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dailycardinal.com
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Mifflin receives lastminute sponsorship Block party sponsored for the first time since ’95 By Gabe Ubatuba THE DAILY CARDINAL
The Madison Street Use Staff Team voted unanimously Wednesday to grant a street use permit to Saturday’s 40th annual Mifflin Street Block Party, making the event officially sponsored for the first time since 1995. Although the city’s risk manager must review the event’s insurance certificate to be completely official, Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, believes that will be a non-issue. “I think it’s a done deal,” Verveer said. This comes as a relief to Verveer, as the partnership between WSUM
91.7 and DCNY PRO LLC., a local production company, ends months of trying to find a sponsor to the block party. “We’ve had a lot of false starts, starting with [the Wisconsin Union Directorate],” Verveer said. “WUD was told they couldn’t participate by Bascom Hall administrators, and I was just very relieved that WSUM came to the rescue.” The permit allows for organizers to set up a stage at the intersection of Bassett and Mifflin Street, as well as block off the 400 and 500 block of West Mifflin Street and the 10 and 100 block of North Bassett Street. Police will also block off the 10 and 100 blocks of both Bedford and Broom Street. Although the event is now sponsored, the usual police policies, such as open container laws, will be in mifflin page 3
GRAPHIC BY ISABEL ALVAREZ/THE DAILY CARDINAL
The campus student government, the Associated Students of Madison, gives millions in university funds to student organizations each semester. The funds come from fees paid by every student on campus.
Follow THE MONEY
Groups may spend over $100k on salaries, others are left unfunded entirely By Charles Brace THE DAILY CARDINAL
On Tuesday, the first part of this series looked at the amount of oversight of student groups that receive millions in university funds. However, the groups’ spending patterns provoke questions concerning necessary spending as well as the funding approval criteria.
ISABEL ALVAREZ/THE DAILY CARDINAL
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said the city will launch several initiatives to preserve the lake and air quality in Madison.
Local officials push for greater environmental consciousness Lead singer of Guster promotes environmental awareness on campus through panel discussion By Andrea Carlson THE DAILY CARDINAL
The Wisconsin Student Public Interest Research Group’s Big Red Go Green campaign hosted a panel Wednesday, allowing local officials to educate citizens about developing environmentally friendly practices.
The panel, organized by Big Red Go Green student interns, featured Guster lead singer Adam Gardner and Mayor Dave Cieslewicz. Eric Schmidt, director of the Wisconsin Union Directorate Distinguished Lecture Series, emceed the event. The distinguished lecture committee is the first carbon-neutral committee on campus, according to Schmidt. panel page 5
Salaries dominate budgets For many of the student groups, positions are not solely volunteer-based. Of the groups that receive money from the General Student Services Fund, the main pool of funding for student groups, almost all have salaried positions. Leadership positions are typically salaried for funded groups, but many groups also have parttime positions where a student can earn an above-average wage for working 12 to 15 weeks. According to the budget approved for the Greater University Tutoring Service in the upcoming fiscal year, five “student assistant” positions pay $9.19 per hour over 34 weeks, with each person expected to work 12 hours per week. When the salaries of every GUTS position are added up, it totals $102,819.50. Such amounts for student group salaries are the norm on campus. The MultiCultural Student Coalition has one of the largest budgets for salaries, totaling $131,117.04 for the 2009-’10
fiscal year, according to documents approved by the Associated Students of Madison Student Council in February. This means over half of the budget given to MCSC is spent on salaries, which is also true for the groups Adventure Leadership Programs, the Campus Women’s Center, GUTS, PAVE, Badger Catholic, Sex Out Loud, WISPIRG, Wisconsin Student Lobby and the Working Class Student Union, among others. WISPIRG does not give its student leaders a stipend, according to WISPIRG Treasurer Ashleigh Michael, though the group does have paid staff like many other groups. Paid non-student staff at GSSF groups typically earn between $15,000 and $20,000 per year. Some groups, like the Working Class Student Union, have budgets for next year that will pay group leaders for 46 weeks at 20 hours a week, with groups mandated to provide some services over the summer.
PART 2 OF 2
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First probable Wis. swine flu cases reported, alert raised By Megan Orear THE DAILY CARDINAL
Health officials announced the first three probable cases of swine flu have surfaced in Wisconsin Wednesday, the same day the World Health Organization raised its pandemic alert to its second-highest level. An adult and child in Milwaukee and another adult in Adams County have tested probable for the virus. Their samples have been sent to the Centers
for Disease control in Atlanta for confirmation. According to state health officer Dr. Seth Foldy, it is rare for a case categorized as “probable” not to be confirmed as the swine flu. In response to these cases, four Milwaukee public schools will be closed until further notice, a move Foldy said was taken “out of abundance of caution.” Wednesday also marked the first swine flu death in the United States, a 22-month child in Texas,
and the amount of confirmed cases in the U.S. grew to 91. According to Foldy, the risk of this disease of the average Wisconsinite is very low, as only 3 of 140 tests performed came back probable. After the outbreak of the swine flu in Mexico last week, UWMadison officials advised students and faculty against traveling to the country. However, student swine flu page 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.”