Prolific mix tape artist Wale puts together debut studio album ARTS
l
PAGE 5
University of Wisconsin-Madison
BALL, CLAY STEAMROLL OVER INDIANA DEFENSE Running backs seal victory by squashing Indiana’s uphill struggle at a comeback Complete campus coverage since 1892
l
SPORTS
dailycardinal.com
Monday, November 9, 2009
By Alyssa Connolly The Daily Cardinal
Isabel Álvarez/the daily cardinal
Students flocked to the Memorial Union terrace Friday evening to enjoy unexpected warmer temperatures and a picturesque sunset over Lake Mendota.
By Brandice Altfillisch The Daily Cardinal
UW-Madison officials held a workshop Friday to explore methods of improving labor standards around the world. The workshop featured activists and researchers from throughout the country who spoke about the need for retailers and manufacturers to pressure global supply chains to raise labor standards. Among the retailers discussed were Columbia and Nike, who supply a large amount of UW-Madison’s collegiate apparel. Along with Chancellor Biddy Martin, speakers at Friday’s event included Richard Locke from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Bonnie Nixon from the Global
Social Compliance Program. According to Martin, UW-Madison’s participation in the Collegiate Licensing Consortium and the Workers Rights Consortium has made the university one of the current leaders in the movement to improve labor standards. Martin said she was “delighted” to be a part of the movement through UW’s activism. “I can also tell you … how proud I am that the University Wisconsin athletics is a leader of the attempt in trying to improve labor standards,” she said. The Student Labor Action Coalition has historically put pressure on campus officials to push for labor page 3
Danny Marchewka/cardinal file photo
Chancellor Biddy Martin spoke Friday at a workshop outlining UW-Madison’s goals to improve labor and sweatshop conditions.
PAGE 8
Recession hits UW Foundation, departments, as donations plunge
Serene sunset
Forum addresses need to raise labor standards
l
Legislature passes education reforms By Ariel Shapiro and Sarah Zipperle The Daily Cardinal
The state Legislature passed four education reform bills early Friday morning in an attempt to make Wisconsin more competitive for federal Race to the Top dollars. The legislation comes on the heels of President Barack Obama’s visit to Madison last Wednesday, during which he spoke about the need for an overall improvement in America’s education system. At a news conference Friday, Gov. Jim Doyle said the legislation will “really help Wisconsin move forward” and will improve education for all Wisconsin students. A controversial bill that allows schools to tie student performance to teacher evaluations was included in the legislation that passed. Wisconsin’s “firewall law,” which restricted such evaluations, was removed on a 47-46 vote by the state Assembly. Although the controversial bill allows teachers to be held accountable, teachers cannot be removed based solely on the evaluations. “The president was very clear,” Doyle said. “If you are
Donations to the UW Foundation have decreased 12 percent since last September’s economic downturn, prompting UW-Madison’s colleges and departments to cut back on certain program spending. The Foundation, which solicits, controls and distributes donations from alumni and friends of the university, reported a 12 percent drop in donations between September 2008 and September 2009 (from $126,903,723 to $112,261,756) while the number of donations received dropped 7.5 percent. Andrew Wilcox, the Foundation’s president, described the decrease as a “freefall” compared to past years, and said the Foundation’s endowment—the pool of invested, long-term donations—also took a substantial hit with the recession, falling from $2.9 to $2.27 billion. The donation shortages have led to budget cuts in many divisions, including the College of Letters and Science, the School of Education, the Business School and the Athletic Department. Many colleges are leaning increasingly on private gifts, according to College of Letters & Science Dean Gary Sandefur. Inconveniently, expenditures within the College have increased 30-40 percent in the past five years. Sandefur said the decrease in donations has affected the College’s ability to support many of the faculty research projects, aid for graduate students and student group activities it had formerly funded. “Students have lots of creative ideas,” he said. “They can get some money through ASM and some through the dean’s office, but in the past the College has been able to step in from time to time and help with some of these activities, but we just can’t do as many now as we used to.” School of Education Dean Julie Underwood said the decrease in dona-
tions isn’t canceling any projects for the School, but it is preventing the implementation of new initiatives. One of those delayed projects is the Partner Schools Initiative, in which UW teachers work to improve curriculum and professional development in the Madison Public School District. Decreasing donations have also affected UW’s School of Business, where donations have dropped from $33.9 million in 2008’s fiscal year (July 1 to June 30) to $16.8 million in 2009. The School’s budget doesn’t reflect that stiff decline, however, since the School is still benefiting from the $85 million Wisconsin Naming Gift in 2007, in which 13 donors contributed to not name the business school after any one person, according to Assistant Dean for Alumni and Corporate Relations Alisa Robertson. Although such large endowments are often invested to generate financial interest for UW to use in the future, those gifts are uncommon this year. The Foundation reported receiving 29 fewer gifts of more than $100,000 between January and August than the same period last year. “The general sense of things is people are not in the position to be making $2 million gifts right now,” Robertson said. The current economy has limited state funds, so UW has been working to find “big bucks” donors to support specific departments or projects, from endowing professorships to funding long-term needs like professor salaries, Vice Chancellor for Administration Darrell Bazzell said. “Sometimes it’s finding what the donor is interested in and other times it’s very deliberate, seeking out donors for a specific project,” he said. The UW Athletic Department is among those to hold “capital campaigns” to support facility projects. foundation page 3
By the numbers... 12: The percent drop in donation dollars to the UW Foundation from September 2008-’09 5,367: Fewer donations in Sept. ’08-09 than Sept. ’07-08 $630 million: Drop in UW Foundations endowment from Sept. ’08-09 29: Fewer gifts of more than $100,000 through August 2009 compared to the same period last year
education 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.”