BEST OF THE FEST: Five must-see films ARTS
From troll hunters to the Oregon Trail, we recap the Wisconsin Film Festival Complete campus coverage since 1892
Party politics lead in high court race By Adam Wollner The Daily Cardinal
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OPINION
dailycardinal.com
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Monday, April 4, 2011
the grateful UNdead
Ben Pierson/the daily cardinal
The “undead” came out in full force to support unions in spite of Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair law, which will take away most of public workers unions’ collective bargaining rights.
Number of reported sexual assaults rises By Alison Dirr The Daily Cardinal
The number of sexual assaults reported to the Dean of Students Office increased from 45 cases last year to 112 this year. But this is a good thing, according to Tonya Schmidt, an assistant dean in the Division of Student Life, because it means more victims are seeking help— not necessarily that there were more sexual assaults. “There are so many students who are not getting help for what they need,” she said. “We have increased our numbers. At least more people are getting served and getting the resources they need so they can heal. I see the numbers go up and it’s a good thing.”
This number increased so dra- tiative sponsored by a federal matically, she said, in part because grant. Part of University Health the university’s counseling center Services, EVOC focuses on edubegan reporting their numbers cating both students and faculty to the Dean of Students Office about the resources available to this year. Before that point, victims, but also about how ethical and professional to respond when a viclt Awarene u standards were cited tim comes forward. a s As for not doing so, “[Victims are] Schmidt said. going to go to their But more friend and tell importantly, greatthem, and the way er education about that that friend sexual assault in reacts to them is the UW-Madison going to make all community has helped the difference in the more victims to come forworld as to whether or ward, Schmidt said. not [victims] get more help for This information, she said, has themselves, that they continue to come mainly from End Violence on Campus, a UW-Madison iniassault page 3
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When JoAnne Kloppenburg decided to run for the Wisconsin Supreme Court in December, she was a relatively unknown attorney with the Department of Justice. In the aftermath of the chaos surrounding Gov. Scott Walker’s collective bargaining law, her campaign against incumbent Justice David Prosser has become the focus of the anti-Walker movement, despite her insistence she will be nonpartisan on the bench. In his re-election campaign, Prosser has emphasized his 18 years of experience as a Republican state legislator before serving as a Supreme Court justice for the past 12 years. Although Prosser describes himself as a judicial conservative, he has stressed his independent and impartial rulings on cases. “Look at the actual voting record on the court and people will see I’m in the center of the court,” Prosser said on “Upfront with Mike Gousha.” “I am the independent on the court; I am the unpredictable one on the court.” Kloppenburg, who has worked at the Wisconsin DOJ since 1989, became Prosser’s challenger after advancing in the February primary. Like Prosser, Kloppenburg promises to be an independent and unbiased voice on the court. “I am not running to be a member on any bloc of the court; I am running to be a member of a court that works as a collective entity to decide the most important legal issues before the state in a completely independent and impartial
manner,” Kloppenburg said. Kloppenburg has also stressed the importance of separation of powers, saying the judicial branch needs to set politics aside before making decisions. “All of the politicking and partisanship that has taken place over the budget repair has taken place where they belong in the legislative and the executive branches, but people do not want that to spread out over on to the courts,” Kloppenburg said. Due to Walker’s controversial collective bargaining proposal the election is quickly becoming a referendum on Walker’s agenda. Despite the candidates’ promises to be unbiased, pro-Walker groups and Republicans such as Sarah Palin have endorsed Prosser, while anti-Walker groups, unions and Democrats are supporting Kloppenburg. UW-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin said the budget repair bill “has linked the Supreme Court to a partisan battle more than we’ve seen in any Supreme Court race.” He added that past elections have seen various right and left wing interest groups supporting certain candidates, but not of this intensity or magnitude. Kloppenburg, however, insisted her supporters are not necessarily partisan and that they support her because she will be unbiased. At a Kloppenburg rally Sunday, supporters said they were voting for her for a variety of reasons. Madison resident Emily Theisfem, who attended Sunday’s
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COMMON COUNCIL ENDORSEMENTS: Resnick for District 8, Stevenson for District 2
Judge Sumi continues TRO on union law By Ariel Shapiro The Daily Cardinal
After listening to testimony from several witnesses Friday, Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi decided to maintain the temporary restraining order on the budget repair law. The day before the hearing, Sumi ruled the law was never officially published despite claims from the Walker administration and
Republicans that it was. State Senate Chief Clerk Robert Marchant testified on the details of how he, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, and other legislature staffers decided to hold the meeting of the Joint Committee on Conference and Senate floor session in which the budget repair law was passed without the 24-hour notice as required
by the state’s Open Meetings Laws. Marchant said he was never given a reason as to why the committee meeting could not be held the next day, and that scheduling meetings without 24-hour notice has been done by the legislature “in custom usage and precedence.” However, Marchant said it is sumi page 3
University releases some of Prof. Cronon’s e-mails to GOP By Scott Girard The Daily Cardinal
Grace Liu/the daily cardinal
Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg will face incumbent Supreme Court Justice David Prosser in Tuesday’s election.
UW-Madison released some of Professor William Cronon’s e-mail records to the Republican Party of Wisconsin Friday following the open records request the group filed March 17. Chancellor Biddy Martin sent an e-mail to students and faculty
explaining the decision and the efforts made by the university to balance Cronon’s privacy with adhering to the request. E-mails including Cronon’s communication with students or anything deemed to fall under academic freedom was excluded, Martin said. “Academic freedom is the free-
dom to pursue knowledge and develop lines of argument without fear of reprisal for controversial findings and without the premature disclosure of those ideas,” Martin said in the e-mail. Cronon praised Martin and the university on his blog for supcronon page 3
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”