AND THEN THERE WERE SIXTEEN
‘The Ruins’ defies horror-flick cliché with daytime drama ARTS
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Men’s hockey, basketball both fighting 15 others in respective national tournaments
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University of Wisconsin-Madison
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dailycardinal.com
Weekend, March 28-30, 2008
Union food staff voices concerns at worker forum By Grace Kim THE DAILY CARDINAL
KYLE BURSAW/THE DAILY CARDINAL
Wisconsin Union administration met with members of its food staff in a forum Thursday at Memorial Union. This listening session and several others are a result of a letter sent in February regarding employee dissatisfaction.
UW-Madison’s Wisconsin Union administration held a twohour food staff forum Thursday to address any employee concerns at Memorial Union. This third open forum allowed student employees to voice their opinions of the working conditions at the Union. In February, some Union workers signed a petition demanding better working conditions and sent it to the Offices of the Dean of Students. Employees viewed the petition as a long awaited chance for their voice to be heard. “I’ve been working here for over a year now and I’ve heard numerous complaints by students … and I want to know what took so long to hear our concerns,” said Muhammad Sankari, UW-Madison sophomore. At the forum, student employ-
ees and managers tried to tighten the disconnection between management as student employees shared their thoughts about the reality of their working conditions. They raised questions regarding wage, working environment, mistreatment and lack of communication. Sankari, who works 25 to 30 hours weekly in the Union, said the disconnect between student employees and managers exists because of poor wage management. Beside the wage issue, many students raised the issue of the Union’s working environment. According to UW-Madison freshman Jenny Peek, Union employees do not get anything back no matter how much energy they put into their work—not even a small word of encouragement. union page 3
Students aim to improve AIDS relief By Melanie Teachout THE DAILY CARDINAL
UW-Madison’s Project 40/40 plans to raise awareness on campus of the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa, and aims to provide relief to its victims. Six UW-Madison Project 40/40 student members joined hundreds of other students in the initiative while attending a Clinton Foundation conference hosted by Bill Clinton March 14 to 16 in New Orleans. The conference covered four major areas for global improvement, including global health, human rights, poverty relief and energy and climate change among the students from various areas of the country. Project 40/40 began in October 2007 on campus after its founders, UW-Madison sophomores Anna Day and Sara Jerving, heard a speech from Stephen Lewis, a former United Nations envoy. Lewis said $180 from each student per year could provide immensely needed relief for 40,000 HIV/AIDS-afflicted Ugandans. He inspired the two founders to pair students of UW-Madison with Ugandans
in need of HIV/AIDS relief. “Our goal is to pair the 40,000person student body at UW with the people who are still in need of anti-retroviral treatment in Uganda and to raise the money needed to fund that ARV treatment through the UW population and the surrounding community as well,” said Emily Swanson, a communications intern of Project 40/40.
“There’s a lot of people from not only the UW, but around the world who are looking to make a difference.” Tim Melgard student member Project 40/40
The group seeks to promote awareness through activities such as fraternity and sorority philanthropy events. “We’re definitely expanding and reaching out to every section of the
university,” said Alana Keusch, a UW-Madison student and attendee of the New Orleans conference. Although the Clinton Foundation conference acted as a refresher for Project 40/40, students gained an immense amount from the experience. “It was really refreshing to be in an environment where people are that actively motivated and that committed to taking these steps for, really justice, not charity,” Day said. Group members said Project 40/40 has already shown promising strides. “We weren’t alone here in Madison. There’s a lot of people from not only the UW but around the world who are looking to make a difference,” said Tim Melgard, UW-Madison sophomore and conference attendee. The group will host a video conference Tuesday with Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs at 7 p.m. in the Educational Sciences building.
Accountability Board may regulate issue ads By Rebecca Autrey THE DAILY CARDINAL
The Government Accountability Board decided Wednesday to consider regulating issue advertisements, which have come to the forefront of state politics during the current state Supreme Court race. Special interest groups, which receive money from anonymous
businesses and organizations that cannot legally donate to a candidate directly, fund issue advertisements. Kevin Kennedy, the head of the Government Accountability Board, said the board is in preliminary stages of review. “The goal is to make sure that the board is regulating all of
the activity that the law permits it to regulate,” he said. Kennedy said no decision could be retroactively applied to the current Supreme Court race, but could effect future elections. According to Mike McCabe, issue ads page 3
JACOB ELA/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO
State Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, stated Thursday negotiations on the budget shortfall may soon result in an agreement.
Huebsch anticipates budget compromise State Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, announced Thursday an agreement can be reached in the next few days on the $428 million budget shortfall. Huebsch gave the statement during an interview on WisconsinEye, an Internet and television broadcast network. This claim came after Huebsch, Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, and officials from Gov. Doyle’s office met in an attempt to resolve budget issues that have existed in Wisconsin for several months. According to Carrie Lynch, spokesperson for Decker, compromises on the budget are yet to be made. She said Huebsch’s claim was not based on formal agreements but rather on general talks between the opposing sides about
how to settle on the budget in a timely manner. “I think [Huebsch] as well as [Decker] is feeling optimistic that we might be able to get this done in a much more timely fashion than the budget,” Lynch said. “No one wants to see a repeat of last summer where it took months and months to get it done.” Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, said most major issues will likely be resolved in the next few days, but agreements on many details may take longer. Miller, who is co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee, said he is happy about Huebsch’s statement. “I am delighted to hear him make that statement because I want to see this done quickly,” Miller said. ––Megan Orear
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”