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Committee reacts to ‘Tonight’
By Tamar Myers THE DAILY CARDINAL
The DAILY CARDINAL
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Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Student leaders to evaluate SSFC funding guidelines
By Maija Inveiss Un ive r s i t y Affairs Committee met Tuesday to hear from a University Health Services representative about the Tonight program. The program, endorsed by End Violence on Campus and UHS, is designed to educate new students on sexual assault, dating violence and consent. Tonight not only gives students a better understanding of how to avoid these incidents, but how to receive help after an incident occurs, according to the UHS website. In previous years, Tonight was optional, but this year all incoming students were required to take the program. Students took a pre-test and a post-test to become eligible for spring class registration. “We are hoping to see change from the pre-test to the post-test in terms of gaining some knowledge and skills,” UHS Graduate Assistant Molly Zemke said. Zemke asked the University Affairs members to give their input on the Tonight program. Many members commented that Tonight was useful in helping new students realize sexual assault can happen on college campuses. Since Tonight was created by UW-Madison students depicting the UW-Madison campus, members said they found it showed a better representation of what to expect on campus. University Affairs members suggested to Zemke that the program needs scenarios geared towards incoming students, true stories from assault victims and the male perspective. The University of WisconsinMadison is paving the way for other universities with this pro-
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Jane Thompson/the daily cardinal
Madison’s Common Council approves the 2014 city budget, which heavily funds homeless services and health initiatives.
City approves 2014 budget By Irene Burski THE DAILY CARDINAL
Madison’s Common Council voted to approve the proposed 2014 Capital and Operating Budgets Tuesday, totaling approximately $224.5 million and $272.6 million respectively.
“We’ve managed to squeeze a lot of human services into this budget.” Chris Schmidt president Madison Common Council
In addition, the Council added a series of amendments regarding the planning and construction of downtown public toilets, and funds providing showers and laundry services for the homeless. The measures passed are expected to help address some of the daily challenges that face those on the streets, but are not considered a permanent remedy, according to Ald.
Scott Resnick, District 8. “This is a stop-gap measure that should not be acceptable as a long-term solution,” Resnick said. “The city can do better.” In particular, Council members were divided about whether or not to dedicate funds to a public bathroom facility. The proposed amendment stipulated a $500,000 sum, but many alders were uncomfortable with allocating that much money to a rough estimate determined without a formal study. “If we have to pass something, I’d rather it be a smaller number,” said Council President and Ald. Chris Schmidt, District 11. Echoing the sentiment of the alders, Madison Mayor Paul Soglin had little patience for the monetary uncertainty and worried about setting a bad precedent. “I’ve never seen us doing anything on the fly like this before,” Soglin said. “Does this mean we are now going to embark on a new process of
A University of WisconsinMadison committee is looking to re-evaluate how the Student Service Finance Committee makes decisions about granting student organizations funding. At a Tuesday meeting, the recently formed Eligibility Criteria Review Committee brainstormed items to include in its mission statement. These included goals such as supporting groups that advocate for students, that encourage the open exchange of beliefs and that align with the Wisconsin Idea. Each semester, $14 of the $565 in segregated fees undergraduates pay goes into a General Student Services Fund, which is then granted to certain student organizations, known as GSSF groups. Students have previously raised concerns about the complex guidelines for receiving this fund. The committee charged with examining the guidelines is made up of GSSF group members and SSFC representatives, and should soon include representatives from non-GSSF student organizations. One much-discussed GSSF requirement is a mandate that over half of the organization’s efforts must be focused on offering a “direct service” to students, which has been criticized for being confusing. “For quite some time … we’ve been looking at these
direct service criteria,” Student Council Chair and committee facilitator David Gardner said. “There’s been misunderstandings of them, there’s been different interpretations of them.” SSFC Rep. Justin Bloesch said current eligibility guidelines inhibit organizations, especially many multicultural groups. He gave the example of Wunk Sheek, a Native American student organization that was denied funding in 2009 because members devoted much of their efforts to a pow-wow, a traditional custom. According to funding guidelines, this was classified as an event, which can not be considered a direct service. Bloesch also mentioned the MultiCultural Student Coalition, which he said did not receive funding two years ago because their services were labeled as “not substantially different from what the university provides.” “I think the criteria are very bad at recognizing … the cultural wealth that groups can bring,” Bloesch said. Mariella Treleven, who represented the GSSF-funded organization Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group, said she is on the committee because she thinks guidelines are overly “nitpicky” and complicated. “If a group wants to do something for campus it shouldn’t be that hard of a process,” Treleven said.
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Dean of Students, UHS address campus rape culture Harmful social norms regarding sexual violence discourage University of WisconsinMadison sexual assault victims from reporting incidents and seeking support, according to a University Health Services statement Tuesday. UHS Executive Director Sarah Van Orman and UW-Madison Dean of Students Lori Berquam released the joint statement in response to a letter
to the editor published by The Badger Herald Monday. “Most sexual assault perpetrators hide behind harmful social norms and attitudes about gender, violence, sex, and entitlement,” Van Orman and Berquam said in the statement. “Social norms are complex reflections of the world we live in, and we have a role in creating healthy norms rather than reinforcing unhealthy norms.”
They also said in the statement university leaders are committed to addressing sexual violence on campus through prevention, victim response and perpetrator accountability services. Van Orman and Berquam directed students to bystander intervention resources, including the Tonight program, and services available to victims and survivors of sexual violence available through UHS.
JANE THOMPSON/the daily cardinal
Associated Students of Madison Chair David Gardner moderates an Eligibility Criteria Review Committee meeting.
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”