why kids should avoid horror adam wolf howlin’ mad
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ey, it’s March Madness! The one time of the year where everyone becomes a manic basketball fan because low-stakes gambling and day drinking are involved! If you give a shit (you shouldn’t), I’m picking Miami to win it all. I’m definitely one of those insufferable people that will brag about what great foresight I have to make a correct pick. It’s always great to say, “See, I told you guys South Dakota State would beat Michigan. Just call me Nostradamus.”
Movie from your childhood that still kicks ass (Scream, 1996)—When I saw this movie as a kid, I completely missed that the film was actually satirizing the horror film genre. Even as Jamie Kennedy’s character recited the typical conventions of horror films pretty much as they were happening in “Scream,” it was completely over my head. I had nightmares for
weeks, waking up in cold sweats thinking of Billy Loomis saying in the creepiest voice, “We all go a little mad sometimes.” To make matters worse, it seemed like everyone wore the Ghostface mask for Halloween in the late ’90s, only enhancing my anxiety further. Never watch an R-rated slasher movie when you’re eight years old.
Small Victory that Salvages an Otherwise Shitty Week You know the saying “finding a needle in a haystack?” It should be “finding a dropped contact lens on your bathroom floor.” Dropped contact lenses blend into the floor like freaking chameleons, which makes it incredibly satisfying when you finally manage to track it down. It’s such a good feeling that it doesn’t even matter to you that there’s probably untold amounts of dust bunnies and pubic hairs on it. You get to blast that thing with saline solution and go to bed, setting yourself up for a pleasant night’s sleep. Unless…
First-World Hate of the week This week’s hate is reserved for waking up minutes before
your alarm clock goes off. I used to think this was really cool when I younger, like I had a bionic body or something. But now? Hell no. Because I stay up much later now than I did in high school, those extra minutes are extremely precious. The worst part about waking up early is it forces you to spend those extra minutes staring at the ceiling halfawake and thinking about all the shit you have to do that day. And then you get up and are forced to hop around in your cold shower because your roommates used up all the hot water earlier. And then it’s off to class while you’re still feeling cold, tired and pissed off, all because your body clock screwed you over. My rate of depression spikes by 1,000 percent every time that happens.
Song that will make you want to change the world “One” (U2, 1991)—If ever there was a song that could bring warring nations together, it would be “One.” After all, the song itself is often credited with bringing U2 together after creative disagreements threatened to fracture the
band in the early 90s. Instead, the group members were able to use the contentiousness as a rallying point, pairing The Edge’s subdued chord progression with Bono’s soulful lyrics to stress the importance of nurturing our relationships. The end result was a song many consider U2’s magnum opus, setting the group up for two more decades of relevance. Or, basically the opposite of what happened to Guns N’ Roses when they began feuding. My favorite factoid about “One:” The Edge has said the group deliberately uses the phrasing “We GET to carry each other” rather than “We GOT to carry each other,” implying it’s a privilege, not an obligation, to carry each other. Damn, that’s deep.
Unedited moronic facebook status from a kid from my high school “Never get ur hairs cutt at wally world i petty the foo who does” You’re saying Wal-Mart didn’t provide a quality product or service for a seemingly good price? DID NOT SEE THAT ONE COMING. Remember to email awolf3@ wisc.edu to talk to Adam about your best Wal-Mart bowlcut so he can laugh at you.
For your band to hit it big: It’s all in the name michael voloshin voloshin’s commotion
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arning: If you do not like the indie music scene, then you might not understand my article. Hell, who I am kidding, I could write about puppies and tic-tactoe and no one would understand my articles. I should be in your band. Wait, let me start over. Hi, my name is Michael, I’m 20 and I’m an alcoholic. Wait—er, that’s not right. One more time. Hi, my name is Michael, I cannot play any instrument, I have a voice that makes the angels say, “please stop; you’re killing us,” and I have the stage presence of Courtney Love at Pamela Anderson’s Roast; however, I think I would be perfect for your band. Why? Because I know what band names are really cool right now. Sure, you might think Tears Of A Unicorn is a unique name that’ll get you played, but in reality it’ll make
distributors and disc jockies cry. I, on the other hand, know all the tricks of the trade and will make sure your band has an A+ name. First, drop all the vowels from your name and capitalize it, making it difficult for a fan to even know what your band name is (it also doesn’t hurt to change a “C” into a “K”). Bands like TNGHT, SBTRKT, STRFKR, MSTRKRFT and SCNTST have already started this trend and you continue it with band names such as RTHQK (earthquake), CNNBL (cannibal) and SCSSRS (scissors). Now, if you’re a rapper, all you need to do is put a dollar sign in your name; A$AP Rocky, Joey Bada$$ and Curren$y think it’s a good idea (Ke$ha does too, but screw Ke$ha). If you want to be really creative, use a cent sign as well, and an at sign and an ampersand while we’re at it. You could be &¢r@yon$ and I’d buy that shit (no seriously, if your rapper name was phonetically And Crayons, your music would be shit). Want to get into smooth electronic music but you sing in English? Never fear, just
pick a band name in a different language. It’s worked so far for Yo La Tengo, Toro y Moi and Autre Ne Veut. Also, all of these bands have random phrases that are most likely google translated to sound cool. So pick a band name like Ein Schritt Nach Vorn (One Step Forward in German), Un Albero Cade (A Tree Falls in Italian) or even Mai Mes (Never Again in Catalan). (It should be noted that I got all of these translations from Google so I’m probably 98 percent wrong, but eh, what is writing an informative and funny article without being completely wrong?) Maybe you don’t want to go in a different language because you don’t want to piss off your Italian fan base with your bad grammar. Then how about you just repeat the same mundane word twice? Bands like Mother Mother, Django Django and The Ting Tings all follow this principle. So how about you go with Father Father, Candie Candie or The Loud Louds? Those ideas don’t work for you? Well then you’re just a picky
Peter and I can’t work under these conditions and I’m going to Yoko this band. Actually just kidding, this next idea is super simple; just pick a bunch of random words and put them together to make a name. I’m guessing bands like Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and Atoms For Peace just stuck their hand into a bag filled with random names and said, “Yes, this one is perfect.” So, here are my suggestions: Triangle Finger Jab, Increasingly Taller Stairs, Fall Out Boy. Alright, so I think these ideas were all great separately, but how about we put them all together? Let’s take Increasingly Taller Stairs, translate it into Italian, put in symbols, take out the vowels and repeat the phrase. What do we get? $¢L $MPR TLLR $¢L $MPR TLLR. Welp, I will see myself out. But at least we all learned two valuable lessons today: 1. No musician is original. 2. Never trust me to do anything. Want Michael to name your band? Email mvoloshin@wisc.edu.
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School officials express voucher program concerns Representatives from four of the nine Wisconsin school districts that would be affected by Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal to expand the state’s education voucher system voiced concerns Tuesday in a conference call organized by state Rep. Sondy Pope, D-Cross Plains.
“Any time you have public dollars going to educate children, there needs to be accountability and trasparency with those dollars.” Brian Vissers communications specialist west allis-west milwaukee district
The representatives, including superintendents and communications officials from school districts representing Madison, Kenosha, Superior and West Allis-West Milwaukee, said they had concerns that Walker’s plan for expansion, which he has said is designed to give students access to the best learning opportunities, would only hurt the state’s public school system. Michele Hancock, the superintendent for Kenosha’s school district, said the vouch-
er expansion would add to the large funding cuts public schools had to deal with after Walker’s last budget. “Our revenue is generated by student enrollment and we have already gone through two years of budgetary cuts,” Hancock said. “We don’t need to have this happen again to us.” Additionally, Brian Vissers, the communications specialist for the West Allis-West Milwaukee district, said the different standards the state applies to public and private schools are problematic. The state exempts private schools from certain public school requirements, such as having to report their test scores and their tax dollar spending. “Any time you have public dollars going to educate children, there needs to be accountability and transparency with those dollars,” Vissers said. “Under the current system there is neither.” The district representatives said they were working with their local representatives to bring their concerns to the state legislature before any progress is made on approving the expansion. —Jack Casey
WISPIRG delivers petitions regarding funding to Chancellor Ward’s office Members of the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group delivered a stack of petitions to University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor David Ward’s office Tuesday, requesting Ward review his decision not to sign contracts to fully fund the organization on campus. Although the Student Services Finance Committee recommended granting funding to WISPIRG, Ward refused to sign contracts that would allow the use of student segregated fees to fund the group. Ward said Thursday he denied the group segregated fee funding due to the organi-
zation’s use of non-university staff positions, which according to a UW System policy, can only be funded through the Campus Services Fund. WISPIRG members delivered 4,600 petitions, representing 10 percent of campus, “to call on Chancellor Ward to honor student rights to allocate seg fees,” said WISPIRG Chair Emily Ten-Eyck. “WISPIRG provides an extremely valuable service to this campus,” Ten-Eyck said. “And this service is consistent with the Wisconsin Idea in providing opportunities for students to engage outside of the classroom and learn valuable skills.”
taxes from page 1
grey satterfield/daily cardinal file photo
Gov. Scott Walker has a 50 percent approval rating, according to a recent Marquette Law School Poll.
Marquette law school poll: Walker maintains positive approval rating A Marquette Law School poll released Tuesday showed 50 percent of respondents said they approve of Gov. Scott Walker’s job performance and a significant portion of respondents approve of some type of education voucher expansion in the state. Walker’s 50 percent approval rating is an increase from his 49 percent approval rating in October. Forty-four percent of respondents said they disapprove of the governor’s performance. Walker, who will prepare for a re-election campaign in 2014, has positive approval ratings even after opponents heavily criticized his recent
decisions to decline federal Medicaid funding and expand school vouchers. Public opinion for voucher expansion highlights greater segmentation among voters. The poll shows most voters approve of nearly statewide voucher expansion with 56 percent of respondents supporting it. Specifically, 37 percent support statewide voucher school expansion, while 14 percent support expansion solely to large school districts and a few low-performing schools. Comparatively, 14 percent of respondents said they prefer no voucher expansion while 28 percent would like the program ended completely.
PostSecret founder to lecture at UW-Madison Founder and curator of the PostSecret Project Frank Warren will visit the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus Wednesday to speak as part of the Wisconsin Union Directorate’s Distinguished Lecture Series. Warren collects thousands of “highly personal and artfully decorated” postcards he receives anonymously from contributors worldwide and publishes his selections weekly online, according to the
WUD DLS website. The postcards usually entail “soulful secrets we never voice.” The website has received more than 450 million hits, according to the DLS website, and Warren receives between 100 and 200 postcards every day. His book, “PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives” is a New York Times best seller. Warren will speak at Varsity Hall in Union South at 7:30 p.m.
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a tax credit, they would be liable for paying $2,000 for every additional employee after the first 30. However, if a business has 50-plus employees and provides health coverage, they are required to pay the cheaper of two options. Either $2,000 per employee past 30 or $3,000 for every employee that takes tax credits. The study found there are approximately 12,036 people in Wisconsin that would qualify to receive the tax credits. Walker’s decision would require significantly more people to purchase their own health care, many of whom would contribute to an increase in total taxes because they would fall into lowincome brackets that make them eligible for the tax breaks. The study stated it used broad assumptions and numbers to estimate the total costs to state businesses. Actual tax spending would depend on the number of qualified individuals in Wisconsin who actually apply for the tax credits. —Jack Casey
WARF, SWIB to help fund Wisconsin IT startup companies The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and the State of Wisconsin Investment Board created a fund to invest in information technology start-up companies, focusing mainly in Wisconsin. WARF and SWIB established the fund with a $30 million contribution to invest in Wisconsin companies that feature technologies including data storage, data management, hardware, software and mobile technology security. The fund also aims to establish IT companies that require between $500,000 and $2 million, according to a university release. Additionally, a portion of the technology companies’ profits will return to SWIB and WARF, thereby also to the University of Wisconsin-Madison since WARF gives a portion of its proceeds to support scientific research at the university. The fund is named 4490 Ventures, which refers to the 44 degrees north latitude and 90 degrees west longitude that corresponds to the approximate center of the state.
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The question is not always where, but when Sean Reichard quip quo pro
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ne of my regrets from the summer was not finishing “Annals of the Former World” by John McPhee. Besides the fact he is one of the
most terrific writers of the past 60 years, “Annals of the Former World” concerns itself with geology and geologic history, a subject of renewed interest for me. My interest is semi-facetious— although as an environmental studies major, rocks are generally always relevant—insofar as I don’t care so much for the names of eras and what they entail (I also have less of a memory for such things). But what really gets
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me about it is the geochronology aspect. The time part. There are many levels of time in “Annals of the Former World,” including the time McPhee spends describing his travels with geologists around the country, as well as the ossified time that is the purview of those geologists—the eons of rock that have been borne along longer than the scope of most anything. It is not even strictly linear; McPhee devotes much of the book chronicling, via flashback and exposition, the pasts of his fellow geologists, and their adventures in the field do not follow an orderly chain through geologic time. Temporality is, I think, a subject of considerable value to writers. Strictly speaking, it refers to the linearity of time, but strictly linear time is cramping for writers, an order that invites mistrust and skepticism. Broadly, temporality refers to the condition of being in time. And it crops up in very interesting ways. Any novel that touches on time travel is playing with temporality. Any novel requiring significant reminiscences, like Proust’s “A la recherche du temps perdu” or Richler’s “Barney’s Version” is playing with temporality. Faulkner’s books are a tangle through the thorny bramble of southern history. “Ulysses” takes one day and ekes it out with myth and insight and knowledge and words, words, words. I know what you’re thinking. An English major, a literature col-
umnist and a Humanities student, talking about the significance of time? He probably doesn’t even know what time dilation is! Well, maybe you’re not thinking that. But you’d be right—I have no background in physics, no understanding of relativity beyond a sort of tepid dilution I learned in high school, no understanding of spacetime. What I do have is books. Lots and lots of books. Reading books is an exercise in temporality. Not even in matter but in form. It’s an idea Martin Amis keyed into in “Time’s Arrow” (where the book is written backwards, so it starts at the end and ends at the start) but Amis’ take is a very self-conscious, postmodern approach— the “ooh look at me” approach. But when you look at how a book is set up, paper or ebook, you realize that it butts up against conventions of time. Take a book that’s written “normally,” i.e. straightforwardly. Turn to a random page, then turn a few pages backward. Take a history book and jump around the chronology of it, random page after random page. You’re traveling through time, if you’ll allow such a cloying simplification. There’s a phrase from “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” by James Joyce I picked up after having missed it the first few times: “Time is, time was, but time shall be no more.” In the context of the novel, it refers to Hell as being
eternal, but I, after considering, appropriate it more towards the reading of books—and by extension the living of life. What is time to a book? Sometimes consciously organized, sometimes folding in and over itself. It’s a scrunched, furrowed ball that seethes with seconds and centuries; it’s a distended, furious promulgation of moments in the strata of years and eons. Patient geologies. Patient anthologies. Time is lived in context. Who has lived every minute as a minute? Who could look back at a life annulated with the stroke of every circumspect second? Either out of time’s inconstancy or our inconsistencies, we don’t feel the sweep of an incremental timestream. Time is lived, time occurs in hours and minutes and the swinging of the clock and the sweet diurnal swivel, but life and the clock and the swivel do not dictate time. That’s why time, temporality, is so important, in my mind, to writing. Because time takes on the color and consistency of what it envelops, in books and in life. It’s the seeds of Proust’s fruits of memory—it’s the erratum of dispossessed memories in “Barney’s Version.” It’s what delves through McPhee’s “Annals of the Former World.” It moves outside of linearity, outside of the clock. It’s not inert. Have any questions about time? Are you temporally displaced, “Quantum Leap” style? Let Sean know at sreichard@wisc.edu.
In hindsight, Justin Timberlake’s ‘20/20 Experience’ is a joy CD REVIEW
The 20/20 Experience Justin Timberlake By Brian Weidt The Daily Cardinal
In 2002, Justin Timberlake released his debut solo album, Justified, a commercial success and a distinctive move away from his boy-band success with ’N Sync. While Timberlake and the rest of ’N Sync were an important part of my early childhood, Timberlake made the solo-move at the perfect time, and the Timbalandproduced album assured it was still cool to like Justin Timberlake. In January of 2013, when Timberlake officially announced the release of a new album six years after FutureSex/LoveSounds, the world was ready for his return to the world of music. His songwriting talent was too great for him to remain solely an actor and his recent return to the Grammy’s was as triumphant as the return of Justin Timberlake should be. His third album to date, The 20/20 Experience opens with a stirring and swirling collection of strings playing him in, as if to build up the arrival of Timberlake on “Pusher Love Girl.” The song clocks in at more than eight minutes long, one of three tracks on the album to achieve such length (while only one song is shorter than five minutes).
The homage to soul music, mixed in with the glitch-electronic break at the end of the song, is something distinctly Timberlake and Timberland, as only they could pull off such a strong contrast of styles. The album evokes strong shades of D’Angelo, the king of neo-soul, to accent the more modern-electronic influences. The lead single of the album, “Suit & Tie,” a collaboration between Timberlake and Jay-Z, is one of my least favorite songs on the album. The inconsistencies of the song—the middle of the song is smooth and soulful while the introduction and the guest verse by Jay-Z—seem forced in. Timbaland’s footprints are all over the song; seemingly illogical shifts in tone and feel are an unfortunate hallmark of Timbaland-produced albums. Sometimes the bizarre shifts in feel work to the song’s favor, though. In “Don’t Hold the Wall,” the song ends with an electronic, four-on-the-floor beat with Timberlake crooning over the top. It will be interesting to see what a radio edit of this song would sound like, as tracks like this contain almost two different songs. Timberlake’s ambition on this album sometimes falls flat, as songs such as “Tunnel Vision” are seven minutes or longer and make you want to press fast forward almost as soon as the track starts. Additionally, the lyrical content of some of these songs leave a lot to be desired. Personally, I am willing to give him a pass as Timberlake’s words are infrequently the focal point of the song.
I keep coming back to the song “Let the Groove Get In,” whose lines “Are you comfortable, right there right there/Let the groove get in, feel it right there” are repeated ad nauseam over the course of the seven minute song—the catchy hook and Latin rhythms draw me back time and again. The penultimate song on the album, “Mirrors,” is the second single released off the album and is most like Timberlake’s previ-
ous albums. Poppy hooks reign supreme on this track—though the song could really do without the last three minutes (and this is coming from someone who will listen to a 30 minute Phish song with glee). The final song of the album, “Blue Ocean Floor,” which opens with a Radiohead-esque backmasked guitar sound, is a fitting end to Timberlake’s return to glory. The 70-minute album plays Timberlake out the same way it played him in,
with a swirling collection of strings. The grandiosity and overproduction of some tracks on the album could shy some listeners away. Timberlake, however, is once again showing he can do it all. He’d made a bold move by jumping headfirst into acting and business entrepreneurship, and now with The 20/20 Experience he’s shown he can move comfortably past pop music and into the realm of neo-soul.
science Dave Nelson: researcher, teacher Nelson shares his journey from undergraduate to professor and collector emeritus, and all the knick-knacks that came along the way dailycardinal.com
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I hope what students learn from my teaching, both in class and the laboratory, is a healthy respect, maybe even an awe, for life. Dave Nelson, professor emeritus of biochemistry
Story by Nia Sathiamoorthi
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here is a room in the Biochemistry building overflowing with scientific gadgets and gizmos. The dull glint of old microscopes and beakers sitting on every available flat surface is conspicuous against the piles of papers and boxes. Hidden behind this hodgepodge sits the desk of Professor Emeritus of biochemistry David Nelson: His necessary “I’m back here” is a beacon of sound guiding me through his office. Nelson is neither a pack rat nor is he a potential star of A&E’s “Hoarders;” he is a collector of old laboratory instruments. And those in his office are simply a small fraction of his stockpile, overflowing many rooms and closets on this campus. It is because of Nelson’s love for science and the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s rich academic history that this collection continues to grow.
Nelson was born and raised in Fairmont, Minnesota, and it was in this small town he discovered his appreciation for the sciences. He credits his good teachers, especially his high school chemistry teacher, wth spurring his excitement for chemistry. “I took things apart and put them back together. I was a hamradio operator. But basically, it was chemistry that I loved,” Nelson said. Nelson pursued his undergraduate studies at Minnesota’s St. Olaf College. Majoring in both biology and chemistry, he ultimately realized his desire to study medicine or the underlying causes of behavior. He was all set to go to medical school until the summer of his senior year when he worked full-time in a research laboratory. Nelson discovered he loved working in the lab and nothing else came close as a real challenge or pleasure. He changed his plans
matthew kleist/the daily cardinal
Professor Emeritus of biochemistry Dave Nelson has become an avid collector of old scientific equipment that now clutters his office and can be found throughout the biochemistry complex. suddenly and went to graduate school at Stanford University. Nelson joined Arthur Kornberg’s laboratory in 1964. Just a few years prior, in 1959, Kornberg received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of DNA synthesis mechanisms. Under Kornberg, Nelson studied the use of bacterial sporulation as a model for cell differentiation. When bacteria form spores, a part of the cell pinches off to make that spore. We now know a new set of genes is expressed, but Nelson’s group was still ask-
ing the simple questions about cellular differentiation. “At Stanford, I was a greenhorn in a parade of first-rate people. But they took us graduate students on as equal colleagues,” Nelson said. “I was there at a wonderful time. This was after the structure of DNA was known but before the code was really worked out. So, everyday somebody would come in the door shouting, ‘They’ve got phenylalanine,’ or something else from the code. It was just intoxicating.” “I think though, in retrospect, we were attacking the problem of sporulation too soon. The technology just wasn’t there. Now, you can go back and do all of the experiments I did, my colleagues did, in a matter of a few weeks,” added Nelson with a laugh. After receiving his Ph.D, Nelson traded the West Coast for the East Coast when he started his post-doctoral work at Harvard Medical School in Eugene Kennedy’s laboratory. Nelson found Kennedy’s broad approach to research very different from Kornberg’s narrowfocused one. While he acknowledged both were important, Nelson favored breadth in his own laboratory when he became part of the UW faculty in 1971. It was the research on bacterial attractants and repellents by another prominent UW professor of biochemistry, Julius Adler, that first brought Nelson to Wisconsin and inspired him to study the free-swimming unicellular organism called paramecium. After jump-starting his own laboratory, Nelson began his teaching career with Biochem 501. He appreciated how the class forced him to know the entire field and gain the vocabulary to converse with any colleague, regardless of research topic. Twenty years later, Nelson had the opportunity to teach for a year at Spelman College, a small African-American women’s college in Atlanta. He discovered he loved the depth achieved in teaching a smaller course so much he almost stayed on, but returned to UW to create a lon-
ger two-semester biochemistry course, 507 and 508, with his teaching partner, Michael Cox. It was with Cox that Nelson took on the revision of Lehninger’s “Principles of Biochemistry” textbook. “It has been a really fabulous partnership. Dave really cares about the book and teaching,” Cox said. The book, in its fifth edition and produced in 12 languages, has become the most widely used biochemistry textbook in the world. “Lehninger established the order of teaching biochemistry. Though we changed the book, his philosophy is still the same,” Nelson said. “His graduate student was my mentor Eugene Kennedy, so in a sense, I am his scientific grandson,” he added mirthfully. Nelson actually came into his collection of old scientific instruments from a retiring UW professor, and grew to see the beauty of them. “Before long, everyone in the department knew if they had a piece of junk, they should bring it to me,” Nelson said. The equipment is an important feature in a College of Agricultural and Life Sciences course, Inter-Ag 375 Ground Breaking Research in Life Sciences at UW: Past and Present, facilitated by Nelson and other professors. In the course, the first discussion of every week revolves around historical discoveries and the second discussion focuses on the current UW research derived from those discoveries. The lab allows students to repeat historical experiments with historical equipment. Teaching this course inspired Nelson to consider authoring a book on the history of science at UW-Madison. “I love biochemistry and I love to teach. What motivates me, as it does most teachers, is seeing the lights come on in their eyes. Students take both biology and chemistry, and in biochemistry, they see it finally coming together,” Nelson said. “I hope what students learn from my teaching, both in class and the laboratory, is a healthy respect, maybe even an awe, for life.”
opinion Antitheism detrimental across the board 6
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Wednesday, March 20, 2013
zac pestine opinion columnist
I
once heard a quote that the most sensible stance toward organized religion is to remain agnostic. No one on Earth today stood at Mount Sinai while the Torah was given or saw Jesus turn water into wine. Simultaneously, it is impossible to prove a negative, namely that God does not exist. No matter how much tragedy and hardship exists in the world, no matter how much senseless hatred and violence remain extant in our world, not a single human being will ever be able to prove God does not exist. It is foolish to try. Atheism, like religion, maintains its own inexplicable tenets. For instance, given the hegemonic pedestal we refer to as the Big Bang, we cannot for the life of us determine its
antecedent. Something must have started the Big Bang. It is utterly infeasible to create something from nothing. Furthermore, no scientist has ever been able to describe how non-life can evolve into life. No matter how many advanced scientific experiments are conducted, this is another impossibility. To believe something can come from nothing is just as quixotic as believing that a man walked on water. What organized religion and spirituality do provide—what atheism lacks—is a moral code. Not only are moral philosophy and practice within the realm of religion quite disparate, but some religions’ moral philosophies are incendiary, vicious and lethal because of the way they are interpreted (or misinterpreted). My bone to pick here is not with atheism, for it is a justified belief just like any other that seeks to make some sense of our nonsensical world. The chagrin
A new pope with new ideas tom jensen religion columnist
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ith the new pope has come a hope for many that the Catholic Church may revise some of its controversial doctrines. A new concern is to what extent liberation theology has affected the new pontiff during his rise to the papacy. An understanding of liberation theology requires context, so this column aims to shed some light on that subject and on whether or not people should be concerned about this issue with regard to the papacy. I must note liberation theology is often used to refer to social activism within Catholicism. However, I will focus solely on a more distinct usage that arose in Latin America. In the 1950s, Latin American Catholics began to espouse the idea that sin was the main contributor to social injustice. By 1971, this movement had grown and evolved and was labeled liberation theology, thanks to a book by Peruvian priest Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez, “The Theology of Liberation.” Gutierrez stressed that orthodoxy (adherence to correct beliefs, in this case Catholic doctrine) was less important than orthopraxy (correct action or activity, especially ethical and liturgical). Some readers may agree. Ultimately, however, the movement was condemned by the Vatican. Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith during the rise of liberation theology, and thus it fell to him to assess the movement. Ratzinger ultimately found two related problems with liberation theology: the aforementioned stress on orthopraxis and its association with Marxist ideas. Ratzinger did not completely condemn it, however; in his Preliminary Notes on the subject he praised liberation theology’s focus on “the responsibility which Christians necessarily bear for the poor and oppressed.” Nevertheless, he concluded that the correct acceptance of doctrine
was the foundation of correct action. As for the Marxist ideas, Ratzinger is said liberation theology’s notion of the people “is the antithesis of the hierarchy, the antithesis of all institutions, which are seen as oppressive powers. Ultimately anyone who participates in the class struggle is a member of the ‘people’; the ‘Church of the people’ becomes the antagonist of the hierarchical Church.” Thus, Vatican support of liberation theology would ultimately be support of rebellion against itself. Ratzinger’s condemnation, however, did not bring about the end of the movement. Indeed it is still with us today, and this is the cause of either concern or hope in those who think Pope Francis will espouse it during his papacy. Francis comes from the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), which had previously caused Pope John Paul II some concern for its support of the movement in South America. What is more, Francis comes from Argentina, known for its liberation theologians. However, it appears there is little reason to prepare for a new wave of Vatican-approved liberation theology. In what seems to be a spirit of moderation, Pope Francis has given the impression he does not support the movement, per se, even if he does call for an increased focus on social justice; he wants proper action without ignoring the importance of adherence to Catholic doctrine. Thus, those who would like to see greater service to the poor will no doubt see it, while those who would like to see the hierarchy of the Catholic Church preserved will have nothing to fear. Time will tell, of course, but I expect Pope Francis to be a pontiff open to opposing ideas while being adamant in not sacrificing tradition. Expect him to be a staunch defender of doctrine, but do not be surprised to see him handle his papacy in new ways. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
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of this column stems from an extremist wave of antitheists. For the record, there are a seemingly infinite amount of gifts religions have bestowed upon us. I will enumerate just a few. Firstly, it is because of Judaism that Israel exists. It is because of Israel we have things like advanced drip irrigation, the Pillcam and the USB flash drive. Treating your neighbor as yourself and cherishing each and every human life are notions that emanate from the Torah. Without Christianity’s generous donations, it seems as if the United States would have a dearth of hospitals relative to the number that currently operate. Christian missionaries provide medical and physical aid to destitute areas throughout the world. And how many homeless shelters have names that start with “Saint?” Although the term “jihad” was arrogated and warped by Osama Bin Laden, what it really means is
an inner struggle, similar to the literal meaning of Israel, or “wrestling with God.” It means to constantly strive to overcome the devil on your shoulder and to be the best person you can be. Let us also not forget it was Islam that sought to preserve the advancement of science and philosophy after the fall of Rome. Like the Abrahamic religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, Daoism, etc., have all produced many of the world’s most moral individuals and innovative philosophies and technologies. In delineating some specific achievements of religion in a short article, in effect, I am leaving out the infinite tangible and intangible largesse that religion has offered to the world, and for that I apologize. To be sure, there are myriad elephants in the room right now: the Crusades, Islamic martyrdom, the Catholic church and pedophilia, etc. The truth is religious extremism often derives from maniacal political
and religious figures that purposefully warp religious teachings to conquer a people and take their land or to usurp and remain in power. Severe problems that come from religious observance are responsible for a large portion of history’s cornucopia of human atrocities. But those atrocities derive from human error, not the religions themselves. In short, for all of the destruction and chaos that has been brought about by human confiscation of the goals of religion, namely to understand the world and elevate your morality, history is resplendent with the gifts that formal religions have given us. To be an atheist is to reject the views of a theist while acknowledging that theistic views are justified and provide benefit to the world, while to be antitheist is to offer nothing in the way of productive dialogue or synergy that a functioning society so requires. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
Letter: grading system failing Lee Hansen Letter to the editor
Problems with the grading done by TAs go well beyond the “inconsistencies” discussed in Eli Bovarnick’s Opinion March 21 column, “TA grading system inherently flawed.” Even more important is how accurately the grades TAs give measure what their students learned. Consider the grading in TA-taught sections of Comm A, English 101. This course was one of several established in 1994 in response to concerns expressed by faculty members about the inability of undergraduate students to write effective prose. Unless exempted, freshmen take this course in their first year and follow it with a second course, Comm B. The Comm A course is supervised by the English Department faculty and designed to help students become more effective writers. In Fall 2012, the English Department offered 52 sections of Comm A to accommodate just over 800 students. The overall GPA in
the course was 3.773. The average grade in seven sections was 4.0. The average in the lowest section was 3.316. Does this gap reflect differences in student performance or differences in the standards applied by TA’s teaching these sections? What explains the surprising rise in the overall GPA in Comm A from 3.555 in Fall 2007 to 3.773 in Fall 2012? Has teaching in Comm A improved that much? Have students worked harder to improve their writing? Are entering Comm A students in Fall 2012 already better writers, and if so, should they be enrolled in Comm A? The generous Comm A grading standard described here boosts the GPA of Comm A students as well as the overall GPA for freshmen L&S students. If students taking Comm A were graded on the same standard as their fellow students taking introductory courses in such fields as economics, mathematics, chemistry and psychology, not only would their GPAs be lower but so would the overall GPA for fresh-
men L&S students. Although the estimated drop from 3.164 to 3.135 is not a big one, it shows how generous grading in a single large course can affect the overall GPA average. Despite two studies of the Comm A course by the College of Letters and Science, neither study surveyed faculty members to get their assessment of student writing skills. Such a survey was done back in 1992. The disappointing results led the University of Wisconsin-Madison Faculty Senate to reestablish a twosemester writing requirement as part of its revision of the general education requirements. After the vote in May 1994, then-Chancellor David Ward remarked: “Thank you. A miracle has occurred.” Why is it that more than 15 years after the Comm A requirement took effect, we still do not know whether students are able to write at a level deemed satisfactory by the teaching faculty? What does this say about the quality of UW-Madison’s widely advertised “The Wisconsin Experience?”
comics dailycardinal.com
Gotta minus, Linus
Today’s Sudoku
Wonder if he got selected for further screening... When Ramses II was flown to Paris in 1974, he was given a passport with the occupation listed as ‘King (deceased.)’ Wednesday, March 20, 2013 • 7
Eatin’ Cake
By Dylan Moriarty www.EatinCake.com
© Puzzles by Pappocom
By Melanie Shibley Shibley@wisc.edu
Solution, tips and computer program available at www.sudoku.com.
Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.
THE DAILY CARDINAL
Crustaches Classic By Patrick Remington graphics@dailycardinal.com
Kinda like a puppy, but with a crossword you can do before class. Also will not catch thrown tennis balls.
Today’s Crossword Puzzle
Caved In
Answer key available at www.dailycardinal.com THE NAME OF THIS CROSSWORD IS CROSSWORD
ACROSS 1 Polish, as shoes 5 Act on, as advice 9 Trapper’s collection 14 Flattened circle 15 More than just suspicious of 16 Word used coming or going 17 Apportion 18 Alternative to a carpet lift 19 Anchorman’s summary 20 This puzzle’s theme 23 Small band 24 Take-home pay 25 Waiting room item, for short 28 Antiquated 31 Letter for a gaggle 34 Like a lit candle 36 Suffix with “symbol” or “social” 37 What soap may leave 38 Between-innings performer 42 Sighting from the crow’s-nest 43 Bodybuilder’s unit 44 Plenty sore 45 Guinness ending 46 Married “mujeres”
9 4 50 51 53 61 62 63 4 6 65 66 67 68 69
Grant’s rival Beard on barley Mental inspiration Between-innings performer “Island of the Blue Dolphins” author Heat in the microwave “Golden” or “ground” follower Risk Rehab candidate Run in place Snooty types Eyelid problem Twosome
DOWN 1 Bunker buster 2 Pigmented part of the eye 3 Famed pool shark’s nickname 4 It has gobs of gobs 5 Filler for some balloons 6 As a group 7 List lengthener 8 Residence at Rice 9 “Star Trek” distance 10 Put in office 11 Out of one’s mind 12 “How do you like ___?!” 13 Nincompoops 21 Altercation
22 Persona’s counterpart, to Jung 25 Bowling pin wood 26 Eastern elite 27 A momentary brightness 29 River horse 30 Volcano plume 31 Key 32 Cliquish 33 Host 35 Not new 37 Where successful people go? 39 Good-night girl of song 40 Nighttime, poetically 41 Offspring of Japanese immigrants 46 Drinks greedily 47 Baseball’s branch of Brooklyn 48 Stick 50 Eschew cue cards 52 Caustic 53 Absorbs (with “up”) 54 Yemeni seaport 55 “I, Claudius” figure 56 Black wildebeests 57 Drum out 58 Corkscrew-horned antelope 59 Miss Cinders of early comics 60 Requirement
By Nick Kryshak nkryshak@wisc.edu
Sports
wednesday march 20, 2013 DailyCardinal.com
Men’s Basketball
Grey Satterfield/the daily cardinal
Despite the lack of attention given to Wisconsin’s student managers, their behind-thescenes work does not go unnoticed among those within the Badger basketball program.
Doing the dirty work
Although they are not listed on the roster and don’t make it onto the stat sheet, managers are an integral part of the work that goes into fielding a team capable of winning on the highest level. “On scout team we are out there 30 minutes early learning the plays,” senior guard Dan Fahey said. “The managers are out there an hour early getting the floor ready.” “These guys are coming in and [putting in the work], they just aren’t getting the applause,” senior forward Mike Bruesewitz said. “I know for a fact I’m not getting better without [their help].” In addition to playing intramurals, managers take advantage of another major perk that comes along with the job. “We get to play night ball and noon ball at the Kohl Center,” Zall said when asked about his favorite part of the job. “I never take it for granted for sure. We play probably 20 or 30 times a year and every time I just go out and pretend it’s
the NCAA Tournament because it’s incredible.” On one level, being a Wisconsin student manager is just another campus job, albeit a pretty unique one at that. But being a manager is so much more than simply putting in the hours. It is about having a passion for Wisconsin basketball and an understanding of how important the seemingly trivial task is in the team’s oncourt success. “People enjoy being around here,” said UW Director of Basketball Operations Luke Wainwright. “As thankless a job as it is, I think the word gets out.” “A lot of guys from other schools do it just to have a job around campus, but for us it means a lot more,” VandeWettering said. “This is as close to the team as you can be without being on it and we really take pride in being a part of Wisconsin basketball.”
Passion, pride driving forces for UW managers in juggling managerial tasks and studies Story by Max Sternberg This is the second installment of a two-part story. The first installment published in last Thursday’s issue of The Daily Cardinal.
E
ven with 19 managers, the demands of being a student manager far surpass those of an ordinary campus job. As is the case with the student-athletes, the odd hours of lifts, workouts and practices, combined with the travel demands, can make balancing school and work difficult to handle. “[College basketball] is really a full-time job,” junior manager Brandon Zall said. “When you are on a flight and you have to study and [prepare for] a game the next day, you’re not going to be able to study and put your all into it.” Nonetheless, managers have down time on road trips during which they can get work done for school, even made easier perhaps
in a setting free from the distractions of college life. “You’re going to have to make time and you have to plan ahead, but it’s actually a good thing.” Zall said. “I think it has helped me become a better student.” At other schools, the 24-7 workload often leaves managers unable to have a life outside of basketball. But at Wisconsin, managers share the workload and cover all the needs of the program while still maintaining a life outside the confines of the Kohl Center. “Sometimes it’s like having a brother,” Zall said of being a manager. “You get sick of them once in a while and it’s good to have a life outside of it.” Still, Wisconsin managers certainly don’t restrict their time spent together to merely games and practices. This team within a team has its own intramural basketball and flag football teams. Every Monday night the
“Towel Up” team plays in the recreational league at the SERF, with several UW players typically on hand in support. No one shows up more regularly than sophomore forward Frank Kaminsky, who has taken on the informal job of coaching the “greatest show on SERF.” “They are the ones that do stuff behind the scenes that maybe not everyone notices,” Kaminsky said. “They always treat us well, so I just want to give back a little of what they do for us.” “We put in a lot of time and do a lot of dirty work for them,” junior manager Marc VandeWettering said. “So for them to come and kind of pay us back for all that work and show their support for us really means a lot.” Players are the first to tell you about the hard work student managers put in behind the scenes to make their jobs easier.
Grey Satterfield/the daily cardinal
Wisconsin’s students managers balance full-time student status with their duties preparing the Badgers for gameday.
No surprise, but defense key for a Wisconsin tourney run vince huth huth the truth
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isconsin certainly didn’t enter the Big Ten tournament hitting on all cylinders. The Badgers lost two of three games before Friday’s matchup with Michigan, and their only ‘W’ came on the shoulders of a last-second 3-pointer from sophomore guard Traevon Jackson. However, after promptly knocking off the Wolverines and Hoosiers—who were ranked No. 6 and No. 3 in the nation, respectively—UW was all of a sudden playing arguably as well as any team in the country. Although the Badgers ultimately dropped the title game to then-No. 10 Ohio State, they found a familiar
recipe for a successful NCAA tournament run during their three-day stint in Chicago. In my judgment, Wisconsin’s defense was better during three games at the United Center than it’s been over any three-game stretch this season. Sure, UW has statistically played better defense over three games on a number of occasions, but the Badgers haven’t done so in consecutive games against teams the caliber of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio State. However, that’s not to suggest Wisconsin wasn’t impressive statistically over the weekend. The Wolverines’ 40.4 percent mark Friday was the most efficient shooting performance of any of the Badgers’ three opponents. Michigan, Indiana and Ohio State averaged 55 points per game against UW in Chicago— the Hoosiers’ 56-point total was their lowest of the season—
which is lower than Wisconsin’s average of 56.1 points per game allowed on the season. That’s good enough for the ninth-best scoring defense in the nation and No. 4 among the 68 teams in the NCAA tournament, which makes the Badgers’ run in the conference tournament even more impressive. And they did so in consecutive days, no less. As is the case with any lockdown defensive unit, Wisconsin’s success guarding the opposition starts with its on-ball defense. The Badgers have been especially effective in forcing opponents into difficult 3-point shots, limiting them to just 29.2 percent shooting from beyond the arc. That’s better 3-point defense than any team in the NCAA tournament, and UW’s opponent field goal percent ranks among the top teams in the field. Although the final step in
contesting a field goal attempt requires airtight positioning and a hand in the shooter’s face, making shot attempts difficult for a shooter stems from decisive off-the-ball defense. Wisconsin held Indiana senior guard Jordan Hulls, one of the Big Ten’s top 3-point gunners (48 percent) to a combined nine points on 4-of-17 shooting, including 1-of-8 from beyond the 3-point arc, in two games this season. The Badgers largely contained Hulls because of junior guard Ben Brust’s ability to chase the sharpshooter around screens, according to redshirt freshman forward Sam Dekker. Wisconsin also excels in perhaps the most important element to an effective defense: transition ‘D.’ The Badgers held Michigan, Indiana and Ohio State to a combined 17 fast break points this weekend. In fact, UW, whose slow-paced offense has been compared to watching paint
dry, outscored the Hoosiers in fast break points Saturday. Ultimately, UW aims to limit the opposition’s high quality shots—open triples and easy buckets around the basket—with the end goal of luring teams into difficult 2-point attempts. Wisconsin’s opponents have shot 42.7 percent on such shots this season, a mark equal to none other than overall No. 1 seed Louisville. I’m sure there are plenty of NCAA teams with more NBAcaliber players than Wisconsin, and I won’t argue the Badgers are more watchable than an up-tempo team like Virginia Commonwealth. However, I call shenanigans on anyone who says it won’t be entertaining to see if UW can ride its defensefirst approach to Atlanta. How far do you think Wisconsin will advance in the tournament? Let Vince know by sending him an email at sports@dailycardinal.com.