University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Weeklong Issue, November 21-27, 2016
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“Hamilton” controversy overshadows real politics +OPINION, PAGE 4
+ARTS, page 7
“Harry Potter” Films Ranking
UW-Madison to open new Black Cultural Center inside Red Gym By Sammy Gibbons THE DAILY CARDINAL
BEN DAVIS/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO
Students and community members protested the Dakota Access Pipeline Nov. 11 at Libray Mall, a cause student activists from Climate Action 350 have also been focusing on.
Climate activists on campus prepare for Trump presidency By Lucas Sczygelski THE DAILY CARDINAL
As the election shock dissipates, climate change activists and policy professionals are coming to terms with a president-elect who rejects climate science as conspiracy and promises to roll back regulatory regimes and international agreements meant to curtail carbon emissions. As anti-Trump student protests began at American universities last week, members of Climate Action 350, a student group dedicated to climate solutions, were protesting something entirely different. Along with more than 50 other like-minded students, Lauren Peretz, a senior biology major, protested the Dakota Access Pipeline. To her and the other protestors, the pipeline, which cuts through sacred tribal land, is a continuation of the profit-driven developments
that have caused climate change. “Obviously any new fossil fuel infrastructure is not a good thing,” Peretz said. Climate Action 350, which she co-chairs, plans to maintain this type of activism to resist what they see as an even broader existential threat to Earth’s climate: President-elect Donald Trump. “We will do everything we can,” she said. “We will hold educational events and rallies. Being able to talk to people, that’s the best way to spread awareness.” Despite their vow to fight on, they said Trump’s win offered a loud rejection of their cause. As one member blamed “evangelicals” who “think the world’s gonna end soon anyway,” Peretz assessed the setback. “It really sucks,” she said. “Even if he’s only president for four years, we’re destroying the earth and it’s
not going to be reversible.” The effects of climate change have been prominent in the news for most UW System students throughout their lives. According to UW-Madison professor and climate policy expert Gregory Nemet, Trump’s presidency could finally tip the scales toward the bleak vision of rapid environmental damage that many fear. “The two main policies implemented under [President Barack] Obama have been the Clean Power Plan, which regulates greenhouse gas emissions in the electricity sector, and the Paris Agreement,” Namet said. “196 countries agreed to reduce emissions to limit warming to two degrees celsius higher than pre-industrial levels. Pretty impressive.” The Clean Power Act, however,
Following a call from students of color in the fall of 2015, Vice Provost for Diversity and Climate and Chief Diversity Officer Patrick Sims, Dean of Students Lori Berquam and Chancellor Rebecca Blank met to create a space at UW-Madison for black students that will open this spring. The Black Cultural Center will open in room 106 of the Red Gym, the space that is currently the Study Abroad Resource Center, in February. It will be affiliated with the Multicultural Student Center. Sims and Berquam formed a team that travelled to find models of black cultural centers at other institutions and used their findings to begin plans for UW-Madison’s space. “This was a way to try and demonstrate that there’s a willingness to engage students and acknowledge that some of the current efforts of themselves aren’t sufficient to address the full range of experiences that students are going to have on campus,” Sims said. Sims said the BCC will be a space for black students to be themselves and not feel responsible for teaching other students to think critically about issues that affect communities of color. It will be a place for students, both of color and not, to explore the variety of black cultures, including African, African American and Caribbean. Gabe Javier, director of the MSC and LGBT Campus Center, is one
of several individuals who is on the advisory board comprised of students, faculty and staff that is establishing the BCC. He said the group is working on operational philosophies of the BCC, thinking of strategical partnerships and ensuring that the mission of the BCC complements the mission of the MSC and the Division of Student Life. “I think it’ll be a programming space, a community space, a study space a flexible and multi-use space for black students and centering the experiences of black students,” Javier said. “I think it will give the ability to explore experiences of African American and black students on campus. It will honor the university’s commitment to diversity in that way as well.” Critiques surrounding the use of space on campus, specifically in the Red Gym, have circulated since Amazon proposed to set up a Pickup Point there earlier this year. “A space is always going to be an issue on this campus in terms of what space and how much space,” Javier said. “I think the students who are in conversation and who are partners understand the limitations of space but are hopeful that we will be able to make a space that people will feel like we can really be brought to life for the communities who will use it.” Sims said that the BCC is just the beginning of of a larger conversation that is being had between him and Berquam to support all marginalized students on campus.
activists page 3
Employee numbers decline on UW campuses UW System schools employ the equivalent of 830 fewer fulltime staff members compared to October 2014, according to a report submitted Thursday to the state’s Joint Finance Committee. The report, submitted by the system annually, shows the changes in full-time equivalent positions at each of the state’s 26 public colleges and universities, as well as UW-Extension and the UW System’s offices. UW-Madison actually saw an
increase of roughly 200 jobs since October 2014. The report attributed that rise to more roles which are funded by non-state revenue, including grants, contracts or the athletic department. Despite the slight increase, UW-Madison instituted a hiring freeze after cuts to the UW System in the 2015-’16 biennial budget. The freeze prevents it from filling many vacant positions. Other schools saw significant decreases in staffing.
UW-Milwaukee saw almost 400 FTE positions trimmed and almost 200 positions were eliminated at UW-Eau Claire. UW-Eau Claire announced last year that they would be forced to cut 15 percent of their staff because of a decrease in state funding. The UW System administration saw a slight decrease from 92 employees to 80. UW-Extension, however, saw a small increase of nine positions. —Andrew Bahl
MORGAN WINSTON/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO
The Red Gym will house the Black Cultural Center, a space that will be open to all students of color and explore black cultures.
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”