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Weekend, January 23-25, 2009
Posting on law school website stirs controversy By Megan Orear THE DAILY CARDINAL
DANNY MARCHEWKA/THE DAILY CARDINAL
A main pipe located near the Biochemistry building on west campus burst Thursday morning, causing natural gas to leak, and students and faculty were told to evacuate the surrounding area.
WiscAlert warns campus of pipe burst, gas leak By Melanie Teachout THE DAILY CARDINAL
The strong smell of natural gas seeped into buildings on the west side of campus Thursday morning due to a major gas main bursting. The leaking gas caused students and staff to evacuate buildings on campus, including Agricultural Engineering, Plant Sciences, Moore Hall and Biochemistry. According to Dan Schroeder, a university service associate working in the Biochemistry building, everything underground on campus should be mapped carefully, but a construction project adjacent to the Biochemistry building accidentally caused damage to an underground water pipe. “Construction was working on a new sewer and they hit a water line, which filled the trench up with water and mud,” Bernadette Galvez, public information offi-
cer for MFD said. “It then broke the gas line.” Although the event occurred at 10:00 a.m., university officials sent WiscAlert e-mail and text messages at approximately 11:50 a.m., cautioning students to avoid traffic areas near the building and the surrounding area. The building’s air intake system continued to filter the gas from the punctured pipe into the neighboring buildings until occupants noticed the smell of natural gas. “The air-handling systems in the buildings were turned off. Our best course of action was for them to turn off the ventilation system.” Lt. Michael Newton of Emergency Management & UWMadison System Continuity of Operations said. As soon as they realized there was a problem, the staff in the Biochemistry building called the UW Police Department, the
Senators protest against abortion clinic By Erin Banco THE DAILY CARDINAL
The controversy over the opening of a second-trimester abortion clinic in Madison continued Thursday when 28 Republican senators sent letters of complaint to the Chief Executive Officer of UW Hospital. According to Lisa Brunette, UW Hospital spokesperson, the plans for the opening of the abortion clinic have not been solidified. “There are two steps left before this can happen,” she said. “The hospital boards, which govern the university hospital and clinics, need to OK the plans. If that happens, the Madison Surgery Center, which
is a separate organization with its own private boards, needs to vote on whether the plans will be approved.” State Sen. Glenn Grothman, RWest Bend, who signed the letter and who according to Brunette has been at the forefront of the anti-clinic campaign, said second-trimester abortions are almost “beyond belief.” “It is over the top … there are very few places that do these things, I don’t know what in the world UW is doing getting involved in this,” Grothman said. “I think both Meriter and UW Hospital will be hurt by it.” Brunette said it was the decision of abortion page 2
Madison Fire Department and Madison Gas and Electric, who all quickly fixed the problem at the scene of the gas leak. According to Schroeder, MG&E turned off the gas and put in a new section of pipe to eliminate the dangerous fumes. Students and faculty reentered the Biochemistry building approximately two hours after officials started the evacuation. “The university is trying to be extremely careful with these kind of things,” Schroeder said. “It may have been, in some people’s minds, an overreaction, but they just did not want anything to happen.” Though the situation was a precautionary action, UWMadison officials were focused on ensuring the safety of students and faculty. “UW did a really good job. UW police and the students all cooperated and contributed to the ease of the situation,” Galvez said.
TODAY ON THE WEB8 dailycardinal.com Doyle testifies for more commuter rail funding Rail system demand and ridership increases Study finds Wisconsin Covenant needs more funding UW think tank compares program to those of other states State unemployment rate increases to 5.8 percent Wisconsin still faring better than nation as a whole
A notice posted on the UWMadison Law School website Tuesday seeking interns for the re-election campaign of Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson is drawing criticism from one lawmaker. StateRep.SteveNass,R-Whitewater, condemned Abrahamson’s post on the website in a statement, and sent a letter to Chancellor Biddy Martin calling for a stop to “activities related to promoting campaign positions for Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson using public and university resources.” “It appears that the chief justice’s campaign is using her influence and office to solicit campaign workers through the UW-Madison Law School. The description of these internships is clearly unseemly, unethical and possibly illegal,” Nass said in the statement. According to Nass spokesperson Mike Mikalsen, there are rules that prohibit the use of public resources for campaign purposes, and Abrahamson violated state law. Supreme Court races are nonpartisan, but according to Mikalsen, these rules apply to all state and local races, regardless of if they are partisan or not.
Abrahamson could not be reached for comment. According to university spokesperson Dennis Chaptman, university legal counsel reviewed the situation and determined as long as they are posted in the same manner as other postings, notices of political opportunities such as Abrahamson’s are not illegal. UW-Madison Professor of Political Science Donald Downs said he is unsure if Abrahamson’s actions were illegal, but said she is a “very principled person” and as Chief Justice would know the rules. “The fact that students from the university are helping her is not a problem. It’s a question of how they were recruited,” Downs said. One Wisconsin Now, a political watchdog group, said in a statement Nass has failed to attack Republican candidates for similar offenses and called for an investigation against him. “This selective attack raises serious concerns that this was nothing more than Nass using his taxpayer-financed office to campaign against a candidate,” OWN Director Scot Ross said. Abrahamson will oppose Jefferson County Circuit Judge Randy Koschnick in the April 7 election.
AMANDA SALM/THE DAILY CARDINAL
UW-Madison senior Olivia Zieve discussed the state of the university’s economic affairs with Chancellor Biddy Martin at the campus-wide forum held in Grainger Hall Thursday.
Students voice new ideas for chancellor at fourth forum By Ashley Davis THE DAILY CARDINAL
Faculty, students and members of the Madison community met Thursday for the fourth economic brainstorming forum led by UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin. The open assemblies provide a unique opportunity to discuss ideas held by those who are affected by the state budget deficit. The forum began with a short introduction by Martin as she acknowledged the “very difficult budget” UW-Madison community will have to work with.
Though she anticipates the upcoming year to be the most trying, she said she is optimistically waiting to hear legislation’s financial decision about the budget. “[The budget] will present opportunities as well as challenges,” Martin said. The approximate attendance of 5060 individuals divided into smaller groups to brainstorm cost-cutting strategies in response to the budget shortage. forum page 2
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”