Weekend, October 27-30, 2016 - The Daily Cardinal

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University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Weekend, October 27-30, 2016

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Sims seeks endorsement of diversity statement from governance groups By Peter Coutu THE DAILY CARDINAL

KATIE SCHEIDT/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Chief Diversity Officer Patrick Sims explained the importance of the diversity statement in an Oct. 24 interview with The Daily Cardinal.

UW-Madison’s student government is the only shared governance group that has not yet endorsed the campus’s upcoming institutional diversity statement, which seeks to affirm the university’s commitment to diversity efforts. Chief Diversity Officer Patrick Sims said having each of the four shared governance groups endorse the statement will give his office the momentum to move forward with the initiatives they are attempting to enact. “We really wanted to have this statement as a way to represent that larger buy-in and commitment,” Sims said. “I see the campus statement as a way to galvanize all of the various efforts on campus that

put us in a better position to create spaces of accountability.” The Faculty Senate, Academic Staff Congress and University Staff have already endorsed the statement. Sims also urged each group to pass a local resolution specific to their body to expand on their own diversity initiatives. The Faculty Senate and Academic Staff Congress have already passed their specific resolutions, while University Staff is still drafting theirs. The Associated Students of Madison has not yet begun drafting its local resolution, according to Chair Carmen Goséy, because the group’s annual budget-planning process is currently taking precedent. Sims said the drafting process for the five-sentence statement, which involved all of the shared governance

groups, began in January 2016. He said he initiated this process because the university did, and does not currently have, “anything that affirmed what [its] commitment was.” The statement was not finalized until nearly the end of the spring semester. “We [drafted the statement] with the full support and buy-in from all of those governance groups,” Sims said. “When I brought that statement forward this fall, it was with that understanding.” ASM plans to discuss endorsing the statement at the Nov. 2 Student Council meeting. Goséy said she was not involved in the writing process, but she thinks the language is “just fine” and that it already has her personal endorsement.

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City leaders discuss how to make student housing affordable By Miller Jozwiak THE DAILY CARDINAL

City officials are looking to collect more data on housing in the downtown area to find affordable solutions for student housing. Ald. Zach Wood, District 8, and City of Madison Housing Initiatives Specialist Matt Wachter held a discussion Wednesday night to present problems in housing to students and discuss possible solutions.

“When it comes to to the whole picture of affording the college experience ... housing is really the only area we can directly affect.” Zach Wood alder City of Madison

Wachter, who graduated from UW-Madison, gave a presentation in which he said the city does not have a lot of quantitative and qualitative data, partially because student housing affordability is more complicated than traditional affordable housing. Before the recession hit in 2007, the city was losing renters, but between 2007 and 2015 the rental housing market exploded with 17,000 renters, according to Wachter. While more than 1,000 renters were moving to Madison annually, almost all of

whom were millennials, there were only hundreds of units being added each year. As a result, the vacancy rate has dropped from around 5 percent to around 2 percent, which, according to Wachter, has driven up rent. Those factors affect both student housing and traditional housing. The solution to making student renting affordable is more ambiguous. The city can use tax increment financing, or TIF, to encourage constructing apartment buildings in Madison by loaning funds to developers at a low interest rate, anticipating high property taxes in the future. However, student housing is explicitly banned from using that method. Wood said he would support opening TIF funds for student developments. Wood also acknowledged the substantial costs students face in attending the university, such as student loans, but said the city can’t really change that. “I think part of the reason we are having this conversation about student housing is when it comes to the whole picture of affording the college experience and trying to make that accessible to everybody from all backgrounds,” Wood said. “Housing is really the only area we can directly affect.” Wood said he hopes to hold more discussions in the future.

JESSI SCHOVILLE/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO

A cheerleader rallies a crowd of Badgers on game day at Camp Randall. Wisconsin’s student section is consistently ranked among the most spirited in the nation.

Game day, Wisconsin pride take on new meaning through lens of Spirit Squad By Carlie Lamke THE DAILY CARDINAL

Performance on game days doesn’t solely revolve around the football team. Wisconsin’s Spirit Squad—cheerleading, dance and the university mascot, Bucky—also has to win for the crowd. “It’s an experience that’s comparable to none,” said senior Tori Rogers, cheerleading co-captain. “Looking up and seeing all of

those lights, and seeing all of our fans, like during Jump Around … It’s just something that’s just seriously so amazing.” The Spirit Squad has had a considerable amount of national coverage recently, including on ESPN’s “College GameDay,” which was stationed on Bascom Hill Oct. 15 for the Ohio State game. Jacob Sokol, co-captain of the cheerleading team, said he could hear the crowd’s roar at 7:30 a.m.

as he walked down State Street towards Bascom Hill that day. “It was really, really cool,” Sokol said. “There were so many students there already at that time. So when we were showing up I was all ... man I was so excited.” The Wisconsin Spirit Squad got to experience two ESPN “College GameDays” this Fall— the home Ohio State Game and

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Cook to face multiple sexual assault charges Thursday By Sammy Gibbons THE DAILY CARDINAL

Alec Cook, a suspended UW-Madison junior, will be charged Thursday in a 30-count criminal complaint following sexual assault reports from multiple women last week.

The complaint claims that Cook assaulted four women since March 2015, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. Three UW-Madison students came forward last week and reported Cook assaulted them. A fourth student said that Cook had touched her inappropriately. Three

other women whose cases are being investigated have reported that Cook assaulted them to police. The charges from last week’s reports will be rolled into the new complaint, according to Assistant

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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.”


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