125th Anniversary - Saturday, April 1, 2017 - The Daily Cardinal

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University of Wisconsin-Madison

Since 1892 dailycardinal.com

Daily Cardinal 125th Anniversary Issue

years since 1892

Reflecting on the past Letters from former editors-in-chief pages 4 & 5 “…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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2 • Daily Cardinal 125th Anniversary Issue

An independent student newspaper, serving the University of Wisconsin-Madison community since 1892 Volume 126, Issue 48

2142 Vilas Communication Hall 821 University Avenue Madison, Wis., 53706-1497 (608) 262-8000 • fax (608) 262-8100

News and Editorial edit@dailycardinal.com

Editor-in-Chief Theda Berry

Managing Editor Negassi Tesfamichael

News Team News Manager Peter Coutu Campus Editor Sammy Gibbons College Editor Nina Bertelsen City Editor Gina Heeb State Editor Lilly Price Associate News Editor Noah Habenstreit Features Editor Hannah Olson Opinion Editors Sebastian van Bastelaer • Samantha Wilcox Editorial Board Chair Ellie Herman Arts Editors Ben Golden • Samantha Marz Sports Editors Bobby Ehrlich • Thomas Valtin-Erwin Gameday Editors Ethan Levy • Ben Pickman Almanac Editors Marc Tost • Ayomide Awosika Photo Editors Morgan Winston • Katie Scheidt Graphics Editor Amira Barre Multimedia Editor Lisa Milter Science Editor Julie Spitzer Life & Style Editor Cassie Hurwitz Special Pages Editor Allison Garcia Copy Chiefs Katie Gvozdjak • Audrey Altmann Yi Wu • Sydney Widell Social Media Manager Jenna Mytton Historian Will Chizek

Business and Advertising business@dailycardinal.com Business Manager Grant Bailey Advertising Manager Tyler Baier • Caleb Bussler Marketing Director Ryan Jackson

dailycardinal.com

One-hundred and twenty-five years

BY THEDA BERRY editor-in-chief

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he content for this special issue is meant to pay tribute to all 125 of them. Current staff have spent time reflecting on The Daily Cardinal’s history, through flashback photos and digging in to write long-form pieces.

We have looked through countless blue books of past issues, searched online archives and reached out to alumni in the process.

Part birthday card to the Cardinal, part love letter to alumni and current staff, we hope this issue both entertains and provides insight into the rich history of this paper.

The front cover is a compilation of historical images from the Cardinal and campus, with a bird referencing the historical front page we chose as the back cover. This back cover represents a moment of joy and celebration for the Cardinal, and is a symbol of our perseverance— despite the sometimes rocky and complicated journey of being an independent student newspaper.

Reading through this issue, among other topics, our evolving print production schedule will be made more clear. Background on strategy and marketing for our similarly evolving brand

will be given. The impact of the Cardinal on community in Madison will be illuminated.

And the work of our only 53-year staffer will be celebrated.

Aside from feature content, the center spread of this issue contains four letters from recent editors in chief. Going back just four years before my own term as editor in chief, so much has changed.

Scott, Abby, Jack and Jim may be getting further removed from the Cardinal and more involved in their own professional lives, but they took the time to explain that as far as they may be from the Cardinal, it continues to impact them. It continues to shape how they view the world, as it does for many alumni.

A common theme I found in these letters from past editors in chief, is the camaraderie and true friendships that can be found within the Cardinal. Behind every paper and online story is a community. I think understanding the necessity of teamwork and hard work is universal across Cardinal staff members from different decades. Because otherwise, how could we have the collective strength to maintain our 125-year-old tradition?

Similar to these other EICs, some of my most valued relation-

PETER COUTU/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Theda Berry, a junior, is the Daily Cardinal’s current editor-inchief and majoring in English creative writing with certificates in gender and women’s studies and graphic design. ships have grown out of spending so much time in 2142 Vilas. There is something incredibly powerful and inspiring about working toward a common goal. I’m sure other alumni who worked as management would agree that seeing the dedication and passion of editors and staff is one of the most rewarding parts of this stressful and challenging job.

It is a huge point of pride for former and current staff that we are the sixth oldest independent student newspaper in the country. We have spent 125 years striving to be the best resource we can be for students and Madison community members to stay informed.

Let’s continue to do so for 125 more.

Current Editors

The Daily Cardinal is a nonprofit organization run by its staff members and elected editors. It receives no funds from the university. Operating revenue is generated from advertising and subscription sales.

The Daily Cardinal is published twice weekly and distributed at the University of WisconsinMadison and its surrounding community with a circulation of 10,000.

Capital Newspapers, Inc. is the Cardinal’s printer. The Daily Cardinal is printed on recycled paper. The Cardinal is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press and the Wisconsin Newspaper Association.

All copy, photographs and graphics appearing in The Daily Cardinal are the sole property of the Cardinal and may not be reproduced without written permission of the editor in chief.

The Daily Cardinal accepts advertising representing a wide range of views. This acceptance does not imply agreement with the views expressed. The Cardinal reserves the right to reject advertisements judged offensive based on imagery, wording or both.

Complaints: News and editorial complaints should be presented to the editor in chief.

Business and advertising complaints should be presented to the business manager.

Letters Policy: Letters must be word processed and must include contact information. No anonymous letters will be printed. All letters to the editor will be printed at the discretion of The Daily Cardinal. Letters may be sent to opinion@ dailycardinal.com.

Editorial Board Theda Berry • Negassi Tesfamichael Ellie Herman • Jack Kelly Amileah Sutliff • Dylan Anderson Sebastian van Bastelaer • Ben Pickman Samantha Wilcox

Board of Directors Herman Baumann, President Phil Brinkman • Theda Berry Tyler Baier • Negassi Tesfamichael Grant Bailey • Janet Larson Don Miner • Ryan Jackson Nancy Sandy • Jennifer Sereno Jason Stein • Tina Zavoral Caleb Bussler © 2015, The Daily Cardinal Media Corporation ISSN 0011-5398

For the record LEAH VOSKUIL/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Corrections or clarifications?

Call The Daily Cardinal office at 608-262-8000 or send an email to edit@dailycardinal.com.

Back Row (left to right): Marc Tost, Ben Golden, Peter Coutu Second Row: Lilly Price, Noah Habenstreit, Sebastian van Bastelaer, Ellie Herman, Samantha Marz, Morgan Winston, Sydney Widell, Jenna Mytton Third Row: Hannah Olson, Gina Heeb, Thomas Valtin-Erwin, Sammy Gibbons, Samantha Wilcox, Katie Gvozdjak, Yi Wu, Front Row: Audrey Altmann, Theda Berry, Ayomide Awosika, Negassi Tesfamichael, Julie Spitzer Not Pictured: Bobby Erlich, Katie Scheidt, Amira Barre, Cassie Hurwitz, Allison Garcia, Lisa Milter, Will Chizek

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Daily Cardinal 125th Anniversary Issue

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Print production may change, but paper’s objectives do not Story by Jake Skubish “It was like the end of the world.”

That’s how Abby Becker, The Daily Cardinal’s 2013-’14 editorin-chief, described the alumni reaction when the newspaper chose to cut print production down to four days a week.

“One of the challenges I think we were facing in making that big change was, because the Cardinal does have such a strong tradition, to change it in any way can rub people the wrong way,” Becker said.

Jacob Sattler, who served as business manager with Becker, said he felt hesitancy about the decision to cut print production.

“It was largely a pride thing,” Sattler said. “I think a lot of journalists ... have their minds in the old way of doing things, and they don’t necessarily want it to change.”

When I began investigating The Daily Cardinal’s production history, I thought the topic was mundane. As I continued, though, I realized it’s just the opposite. This history isn’t about the transition from paper to digital; it’s not about the material we use to distribute the news.

It’s about the tension between adhering to tradition and giving UW-Madison the quality news it deserves. It’s about what it means to be in journalism, and the future of dispensing the truth to the student body. In a time in which the truth seems to be fluid and facts are in jeopardy, I can think of few issues more crucial.

Financial pressure The decision to cut Friday papers was made out of financial necessity. Student newspapers are in a particularly vulnerable financial situation: Without charging for paper editions, we have no subscription fees to supplement ad dollars. As print ads have waned, this model became more untenable for the Cardinal.

“We knew we had to make some sort of decision in order to keep the paper financially viable in the future, and to also leave the paper in good shape for the next team,” Becker said.

“We’re still a daily paper ... it’s about when you’re posting your stories, not when you’re posting them.”

Mara Jezior former managing editor The Daily Cardinal

Even though the decision had to be made, it wasn’t an easy call.

“When we came in, we wanted to keep it five days. We were trying so hard,” said Mara Jezior, the Cardinal’s managing editor during 2013-’14. “You just keep hoping that you’re going to find other revenue streams … it just became clear that that wasn’t working.”

The same went for the move, two years later, from four weekly print issues to two. According to then-editor-in-chief Jim Dayton, inconsistent print ads made

COURTESY OF THE DAILY CARDINAL ARCHIVES

The Daily Cardinal will celebrate its 125th birthday April 4, 2017. Throughout all of these years, the paper has adapted to a shifting media landscape. The Cardinal used to focus on printing five days a week while it now maintains a strong online presence too. printing four issues a week difficult. Mondays and Thursdays brought in the most ad revenue, so the decision was made to limit print to those days.

“We realized that [four print issues per week] was not really a sustainable business model with how everything’s changed in journalism in the past decade,” Dayton said.

This move coincided with the launch of a new Cardinal website to supplement output.

“We thought, ‘if it makes the most financial sense to trim print production, we can couple it with a new website so we’re not losing stories,’” Dayton said.

Like Becker and Jezior, though, Dayton said there was reluctance from alumni about the change.

“Unfortunately, the loudest voices regarding the move were in opposition. That was frustrating, but we got a lot of positive feedback,” Dayton said. “I would say most alumni were in support, or at the very least they understood.”

A changing media landscape These decisions to cut print production were, beyond a financial imperative, a move to keep up with modern news consumption. Only 20 percent of Americans get their news from print newspapers, according to the Pew Research Center, a 27 percent decrease from only four years ago.

The readership is even smaller for college-aged folk: 5 percent of those ages 18-29 get their news from a print newspaper, and 50 percent of those 18-29 get their news online. As social media platforms expand their news presence, this number is likely to continue to grow: In 2014, Pew reported that 30 percent of Americans got their news from Facebook; last year, that number had ballooned to 44 percent.

“Students get their news on their phone, or on their laptop,” Dayton said. “People don’t pick up a newspaper as often as they used to.”

Despite these developments, there’s been resistance to changing the Cardinal’s focus. It’s understandable: Any organization with a tradition as storied as ours is susceptible to institutional inertia.

We’re the sixth oldest daily student newspaper in the country, and we pre-date our own university’s journalism school by 13 years. This history is something to be proud of, but it’s also abetted a mindset bound to tradition.

“The fact is, nobody knows how things are going to change. You just have to roll with the punches ... as long as you’re willing to adapt and evolve, you’re still going to be able to thrive.”

Jim Dayton former editor-in-chief The Daily Cardinal

According to the book written by Cardinal alum Allison Hantschel, “It Doesn’t End With Us: The Story of The Daily Cardinal,” our production system, “with remarkably little variation,” has been consistent for more than a century: “reporters write, editors edit, and the paper goes to press.”

That model has begun to change, but the office is still very much organized by the print schedule.

“I think a lot of editors would still say we are in a transition period where some people are still a little bit more trained in the four-days-of-print mentality,” Theda Berry, the Cardinal’s current editor-in-chief, said.

Of course, like any medium, there are challenges with online journalism. It can be difficult to profit from online content; it’s tough to maintain reader attention online while contending with monoliths like Facebook and clickbait factories; and online content might contribute to a dangerous echo chamber of news consumption. The online shift also poses a threat to the Cardinal’s office

atmosphere, because online content requires less staff presence.

“We wanted to think about the culture of the newsroom [when we cut Friday print production], because that experience is a huge part of what being the student newspaper is,” Becker said.

But there are benefits to online journalism, too. With online analytics, we have a better sense of how well stories are doing, and which ones readers are most responsive to. It allows us to reach a wider audience, provides more opportunities for reader engagement and opens up the possibility of innovative journalistic approaches, such as live videos or interactive and visual features. For the Cardinal, a strong online presence also means stronger print output.

“I think [cutting print production] allowed our print products to be a lot stronger because we weren’t trying to fill space on nights that didn’t have as much news,” Dayton said. “By spacing those issues out a bit more we could kind of plan ahead for some bigger stories and more indepth coverage.”

This is not to say that we don’t care about print anymore. We do, and both Dayton and Berry said that two print issues per week is feasible for the foreseeable future.

But, as the New York Times wrote in its report on the newspaper’s future, even though the Times will “continue improving the print newspaper,” it’s also seeking to “reorganize the newsroom to reflect [its] digital present and future rather than [its] print legacy.”

“I think print is still an innovative medium when it’s done right,” Jezior said. “I think a more sustainable model is, if you’re going to have print, that it complements your web presence.”

Looking forward As the Cardinal moves into the future, establishing this balance between quality print and online content will be key for our continued growth. But we should also remember that the debate over print versus online

versus whatever medium comes next is just a proxy fight over the balance to preserve tradition and engage with our readers.

Where we choose to lie on this balance should reflect back to our original purpose. “[The Daily Cardinal] is a living school of journalism, a laboratory in which every phase of practical newspaper making may be learned,” said our paper’s founder, William Wesley Young. If the paper is to keep producing notable alumni, then, that learning environment must reflect where journalism is, not where it once was.

“The fact is, nobody knows how things are going to change,” Dayton said. “You just have to roll with the punches … as long as you’re willing to adapt and evolve, you’re still going to be able to thrive.”

In the end, the medium of our paper matters less than the frequency and quality of our output. As Jezior put it, “We’re still a daily paper … it’s about when you’re posting your stories, not how you’re posting them.”

“We knew we had to make some sort of decision in order to keep the paper financially viable in the future, and to also leave the paper in good shape for the next team.”

Abby Becker former editor-in-chief The Daily Cardinal

The Cardinal has been strong for 125 years, and intends to preserve its excellence for the next 125. Our ability to do so will depend on our success in engaging readers with valuable news content, no matter the form it comes in. Sifting and winnowing know no physical boundary, after all. Our objective has always simply been to administer the news, and to tell the truth, daily.

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Dear current and future staff:

DANA KAMPA/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO

Four former editors-in-chief wrote us letters reflecting on their experience at the Cardinal and the future of the newspaper as a whole.

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t is hard to believe my time as editor-in-chief came to an end nearly four years ago.

My biggest advice to pass along as you continue your time at this 125-year-old institution is as simple as three words: Treasure every moment.

Those of you about to graduate have been through a great number of changes in your time at the paper, and for those who are younger, the newspaper you’ve known is quite different than the one I was in charge of just four years ago.

But the mission of the institution is not different at all.

While there is plenty to look forward to in the so-called “real world,” there is also something extremely special about the environment that you are all a part of at the Cardinal. Working as hard as you do toward a common goal is not an atmosphere you’re guaranteed to find again, and at the Cardinal it comes with a constant undertone of fun.

You also have the opportunity to learn a set of skills that will make you marketable in the ever-changing world of professional journalism.

Take every chance to report, take photographs and lay out pages that you can.

In my job at a group of community newspapers, I have to do all three, and journalists at larger outlets are being challenged to use more video and create more visual elements for stories themselves, as well.

Having a breadth of skills will be key to your personal success, and also allow you to better understand the other elements that go into creating a newspaper—which can only make journalism better on the whole as everyone works together.

COURTNEY KESSLER/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO That working together is what sticks out as I think back on my time at the Cardinal. We created bonds that have lasted to this day, and many of the people I consider to be my best friends (heck, even my girlfriend!) are those I met at the Cardinal, working late nights, debating politics and movies.

Don’t ever lose sight of how valuable those relationships are now and will be well into the future.

Congratulations on being part of the staff that is around to recognize 125 years of history at the Cardinal, and here’s to 125 more.

(By the way, if the question is still asked at elections, an animal cracker is unquestionably COURTNEY KESSLER/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO a cracker!)

—Scott Girard, editor-in-chief 2012-’13

F

ive years ago, I remember celebrating The Daily Cardinal’s 120th anniversary when I was a UW-Madison freshman and realizing the extent of the newspaper’s legacy.

Chatting with alumni of all generations filtering through the office, I got the sense that this place was more than just a way to spend some free time.

Flashback to the previous semester, and I was an out-of-state student and unsure how to create a life in Madison. The university seemed too big, and those general education requirements were not that inspiring. Joining The Daily Cardinal not only gave me direction in school and boots-on-the-ground journalism experience, but it also provided a place where passion for your craft was welcomed and fostered by your peers.

Apart from the real opportunities to practice reporting and the sense of purpose that came along with creating a newspaper, it was the camaraderie and commitment of the staff that speaks to The Daily Cardinal’s enduring legacy. It is also what kept me coming back to the office every day, especially when stress and the lack of sleep were almost unbearable.

An organization that can convince a group of unpaid students— like yourselves—that rallying every GREY SATTERFIELD/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO day to put out a paper and website, keeping them from sleep, studies and socializing, is one with strong purpose. It’s also one that is not easily replicated—something I’ve learned since graduating.

While you have the opportunity, take advantage of the atmosphere The Daily Cardinal provides and recognize that it is special. To those of you just joining the paper, stick with it.

Try out writing for different desks, learn how to design a newspaper page, maybe take a few photographs and measure social media impact. The opportunities to learn at the Cardinal are plentiful and having a variety of skills will be incredibly beneficial whether you’re breaking out into the journalism field or not.

If you’re graduating soon from school and the Cardinal, you’ve seen the newspaper undergo quite a few changes. Forging a new path for an institution and diverting from tradition—such as publishing a print newspaper five days a week—isn’t easy. But succeeding in a challenging EMILY BUCK/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO environment is part of The Daily Cardinal’s origin story. In 1888, the newspaper’s founder William Wesley Young chose UW-Madison over schools in the east to study journalism, but he found no such curriculum when he arrived at school. When he decided to change that by starting a daily newspaper, his friends weren’t interested and professors said it would be an “intolerable annoyance.” But Young did it anyway.

Starting with Young, The Daily Cardinal has served as a classroom for its staff, informed student readers and the greater campus community and held those in power accountable. In whatever form the Cardinal takes, keep on sifting and winnowing and reporting the truth fearlessly.

—Abby Becker, editor-in-chief 2013-’14

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came to the Cardinal as a wide-eyed, second-week freshman who wrote news articles in two blocky paragraphs that betrayed my lack of journalism experience.

I rarely socialized during that first semester and vividly remember the terror I felt when the managing editor innocuously called me over to his desk to go over edits on one of my articles. I was a longshot for editor-in-chief back then and owe my later successes to those early editors who took the time to get me involved during the first year and a half I was a staffer.

I first fell hard for the Cardinal after I was elected state news editor. It was during that year-long period that I first got to experience the feeling of turning student writers into student journalists, my favorite part of working at the paper. It was also the time when I came out of my shell and felt like I was home whenever I would walk through the office door. I started going to the Cardinal-Herald sporting events KAITLYN VETO/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO and I met a blonde copy chief on an old red couch in the back corner of the office who, almost four years later, is still making my life better. It all led me to decide I wanted to run for editor-in-chief, partly because I wanted an excuse to stick around and mostly to try to ensure other people found what I had. It was the start to a year of doing the most stressful and rewarding job I’ve ever held. The year changed me and offered layers of experience on which I’ve been able to fall back when confronting new challenges.

What has always struck me about my time at the paper, though, is that my feelings about the Cardinal and how I’ve benefitted from spending four years in that windowless basement are not unique. The Cardinal has a magical quality that benefits from 125 years of camaraderie and mutual support. I was lucky enough to tap into that.

COURTNEY KESSLER/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO I say that two years removed from the frenetic pace of life as editor-in-chief and the long nights that regularly made me question whether I had made a serious mistake. It’s easy even just two years later to forget those hard times of living day-to-day feeling like it was constantly two minutes to deadline with three pages still left to finalize. But the challenges are what made the experience such an opportunity and the good times that much better.

If I had to end with any advice drawn from my experience, it would be to understand that The Daily Cardinal, as with many things, is something that rewards those who put in the effort. The good editors are the ones who care enough to explain every edit, every time and the good writers are the ones who want to listen. Successful staffers look out for each other and see the new face in the office as a chance to welcome someone else into the close-knit but dysfunctional family that calls 2142 Vilas home. And when people make mistakes, it’s something to learn from and hopefully laugh about later instead of something to let hang over their heads.

I hold my Cardinal memories dear and am thankful for the experience. I know I’m GREY SATTERFIELD/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO not alone.

—Jack Casey, editor-in-chief 2014-’15

S

neaking in late to The Daily Cardinal’s Spring 2013 recruitment meeting was the first time I ventured outside my dorm floor bubble in college.

I’m often running a few minutes behind, but I was late to that meeting because I was hesitant to even join the paper. I wanted to write about sports, but I wasn’t sure I actually wanted to study journalism. If I signed up, the Cardinal might have expected a big commitment when I only wanted to test the waters.

Three years later, I was in the middle of my term as editor-in-chief. I guess I ended up with a big commitment.

My hesitation didn’t wear off immediately upon walking into 2142 Vilas. Stepping out of my comfort zone wasn’t easy for me to do, so it was better to contribute from afar. I would write what was needed, email it to my editor and rarely set foot inside the office.

When I did stop by, I went straight to the sports desk and left shortly after.

Then things started to change. I enjoyed my journalism classes and wanted to do more at the paper to supplement that. I took on more stories and was later elected sports editor. I figured that would be my pinnacle at the Cardinal. I was fixated on sports and knew I could cram credits into my schedule to graduate a semester early. I would coBETSY OSTERBERGER/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO manage the sports desk as a junior, move on after the year was over and leave college in December 2015.

But when you’re an editor, you break the bubble of your desk. You aren’t just noticing the great stories written by the ranting, raving sports writers you work with (an endearing label and they know it). As an editor, you’re more directly exposed to the rest of the Cardinal. You develop a better understanding of how other desks contribute to the final product. Everything becomes more familiar.

Nearing the end of the Fall 2014 semester, I was still planning to graduate early the following year. But one December weekend I was fully immersed in the paper. Our Cardinal Christmas party was Friday, I covered the Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis Saturday and our last night of production was Sunday. I remember sitting in the office at the end of a long weekend, hungover from Friday and exhausted from Saturday, wanting to extend our Cardinal camaraderie as long as I could. I realized I was not ready to leave college early, and I was most certainly not ready to leave the Cardinal.

The Daily Cardinal is a remarkable opportunity for any student journalist. You can cover a prestigious academic institution or its premier athletic program. Our office is walking distance from the state Capitol and several vibrant arts venues.

And we have 125 years of history and countless successful alumni to learn from and use as resources.

I was proud of the work I did and will be forever grateful I got to spend a year as part of our management team. But for me, the Cardinal will always be about the people. I met some of my best friends at the paper, forming relationships that have outlasted most of my dorm floor connections. It’s strange to reflect on my initial shyness at 2142 Vilas considering what that room now means to me.

To all the former Cardinalistas, thank you for preserving this paper’s legacy through good times and bad so I could have the opportunity to join. And to all the present Cardinalistas, relish the camaraderie around you and pass that sense of KATILYN VETO/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO community on to the next generation.

—Jim Dayton, editor-in-chief 2015-’16

Are you a former editor-in-chief of the Cardinal with something to add? Email edit@dailycardinal.com to share your thoughts or memories!

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Gene Wells 53-year Cardinal staffer had quiet but ‘unparalleled’ loyalty

By Peter Coutu THE DAILY CARDINAL

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or The Daily Cardinal, Gene Wells was the first to report on the 1963 Vietnam War protests in Madison during his first semester at the paper. Following that—for more than 50 years—he was a fixture at the Cardinal.

In this time, he filled many roles: He was a news editor (elected in 1964), copy editor (elected in 1988), arts writer, opinion writer (until as late as 1998) and pro-bono lawyer.

And that’s not even the full list.

Born on May 29, 1942, Wells went on to get a degree in journalism from UW-Madison in 1965 and his Juris Doctor there in 1969.

Wells was one of a kind—his dedication and loyalty to The Daily Cardinal were “unfailing and unparalleled,” according to former copy chief Justine Jones.

When she first found the copy desk and began to train for her election, she heard Wells’ name from other chiefs, but didn’t know what to think of

him. He attended her election as he did for many elections. At a student paper, turnover is high, but Wells was a constant.

At Jones’ election, he did not speak much. He only handed her a copy of The Badger Herald, opened to the sports section and asked her to tell him what the mistake was.

She couldn’t find it. There were 12 names in the cutline, Wells explained, but there are 11 people on the field at a time in the photo it described.

Then the election continued, but Wells’ input was done. And that was how it typically went.

Wells didn’t speak up often, but when he did, it was invaluable.

Jones worked hard to learn more about sports following this experience.

“After that, through my chiefdom, there was a part of me that felt I had to make it up to Gene.

I learned a lot about football,” Jones said. “He attended almost all copy elections in this manner,

and has as far back as any copy chiefs I know can remember.”

This was how Wells operated, choosing his words carefully. He lived with a speech impediment, one that made him unsure if he was being understood, according to The Daily Cardinal Alumni Association President Anthony Sansone.

“Most shied away from Gene.

His appearance was unkempt and his speech odd,” Sansone said. “That was their loss. His writing was unbelievable; read anything he wrote and his insight was breathtaking.”

Though he wasn’t the wealthiest, Wells donated at least $100 to the Cardinal every year, according to Sansone.

On Dec. 2, 2016, The Daily Cardinal lost it’s only 53-year staffer, one who impacted several generations of students working at the paper. He was 74.

The current Cardinal staff and so many generations prior miss Gene Wells dearly.

MORGAN WINSTON/THE DAILY CARDINAL

The Cardinal’s copy desk has practically been around since the paper’s inception, and Gene Wells was a mainstay for years.

Despite crowded Madison media market, Cardinal stands out in campus community Story by Andrew Bahl Madison is a city not lacking in news outlets. Boasting an 80,000-circulation daily newspaper, two weekly print publications, a magazine and scores of radio shows, TV stations and blogs, citizens on the isthmus have a plethora of options to help keep them informed.

Given this crowded media landscape, it is easy to see how The Daily Cardinal can get lost in the shuffle. Yet for 125 years, the paper has carved out its niche by broadcasting the voices

of students across the campus, city and nation.

Capturing the student voice is harder for journalists who don’t live, study and work on campus, according to Nico Savidge, higher education reporter for the Wisconsin State Journal. Savidge, also a Cardinal alum, notes that he still reads the paper, as well as its competitor, the Badger Herald, as part of his beat.

“Now that I’m covering the UW, I’m reading the Cardinal to get a sense of what students are talking about, to get a sense of what are the issues affecting students at UW-Madison and are shaping their experiences there,” Savidge said. “I think the

paper does a really good job of that—it’s valuable for me to read as a reporter.”

Despite the many information sources available to students, Savidge says the paper is still able to make an impact on the community by leveraging its proximity to student life.

“What makes a good student paper is one that I think understands its role in the media ecosystem of its readers and understands where its advantages are, and I do think that’s something the Cardinal does very well,” Savidge said.

“Students are going to have access to a lot of different sources of news,” he added. “Your advantage as a student paper is

MORGAN WINSTON/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Madison is home to many different news organizations that print papers regularly. Despite this, The Daily Cardinal has found their niche to inform the UW-Madison’s student body.

that you know those students better than just about any other news outlet, just by being one.

So using that knowledge to make coverage that is relevant to those students is something that makes a good college paper.”

That coverage can often take on statewide and national importance. Recent stories on the formation of an alt-right group and repeated sexual assaults at UW-Madison have been covered by national news outlets. Those issues are quick to resonate for campuses nationwide that struggle with issues of race relations and sexual assault.

Virtually all of those topics are not new, and generations of college students have been reading about scandals in university administration, human interest pieces about campus activists and thrilling accounts of Badger athletic victories.

Kevin Warnke, who served as campus news editor at the Cardinal in 2003, said headlines from his time on the paper would not look out of place to the student journalists of today.

“You tend to see issues come to the forefront in cycles,” he said.

Warnke and Cardinal reporter Anna Gould were responsible for one of the most notorious stories in the paper’s history; they discovered alterations to a photo featured in a university admissions brochure, showing the university added a black student, Diallo Shabazz, to a crowd of white fans at a Badger football game in an effort to portray diversity.

The resulting firestorm was picked up by newspapers across the country, with the Cardinal leading the way, both in its original reporting and in its ensuing editorials.

Warnke noted that the controversy brought conversations surrounding diversity into the mainstream, forcing students who would otherwise ignore the

topic to confront racial inequality on campus.

“For the vast majority students who were white, they felt that this wasn’t an issue that concerned them,” Warnke said.

“Once the story broke, I think people had to confront that this was tarnishing the image of the university in the eyes of people across the country … I think a lot of people were forced to stop and consider what it meant that their university had this experience.”

“What makes a good student paper is one that ... understands its role in the media ecosystem of its readers and understands where its advantages are, and I do think that’s something the Cardinal does very well.”

Nico Savidge

higher education reporter The Wisconsin State Journal

The piece also prompted students at college nationwide to more closely examine admissions materials, and many were able to uncover similar subterfuge. The University of Idaho and Auburn University were among the schools forced to apologize after similarly adding minority students to their brochures.

Even though the university administration was embarrassed by the incident, Warnke said they respected the mission of the paper to bring about the truth.

“It was a professional relationship, and it was always one guided by journalism,” Warnke said. “We would ask tough questions and push them in uncomfortable directions and it would lead to some awkward conversations, but, at the end of the day, they knew we had a job to do and we weren’t going to relent.”

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dailycardinal.com

Daily Cardinal 125th Anniversay Issue

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Staff members Commemorate Time at Cardinal with Tattoos

By Edgar Sanchez THE DAILY CARDINAL

GRAPHIC BY THEDA BERRY/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Booting the bird:

Cardinal shifts toward logo-focused branding

By Madeline Heim THE DAILY CARDINAL

After years of gracing the front page with its red-feathered antics, it was time for the cardinal to fly in another direction.

The 2013-’14 decision to phase the hand-drawn bird out of The Daily Cardinal’s pages was not an altogether easy one to convince the staff of, according to then-business manager Cooper Boland. He recalled the “bird/no bird debate” as fairly evenly split down the middle of the office.

“The Cardinal is a grassroots organization and very flat in that each individual desk runs their page as they want to,” Boland explained. “So when you’re trying to develop a consistent branding throughout the paper, it was challenging because certain desks would feel differently about what they wanted to do on their page.”

But despite hesitation from some of the desk editors who identified with the bird and weren’t pleased to see it disappear from the paper’s covers, Boland knew that the organization’s branding had to more closely match its purpose.

The concern with the illustrated cardinal was that it did not quite fit the mold that the paper had cultivated as a reliable source for students. And thus began the search for a new way to brand, which didn’t take long.

“Given the reputable paper that we wanted to be ... we had to make a separation between our office culture and our product.”

Cooper Boland former business manager The Daily Cardinal

Seeking a tip-of-the-hat to the Cardinal’s 120-plus years of production, Boland went back to the basics: the paper’s nameplate. It had, after all, been around much longer than the red bird.

He designed a logo in Photoshop using the flag’s lettering and ordered hundreds of stickers with his creation printed on them—the same stickers that still mark the laptops, notebooks and water bottles of Cardinal staffers today.

People get tattoos for a variety of reasons, whether it’s to honor a loved one, express themselves or make a memory come to life. Even the smallest tattoos have meaning, and for staff members at the Daily Cardinal, commemorating their time with the paper was a nobrainer. Though the idea started off as a failed joke amongst friends, it quickly manifested itself into reality.

A consistent theme amongst the two Cardinal staff members I interviewed was how their tattoos are a testament to all the challenges and beauty that come with committing themselves to this organization.

They acknowledge the experience of being an editor as one of the hardest responsibilities they have held, yet it’s also unmeasurably meaningful. For these editors, their past few semesters at the Daily Cardinal has been a time of growth, self reflection and dedicated crafting of their skills as a journalist.

Andrew Bahl, a junior and last year’s state news editor, explained how, in his eyes, the Daily Cardinal represents “what’s good and right about UW-Madison and journalism as a whole.” Andrew’s representation of the Cardinal is in the form of two birds resting on a tree branch on the top of his left forearm. The birds, one being car-

dinal red to represent the paper and the other being blue to pay homage to his father, who always wanted to get a blue bird tattoo.

For Andrew, the Daily Cardinal is not just a place of work, but home to the people he is closest to.

The tattoo also symbolizes a time in Andrew’s life that he believes he will able to look back on several years in the future as a representation of when journalism was fresh and exciting.

For Andrew, his piece serves as a marking of the feeling of innocence he once had toward journalism. He explained how, in the near future, journalism will become a day-to-day career and his primary source of income.

Yet, the tattoo will be a reminder of when he was a journalist working for free simply because he enjoyed the craft.

“The tattoo reaffirmed by desire to become a journalist ... [journalism] is something I cam good at, and I wanted to commemorate that experience.”

Sammy Gibbons campus news editor The Daily Cardinal

The other three editors to get tattoos received matching cardinal-red feathers on their right arms. Sammy Gibbons, a sophomore and the current

campus news editor, explained that the logic behind the piece is that “We didn’t want to get the whole bird ...The cardinal is for Wisconsin red. Yet, we didn’t just want to get a splotch of color, so we decided a part of the bird and the color.”

With genuine excitement, Sammy discussed how “the tattoo reaffirmed my desire to become a journalist, and this whole last semester was extremely hard and taxing, but it made me realize that is was something I’m good at, and I wanted to commemorate that experience because it made me decide that [journalism] is what I want to do with my life.”

Next, I asked Sammy on what future staff members who may want a tattoo commemorating the Cardinal should consider.

She explained how the tattoo connects you and the people you get it with more, especially since it’s something that can really consume your life.

I asked both Andrew and Sammy if they would ever get another tattoo of a different news organization in the future.

Hesitantly, they both said they would, but would require that the organization have the same, if not more, value and meaning to both their personal and professional lives. The staff members received their tattoos roughly four months ago at Colt’s Timeless Tattoos on State Street.

“The fact that cardinal red is our school color, and that’s what the paper was named after, sort of got lost with the bird.”

Cooper Boland former business manager The Daily Cardinal

The logo’s cardinal-red outline also gives a nod to the paper’s true history, Boland said.

“I almost feel like the bird is a joke in itself. The Daily Cardinal wasn’t named after the bird,” he explained. “The fact that cardinal red is our school color, and that’s what the paper was named after, sort of got lost with the bird. That was another reason for moving away from it.”

So the new logo, in addition to promoting the seriousness of the organization, also promoted a lengthy publication tradition that not many other student publications across the country can claim.

And although the bird’s full transition out of the paper’s pages was not immediate, Boland said he still stands by the decision. He explained that given the kind of paper its staff wanted it to be, it was the right move to make.

As far as birds in the office and the time-honored saying that “Cardinals fly together?” Boland likes that just fine.

“The thing is, as an organization, I think that using the bird as a rallying, celebratory icon is awesome,” he said. “But given the reputable paper that we wanted to be, that’s why we had to make a separation between our office culture and our product.”

KATIE SCHEIDT (TOP PHOTOS) AND LEAH VOSKUIL (BOTTOM PHOTO)/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Daily Cardinal staff members (left to right) Madeline Heim, Peter Coutu, Sammy Gibbons and Andrew Bahl received their tattoos roughly four months ago at Colt’s Timeless Tattoos on State Street.

Many thanks for 125 years of Cardinal News

COURTESY OF THE DAILY CARDINAL ARCHIVES

Here’s to 125 more