County Board debate tonight for campus District 5 candidates HUMANITIES 1101
University of Wisconsin-Madison
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7 p.m.
STUNNING LOSS LEAVES UW RED IN THE FACE Badgers’ Sweet Sixteen dreams dashed by streaking Cornell shooters SPORTS
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Researcher allowed to resume after suspension By Kelsey Gunderson and Charles Brace The Daily Cardinal
A UW-Madison committee approved research protocols last week that will allow Michele Basso to resume her research with non-human primates after her research abilities were suspended in February 2009. Basso, who uses non-human primates to study brain conditions like Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease, was suspended from research after she continued to violate animal care protocol after several warnings that date back as far as 2004. According to Eric Sandgren, director of the UW-Madison Research Animal Resources Center, Basso’s research showed problems with medical recordkeeping on some of the animals. He said she was also cited with incorrectly storing or using samples that were meant to be reviewed by veterinary staff. According to Chancellor Biddy
Martin, the School of Medicine and Public Health Animal Care and Use Committee eventually took Basso’s case to the All-Campus ACUC in 2008 after reaching a standstill in deciding the fate of her research privileges. This committee chose to suspend Basso’s research privileges and research protocol in February 2009. Sandgren said UW-Madison reinstated Basso’s research privileges in October 2009, but she was still unable to conduct research until last week when the university approved her research protocols. He said that such a long suspension from animal research privileges is rare and estimated there were only two other suspensions of similar length in the past six years. Martin said, however, that she believes problems with animal research are inevitable because of the large size of UW-Madison’s research enterprise. “I don’t think it is surprising in general that there will be problems
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because we’ve got 6,700 people working with animals on this campus, there will always be problems,” she said. This incident occurred on the heels of debate regarding the ethics of primate research at UW-Madison, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture cited UW-Madison with several animal care violations in a report released in December. After the release of the USDA report, Martin called for an external review of UW-Madison’s primate research. This report, released in January 2010, did not find UW-Madison guilty of any serious violations. Martin said, however, she feels some of the problems surrounding primate research on campus would be resolved under provost Paul DeLuca’s plan to restructure UW-Madison’s graduate school, which would create a new dean position strictly in charge of overseeing UW-Madison’s research.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Marched out
Courtesy of Steve Apps/Wisconsin State Journal
Senior guard Trevon Hughes had to look on from the bench after fouling out in his last game as a Badger, a season-ending 87-69 loss to Cornell.
SLAC protests Martin’s Nike contract deadline By Charles Brace the daily cardinal
The Student Labor Action Coalition held a musical protest outside Chancellor Biddy Martin’s office Friday to encourage UW-Madison to cut its apparel contract with Nike over unpaid workers’ wages in two factories in Honduras. Martin previously gave Nike a 120-day deadline to take action on the issue. The deadline expires April 7. Martin, who was in her office at the time of the protest and met with the organizers, said she would sever the contract with Nike if they did not remedy the situation to a significant degree. “I don’t think they have been
Isabel Álvarez/the daily cardinal
Chancellor Biddy Martin announced last week that Michele Basso is allowed to resume her work researching the brain using non-human primates after she was suspended in February 2009.
By Hannah Furfaro The Daily Cardinal
Members of the Veterans Affairs Board strategized how to dismiss former Veterans Affairs Secretary John Scocos at least a week before he was fired, according to e-mails obtained by the Wisconsin State Journal. The e-mails revealed that members of the Board developed “talking points” and a public relations plan on how to fire Scocos.
Scocos has since sued the Board after his November 2009 firing, claiming he was dismissed for political reasons. The correspondence raises the question of whether the Board violated the state’s open meetings law, which requires all governmental bodies to meet publically. According to the law, electronic communication could constitute an open meeting if the correspondence “resembles an in-person discussion.”
Through e-mail, members of the Board discussed the need “for a change” in leadership and preparatory plans for Scocos’ firing, including “immediate physical removal” and “crowd control.” In an e-mail between Board member Marv Freedman and Board Chairperson Marcia Anderson, Freedman asked Anderson to “be sure that all the bases are covered e-mails page 3
adequately responsive to what we’ve asked them to do about the situation in Honduras yet,” Martin said in an interview before the protest. Martin said no formal plans are in place in case Nike does not take action but said the “appropriate people are at least thinking about plans for the future.” UW-Madison junior and SLAC organizer Daniel Cox said a large company like Nike can be affected if its public image is harmed by a contract being cut. “It works even better with a company like Nike because they have a brand name that they have to live up to,” Cox said. protest page 3
Teach-in educates students on conflicts in Middle East By Anna Discher The Daily Cardinal
E-mails show Veterans Affairs Secretary’s firing planned
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Several UW-Madison professors held a teach-in about the military conflicts in Afghanistan and Pakistan Friday and Saturday to educate students about the war. Uli Schamiloglu, UW-Madison professor of languages and cultures of Asia, began the panel with his presentation entitled, “Afghanistan: The Current Facts of the Ground.” Schamiloglu discussed how the media’s one-dimensional portrayal of Afghanistan’s geography has led to a one-dimensional view of the country in general. “If you were to have looked at
a map of Afghanistan like that ... it all looks rather homogeneous,” Schamiloglu said. “But the first point that I would like to make is that Afghanistan is anything but homogeneous.” Schamiloglu went on to discuss the diversity of Afghanistan’s religions, regions, politics and languages. He finished by posing several questions, such as how the U.S. should define success in Afghanistan and Pakistan and whether the U.S. has an exit strategy. “I think they do talk about the 18 months [as a deadline for ending teach-in page 3
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”