Consider the following: The Daily Cardinal’s Mr. Scientist answers your questions. SCIENCE
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University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Student Judiciary rules in favor of AFTER members By Scott Girard The Daily Cardinal
UW-Madison Student Judiciary ruled Tuesday night in favor of the Associated Free Thinkers Ensuring Responsibility (AFTER), whose members were charged with the misuse of student segregated fees. Chief Justice Kathryn Fifield said the judiciary unanimously decided there was not enough evidence to prove any wrongdoing by AFTER group members. “No segregated fees had been spent so no rules had been broken,” Fifield said. Kyle VandenLangenberg, shared governance chair of Associated Students of Madison and a petitioner in the case, had argued the AFTER group, made up of student government members, intended to use the segregated fees to pay for a political
advertisement in The Badger Herald. Matthew Beemsterboer, ASM finance committee chair and one of the AFTER members charged in the case, said the accusers made unsubstantiated claims with no proof. “I think the strongest evidence in our favor was really that there was very little if no evidence to show that we actually have used segregated fees in this case,” Beemsterboer said. In the decision, Fifield said if the court had found evidence of AFTER using fees to pay for the advertisement, the members would have faced punishment. Fifield pointed out that while this did not happen, the judiciary did make a clear ruling on the illegality of using segregated fees for political purposes. AFTER page 4
Kathryn Weenig/the daily cardinal
State Rep. Brett Hulsey, D-Madison, opposed the state Assembly’s overturning of Milwaukee Co.’s paid sick leave ordinance.
Republicans push override of Milwaukee paid sick leave ordinance through Assembly A law voiding a Milwaukee ordinance, which requires large businesses to provide paid sick days, passed the state Assembly Tuesday with Gov. Scott Walker’s support before the it was able to take effect. Republicans argued the ordinance would hurt economic growth because it would cost businesses more money and create inconsistencies across the state, making compliance more difficult for organizations. “It would be difficult for job creators in Milwaukee if they were an island on this issue,” Walker said. “I think there’s grave concern from the mayor, from other civic and business leaders in that city that they not be in a position where it’s difficult to both retain and attract employers there.” Democrats argued Republicans are hurting the ability of local communities to make their own decisions
and are overriding the will of the people, while simultaneously hurting health care for workers in Milwaukee. “You either believe in local control or you don’t. You either believe in democracy or you don’t,” state Rep. Chris Danou, D-Trempealeau, said. “The people of that particular municipality spoke. They spoke. They made their decision. We’re going to second guess them now?” The ordinance originally passed in November 2008 with 69 percent of the vote, but has been held up in legal challenges, ending in a split vote from the state Supreme Court, as Justice Annette Ziegler recused herself. The split vote resulted in a default to the appellate court’s decision upholding the bill. The state Senate unanimously passed the bill while the Democrats were in Illinois. —Patrick Tricker
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dailycardinal.com
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Struttin’ your stuff
Grace Liu/the daily cardinal
In celebration of the 5th Annual Line Breaks Festival, First Wave, a student dance group on campus, performed at the Overture Center Tuesday night.
MIU awards $4 million in final round of grants to 19 departments The Madison Initiative for Undergraduates granted $4 million to 19 projects Tuesday in its third and final round of funding. The funding includes grants for faculty, student service and academic support projects. Provost Paul DeLuca Jr. said the MIU has made many differences in the academic life of students at UW-Madison. “The positions and programs funded by MIU have loosened bottlenecks in high demand classes and majors, while also addressing important student service needs,” DeLuca said in a statement. Greg Downey, director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication which received MIU funding, sent an e-mail to undergraduates praising MIU and thanking the students for their great work in the school. “These are tough and uncertain budget times at Wisconsin, but this MIU award demonstrates the university’s unwavering commitment to its responsibility to train the next generation of mass communication professionals—and audiences—for the globalizing world of always-new media that we are building together,” Downey said in the e-mail. The following departments received grants: • School of Journalism and Mass Comm.; • Department of Political Science;
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
School of Nursing, The Future of Care Project; Department of Philosophy; Department of French and Italian; Department of English; Teaching Academy, Madison Program for Teaching and Learning Excellence; Department of Communication Arts; Department of Mathematics; Department of Sociology; School of Education, Undergraduate Certificate in Education & Educational Studies, and, College of Engineering, Campus-Wide Engagement of Undergrads in Society’s Engineering Grand Challenges. School of Education, Campus-wide Shared Advisor Notes System; Department of Chemistry; School of Education, Design Lab, a digital composition center; Division of Student Life, Building BRIDGES Across Campus; Division of Student Life, McBurney Disability Resource Center Transition Services Program, and, Division of Enrollment Management, Common Scholarship Application. —Scott Girard
Walker lobbies for GOP Senators in Florida Gov. Scott Walker spent this past weekend campaigning in Florida for FrontlineWisconsin.com, a national online fundraising effort to support the Republican state senators up for recall. During his tour on Friday, Walker made an appearance at Newsmax headquarters, a conservative news company in West Palm Beach, Fla. In an interview with Newsmax.TV, Walker announced FrontlineWisconsin.com’s creation, a site where citizens from across the country can contribute up to $1,000 to support the eight Republican senators eligible for recall. The donations will help the eight senators get the “resources they need
to get their message out that they’re the ones protecting the middle class,” Walker said. The senators are not going to do it if they are outspent by the “big government union bosses from Washington,” Walker said. When asked about state unions’ assertion of the right to collectively bargain, Walker said “this is not about a right. Rights are something we get from the Constitution, inherently from God, our creator.” Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, a progressive advocacy group, described Walker’s actions as “abominable.” “It’s one thing to sell out the middle class of Wisconsin in order
to reward his corporate donors, but it’s a whole other thing to travel the country to raise even more corporate money,” Ross said. Mike McCabe, executive director of Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a non-partisan watchdog group, said even though this is not the first time a governor has gone outside the state to raise campaign money, it still is an offensive practice. “He’s supposed to be governor of Wisconsin and these out-of-state donors aren’t his constituents and shouldn’t have influence over what government does here,” McCabe said in an e-mail. —Samy Moskol
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”