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Thursday, April 11, 2024 l
UW-Madison recently passed a new paid parental leave program. Is six weeks enough for new parents?
President Joe Biden announced a new plan to lower student loan debt for more than 30 million Americans during a visit to Madison on Monday.
Biden spoke to local political leaders, students and other guests from the Madison Area Technical College Truax campus.
“While a college degree is still a ticket to the middle class, that ticket is becoming much too expensive,” he said.
The outlined plan would eliminate accrued interest — or interest that has not yet been
paid out — for 23 million borrowers. It would also cancel the full amount of student debt for over 4 million borrowers and provide at least $5,000 in debt relief.
No application for debt relief will be necessary for those covered under this plan. Those included can expect to see debt relief as early as this fall, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Monday.
In remarks, Biden outlined the plan’s five major actions, including canceling up to $20,000 in interest for any borrower who owes more now then when they started paying loans.
Borrowers who started repaying under-
graduate loans 20 years ago or graduate loans 25 years ago are also included, as well as borrowers facing financial hardships and those who the DOE determines were “cheated by universities.” This category includes students who were part of low-value loan programs that were denied recertification for the Federal Student Aid program because they took advantage of students..
“It’s only in the interest of America that we do it,” Biden said. “By freeing millions of Americans from this crushing student debt it means they can finally get on with their lives.”.
Thousands of University of WisconsinMadison students and community members attended an Astronomy Club viewing party on Library Mall during the April 8 solar eclipse.
A solar eclipse is when the moon comes between the sun and the Earth, covering the sun. This solar eclipse was unique in its totality, which is when the moon completely covers the sun, according to Astronomy Club Observing Director Adam Miller.
“[The moon] needs to be the exact size [of the sun] in the sky,” Miller said. “The moon is generally smaller than the sun; because of that, it can only be over a very specific area that the eclipse will actually have an effect”
Bascom Hill was dotted with lawn chairs and picnic blankets a half-hour before the eclipse began. Library Mall was even more packed, with families, dogs, photographers and college students eagerly awaiting the eclipse.
The Astronomy Club had 1,000 eclipse viewing glasses stocked at their table in the center of Library Mall, Miller said. They quickly ran out.
“We had a line all the way to Memorial Union by 12:10,” Miller said. “We sold out before 12:30.”
One community member gave his eclipse glasses to a group of students who arrived too late to get them from the Astronomy Club. “Bring them back in 20 years!” he said, referring to the next anticipated solar eclipse date.
According to Jenna Karcheski, Astronomy Club president, the next solar eclipse over the United States will happen in 2044, and the next eclipse over Madison will occur in 2099, making this eclipse the most accessible in Madison for at least 75 years.
“I think it’s really cool that we’re able to have such a high totality rate even though we aren’t in the line of totality,” eclipse observer Zoe Levine said. “For students, it’s a cool opportunity to see it here on campus”
The Astronomy Club set up six specialty telescopes with custom 3D-printed parts to safely view the eclipse, according to Karcheski. The viewing line was 10 minutes long at one point. Food trucks on Library Mall were also packed.
For some, the eclipse was a defining astrological event that affected energy and everyday life.
According to Lily Bingol, a self-described apprentice astrologer, there have been “chaotic energies” as of late, especially for Libras, due to Mercury being in retrograde. However, Bingol said the solar eclipse served as a balancing force, and things are expected to return to normal.
“Solar eclipses [causes] a lot of emphasis in your life,” Bingol said. “I feel like everyone this past week has felt a lot of intensity. After today, everything is gonna fall into place.”
When asked if she has felt the chaotic energies, Karcheski said “everything’s been super smooth for us,” attributing the club’s success to “proper planning and management.”
Finally, at 2:06 p.m., maximum coverage of the sun occurred at 90% totality. The whole square erupted in applause and cheers. Karcheski demonstrated making a pinhole with your fingers and having the light poking through in a crescent shape like the sun.
“It’s not just the event of the year,” Karcheski said. “It’s the biggest event for decades.”
In a nod to his ongoing presidential campaign, Biden also said he would attempt to make community college tuition-free if elected, reaffirming a campaign promise first made in March.
Melissa Byrne, executive director of We
The 45 Million, a student loan debt advocate organization, praised Biden’s plan in a statement Monday that was released as part of the White House press release.
Biden also announced $200 million for the Department of Labor to use for grants to registered apprenticeship programs.
Rarely does a documentary on a niche topic featuring interviews with people who devote their lives to collecting celluloid film prints end up being so entertaining.
Wisconsin Film Festival documentary “Film is Dead, Long Live Film!” had a featured screening Saturday with director and Emerson College media studies professor Peter Flynn, including a Q&A after the film.
The documentary centers around the history of the preservation of celluloid film stock and the people who devote their lives to this practice. The unspoken, often mundane nature of film preservation occurring due to passion from individuals like Dettlaff is what “Film is Dead, Long Live Film!” ultimately champions through interviews with dedicated film collectors.
Many of these interviewees strained their relationships with their families collecting mountains of celluloid film prints and cameras and taking the necessary steps to prevent their deterioration, showcasing the dedication placed into this hobby by its adherents.
A standout interviewee is Stu Fink, a cigar-chomping, bespectacled preservationist who steals the show with his retelling of the history of 8-millimeter home prints of films and the theft needed to save certain films from destruction. He appeared as a wise sage imparting wisdom to viewers each time he was on screen. that many TAs do not make even half that. Lower appointments like onefifth, one-third or 40% are common, and they come with a lower stipend.
The main preservationist featured and the man to whom the film is dedicated is Lou DiCrescenzo, whose personal archive of prints — ranging from 8mm home movies to 35mm reels of Hollywood blockbusters — is a man who breathes cinema on the screen.
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.” University
Officer Michael Fanone saw his life flash before him outside the marble walls of the U.S. Capitol.
Thousands of insurrectionists broke windows, fought officers and planned attacks on members of Congress to prevent the certification of the 2020 presidential election on Jan. 6, 2021.
Fanone is one of 140 U.S. Capitol police officers who were beaten and repeatedly tased that day.
“It was absolute chaos,” he told The Daily Cardinal. “It was terrifying how close I came to losing my life.”
In the weeks leading up to the certification, former President Donald Trump openly discussed plans to encourage his supporters to storm the capitol. Conspiracies circulated that the election was stolen from Trump, with momentum from elected U.S. officials such as Rep. Mo Brooks, Rep. Paul Gosar, Sen. Josh Hawley and Sen. Ted Cruz.
Fanone was a Washington, D.C. police officer for 20 years and spent most of his career working in narcotics. He said he dealt with serious situations in his law enforcement career, but nothing came close to what he witnessed that day.
“Fuck no,” Fanone said when asked if he felt prepared. “I mean, I was questioning the decision to leave the comfort of my office and fucking come to that shitshow.”
It wasn’t an easy decision for Fanone to go to the Capitol that day, he said.
“I didn’t go there, [to] save democracy, and go there to protect a bunch of members of Congress or their staff, not to say that those responsibilities aren’t important, but they certainly didn’t play into my motivations for dropping what it was that I was doing and deciding to go to the Capitol. It was to help other police officers,”
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“We celebrate President Biden’s steadfastness in tackling the problem of student loan debt,” Byrne said. “After public comment and the final rule is published, around 30 million Americans and their families will know what it’s like to see government work for working people by getting some or all of their debt canceled.” New program comes after SCOTUS block Biden’s new approach to canceling student loan debt comes after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his previous student
Fanone said.
When he arrived, Fanone looked through a glass pane and saw remnants of tear gas deployed by officers and rioters. It was difficult to breathe and see, he said. There was intense fighting and hand-to-hand conflict in confined spaces.
“We were beaten with every object you can imagine. I remember metal baseball bat pipes, scaffolding that had been stripped from the inaugural stage that was used as a battering ram to try to break through the police, and at one point there was an individual or individuals that were deploying commercial grade fireworks into the tunnel,” he said. “It was absolute chaos.”
Fanone suffered a traumatic brain injury and heart attack as a result. After he gained consciousness, he said the first thought he had was to ask his colleagues if they held off a door from insurrectionists.
“When people ask the question of whether or not those individuals intended to kill people, I don’t think you can take what happened to me and think anything other than absolutely. That was their intention,” he said.
Fanone said he visited doctors three to four times a week and was committed to mental health recovery as well.
Following the insurrection, 25% of Americans said it is “probably” or “definitely” true that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) instigated the attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to a Washington PostUniversity of Maryland poll. Among Republicans, more than three in 10 have adopted this falsehood, despite law enforcement officials repeatedly denying these accusations.
“These are not pro-American organizations. These are anti-government organizations,” Fanone said. “They’re looking to enact change by using violence, and that’s what they did on [Jan. 6]. They used the cover of the mob to storm the Capitol and attack police
6, and anybody that tells you otherwise is full of shit.”
Political inconvenience an obstacle for reconciliation
Fanone said he observed how the events of the insurrection have deepened the political divide, particularly among older Americans, moving them further away from reaching a middle ground.
“What really gets me is how many Americans are completely indifferent to my experience and the experience of hundreds of other police officers on Jan. 6. who just don’t care, or those that have chosen not to believe the reality of Jan. 6 who refuse to allow themselves to be educated as to what happened simply because they feel like it’s politically inconvenient,” he said.
Additionally, Fanone said many of these Americans live in “disillusionment” and have not come to terms with Trump’s defeat in 2020.
“I definitely struggle with finding any degree of compassion or empathy for those people,” he said. “They believed the lies peddled by the former
leaders in this country — people that are supposed to be credible sources of information, people who have an obligation to tell us the truth.”
Fanone said young voters should vote against Trump because of the threat he poses for the country and organize around strengthening democracy more than previous generations.
For Fanone, Biden “has been around a long fucking time,” and has a proven track record of respecting the Constituion and peaceful transfer of power, whereas Trump had a tumultuous tenure where “his biggest accomplishment in four years was inciting a fucking insurrection and trying to subvert democracy.”
“I spent the better part of my adult life disillusioned by politics and politicians. That being said, we do have a responsibility in maintaining our democracy, and voting is the most fundamental part of that,” he said. “I’ve got [a] 21-year-old daughter, and there’s nothing she enjoys more than hearing her father say, ‘I fucked up.’ We fucked up royally. We need you guys to bail us out.”
pro-Palestine protesters heckled the president. “Joe stop the Gazacide,” one sign read.
The “uninstructed” vote trailed Biden in the Democratic primary as part of a recent movement to protest against Biden’s handling of the IsraelHamas war and could pose a threat to his margins in key Midwest swing states ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Over 48,000 Wisconsin voters, or 8.3%, chose the “uninstructed delegate” option in Wisconsin’s April 2 election, more than double the 20,682-vote margin Biden won Wisconsin by in 2020.
Department of Financial Institutions
Secretary Cheryll OlsonCollins said in a November webinar over 700,000 students are loan borrowers in Wisconsin, totaling $23.2 billion in overall debt. In Wisconsin, the amount of debt forgiven from an incomedriven repayment plan is considered gross income and is taxed. But at a federal level, the amount of debt forgiven is not taxable as modified by the American Rescue Plan Act, according to the Wisconsin Department of Revenue. Anti-war groups protest Biden’s visit Outside of the Madison gym where Biden was speaking,
Biden’s visit to Madison comes just weeks after Vice President Kamala Harris visited Madison and less than a month after Biden visited Milwaukee to tout a $3.3 billion investment to reconnect and rebuild communities damaged by past infrastructure projects in more than 40 states.
Biden will travel to Chicago, Illinois for a fundraising event Monday evening following his Madison visit.
By Mary Bosch PHOTO EDITOR
What does sustainability mean to you?” a whiteboard made by the leaders of Associated Students of Madison’s Sustainability Committee asked attendees at an April 5 “March Forth to Earth Day” event on East Campus Mall.
“Everything you make returns as food or poison,” one person wrote.
“Equitable access to green spaces,” another person put down.
“Food justice for all,” another wrote.
Patrons stuck those quotes on a corkboard made from reused Associated Students of Madison (ASM) office supplies. The event was the first of four leading up to an April 20 climate-focused march to the Capitol, according to organizers.
Attendees explored booths and listened to environmental speakers while enjoying free to-go food, Panera pastries, bagels provided by the Food Recovery Network and homegrown produce from The People’s Farm.
Through the events, which will occur every Friday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. until Earth Day on April 22, sustainability activists want to raise statewide awareness on environmental issues, according to ASM Sustainability Logistics Coordinator Winston Thompson.
Food justice was a theme of the event, organizers said. ASM Sustainability Chair Christina Treacy said living with a grandfather who was an organic farmer in South Dakota meant never wasting. That’s a value she brought into adulthood.
“When I think of food sustainability, I think of reconnecting with those roots,” she said. “It’s about food justice, which means universal access to nutritious, affordable and culturally appropriate food.”
Education and enjoyment
UW-Madison has a rich history of climate activism. Former Wisconsin Gov. and U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson, namesake of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, created Earth Day in 1970.
On the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, Madison celebrated with an environmental art show, a film festival and dozens of workshops on problems like cancer-causing
food additives, pollution and land use problems.
More than a half century later, ASM Sustainability Chair Ashley Cheung spearheaded the creation of March Forth to Earth Day in 2022. Thompson said the event originally focused on the pipeline and divestment movement.
ASM Sustainability has wanted to keep the 2022 march’s legacy alive since then, Thompson said.
“We’ve incorporated more student organizations to give people a chance to connect, talk, give some speeches and really build momentum for Earth Day, which is a really big part of UW Madison and UW Madison’s history,” Thompson said.
People may have been drawn by the food and positive energy, but some learned something on the way.
“I heard the music, and it’s bumping,” UW-Madison freshman Jaden Ohs said. Though he started by “grabbing vegetables,” he said he learned “it’s really important for these vegetables to be grown locally sourced and non-GMO because they can affect our environment.”
UW-Madison sophomore Ava Glaser said attending events like this will impact people later in life.
“Being able to prove that people show up for this and that they’re here no matter what is the first step to create that ripple effect,” Glaser said.
Student activists said they felt the event made a positive impact to raise community awareness.
“We’re definitely building momentum,” Treacy said. “Today was about getting the word out and showing people who we are and what we’re doing, and I’m really excited to see where we’re going with these.”
Diverse array of organizations attend event
Including diverse student organizations in the events widens the range of issues covered and encourages communication between groups, Thompson said.
Amanjot Kaur, president of the Student Voters Union, said the upcoming presidential election and state Senate and Assembly races will be impactful for environmental, climate and social justice issues.
“I want all you guys to vote on
election day in November,” Kaur said. “I don’t care who you vote for, I just think it’s super important that you share your voice.”
An opportunity for political engagement also came from the Tar Sands Team, a cooperation between climate group 350 Wisconsin and the Sierra Club of Wisconsin. The group hopes to shut down Enbridge Line 5, a 645-mile oil pipeline spanning from Wisconsin to Canada.
“Everybody who I talk to is always very receptive,” Tar Sands member Alex Goetsch said. “They’re very like ‘I didn’t know’ and see how it’s an important issue.”
We Outside, a new student organization focusing on increasing the presence of Black, Indigenous and other people of color in outdoor recreation, had a table and poster at the event.
We Outside board member Kyla Smith said the group aims to “decrease as many barriers as possible,” whether students are held back by finances or a lack of safe spaces.
“We want to get the word out about our organization since we are very new,” Smith said. “We have some really cool events, very community oriented, very outdoorsy, so we wanted to be part of this space.”
The Gamma Epsilon chapter of UW-Madison’s Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, the oldest intercollegiate African American fraternity, joined the event to “talk about sustainability and help promote it,” said Olakunle Ojo, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha.
Ojo said combating community support and food insecurity goes alongside Alpha Phi Alpha’s vision of service and advocacy. The organization focuses on community support and food insecurity.
And People’s Farm, a student organization which provides educational experiences through farm workdays at their acre-and-a-half plot in the Eagle Heights Community Gardens, brought fresh vegetables and fruit for attendees to enjoy.
“When people learn something, that’s like my favorite thing,” People’s Farm Director Connor Reilly said. “Like, ‘What is this plant?’ And it’s something I’m very familiar with, but they might not be. It’s super gratifying to be able to spread knowledge throughout the community.”
By Ellie Bourdo FEATURES EDITORThe Indigenous Law Students Association (ILSA) will host the 38th annual Coming Together of Peoples Conference on April 12 and 13, where the group aims to inform students and community members about Indian law.
The conference will provide students an opportunity to learn from various panelists and experts on Indian law, according to Steven Slack, ILSA treasurer. This refers to the laws that tribes set for themselves and laws that are set by the federal government regarding how it interacts with tribes.
“Indian law refers to everything that law refers to,” Slack said. “There is legislation on everything from child welfare and child placement to crime to anything you can think of that has a law passed by our state Legislature or by the federal government.”
ILSA allows Indigenous students, allies or individuals interested in practicing Indian law to learn and share their knowledge with students and community members to support the progress of Indigenous peoples, Slack said.
“We provide communication among the Indigenous law students, law students with these interests and also faculty, administration, Indigenous people in the public,” Slack said. “And then providing a forum to discussion of legal problems relating to law affecting Indigenous peoples communities and governments.”
Slack said ILSA serves the University of WisconsinMadison community by putting on various events for Indigenous students and collaborating with other Indigenous student groups to inform individuals about Indian law.
ILSA has been involved in flag-raising ceremonies on Bascom Hill, along with the posting of the flags of 13 Native Nations at the Lowell Center. They also screened a film at Union South, “Warrior Lawyers,” about the ways current Indigenous lawyers and Indian law practitioners are incorporating restorative justice, according to Slack.
“We wanted this open, especially to undergrads… and the general student body if there is interest in law on these topics,” Slack said.
Slack said the Coming Together of Peoples Conference is just one of ILSA’s duties. The organization hosts various events, collaborates with other Indigenous student groups and provides opportunities for students to learn more about Indian law. They are also involved in interview-
ing and offering their opinions on Indian law professor candidates.
“The Indigenous Law Students Association is a very active and very connected registered student org on campus. We have a very responsive and very deep bench as far as our alumni go,” Slack said. “The org itself is not exclusive to people that identify as indigenous. It’s for allies that are interested in practicing Indian law or knowing more about Indian law.”
The conference, taking place on April 12 and 13, is the longest-running student-led Indigenous conference in the nation, according to Slack. The event will offer attendees various opportunities to hear from Indian law panelists, keynote speakers and social events.
Slack said the conference is a great chance for students and community members to understand the importance of Indian law.
“ What this conference represents, in part, is Indigenous students, bringing in a lot of Indigenous lawyers to speak about Indigenous issues,” Slack said. “This is an opportunity for you to hear what’s going on right now, and how some of these people are being affected.”
Indian law is often underrecognized, according to Slack. He said the conference has the opportunity to “do good” by shining light on the important Indian law issues facing the nation and Wisconsin.
“The Indian law community is relatively small,” Slack said. “But then, when there are things like the Enbridge pipeline, that a lot of people have an issue with… it then becomes incumbent upon these tribes who are the only ones who have enough legal standing to battle some of these larger corporations.”
As a descendent of Stockbridge and a law student at UW-Madison, Slack said ILSA was one of the first places in the law school that he felt at home. To him, the conference is an opportunity for Madison community members to understand an issue that is important to him.
“I find this to be an opportunity for the school in general and for the Madison community to make good,” Slack said. “We’ve received tremendous support for this conference from the administration, from the school.”
The conference is open to the public in person and via Zoom in the Wisconsin Law Building. Slack urged anyone interested to register and learn more about Indian law.
“I would encourage everybody to come out and hang out,” Slack said. “It’s an opportunity to discuss Indian law issues, but also to foster community.”
(UHS) and
Recreation& Wellbeing announced a partnership with Togetherall on April 3 to bring all University of Wisconsin-Madison students free virtual peer support services.
Togetherall is an online platform that allows students to seek and provide mental health support for others while sharing personal expe -
riences. All UW-Madison students are now able to access Togetherall for free, 24/7.
“Togetherall is unique from other mental health resources available because it’s all about student-to-student connection,” said Dr. Ellen Marks, UHS senior associate director of clinical mental health services.
Through the service, students can receive anonymous peer support via message posts and comments, according to UHS. These communi-
ty-oriented, peer-to-peer conversations are moderated by clinical “wall guides” that can intervene if necessary to connect students with appropriate assistance.
“The anonymous aspect of the platform provides a space for students to connect about mental health topics in a relaxed, supportive environment,” Marks said. “Togetherall will reach a wider array of students including those who may be
less inclined to seek clinical mental health care.”
A 2022 Healthy Minds Survey conducted by UHS found 46% of students reported receiving mental or emotional health support from their friends.
UHS officials said Togetherall expands the resources already offered by UHS and creates a fully online, anonymous space that connects students all across the country.
“We know from campus
data that students often turn to a friend or peer for mental health support, so Togetherall provides another outlet to do that,” Marks said. “In this way, Togetherall reduces the barriers for accessing mental health support.”
Funding for Togetherall comes from the Charles E. Kubly Foundation and the UHS Suicide Prevention Fund.
Students can access Togetherall through the student registration page.
The Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS) held a symposium Monday in Memorial Union to commemorate early 20th-century Chinese University of Wisconsin-Madison students’ social and academic contributions to the university and United States-China relations.
Presenters at the event highlighted the educational and professional experiences of three Chinese students and focused on the connection between China and the United States through the students’ areas of study: economics, astronomy and political activism.
CEAS Assistant Director Laurie Dennis and East Asian Librarian Anlin Yang organized the event, which was inspired by the idea to host a reunion for family members of past Chinese alumni.
“China and the United States can de-couple politically, technologically and economically, but it seems impossible to decouple emotionally,” Billy Yuan, a UW-Madison graduate and researcher for CEAS, said.
Wen-Shion Tsu, Yuan-Lung Yeh and WenYing Peng traveled across the world to attend UW-Madison in the 1910s and 1920s. Current doctoral and undergraduate students presented information regarding the students’ reasons for attending, accomplishments and lessons to be learned from the scholars.
Tsu’s profile was presented by Yu-Hsuan Wang, a history of science doctoral student, who pointed out how rare and significant
Tsu’s presence on campus was at the time.
“As the only Chinese scholar studying astronomy in the United States at this time, Tsu still remembers the education he received at UW,” said Wang, showing a picture of a UW-Madison flag hanging in Tsu’s bedroom in Shanghai.
Yuan presented the story of Paul Reinsch, inaugural chair of the UW-Madison political science department, and spoke about his role in connecting students from China with UW-Madison.
Reinsch networked with families and university students worldwide to “attract more young Chinese men to discover the United States,” Yuan said.
“From 1929 to 1976, there were 28 Ph.D. students in the political science department. Eight of them were Chinese,” Yuan added. “This was the impact of Reinsch.”
Second-, third- and fourth-generation family members of the early UW-Madison attendees sat among students and scholars in the audience. The 10 family members explored campus, looked through university archives and saw past residences of their relatives.
“Today, I learned he did a lot of pay-itforward,” said Winston Chu, great-grandson of Tsu. “He learned so much in this school, so he took his skill, his talent, his knowledge and went back to China and started grade schools, middle schools, high schools and different colleges with his associates.”
A discussion panel held after the event
allowed family members to share additional insight on the lives of their relatives.
Peng Zhikang, daughter of Wen-Ying Peng, discussed the persecution her father faced for criticizing the Chinese government after returning from the United States. Wen-Ying Peng lost his second son to suicide due to the harsh treatment his family endured in China due to his democratic views, Zhikang said.
“He hand-made a wooden tablet for his second son and wrote on it an English poem,” Zhikang said, adding that the poem encouraged a continued fight for freedom and democracy. The Peng family donated the tablet to the UW-Madison Archives. Across presentations and the post-panel discussion, attendees mentioned a recurring theme of lasting diplomatic connection despite differences between countries. The relevance of this idea is especially important in today’s political state, family members of Peng noted.
“In today’s environment, during which U.S. and China relationships are not the best, we have to be driven by the Wisconsin Idea,” said Mike Peng, nephew of Zhikang.
The CEAS said it hopes to continue to make these connections with Chinese alumni and host more events in the future to showcase those relationships.
“We need to continue this kind of networking of the U.S. and China, not only in politics but on a civil level and an academic level,” Billy Yuan said. “This is what we’re going to do in the future.”
The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents approved a 3.75% tuition increase for resident undergraduate students Thursday, the second consecutive year of tuition increases after a ten-year freeze.
UW System President Jay Rothman first announced the increase proposal in a March 28 press release.
“Our universities are facing challenging economic realities, and students and parents should know that we plan to be good financial stewards,” Rothman said. “Maintaining our affordability advantage, especially compared to our peers, is a priority.”
At UW-Madison, in-state undergraduate tuition will rise from $11,216 to $11,604 for the 2024-25 academic year. Average segregated fees will increase by $74 per year.
The approval comes after the board greenlit a 4% resident undergraduate tuition increase in March 2023.
Rothman said the tuition increase is “similar” to recent inflation. In 2023, U.S. inflation increased by 3.4%, according to The White House.
Rothman also announced that he asked for an updated affordability review, which will be available to the public in fall of 2024. The 2022 affordability review found Wisconsin’s public universities were the most affordable in the Midwest.
Paid leave is much-needed policy for the university, but much more can be done.
By Franchesca Reuter OPINION EDITORThe University of WisconsinMadison is implementing a new sixweek paid parental leave policy for employees after the birth or adoption of a child starting July 1 following discussion and demands from faculty and staff.
The proposal will grant parents paid parental leave for six weeks in a 12-month period for all faculty and staff. This will also include lecturers, research and graduate workers in teaching and research and project assistants.
But is this enough for the new parents and their families? Not really.
While the proposal is a step in the right direction, six weeks is simply not enough time for new parents to adjust to their new addition. For new parents that gave birth, more than 12 weeks is needed for a maternity leave, according to Dr. Suzanne Bovone, an OB-GYN at the Obstetrics and Gynecology of San Jose clinic.
Many medical complications — both physical and mental — that happen after childbirth do not arise until around the three-month
mark, according to NPR. Given this fact, the six weeks the UW System offered is only half the time to allow for the parents to heal. Consider this: is a month and a half after growing a little human for the past nine months enough time?
The 12 weeks following birth are often considered the fourth trimester. While many parents who give birth typically heal from vaginal and cesarean births in two to three weeks, problems afterward can be due to breastfeeding and their mental health. Along with just mentally adapting to becoming a parent and having gone through labor, 1 in 8 parents postpartum suffer from postpartum depression, according to the CDC. A 12-week paid parental leave can be beneficial to help monitor and work through these situations.
The budget for this plan will cost $458,500 annually for all 865 workers, according to the Board of Regents. This is only 0.02% of the university’s $2.6 billion budget for wages and fringe benefits. Why not do more if the cost is so minimal?
This is the first step to a muchneeded policy to aid working parents
as they transition to a huge new stage in their lives and will cost so little in comparison to the vast total budget. It’s truly a no-brainer why they should provide this to the employees. Workers are currently using vacation and sick days or simply taking unpaid time off.
Workers are able to take 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the Family Medical and Leave Act. No parent should have to go 12 weeks — or even 6 weeks — without pay, especially when the average U.S. cost to have a baby is $18,865 and the average cost to adopt in the United States is between $20,000 and $45,000. The university should be supporting their workers, and this new policy does that.
Aside from health care for parents who gave birth, the first few weeks after birth are an integral part of bonding with your child. Postpartum depression can interfere with this, given it most commonly occurs six weeks after childbirth, leading the parent to have a more challenging time connecting with their new baby.
Adoption has many factors in play for bonding with the child. Adopted children can have trauma
from previous experiences — whether that be from foster care or being removed from homes — that affects a child’s development and make it difficult to bond with their adoptive parents, regardless of age. A sixweek parental leave allows parents to adjust to their new child and help the child feel more comfortable and secure in their new home.
So yes, a six-week paid paren-
tal leave is crucial for employees in the position of having children. But there is so much to be done following this new policy. Doubling the paid time off for paid parental leave would cost more annually, but this would help UW employees to take their much-needed — and deserved — time off to adapt after a huge life change and come back to work ready and prepared.
After spending the past three months exploring the vibrant nightlife of London, I can tell you it is an entirely different world from anything I have ever experienced. The city of London is an entire world in itself. But once the sun sets, the city transforms into something that is truly out of this world. Whether it’s spending the early hours of the evening at a quiet pub, strolling through the streets of Soho to find a lively jazz bar or spending a ridiculous amount of pounds to get into the swankiest club in the city, there is never a dull moment.
One of the most popular destinations for a night out in London is, hands down, the pub. According to Historic UK, a pub is the shortened version of “public houses,” which are historical establishments that didn’t include accommodation but felt like an open living room, with invitations to the public. Based on a study from Time Out, the city of London has roughly 3,500 pubs, with 480 just in the borough of Westminster. It’s very common for people to go to the pub straight from work in order to cool off and grab a drink and a snack before dinner.
To those in the United States, a pub is a place where the “pregame” happens before the big night out. Pregaming culture is considered a quintessential American tradition to the British. A night out at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is guaranteed to have started with a pregame at a friend’s apartment or house before the actual trip to the bar or party. The purpose of pregaming can be anything from saving money
on expensive drinks at the bar to spending quality time with friends before going out.
However, the concept of pregaming isn’t exclusive to a single culture. It’s just done differently. A night that starts out at the pub with a drink or two and ends at the club is a lot more fun, safer and easier to navigate, especially in a huge friend group. There are so many different options of places to go in London compared to Madison. The variety and choices of which place to hit on a night out in London leaves room for something different every week and keeps it exciting.
Another difference between Americans and the British is the drinking age. It’s what most people bring up when discussing nightlife in both countries. Brits begin drinking and going out to clubs and bars a lot younger than Americans do. The drinking age in the United Kingdom is 18 years old, whereas in America it’s infamously 21. Moreover, parties
in the U.K. are more so gatherings of friends where everyone brings their own alcohol and cigarettes to share. According to gov.uk, smoking cigarettes on a night out is extremely common in London. Around 18.1% of adults over the age of 18 will smoke either in party settings or on a daily basis. Vapes are the closest version of this in Madison.
According to the CDC, a vape is less harmful for your lungs than a cigarette; however, I’ve noticed that most Americans will hit their vape multiple times in the bars or at a house party, and the dangerous chemicals will disperse regardless. In London and most of the United Kingdom, there are smoking sections and areas where you can smoke more freely so that you are not blowing it in people’s faces. The culture around smoking is so much more acceptable in London and isn’t seen as taboo. No one is crucified for doing it or not.
In addition, there is a lot less peer pressure regarding smoking
and drinking during a night out as opposed to the United States. Most people in London are going out to have a good time, blow off steam and meet new people. Abroad, there is less of a pressure to “black out” and consider drinking a regular, social activity.
Clubbing in London is one of the most fascinating experiences of British nightlife. Some of the best places to go are in the heart of Mayfair and on the streets of Soho. It’s expensive, exclusive and exhausting. At the same time, it’s freeing and fun. Most of the clubs and bars around London actually play American hits from the 2010s.
However, be prepared for a long night. Most clubs open around 11 p.m. and some don’t close until around 5 or 6 a.m. When I first started going out in London, that was a huge adjustment for a lot of people in my program, including me. In Madison, my friends and I would go out around 11 p.m. and come home around 3 a.m., which was considered late. But coming home anytime before 5 a.m. in London is pretty early. I love the thrill of starting the night out late. It makes everything more of a mystery, and you never know where the night will lead you. A perfect night out consists of leaving the pub around closing time at 11 p.m and hitting the bar by 12 a.m. But you have to make sure you’re in line for the club before 1 a.m. because it gets busy, especially on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The pipeline of getting drinks at the pub in your local neighborhood and ending it at a club in Soho or Mayfair is the definition of a typical yet classic night out in London. One of the best things about coming home from a night out in London is
that there are restaurants and fast food chains still open, a perfect cure for your impending hangover.
While British nightlife is exciting and full of spontaneity, there is something so special about the going-out scene in the small town of Madison, Wisconsin. Being able to recognize the bouncer at Mondays or give your usual order to the UU bartender is comforting. True enjoyment during a night out in Madison comes from the people you spend it with and how you’ll be able to drink an entire fishbowl at Wando’s on Thursday night and still show up to your 9:00 a.m. the next morning. The close-knit community in Madison is unmatched. Of course, the going-out scene in Madison is vastly different from London. Sometimes, when I sit in the tube for 25 minutes on the way to Soho, I find myself missing my Thursday nights in Madison with all of my best friends at Vintage Spirits and Grill before we decide we want to walk across the street to Brats. The convenience is unmatched.
London and Madison are two very different cities with unique ways to celebrate the end of a long week. London is the perfect place to explore nightlife in your 20s. The city is so much more vast and diverse in people, culture and places to enjoy a night out. There are a plethora of places to spend your evening and the city is never short of things to do when going out. As cheesy as it sounds, going to a rooftop bar in Westminster and seeing the London skyline makes life feel surreal. London’s charm and opportunities in networking, meeting people with similar goals, ambitions and the idea to change their lives is something unlike anywhere else in the world.
The Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball team just had its best season in 5 years, and their NIT Great 8 game was highly attended by an electric crowd at the Kohl Center.
With March Madness concluding just days ago, the South Carolina Gamecocks were crowned national champions, solidifying their dominance in what was billed as a “rebuilding year” for head coach and WNBA legend Dawn Staley.
The maroon and black confetti fell, the nets were cut and the trophy was raised. Now what?
If you, like millions of others across the United States, recently tuned into college women’s basketball for the first time and found it just as exhilarating as the men’s game but are distressed about the possibility of having to wait until next November for more hoops, there is an easy solution.
Welcome to the WNBA season.
As mind-bogglingly close to the
NCAA championship as it is, the WNBA Draft begins Monday, April 15, and the season begins in just over a month. Household names from the college game will ascend the ranks and join the WNBA in just a matter of days, and the players you’ve come to love — Angel Reese, Kamilla Cardoso, Cameron Brink and basketball megastar Caitlin Clark herself — will step onto the courts for the first time as professional basketball players.
For aggravatingly long, the WNBA has been the butt of jokes, but it’s clear the league remains one of the fastest-growing professional sports organizations in the United States.
Entering its 27th year of play this season, the WNBA is stronger and more popular than ever. In 2023, the WNBA recorded its mostwatched regular season in 21 years, and it’s poised to reach new heights this season.
While the Indiana Fever, which have the first pick in the draft this
year and are all but certain to take Clark, have not disclosed the amount of tickets sold yet, they announced a new 10-day presale period for single-game tickets to moderate the vast increase in demand.
The reigning WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces also announced last month they had sold out their season ticket membership, becoming the first WNBA team to ever do so.
When the Aces noticed the game against the Fever, along with four other of their home games, had sold out, they moved the Fever game to a larger arena in Las Vegas with additional capacity. Basketball analyst Deb Antonelli dubbed this phenomenon “Clarkonomics.”
So the crowds will be electric this season, but what about the basketball itself? Well, all the action you love from men’s basketball is just as present in the “W.”
You want to see dunks? Let me introduce you to Brittney Griner and Candace Parker.
You want to see players sink
threes like Curry? Enter Diana Taurasi, Sabrina Ionescu and, soon, Caitlin Clark.
If larger-than-life personalities are what you love about basketball, look no further than A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum.
Interested in watching the GOATs of the game play? Candace Parker is set to return to the Aces this season, and Breanna Stewart led the New York Liberty to the finals last season.
And narratives? Oh, the W has narratives.
The back-to-back champion Aces look to three-peat as their usually stacked roster, what was called a “super team” last year, gains back WNBA legend Candace Parker following a season-ending injury in 2023.
The Liberty, which suffered a devastating defeat to the Aces in last year’s championship series, will aim for another run with Jonquel Jones, Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu leading the charge.
On the topic of super teams, the Seattle Storm is building one of its own, and the 2024 season will determine if their offseason moves paid off. New additions Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar DigginsSmith will be vital to a team that missed the playoffs last year and is looking to bounce back.
There isn’t enough time to discuss each of the 12 (soon to be 13, with Golden State’s new team in 2025) teams in depth, but the Indiana Fever warrants that. The addition of No. 1 draft pick Aliyah Boston out of South Carolina last season electrified their fanbase, and that is sure to increase with Clark’s sheer name recognition. But will this duo be enough to make the postseason for the first time since 2015?
All of these questions hang unanswered as the 2024 season looms. So, if you’re in the mood for some basketball this summer and want big names and great games, consider the WNBA.
Former Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball coach Bo Ryan is officially heading to the Naismith Hall of Fame.
After being a finalist for the Class of 2015 and going unselected, he will join an impressive2024 class featuring Vince Carter, Chauncey Billups, Seimone Augustus, Michael Cooper, Walter Davis, Michele Timms, Jerry West, Doug Collins, Harley Redin, Herb Simon and Charles Smith.
Ryan, the winningest coach in Wisconsin history, left an indelible mark on the team. From 2001 to 2015, he led the team to a 364-130 record and a 74% win rate. His tenacious defenses and calculated offensive approach were instrumental in making Wisconsin’s turnover rates some of the lowest in the country.
“I’m grateful and humbled by an honor like this, but I sincere-
ly believe that this is a reflection of the contributions of so many people who have helped me in my career,” Ryan said in a press release Saturday.
Under Ryan’s direction, Wisconsin won three Big Ten Tournaments, made seven Sweet Sixteen appearances, three Elite Eight appearances, two Final Four appearances and an NCAA Championship game appearance in 2015 against Duke. The Badgers never missed a tournament under his reign.
Before his tenure at Madison, Bo Ryan had already established himself as a coach at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. He led the Pioneers to their NCAA Division III National Championships in 1991, 1995, 1998 and 1999. Two of those teams even achieved the rare feat of posting undefeated records.
The ceremony will take place on Aug. 16 and 17 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
By Jackson Wyatt COPY CHIEF
Over the past decade, one thing has been made abundantly clear: Beyoncé dropping an album is not just a musical event. It’s a cultural event.
From the surprise midnight drop of her self-titled album to the internetwide Mute Challenge of “Renaissance,” each release cycle seems to snowball into
something grander than the last. “Cowboy Carter” is no different, a bold stylistic left turn surrounded by intrigue and controversy. At its heart, “Cowboy Carter” is an album about belonging: belonging in a relationship, a family, an industry, a genre and America. Beyoncé described in an Instagram post the inciting incident for the album’s creation as a situ-
ation in which she felt deeply unwelcomed, a comment many believe refers to the racist backlash she received after performing at the 2016 Country Music Awards. In many ways, “Cowboy Carter” is an unflinching response, chronicling both the Black Americans who founded country music as well as the Black Americans continuing to reinvent country music today.
To call “Cowboy Carter” a country album is an oversimplification and goes against much of the album’s commentary on genre division. Over the 27-song tracklist, Beyoncé weaves a rich musical tapestry, stringing together elements of folk, Americana, rock, hiphop and even Brazilian phonk. Consistently dynamic and unpredictable, “Cowboy Carter” never settles in one place.
“16 CARRIAGES” is an early standout, a wistful ballad elevated to epic proportions. Tidal waves of instrumentation crash against Beyoncé’s lyrics of exhaustion and homesickness, an effect that is equal parts cathartic and cinematic. “BODYGUARD” is a jangly slice of Fleetwood Macinspired rock, so flirtatious it nearly turns dangerous.
Spiny with sharp lyricism, the introspective “DAUGHTER” holds the tension of a Wild West standoff. The opera section closing out the song is arguably Beyoncé’s shining vocal moment on the entire record. And the album’s most political and playful song — the Nancy Sinatra-sampling “YA YA” — is a capital-A anthem shivering with energy like a rattlesnake tail.
Beyond its highlights, “Cowboy Carter” is a welloiled machine, gaining momentum until the very last song. In a press release from Parkwood Entertainment, Beyoncé revealed that “Cowboy Carter” was initially planned to be released before
her 2022 album “Renaissance.” Hearing the musical influence of “Renaissance” slowly creep in from the electronic lullaby of “II HANDS II HEAVEN” to the Jersey Club rattle of “SWEET ★ HONEY ★ BUCKIIN” makes the final stretch of “Cowboy Carter” possibly its most captivating.
With a runtime of one hour and 18 minutes, “Cowboy Carter” could have benefitted from a stricter hand in editing. While no song derails the album’s momentum, some do nothing to propel the momentum forward. Clocking in at under a minute, “MY ROSE” feels more like a sketch than a fully developed song. The sentimental “PROTECTOR” is weakened by proximity, so saccharinely sweet it pales in comparison to the ballads preceding it. And while “JOLENE” is a fun reimagining of Dolly Parton’s hit, the longer one sits with Beyoncé’s warnings for a female adversary to stay away from her man, the more misplaced — and, frankly, cringe-worthy — the warnings become.
But at eight studio albums deep into her career, a tad overambitious is a commendable place for Beyoncé to be. “Cowboy Carter” is a wideopen range of musical exploration that unveils an array of personal revelations along the way. After all, as stated in the album announcement, “This ain’t a country album. This is a Beyoncé album.”
Ride on, Cowboy Carter.
Orville Peck, Willie Nelson reaffirm country music’s new direction with hit singleBy Ian Wilder SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Beer, women and trucks: the holy trinity of stereotypical portrayals of country music.
Country legend Willie Nelson isn’t about to let that reputation stand. Just in late March, Nelson was featured on Beyonce’s hit “Cowboy Carter” album on “SMOKE HOUR ★ WILLIE NELSON,” and he’s back it again, appearing on shoegaze outlaw country singer Orville Peck’s 2024 cover of “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond Of Each Other.”
Although the song was written way back in 1982 by Ned Sublette, it was Nelson who popularized the song with his 2006 iTunes cover. It had a personal meaning to him — two years prior, his friend and tour manager David Anderson told Nelson he was gay.
“This song obviously has special meaning to me in more ways than one,” Anderson told The Dallas Morning News in 2006. “I want people to know more than anything — gay, straight, whatever — just how cool Willie is and... his way of thinking, his tolerance, everything about him.”
In fact, its release was for many the first mainstream country music track with explic-
it LGBTQ+ themes.
With its 2024 release, the track feels like a symbolic “passing of the baton” as Nelson, 90, features alongside the up-and-coming Peck. Nelson has frequently been criticized by the conservative sides of the country music community for his willingness to sing about topics that country music typically strays away from, and he hasn’t been afraid of controversy in his career.
“But you know people are listenin’ to it, likin’ it. Every now and then somebody don’t like it, but that’s okay,” Nelson told Time Magazine in 2006. “Similar to years ago, when the hippie thing come out and I started growin’ my hair and puttin’ the earring in, I got a little flak here and there.”
Peck told Variety he’s faced barriers being an openly gay country music artist. But he concluded the “important thing that’s happening in country music at the moment is there’s so many more queer people, and people that aren’t just white, straight men making country music.”
The 2024 cover of the song is sung beautifully, and there’s a certain seemliness to hear genre trailblazer Nelson join forces with a modern-era trailblazer as they alternate verses.
Some of the lyrics are admittedly heavy-handed, such as “a cowboy may brag about things that he’s done with his women / But the ones who brag loudest are the ones that are most likely queer.”
However, if you keep in mind the spirit behind the song and that more than 40 years have passed since it was written, the lyrics are great and easy to enjoy.
Along with the song, Peck released a music video depicting cowboys dancing with multiracial, same-sex and traditional dance partners while simultaneously depicting those same cowboys in stereotypical manners, like chucking hay or tending to a field.
That’s on top of plenty of shared shots with Peck and Nelson having fun, and it’s hard to blame them — the song
is a hoot. The video ends with a subtle but strong moment as Peck locks a saloon door and they share a moment as he shakes Nelson’s hand.
The message of Peck and Nelson’s 2024 cover of “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond Of Each Other” is clear: the LGBTQ+ community has always been a core part of country music, and they ain’t going nowhere.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BLAIR CALDWELL/PARKWOOD ENTERTAINMENTUpon first glance, 223 E. Mifflin Street appears to be just a typical house. That is, until you notice the massive lime cutout on the stairs, the colorful outside clothing rack and the bright dangling garland hanging from the roof.
Located just past the Wisconsin State Capitol building lies Happy Hours, a secondhand clothing and decor store built inside a classic Victorian style home.
Owned by Wisconsin native Ali Gilbertson, Happy Hours is a thrifter’s dream. A hidden gem from the vintage-crazed masses, the small business offers shoppers an eccentric experience and, if you’re lucky, a guest appearance from Gilbertson’s adorable dog, Redford.
Open only on Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Happy Hours is located on the first floor of what Gilbertson said used to be a residential home. She said the property has been divided since the 1940s into several rentable segments — the top floor as offices and small studios, and the bottom floor as a rotating retail space before she secured it.
Initially set on pursuing acting in New York City, Gilbertson said she never had any plans of delving into the
world of vintage reselling. But a love of secondhand was always in her DNA.
“I grew up in a very thrifting-centric family. My parents are both artists and the most frugal people I’ve ever met,” Gilbertson told The Daily Cardinal. “Anything was secondhand for the purpose of saving money and being crafty.”
Eventually, Gilbertson said she recognized her passion could be turned into a full-time career. In a difficult post-pandemic era, she began by selling items out of her garage before eventually stumbling across what she considered to be the perfect storefront.
“I feel so fortunate to have found this old house that just feels so on brand and in keeping with the theme of breathing new life into old things,” Gilbertson said. “The way the walls are literally crumbling around us is very like my vibe. It also allows me to kind of get away with more of the unconventionality of it.”
Gilbertson became sentimental when asked about the response she and Happy Hours have received from the Madison community.
“I went into this project specifically being like, ‘I’m going to do it the way I want to do it,’” Gilbertson said. “There’s that kind of vulnerability of being like, ‘Alright, I’m just gonna be me, and hope that people like it.’ And
they do like it!”
One can’t help but feel like they’re just visiting a friend each time they enter the storefront.
Part of that charm is due to Happy Hours being located in a building that could be a near identical make and model of a friend’s house. But its appeal extends beyond that.
Gilbertson’s dog explores the first floor, sniffing at every new customer who walks in. Well-known country music plays in the background. A whole designated section of the store is lined with vintage Badgers clothes. In this way, Happy Hours is comforting in both its business model and its hominess.
Immediately striking up a conversation with a paying customer, Gilbertson joked with the young woman about how the shirt she was buying actually was her dad’s old cast t-shirt from a play he performed in. And sure enough, there he was in the midst of a massive 90s panoramic image covering the wall, wearing the faded white tee.
It’s obvious the personality and uniqueness of each piece resonates with shoppers. Everything from the racks overflowing with vintage items to Gilbertson’s vibrant personality is infectious, leaving a burning desire to return to Happy Hours as soon as you can.
