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Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Possible Metro bus route changes postponed By Maggie DeGroot The Daily Cardinal
Ben Pierson/the daily cardinal
Following a protest against the New Badger Partnership, Chancellor Biddy Martin addressed concerns with the proposal in an impromptu hour-and-a-half conversation Tuesday in Bascom Hall.
Students protest against, lobby for NBP By Corinne Burgermeister The Daily Cardinal
On Bascom Tuesday, students, staff and members of the community sat down with Chancellor Biddy Martin for over an hour to express their concerns with the New Badger Partnership, while other students met with state lawmakers and staff at the Capitol to show their support for it. The conversation with Martin was an unpredicted conclusion to an approximately 100-person protest organized by the Student Labor Action Coalition, in which they satirically auctioned off the university to demonstrate their concern that big companies will dominate the university if the NBP passes. SLAC member Beth Huang said in most public forums she feels the chancellor listens, but does not take much feedback. However, she said she thought the dynamics of the conversation Tuesday were different than that of Martin’s public forums. “It was clear that she did not completely dominate the discussion,” Huang said. “It was really nice today that we’re able to take more control over the discus-
sion, which allowed us to ask follow-up questions.” The discussion focused on splitting UW-Madison from the UW System and the protestors’ concerns about a decrease in accessibility and affordability. Those present demanded Martin to publically declare opposition against the budget cuts to higher education in the state of Wisconsin, and to guarantee a tuition decrease.
“It was really nice today that we’re able to take more control over the discussion, which allowed us to ask follow-up questions.” Beth Huang member student labor action coalition
Martin said that cuts to the budget and higher education are a “reality we face” and tuition will be higher if the university remains in the System than if it separates. The group Students for the NBP also focused on the themes of college accessibility and
affordability while lobbying in support of the NBP at the State Capitol Tuesday. The group delivered information to all 132 legislative offices and spent time answering questions concerning topics such as tuition increases and transfer students. “Our goal today was to reach out to as many legislators as we could and get them the facts about the NBP and also put a students’ face on support of the NBP, and I think we accomplished both of those,” said Jon Alfuth, a member of Students for the New Badger Partnership. Alfuth said he believes students should support the partnership because fundamentally, it will allow the university to be more flexible and increase quality. Both groups will be very active in the upcoming weeks. Alfuth said it is important to make the voice of students who support the bill heard, and they will continue speaking to spread awareness about the facts behind the proposal. Huang said that some SLAC members will meet with Martin for a follow-up discussion Friday.
After hearing numerous concerns at a public hearing Tuesday, transportation services and the Associated Students of Madison’s bus advisory committee and agreed to postpone the decision to alter bus Routes 81 and 82. With the proposed changes for bus route 81, the route would no longer service the Lakeshore residence hall area. This would leave Route 80 to serve as the area’s only late-night bus provider. Route 80 would run every 40 minutes in comparison to the 15 minutes the Route 81 currently runs. Bus advisory committee member Jo Matzner said the public hearing was set up for the committee to get feedback on the proposed alterations to the routes.
However, after hearing the feedback Tuesday, Matzner said staff felt there needs to be more discussion. “Because we care about campus safety and about everyone’s financial concerns, we want to take more time so we can craft a better solution for the campus community,” Matzner said in an e-mail. During the public hearing, UW-Madison students and staff raised serious concerns about the proposed alterations. UW-Madison Housing Director Paul Evans said he was worried about the convenience and safety of the approximate 2,200 students living in Lakeshore that would be affected by the possible route change. “I’m worried about our invemetro page 3
State rep. speaks out against possible end to Minn. reciprocity State Rep. Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, a member of the Joint Finance Committee, spoke out April 13 against Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to discontinue the supplementary program between Wisconsin and Minnesota which subsidizes the higher cost of in-state tuition in Minnesota. The Minnesota-Wisconsin Interstate Tuition Reciprocity Supplement Program allows students who attend Minnesota state schools to pay Wisconsin tuition. If this program were cut, the reciprocity program would still remain intact. However, students from Wisconsin would have to pay the Minnesota in-state tuition rate instead of the cheaper Wisconsin in-state tuition rate. Numbers from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau indicate students would pay $1,400 more in tuition
per year to attend U of M-Twin Cities, a 16 percent increase, and $2,200 more to attend U of M-Duluth, a 30 percent increase. In total, this proposal would increase tuition for Wisconsin residents studying in Minnesota by $24 million, according to Shilling. Shilling criticized Walker for making Wisconsin families shoulder a greater burden while providing tax cuts for out-of-state businesses. “We have a strong tradition of working with our neighbors in Minnesota to make higher education more accessible and affordable for students and families but this proposal eliminates years of progress and takes us in the wrong direction,” Shilling said in a statement. Members of the Joint Finance Committee will meet later this week to further discuss the proposal. —Samy Moskol
I LIKE TO MOOVE IT MOOVE IT
UW ranks third-best university on RateMyProfessor.com As students search for classes, many search professors’ names on RateMyProfessor.com hoping to see a big five for overall quality and just maybe a chili pepper as well. UW-Madison ranked third on RateMyProfessor.com, a website for rating and researching professors, which compiles these
ratings to make a list of the highest rated universities each year based on student ratings from the site. University rankings were based on criteria such as location, career opportunities, libraries, food and social life. On a scale from one to five,
the overall school rating for UW-Madison is 4.6. Student happiness and school reputation received a 4.8, and the school received a 4.7 for social activities. The website notes that the ratings are weighted so that university size does not affect the outcome.
Ben Pierson/the daily cardinal
U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., viewed the eMOOVE eco-car made by the UW Hybrid Vehicle Team while investigating green initiatives Tuesday.
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”