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Thursday, March 13, 2025
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By Sonia Bendre STAFF WRITER
Many faculty members spend their academic careers in pursuit of academic tenure, a lifelong guarantee of job security and a shield for academic freedom. But recently, the promise of tenure has proved tenuous for University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s College of General Studies (CGS) professors, 35 of whom were laid o in August.
In August, the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents unanimously approved the dissolution of CGS, formerly UW-Milwaukee at Waukesha, effec-
tively laying off at least 35 tenured faculty — the first such firing of tenured faculty in the UW System since a 2015 law weakened tenure. CGS will close after this spring, UW-Milwaukee announced last March, citing declining enrollment and decreased revenue.
UW-Milwaukee is required under Wisconsin law to use its “best efforts” to assist faculty in securing alternative employment, as well as provide readaptation where it is feasible. Although over half of formerly tenured professors have retired or found alternative employment, many are
still searching.
“We roughly had 64 faculty this time last year, and we are down to about 26 or 27 who have not yet found alternative employment,” Ron Gulotta, interim dean of UW-Milwaukee’s College of General Studies, told The Daily Cardinal. “I am not aware of any initiative coming from the Regents or from the University of Wisconsin System to assist faculty.”
When the layo s were first announced, a number of CGS professors raised concerns the Board of Regents and UW-Milwaukee were violating the state statute. But UW
By Zoey Elwood COPY CHIEF
Around a hundred University of Wisconsin-Madison students and community members gathered at Library Mall Tuesday for a walkout in support of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and pro-Palestine protest leader who was arrested by immigration o cials in New York over the weekend.
Attendees at the walkout, organized by UW-Madison’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Advocates for Immigrant Rights, warned of the implications of Khalil’s arrest on student protesters and demanded respect for free speech and protest.
Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the United States and a negotiator for Columbia’s pro-Palestinian student encampment last year, was inside his universityowned apartment when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents entered and detained him, stating that they intend to revoke Khalil’s green card. The legality of Khalil’s detention and potential green card revocation — which President Donald Trump said would be the “first of many” — has been heavily criticized by civil rights organizations and freedom of speech experts.
“We’re calling on UW-Madison to respect the rights of students to speech, to not comply with order to crack down on the student protests. We’re here in solidarity for
Mahmoud Khalil against his illegal arrests and the stripping of his green card,” Mac, an SJP member, told The Daily Cardinal.
At the demonstration, Palestinian music played from speakers while activists held pro-Palestine signs and waved the Palestinian flag. Speakers stood on the steps of Memorial Library, leading chants and delivering statements in support of Khalil and Palestine.
“We need to keep showing up in order to fight for justice, to fight for our rights and for the rights of Palestinians and for the rights of people everywhere,” SJP member Dahlia Saba said during a speech.
Saba underscored the implications of Khalil’s arrest on student protesters, calling it a tactic to intimidate activists into “submission.” She highlighted the importance of continuing to speak out and stand in solidarity with Palestine.
“This is a bellwether for what is acceptable in this country. Do we live in a country where it is acceptable to kidnap a man in the middle of the night because he protested in support of Palestine or not? Because I think that if we live in the former, which we do apparently, then we do not have rights in this country,” Saba told the Cardinal.
Saba also referenced the U.S. Department of Education’s announcement Monday it would investigate 60 colleges and universities, including UW-Madison, over anti-
semitic discrimination and harassment complaints. The agency warned of potential repercussions, such as the loss of federal funding, if institutions do not intensify their crackdown on student protests.
Student activists also said how Khalil’s arrest was another indicator of Trump’s image for America’s future.
“It shows that Trump was not lying,” UW-Madison senior Mia Kurzer told the Cardinal. “I don’t think he has lied once in his campaign trail, other than saying Project 2025 wasn’t his, but this was all laid out in the stu that he said he was going to do. It’s imperative that we acknowledge what is happening and how this is against what America should be, not what it is, but what it should be.”
Kurzer and Saba stressed the importance of contacting local representatives and raising awareness about Khalil’s case, urging that the conversation must continue.
“We will not be intimidated into being quiet. We will not be silenced by the threat of deportation of student conduct investigations. We are here because the fight for justice in Palestine is the fight for justice everywhere, and we will not go away,” Saba said.
The activists continued their demonstration with a march through Library Mall to the front of Bascom Hill, yelling chants, holding protest signs and waving Palestinian flags.
System Media Relations Director Mark Pitsch told the Cardinal UW-Milwaukee and the UW System have followed the statute.
“UWM has been assisting the faculty who received layoff notices with finding other positions, within UWM and externally,” Pitsch said. “Several faculty have found other positions at UWM and other institutions through outreach and priority hiring programs. Eligible faculty were also offered retirement incentives, which 10 faculty accepted.”
+ UW System page 2
By Audrey Lopez-Stane STAFF WIRTER
Kenosha-based developer Bear Real Estate Group is looking to build an a ordable housing development just five blocks from the Capitol.
The proposed seven-story development will be 223 units, including 12 studios, 184 one-bedrooms and 27 twobedrooms, along with 68 parking spots in a lower-level garage. Construction is expected to begin by late 2025 or early 2026, with completion targeted for 2027.
Developers plan to demolish the current building on the lot, located on 501 East Washington Ave., which has been occupied by the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) since the 1980s. WMC will relocate to 2 Bu ttonwood Court, more than seven miles away from its current location on Washington Avenue.
The planned apartments will be rent- and income-restricted, meaning the rent will be based on a percentage of a tenant’s income. Units will be reserved for tenants earning 50 to 80% of the area’s median income, District 6 Ald. Marsha Rummel told The Daily Cardinal. Madison’s rent prices increased 14% in 2023 and another 15% in 2024. The city has one of the lowest rental vacancy rates in the country, increasing demand for housing. At the same time, the city’s downtown area has seen the growth of “luxury” housing developments, which are often di cult for low-income residents to a ord.
Rummel said she hopes the new development will help residents in the city not have to “worry about making rent each month.”
Bear Real Estate’s Vice President of Development Adam Templer told The Daily Cardinal the company has built over 4,000 a ordable housing units in the last 15 years across five states.
The company’s most recent Madison development is The Flats at 402 on West Wilson Street, with a one-bedroom apartment starting at $1,102, more than $400 below the Madison average.
Templer said they are in the early stages of this project and will hold public meetings for feedback. They are also developing The Intersect at 808 Melvin Court targeted for launch in spring 2026.
The new building on Washington Ave. will face South Blair and South Franklin streets. It will also be on Madison’s Bus Rapid Transit Route A, which runs from the far west side of Madison to Sun Prairie.
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”
Continued from page 1
The 10 faculty members who retired are included in the category of having found “alternative employment,” according to Gulotta. Although some faculty members have found employment with pay comparable to or greater than their current position, only one has secured a tenure-track position.
“Probably half of those that have found alternative employment got very active right away and found themselves [higher-paying] alternative employment,” Gulotta said. “The other half of those that have already retired or found alternative employment would fall into the category of having found alternative employment that is comparable in pay to what they were making before, but doesn’t have the tenure. Among those that have not yet found another position, there’s more resistance and bitterness to the whole situation, and those folks are struggling a little bit more than others.”
Multiple professors, speaking on the condition of anonymity, expressed disappointment with their treatment and the lack of assistance they received in finding new occupations. A professor at the College of General
Studies told the Cardinal merged faculty from branch campuses are treated as “second-class citizens” and laido professors have received no support or communication from the Board of Regents in the form of financial assistance, severance or otherwise.
“UWM made a specific decision in 2019 to keep [the College of General Studies] siloed o from the main house to create our own program that duplicated main campus classes so we could be easily kicked away in the near future, and here we are… the way we’ve been treated is truly criminal,” said the professor.
Typically, university systems follow a reappointment program which requires institutions to rehire laid-o professors if a position opens for which they are qualified. The University of Minnesota System, for example, requires that if a position opens across any of its institutions for which a laid-o professor is qualified, the institution must rehire that specific professor. But the UW System has interpreted this rule narrowly, with UW-Milwaukee informing CGS professors in November that they should not expect to be reappointed to UW-Milwaukee anytime within the next three years.
Faculty and sta who are
laid o do have access to a priority referral program (PRP), which allows them to submit job applications before the general public and have their applications considered first. However, most of those positions have been “janitorial” jobs or “administrative assistantships,” according to the anonymous professor.
“Nobody that I know has taken any jobs through the PRP, since they are mostly non-teaching jobs and all of them are non-tenured jobs,” the professor said. “These referrals are o ered to anyone laid o from UWM, and the portal is clearly designed for sta and not faculty.”
Only four professors have taken jobs using the referral program thus far, Gulotta said. He expects four more of the 26 or 27 faculty members who have not found another position or retired will accept PRP jobs in the following month. Retraining e orts include a job fair held in November 2024 and a series of workshops hosted by UW-Milwaukee human resources focusing on interview preparation, resume building, job searching and “re-inventing yourself,” according to Gulotta.
Professors also have the opportunity to apply for nontenure-track positions at UW-Milwaukee through the
First-Year Bridge program, which teaches remedial courses for select students entering the school. The program was previously housed through the College of General Studies but migrated to the College of Letters and Science after its closure along with other CGS o erings.
UW-Milwaukee justified the layo s by referring to the CGS campus closure in Waukesha as a “program closure,” but since many of its programs continue at UW-Milwaukee, the anonymous professor said that their claim is misleading.
“We can now begin applying for our old jobs, which have been downgraded into easily exchangeable adjunct professorships,” the professor said, adding nothing from CGS was closed save for the branch campuses. “The campus closure was not a program closure, but UWM Legal made that case, and this rationale was used to fire tenured faculty.”
Gulotta has supplemented e orts from UW-Milwaukee’s human resources department with unused funding from previous years of the College of General Studies to assist professors with job-finding.
“I’ve been able to reallocate some funding from my budget to o er to my faculty and sta to engage
in some forms of credential building or updating through professional development activities,” Gulotta said. “That’s probably been the largest e ort, but that’s being done in-house, not by the university and certainly not by the UW System.”
Besides the leftover funding used to support professors, around $7 million of unused CGS funds will be re-allocated for UW-Milwaukee’s use, according to the professor.
“Half of this could have been used to save jobs and careers and to fill positions badly needed… Of course, the Regents either weren’t told of this or they didn’t care,” the professor said. Some felt that their college had never been given a fair chance to begin with, because recruiting efforts had been minimal, according to the professor.
“UWM’s case against us is that the College of General Studies was seeing an enrollment decline, which was in no small part due to UWM failing to begin any real recruiting for the branch campuses. Local high schools in West Bend and Waukesha hadn’t seen a representative of the UW System since 2018 or 2019, which tells us UWM’s plan all along was to let us fail,” the professor said.
By Zoey Elwood COPY CHIEF
Gov. Tony Evers announced his 2025-27
Capital Budget Monday, proposing around $4.1 billion in investments to address aging infrastructure, prevent campus closures and a corrections reform plan.
The Capital Budget, introduced by Evers on Feb. 18, consists of agency requests and governor recommendations on how to allocate funds for various projects. It will prioritize innovation, sustainability and functionality, with a focus on modernizing public spaces, enhancing higher education facilities and creating infrastructure that meets the evolving needs of Wisconsin’s communities, according to the press release.
The proposal includes a $1.2 billion investment for the All Agency program — one of the highest investments in state history — which will help extend the life of critical state-owned and university buildings, improve safety and reliability and reduce operating costs.
In recent years, budget negotiations have been further complicated by political battles over UW System diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) positions. A recent deal between the UW System and Republican legislators sought to eliminate DEI programming while releasing previously withheld pay raises and funding key infrastructure projects, including a new engineering building at UW-Madison.
Evers highlighted a nearly $1.6 billion investment in capital improvement projects for the UW System, designed to build on his budget plan, which includes $856 million over the biennium to prevent campus closures, layo s and program cuts, ensuring that the UW System remains a vital part of Wisconsin’s workforce and economy in the long term.
Key projects include the demolition and replacement of UW-Madison’s Mosse Humanities Building, transforming former hospital buildings into an interdisciplinary
Health Sciences hub at UW-Milwaukee — unifying programs that are currently spread across five buildings — and completing the Prairie Springs Science Center at UW-La Crosse to support STEM education and workforce development.
“Governor Evers’ UWs capital budget provides key funding necessary for building repairs and renovations as well as critical new projects that modernize classroom and research facilities,” UW System President Jay Rothman said in a statement. “His proposal ensures Wisconsin is continuing to build opportunities for future generations of students.”
Republican lawmakers on the state building commission are expected to reject or stall the approval of projects in the upcoming months, ensuring that no projects move forward until Republicans on Wisconsin’s budget-writing committee have control to properly consider them.
The Capital Budget also recommends $325 million to realign correctional institutions as
part of Evers’ Comprehensive Corrections Reform Plan. This includes a “domino” series of facility changes, such as the closure of the Green Bay Correctional Institution in 2029 and the rehabilitation and transformation of the Waupun Correctional Institution — both of which were built in the 1800s.
Due to delays caused by the Republicancontrolled state Legislature, more than $13 billion in repairs and upgrades have been backlogged, with $3.4 billion of that being categorized as urgent. These urgent needs require immediate attention to prevent system failures, safety hazards and costly emergency repairs, according to the press release.
In response to these delays, Evers recommended focusing on small to mid-sized maintenance and repair projects across all state agencies, including the UW System. He also included an additional $406 million investment for Minor Facilities Renewal programs, with nearly $230 million allocated specifically for the UW System.
By Nick Bumgardner
FEATURES EDITOR
In 1855, Milwaukee architect
James Douglas designed a gothicrevival style church on Capitol Square to house Madison’s oldest Christian congregation: Grace Episcopal Church. One hundred and seventy years after breaking ground, much has changed around West Washington Avenue. But inside, remarkably little is di erent.
Its walls are still made of limestone blocks. Its pews are original, flanked by a series of stained glass windows featuring Apostles and events from Jesus’ life. But maintaining a church with this much history is something Grace’s rector, Rev. Dr. Jonathan Grieser, called a “huge challenge.”
This summer, Grace will undertake a $1.5 million project to replace its slate roof, spearheaded by parishioner and structural engineer Fred Groth. Groth has worked on restoration projects at the state Capitol in the past and recently led the restoration of the Memorial Union at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“He’s put an enormous amount of time into it on a volunteer basis, alongside his regular job, and we probably couldn’t do it without him,” Grieser said.
Grace’s slate roof has been an issue. After a restoration in 1980,
the roof was meant to survive the next 100 years. But now, after just 45 years, it needs to be replaced, with infrared imaging from a drone pinpointing significant leaks.
Maintaining a historic church comes with other structural challenges, like restoring Grace’s limestone walls. Limestone is porous and erodes over time, meaning Grace has to repair its walls roughly every decade. Grieser said they just repaired the lowest 10 feet of limestone around the building and coated it with a solution to protect from road salt erosion. About 15 years ago, after losing access to the original locally-sourced limestone, Grace bought several tons of similar stone from an Indiana quarry. This supply is currently stacked in a church alley for future restorations.
After significant deterioration, Grace also had to rebuild a portion of its bell tower in the 1990s.
Grieser hopes to complete the project by the fall. The church also has plans to restore its courtyard gardens in 2026.
Grace’s future ‘in God’s hands’
Maintaining a church’s physical integrity for 170 years is one thing. Maintaining its congregation is another.
For centuries, the Episcopal
By Peter Fishman STAFF WRITER
As generative artificial intelligence advances, data privacy concerns are growing. AI models such as ChatGPT process vast amounts of information instantaneously, raising questions about how much personal data they retain and how easily that data could be exposed.
Dr. Niloofar Mireshghallah, a postdoctoral scholar for Computer Science at the University of Washington, spoke at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on Monday about growing concerns over data integrity and privacy in generative artificial intelligence.
“Privacy isn’t just an incentive for companies to look good anymore,” Mireshghallah said. “They actually need to build better models. And the consequences of having a data leak is much higher than ever because the data is more intimate than it ever was.”
AI privacy risks and model leakage
Large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT can access personal information by sifting through vast amounts of training data collected from billions of online resources, according to a 2023 study. Researchers at Google found that by using keywords, users could extract contact information such as names, phone numbers and email addresses from these models.
“The control we have over what we produce is very little,” Mireshghallah said.
Data scientists use membership interference testing to determine what information a model has memorized from its training data. This data, sourced from articles, books and other written media, teaches the model how to understand and generate language by providing insights into the relationships between words.
A simple way to test if a data point was used in the model’s training is to set a “loss
Church was “closely linked” to the “centers” of political and economic power in the United States, Grieser said.
Founding fathers like George Washington, James Madison and James Monroe were part of the broader Anglican tradition. Decades later, Presidents Grover Cleveland and Harry S. Truman, themselves Christians, each paid visits to Grace. In 1976, the church was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Now, Grieser’s congregation is smaller and skews older than previous generations.
“The reality is mainline Christianity is in decline in the U.S.,” Grieser said.
Still, Grace does draw some parishioners from diverse backgrounds, including college students, African immigrants and Christians from other denominations.
“One of the things that attracts people is, of course, folks who are Roman Catholic who are uncomfortable with the stances on marriage, on divorce and gay marriage and ordination of women find themselves drawn to the Episcopal Church because we maintain the traditional liturgy, but we’re much more open theologically to diversity,” Grieser said.
That diversity, as well as their historical links to the Catholic
Church, Grieser said, is part of the reason Grace has been able to keep its doors open for so long.
“It’s the beauty of the worship to folks, the connection with the tradition but also the willingness to be open to diversity and to change and the combination of tradition and change, I think, is the genius behind our tradition,” Grieser said.
As for Grace’s future, he admitted it hasn’t been easy for his church, especially in recent years.
“The pandemic changed everything for everybody, but it really had an impact on organized religion. That’s been a real challenge in so many ways. People got out of the habit of going to church,” Grieser said.
score,” which measures certainty in predicting the next word while generating text, Mireshghallah said. A lower loss score suggests the model may have memorized the data rather than generating content based on learned patterns.
To further assess memorization, researchers use the “area under curve”(AUC) metric, which measures how well a model can di erentiate between two sets of data. A higher AUC score may mean the model memorized its training data, making it easier for attackers to identify the data and increasing the risk of leakage.
LLMs exhibit recency bias, meaning they are more likely to memorize data seen later in their training, according to Mireshghallah. This is because once AI models understand a language, it can recall more information.
“It’s harder for me to memorize a poem in Chinese than it is for me to memorize it in English or Farsi because I already know the language. And I think it’s the same thing with models,” Mireshghallah said. “If you have a model that has an idea of the language, it will soak up new data much faster.”
struggle with human-like reasoning in increasingly complex scenarios
A 2024 study by Mireshghallah and her colleagues tested whether LLMs were able to mimic human reasoning when deciding whether to disclose secrets. They presented models with questions of increasing complexity, resembling real-world scenarios.
Their results found that models like ChatGPT and GPT-4 were more likely to disclose private information in scenarios where humans would know to keep the secret, displaying a lack of human-like reasoning within the models that places privacy at risk.
Among some of the failed scenarios used was one relating to a surprise birthday party where the AI was asked to generate to-do lists for the fictional people involved. However, the model inadvertently informed the guest of honor, telling them to “remember to attend.”
Mireshghallah also cited a scenario of a Secret Santa event where OpenAI assigned each person secret gifts, only to then generate a sent email telling everyone what gift they’re buying for whom while simultaneously tell-
But Grieser pointed to the church’s significant endowment, and the city’s vibrancy, as reasons for hope.
“It’s unique in some respects because we have the financial resources that a lot of places don’t have, so there’s no danger of it closing like so many others,” Grieser said. “Partly because, of course, we’re in a city that’s growing — unlike a lot of places — there’s a lot of potential for growth as well.”
As for future generations, Grieser said he’s confident Grace will continue to be a Madison staple for years to come.
“I’m not worried about the future of the Church because it’s not in our hands, it’s in God’s hands,” he said.
ing them to keep the gifts secret for a surprise.
“The model clearly understands that this is a surprise, but it doesn’t understand what a surprise is. That’s why it revealed everything. The model as its reasoning keeps telling itself, ‘Okay, I should keep this secret,’ but in an autoregressive way, it commits to revealing it,” said Mireshghallah.
Models with autoregressive characteristics utilize past data to predict future values, demonstrating gaps in AI’s ability to apply knowledge in a human-like way.
At the end of her talk, Mireshghallah cited her most recent research on measuring linguistic creativity in AI models. The main challenge, she said, is making AI “more novel.”
Using a creativity index to di erentiate between human and LLM-generated text, it was clear to see that the LLMs patched together data from training sets rather than producing truly original content, a feature of human creativity.
“Humans are novel. If I ask you to imitate an existing piece of art, you would never imitate it exactly as it is,” Mireshghallah said. “And that’s because of the randomness we’ve seen in our backgrounds and where we come from.”
By introducing randomness into AI model training, she argued, LLMs could become more creative and more human-like, and in turn, more adept at safeguarding information. Mireshghallah wrapped up her talk by calling for collaboration between users and policy-makers on how to improve the security of LLMs, such as adding random pieces of data to the training information to crea te more diverse outputs while improving human-computer interaction so models can better understand the kinds of privacy people are searching for.
By Grace Carlson STAFF WRITER
The State Democracy Research Initiative and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Election Research Center hosted an expert panel on Friday to explore funding, impact and the legal context of the upcoming Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
The “Understanding State Supreme Court Elections: Wisconsin and Beyond” event invited three experts to discuss the race: political science professor and UW-Madison Elections Research Center Director Barry Burden, Michigan State University law professor Quinn Yeargain and Northwestern law professor Michael Kang.
Each of the featured panelists gave insight into campaign finance, state constitutional law and judicial elections.
Pathologies of Wisconsin Supreme Court elections
Burden started the panel by discussing the pathologies of the Wisconsin Supreme Court system, noting the increased public participation and enormous jump in spending. Public participation in particular has changed dramatically.
“These [state Supreme Court elections] were once relatively sleepy a airs,” Burden said. “In the last Supreme Court election two years ago, the turnout rate was 40%. That is higher than the turnout rate in midterm elections in many states, and in some cases, it approaches presidential election turnout.”
The second factor is the amount of money spent on these campaigns.
“There was actually one year when public funding was available… that era is over,” Burden said. “The last Supreme Court election two years ago set a record for the most expensive judicial election in American history… north of $50 million between the candidates and supportive groups and political parties.”
While the 2023 state Supreme Court race — which flipped the court to a liberal majority for the first time in 15 years with the election of liberalleaning Justice Janet Protasiewicz — saw record spending, this year’s race is expected to rake in even more money and attention.
While Wisconsin Supreme Court races are o cially nonpartisan, the race has become increasingly polarized in recent years as the two major political parties continue to back their preferred candidate.
“Supreme Court elections have started to resemble presidential elections in Wisconsin, and in terms of turnout and money, they are close. The
voting patterns in the Supreme Court elections now almost perfectly mimic how people vote in presidential elections,” Burden said.
Burden said this has resulted in a sort of “proxy war” between the two parties, with big spending being funneled into the race from both major political parties.
Lastly, Burden discussed the historical context of Wisconsin Supreme Court races, and the state’s current political climate. Citing the 2018 election of Governor Tony Evers and the resulting divide between the Republican state Legislature and Democratic governor as well as the general rise of divided government, Burden concluded that he does not foresee a resolution to these issues.
Campaign finance in the national context
Kang discussed the importance of the Wisconsin Supreme Court race on the state’s congressional maps.
“In lots of ways, Wisconsin is exceptional, but in other ways, it’s representative of what’s happening all over the country,”
Kang said, adding that the “control of the state Supreme Court is particularly important because it helps determine whether gerrymandering will continue.”
Kang said state Supreme Court races are a “good return on investment” for parties due to how the elections are “relatively cheap” compared to a presidential election but still make a large impact on the ideological makeup of a state.
In terms of campaign finance, Kang said the Supreme Court treats “judicial campaign finance differently than it treats other types of campaign finance.”
So why does money affect judicial decisions?
Kang said when “candidates get elected to the bench on the strength of that money, it’s no surprise that their decisions align with the money.”
Biases can play a role in judicial decisions. Kang said judges who run for reelection will “continue to serve their donors’ interests” to position themselves better ahead of an election.
It is no surprise that money is a vital piece of elections, but in the context of a judicial race, it can get complicated as the law is also a stronghold in many decisions.
Broader trends in judicial elections
Lastly, Yeargain discussed the growing levels of engagement in nonpartisan and partisan elections, including judicial races.
“There is a high level of engagement in partisan elections, especially
in swing states. But, we’re also starting to see growing engagement in formally nonpartisan elections,” Yeargain said, adding that this is because states that are “on the balance” are “deciding these important issues.”
A few of the issues that are now being left up to the state’s jurisdiction are contemporary issues such as gun control and abortion rights, on which both parties have di erent stances.
“As courts sort of achieve this higher level of salience in the public’s mind, then it seems as though we get this higher level of engagement,” Yeargain said. In the future, as state courts are “increasingly deciding these high profile issues that voters are able to appreciate the stakes of, it seems very likely that we’ll see increasing [participation] in many states.”
Voter knowledge of the Wisconsin Supreme Court election
An audience member asked about how much voters seem to know about the judicial candidates, and Burden responded with an analysis of the Marquette Law School poll that was released on March 5.
Burden said only a third of respondents could say if they had a favorable or unfavorable opinion of liberal-backed Dane County Circuit Judge Susan Crawford. For Republican-backed candidate Brad Schimel, a Waukesha County judge and former Wisconsin attorney general, Burden said the familiarity was higher and that about half of the respondents could give an answer saying they were favorable or unfavorable.
Burden commented on how “quickly the public ramps up its awareness of the candidates” as the judicial candidates go from being “unknown figures two or three months before the election.”
It was not until after the new year that people began to pay attention as attack advertisements ramped up.
“The way that people have become informed is mostly through advertisements, and that’s unfortunate, because the ads are not well-matched to the criteria that are probably valuable for making a good justice,” Burden said.
On behalf of the Crawford campaign, A Better Wisconsin Together has spent $1 million on digital and television ads. In 2023, the group spent more than $6 million on behalf of Protasiewicz in 2023.
Schimel and groups backing him have an advantage of more than $7 million in future advertising reservations, with about $7.7 million in reservations supporting Schimel and about $572,000 in reservations supporting Crawford, according to AdImpact Politics.
By Vanessa Gavilan CITY NEWS EDITOR
Nonprofit law firm Law
Forward filed a class action lawsuit against the city of Madison March 6 on behalf of four voters whose absentee ballots were not counted in the 2024 presidential election.
The lawsuit, which seeks $175,000 from the city of Madison for each of the four plaintiffs signed on, claimed that these uncounted ballots “irrevocably deprived the Voters of their right to vote in the November 2024 general election,” and that the city is “liable for this deprivation.”
Dylan Brogan, the city communications manager, said in December the City Clerk’s Office had discovered a total of 193 ballots that had gone uncounted.
“The number of uncounted absentee ballots was not enough to affect the outcome of any race or referendum on the ballot,” Brogan said in the statement.
Law Forward, the nonprofit law firm representing the plaintiffs, said in a press release on March 6 that “these officials have a long record of protecting voting rights, but this lawsuit sends a clear message to anyone seeking to interfere with a Wisconsinite’s right to vote: there will be a price to pay.”
Scott Thompson, one of the lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, told The Daily Cardinal Law Forward filed the lawsuit to protect the 193 voters who “had been disenfranchised through no fault of their own.”.
“Law Forward, for years now, has been watching as antidemocracy lawyers, as well as their allies, have attempted here in Wisconsin and across the country to throw out absentee ballots and to disregard the right to vote,” he said.
While Thomspon said the city generally does a good job of upholding the right to vote, he said that this lawsuit sends a big-
ger message to those watching these events unfold.
“We do not want to ever give the impression that we would be comfortable with someone in Wisconsin, with someone in Madison, with someone anywhere in our state losing the right to vote,” he said.
The Clerk’s Office disclosed in December that there were two main wards where ballots went uncounted: Ward 65, near University Hospital, and Ward 56, a predominantly student neighborhood near Frances Street and Bassett Street.
Thompson told the Cardinal the fact that a majority of the uncounted votes may have belonged to students is “an extremely important part of the story.”
“After all, younger voters are the ones who have to live with this system longer than anybody else, they have the most at stake, and so I think that especially given how many students were involved that this is a really important story for campus,” Thompson said.
The city has not yet responded to the lawsuit, but a series of Wisconsin Election Commission (WEC) meetings have taken place to address the uncounted ballots. On Friday, the WEC unanimously decided to hold depositions for Madison election officials to determine why uncounted ballots were not reported for several weeks.
The commission also voted to send updated guidance clerks throughout the state ahead of the April 1 elections on correct handling of absentee ballots.
Thompson said he is glad the city is taking steps to address the issue but that more work still needs to be done.
“It is upsetting as someone who has told people that voting is safe and secure, which it generally is, to [then] see so many people disenfranchised in my city,” he said.
By Ella Dunnigan STAFF WRITER
Seniors — in about 20 days, you’ll be returning from your last spring break at the University of WisconsinMadison. All of a sudden, it’ll be Monday, March 31, and in about six weeks, we’ll be in our caps and gowns as official alumni of UW-Madison.
I know what you’re thinking — you don’t want to think about it, it’s not real if you don’t think about it. While that may be true right now, it won’t be true forever. It’s time to face the music.
In the coming weeks, make sure to celebrate the parts you’ll miss most about Madison, but don’t forget about the future and all the amazing things to come, because Madison is a part of your past. Everything happening right now can be overwhelming, but time flies, and you can’t waste a minute of it. These last six weeks will be a time you remember for the rest of your life, and you have a choice: to waste them thinking about things you can’t control, or do your future self a favor and make the most of every moment.
So how should you spend your time?
Start by celebrating the past. Go to the places you love most about Madison, not with sadness about what’s happened, but to celebrate the great memories you made there. Get your group from freshman year together and go to your favorite spots. Walk
to Picnic Point and stop at the Memorial Union Terrace on your way home. It can be difficult to find the right side of nostalgia — visiting places you loved three years ago when you were a freshman with your entire college career ahead of you is no easy task. Though it may be difficult, it’s worth the journey. Think about everything you learned from the mistakes you made then and how proud your freshman year self would be of you now.
Then, try to get excited about what’s to come. College gave us some of the best memories we could have made. But it also sets us up perfectly to enter the adult world. Whether you’re going straight into the workforce, taking a year or two off, going right back to school or any of the other countless opportunities we now have because we went here, now is the time to be grateful for what’s gotten you to where you are. We are so lucky to have our entire future right in front of us and the rest of our lives about to begin.
But don’t forget to live in the present. It can be hard to put thoughts about the future and past to the side, but if you’re thinking too much about what’s happened or what’s to come, you’ll miss the final moments you have in the place you love most. Stop in the restaurant you walk past every day that you’ve always wanted to try. Visit public places Madison has to o er, like the Chazen Art Museam
By Owen Puckett
OPINION EDITOR
In the aftermath of the 2025 election, the Democratic Party faces a critical juncture. With political divisions deepening, the party should reconsider using an approach similar to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders in order to engage with voters across America in rural areas.
Sanders, with his decades-long commitment to direct outreach through town halls and listening sessions and unwavering advocacy for working-class communities, o ers an essential roadmap for Democrats striving to reconnect with voters they’ve overlooked for too long.
Sanders’ strategy has always hinged on authenticity and consistency, traits that resonate across political boundaries. Unlike many politicians who adapt their positions according to the shifting sands of public opinion or donor interests, Sanders has maintained a steadfast commitment to principles that directly speak to working-class anxieties: economic fairness, universal health care and educational opportunity. His refusal to compromise on these values — even in the face of considerable political opposition — has earned him respect among voters who might otherwise reject traditional Democratic candidates.
or one of the public libraries. Say yes to everything, take it all in and maximize the memories you get to have in the best college town in America. Take advantage of the events and opportunities o ered. This is the last time we’ll have professors and other people on campus doing everything in their power to send us o the right way, so attend one of the events they email about weekly.
The bottom line is: now isn’t the time to be sad. You’ve got time left, so use it. Don’t let yourself look back a year from now left with nothing but negative emotions from your final few months.
For every pang of sadness you experience, counteract it with three things.
First, a memory from your time here that you love. Second, an action item — something you want to do or somewhere you want to go to create a new experience. Third, think about something in the future you can’t wait for. Maybe it’s signing the lease to your first apartment, traveling to the country you’ve always wanted to see or reuniting with your best friends from college back in Madison a year later.
Life is coming either way. You can’t control the passage of time, but you can control your perspective on it. Don’t ruin the next six weeks with sadness about what you’re going to miss — spend your time in these places. Experience what they have to offer. Live in the moment and absorb everything around you.
failure to purposefully engage with working-class voters — has consistently proven costly. In places like Saginaw, Michigan, Democrats missed the mark by focusing predominantly on issues like abortion rights, which voters felt had already been addressed at the state level. Local Democratic leaders noted that voters were primarily concerned with basic economic struggles, such as rising grocery costs and financial insecurity.
Policies championed by Sanders — such as Medicare for All, a livable minimum wage, a ordable housing and aggressive economic policies aimed at reducing inequality — will provide meaningful pathways for Democrats to demonstrate their commitment to working-class prosperity.
However, the party’s outreach must go beyond policy proposals. Sanders’ appeal lies equally in his authenticity. Democrats must communicate clearly, without condescension and engage respectfully with voters who have legitimate grievances about the economic system and feel forgotten by political elites. Sanders’s consistent message that workingclass struggles transcend partisan divides and deserve genuine attention o ers a vital lesson.
The Democratic Party’s failure to consistently engage rural, workingclass and historically conservative areas has contributed to a political vacuum eagerly exploited by populist figures like Donald Trump. This neglect isn’t merely an oversight, it’s a fundamental strategic mistake. By assuming these regions are unwinnable and thus ignoring their unique economic struggles and cultural concerns, Democrats have inadvertently strengthened their political opponents, who actively court these disa ected voters with rhetoric that acknowledges their frustrations — even if their policy prescriptions remain hollow or misleading.
Sanders has consistently demonstrated a different approach.
Throughout his career, Sanders has traveled through traditionally Republican strongholds, hosting town halls and listening sessions where he confronts challenging questions head-on. Rather than retreating to comfortable urban centers or a uent suburbs, Sanders deliberately engages with communities skeptical of Democratic policies.
His genuine willingness to hear grievances, discuss solutions candidly and present a vision that includes — not excludes — these voters sets him apart. It’s precisely this direct, sincere engagement that builds trust and credibility, even among voters who might never have considered themselves aligned with Sanders’ broader political views.
To regain political momentum post-2025, Democrats must embrace Sanders’s method of active, genuine engagement rather than retreating further into ideological echo chambers. They must not only acknowledge but also seriously address the economic anxieties and frustrations that drive voters away from traditional party politics. For instance, Democrats’ neglect of key Midwestern states in recent elections – particularly their
Critics argue that Sanders’ progressive stances alienate centrist voters and could never resonate deeply in conservative-leaning communities. Yet this critique misunderstands Sanders’ true appeal. His strength lies less in ideological purity and more in the transparent conviction with which he delivers his message. Sanders’ proven ability to attract voters who fundamentally disagree with him on certain issues underscores the potential power of straightforward, uncompromising advocacy grounded in sincerity and respect.
In addition, adopting Sanders’ approach represents a critical defense against authoritarian populism. Trump’s brand of politics thrives in environments where voters feel disregarded by mainstream parties and institutions. By refusing to engage meaningfully with rural and conservative voters during campaigning, Democrats inadvertently contribute to the disillusionment that populists exploit. Sanders’ method, grounded in proactive outreach, sincere conversation and practical policy solutions, provides a blueprint for breaking this cycle.
Ultimately, the Democratic Party stands at a crossroads, facing a future shaped by its willingness, or unwillingness, to learn from Sanders. A serious commitment to engaging voters in red states and rural areas, supported by genuine advocacy for working-class concerns, could significantly alter the party’s trajectory, making it more competitive and resonant with voters nationwide. By embracing this strategy, Democrats won’t merely improve their electoral prospects — they’ll revitalize democracy itself, fostering political participation among millions who currently feel ignored and disenfranchised. Following Sanders’ example of courageous, sincere engagement is not just strategically wise. It is an ethical imperative.
By Bryna Goeking ARTS EDITOR
Content warning: This article contains mention of Nazism and antisemitism.
As the Titanic sank in the Atlantic Ocean in 1912, its orchestra famously continued playing their melodies to calm the passengers. In 1929 Berlin, the members of the Kit Kat Klub kept dancing and singing, despite the backdrop of Nazism looming over the real-life-inspired characters of “Cabaret,” similarly turning to art as escapism in a moment of utmost turmoil.
Currently running at the Mitby Theater at Madison College, “Cabaret” welcomes the audience with high energy and the essence of carelessness that comes from a late night at a nightclub from the point of view of American writer Cliff Bradshaw (Jake Smolja). As the show progresses, whispers of antisemitism and authoritarianism grow to shouts, until the characters and audience are forced to face the looming threat.
The show, directed by Meghan Randolph, bridges the Madison community with college students. The 19-member cast includes student actors, alumni and community members. Students also lead stage management, assistant direction, lighting design and stage crew.
In seeing the stage, it’s hard to ignore the amount of love and care put into the show by its dedicated members. The construction of the set and the authentic costume design created a vulner-
ability you don’t get in professional, big-budget productions.
A charm of community theatre is the mundanity among the cast and team, an acknowledgement that the players are doing this show not for fame or money, but for raw passion for art.
And with a loose ensemble cast, each character gets their moment to shine. Fräulein Schneider (Jen Lennon) and Herr Schultz (Karl Reinhardt) delicately balance the joy of finding love and the hurt of lovers separated by forces bigger than them.
The Emcee of the Kit Kat Klub (Kai DeRubis) carries each scene with the charisma necessary to light up the seedy Berlin nightclub. Each time he entered the stage, the Emcee had a completely di erent role to fill, and DeRubis kept up throughout the two-and-a-half hour show with insatiable energy.
The Kit Kat Klub leading lady, Sally Bowles (Sarah Trejo Nava) depicts a woman who will run from life’s serious issues. Ever the image of fun, Trejo Nava offers a sensitive, multifaceted view of Bowles, rationalizing her worldview to understand why she cannot seem to understand the gravity of the rise of Nazis.
The current Broadway revival of “Cabaret” has received polarizing reviews, with some critics saying it’s the best version of the nearly 60-year-old show and some calling it the worst.
The Madison College production sticks to more traditional aspects of the show, allowing the show’s message to shine at a time where
By Julia Walkowicz STAFF EDITOR
Madison’s newest live music venue and community space, the Atwood Music Hall, (AMH) will open June 13, featuring a month-long showcase of local artists.
Founder Toffer Christensen sees the new music hall as an upgrade to the smaller venue, The Bur Oak, which he owns with partner Corey Lockett.
The venue will house standing-room, open-floor shows at an approximately 700-person capacity and fully seated shows at a 375-person capacity.
Christensen said the AMH will “fill a void” as a larger independent venue in the area.
“I can take a band, and they can play the Bur Oak, and if they do well, now I can put them at the Atwood,” Christensen told The Daily Cardinal. “And then if they do well there, then they can go down the street and play The Barrymore.”
The month of shows honoring local artists will begin on June 13 with a tribute to longtime Madison resident Clyde Stubblefield, one of artist James Brown’s original drummers. All ticket sales for the event will benefit local community radio station WORT, Christensen said.
Other notable shows include Kevin Farley, Spooner and University of WisconsinMadison alum Rainer Maria.
it could not be more relevant.
Behind the music, electric choreography and staging, “Cabaret” asks us how far we can go to ignore societal issues. You can run to distractions and the fun of neon lights and blasting music, but threats like authoritarianism remain regardless.
Each character faces a di erent breaking point — not until the very end for some. In watching “Cabaret,” the audience is forced to question the extent of our own complicitness, a sentiment ever true among concerns of authoritarianism going into President Donald Trump’s second term.
Joel Gray, who played the Emcee in the original Broadway production and 1972 film, noted in the New York Times last year that audiences had become more sympathetic toward jokes that shocked audiences in the 1960s. Gray reflected on the purpose of “Cabaret,” which he described as “entertainment that seduces us into distraction… a cautionary tale that forces us to confront the perils of falling prey to such distractions.”
Written in the aftermath of Trump’s election, Gray closed his piece with a question: “will we listen this time, or will we keep laughing until the music stops?”
Madison College’s production of “Cabaret” not only o ers a showcase of Madison’s community talent and a contemporary take on the classic show, but it arrives at the time it’s needed most. You can leave your troubles at the door, as the Emcee says, but don’t forget them on the way out.
why I went into the arts as a career. I really wanted that to be reflected in the original kind of grand opening booking,” Christensen said.
Originally constructed in 1931 for the Madison Gospel Tabernacle, the building is one of the only buildings left in the Midwest with its distinct Lamella roof structure. While the soundproofing must be upgraded, Christensen is committed to keeping the design consistent with its original style, especially its iconic ceiling.
“It was built for gatherings. It was built for music. This is kind of just an extension of its original use, in a modern day form,” he said.
Beyond housing local musicians, AMH has partnered with the Goodwin Center’s Lussier LOFT for their Students of Live program. Starting in the fall, this semester-long program will expose students from local high schools to the live music industry.
Christensen, who attended East High School and Marquette Elementary, is excited to connect with the Madison community through the project.
“I grew up in this neighborhood. I really wanted to try to give back to the city and especially give back to kids and try to get them interested in the live music industry,” he said.
Christensen’s goals for the venue are simple.
Christensen and his team kept history in mind when redesigning AMH.
“Madison really influenced how I appreciate the arts and
“Let’s have some fun, have some good music and comedy, but let’s also enrich our community at the same time,” Christensen said.
By Sonia Bendre STAFF WRITER
When Devesh Ranjan immigrated to the United States from India in 2003 to pursue a graduate degree in engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he said he “fell in love from the moment [he] arrived.”
In between completing research and coursework in power conversion and complex fluid dynamics, Ranjan sailed on Lake Mendota with Hoofers, played Ultimate Frisbee and enjoyed Halloweens on State Street.
Now Ranjan, currently a chair and professor of mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech, will be returning to Wisconsin this summer as Grainger Dean of Engineering. In an email exchange with The Daily Cardinal, Ranjan shared memories from the past and ambitions for the future of UW-Madison’s engineering school.
At UW-Madison, Ranjan worked under Professor Riccardo Bonazza, a specialist in high-speed fluid flows who remains at the university today. Fluid dynamics research is especially important in the aerospace industry but can be wide-ranging in its applications. Ranjan’s specific research can be used to determine supersonic combustion for high-speed vehicles, design shock waves for medical treatments like kidney stone fragmentation and produce power-production cycles, he said.
When Ranjan was completing his Ph.D., he wrote a successful paper after persevering through a two-month series of failures surrounding his experimental setup. Bonazza encouraged him to complete the research despite the setbacks.
“I told him that I shared his frustration,”
“I
to abandon the e ort, but would he please try just one more week? He did, and his perseverance led to one of our most successful papers and his recognition by the international community of scientists working in our same area as a truly outstanding graduate student.”
Ranjan obtained a master’s degree and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at UW-Madison in 2005 and 2007. Since graduating, Ranjan has been the recipient of multiple prestigious awards, notably the National Science Foundation CAREER award, the Department of Energy-Early Career Award and the US Air Force O ce of Scientific Research Young Investigator Award. After completing his Ph.D., Ranjan worked as a professor at Texas
A&M University then joined Georgia Tech’s faculty in 2014 and took over the role of Eugene C. Gwaltney Jr. School Chair at the start of 2022. He currently specializes in fluid mechanics, heading a research laboratory on the subject at Georgia Tech.
But when a position opened at UW-Madison after Ian Robertson, the previous Grainger Dean, announced his retirement, Ranjan wanted to apply. During his visit to campus as a finalist for the position, Ranjan met with UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin, Provost Charles Lee Isbell Jr. and other campus groups, noting the “energy and passion” from “all levels” of the university.
“What I took away from the visit is there is a shared ambition to do something bigger, to do something bold,” Ranjan said. “To
now come back and serve the university that shaped me is a great privilege.”
Once at the university, Ranjan hopes to connect with university sta , students and alumni, as well as community members, to gain a clearer picture of the engineering school’s strengths and challenges.
“I want to know what’s working well, what challenges exist and how we can build upon the college’s legacy of excellence and innovation,” Ranjan said. “I plan to create a regular dialogue and initiatives with business leaders so that I can understand the evolving needs of industry and strengthen our value proposition… I believe in investing in people and partnerships and building an inclusive culture.”
Moving from India to the U.S. allowed Ranjan to glimpse into two di erent educational models. While attending the National Institute of Technology-Trichy in India, he experienced a cohort-based model, where students in a particular batch, or year, took almost all of their classes together. In the U.S., the curriculum was more flexible and o ered more opportunities for hands-on learning.
When he was a graduate student on campus, Ranjan used to enjoy sitting on the Memorial Union Terrace and talking to friends. He hopes to foster the same spirit of community when he is Dean.
“When I arrive on campus, you will see me,” said Ranjan. “I plan to be walking around, meeting people and learning about them. If you see me, come introduce yourself. I’d love to hear what excites you about UW-Madison and how we can work together to make the College of Engineering the most impactful program in the country.”
By Grace Munro STAFF WRITER
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Florida have discovered a treatment for placentas deficient in the growth hormone IGF-1 that may soon be going toward human clinical trials.
Placentas provide oxygen and vital nutrients to the fetus and are “the organ[s] in the middle,” communicating between the mother and fetus with hormones, Dr. Helen Jones, an associate professor at the University of Florida, told The Daily Cardinal. When not properly regulated, those hormones can result in the manifestation of extremes like pre-eclampsia, cardiovascular disease and elevated cortisol in the mother.
Jones has been studying the placenta for over 20 years with a focus on inadequate fetal growth.
“As I went through my training and career, I started to realize that a lot of people were beginning to understand the pregnancy complications but not really looking at how we might be able to actually adjust these complications,” Jones said.
Jones looked for biomarkers of low fetal growth, and one was low placenta growth. She read the literature and decided to avoid viral therapeutics because of how viruses are perceived in society.
“We are trying to improve growth by improving the growth and development of the placenta, in our case the IDF-1 growth factor,” Jones said. “There seems to be a central pathway in the placenta that is sort
of downstream of growth factors.”
This pathway was discovered to be an integral part of IGF-1 treatment. Her collaborative therapeutic intervention is a blood transfusion that delivers DNA plasmid to the placenta, which is very accessible because the placenta is bathed in blood.
Subjects have advanced past mice and guinea pigs, and studies from the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center at UW-Madison have shown that the experimental treatment is safe in rhesus macaques.
“From our initial studies that we’ve done now, on the macaques, we’re getting some quite good expression of this gene even 10 days after the treatment,” Jones said.
Dr. Jenna Schmidt is a cell and embryo gene editing researcher at the primate lab and led the study in macaques. She told WPR that macaques are great models for human pregnancies because they share many similarities in their placentas and pregnancy development stages with humans.
Schmidt and Jones have continued to find no negative responses in the subjects, such as unexpected changes in hormones or blood sugar. The only adjustment observed has been a reduction in cortisol, meaning lower stress levels in the mother.
The treatment developed by Jones and tested by Schmidt can reduce the risk for generations of people from developing cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and other ailments with roots in fetal develop-
ment. Treating the placenta with IGF-1 allows the fetus to absorb the necessary elements to thrive once born.
“If you’re born at the right weight at the right time, you’ve gotten nutrition and plenty of oxygen supply, so you’re born as you should be, then you’re on the right trajectory for a healthy life,” Jones said.
The future of this research in clinical trials is contingent on funding and the perception of its usefulness in health care. The placenta is “an organ that most people don’t appreciate,” Jones said, and there is “a lot of misunderstanding” about what its role is during a pregnancy. Women’s health care is a notably underfunded area of research, but Jones said it is an inaccurate categorization.
“Every human born on this planet had a placenta,” Jones said. “So it’s not women’s health, it’s human life.”
Despite setbacks with funding, the joint research between Jones and the primate lab is looking toward clinical trials in humans in the next five years.
Schmidt told WPR that their treatment plan is targeted in the third trimester with extended treatment through the end of the pregnancy. Jones suggested mothers could receive their transfusion at their weekly obstetric checkup.
In cases where an unhealthy placenta is misdiagnosed through an inaccurate ultrasound, Jones noted that these transfusions would not likely harm the fetus through extra growth. There is “a built-in safety” inside the placenta that would not react with the excess IGF-1, but further observation and analysis of the babies after delivery would be necessary to fully understand the possible side e ects of a misdiagnosis
By Jonathan Mintz STAFF WRITER
The No. 1 Wisconsin Badgers defeated the No. 4 Minnesota Golden Gophers in a 4-3 thriller in Duluth on Saturday to secure their 11th WCHA Tournament championship.
A great start for the Gophers
Head coach Mark Johnson shu ed his lines going into the game, putting senior forward Lacey Eden on the top line and junior forward Laila Edwards on the second line.
Early in the first period, Wisconsin’s second line, Edwards and sophomore forwards Cassie Hall and Kelly Gorbatenko, challenged Minnesota’s defense but couldn’t score on Minnesota’s freshman goaltender Hannah Clark.
Just over nine minutes in, junior forward Kirsten Simms sent the puck over a Minnesota stick and into the crease to fifth-year forward Casey O’Brien, who buried it to give Wisconsin a lead about halfway through the first.
Wisconsin doesn’t lose a whole lot when they score first. In fact, in 28 such instances this year, they’ve managed 28 wins.
But it appeared Minnesota wanted to challenge that, and only 20 seconds later, a Minnesota shot bounced o the skate of junior defender Vivian Jungels and skipped over sophomore goaltender Ava McNaughton to balance the
scales at one apiece.
Around the seven-minute mark, sophomore defender Laney Potter tripped a Gopher, but Wisconsin’s top-ranked penalty kill smothered Minnesota’s fourth-ranked power play, only allowing one shot on goal.
Minnesota would take a lead late in the first when forward Josefin Bouveng spotted up from the left circle and pushed the puck past McNaughton’s far side.
Wisconsin roars back in the second period
Less than a minute into the second period, Jungels, who had
accidentally deflected a puck into her own net in the first, wristed the puck from the high slot over Minnesota freshman Hannah Clark to even the score at 2-2.
Around the 16-minute mark, Wisconsin broke out on a 3-on1, but Edwards, who struggled throughout the game, sailed a shot to the right of the net.
At 11:55, freshman forward Maggie Scannell threaded the puck between a pair of Minnesota defenders to score Wisconsin’s third goal of the game.
With 11:27 remaining, the Gophers’ Abbey Murphy bodychecked sophomore defender Ava
Murphy, and Wisconsin went on the power play shortly after taking the lead. The Badgers put on a solid amount of pressure, but they couldn’t beat Clark, and a questionable o side call against Simms with eight seconds left in the advantage essentially shut the door on the power play.
With around five minutes left in the second period, the Badgers peppered the Gophers with shots, but they couldn’t pad their shaky lead.
With a minute and a half left in the second period, Eden flattened Abbey Murphy, earning herself a two-minute vacation in the penalty box.
Minnesota made that penalty costly when forward Natalie Mlynkova found a loose puck and banked it off of Edwards to beat an out-of-position McNaughton and tie the game up into the third period.
Wozniewicz plays the role of the hero
Wisconsin played sloppy to open the third period, but Minnesota couldn’t punish it.
With about 13:30 left in the game, Abbey Murphy broke free toward the Wisconsin net for what essentially amounted to a penalty shot. If she could convert, it would put her Gophers in the driver’s seat for the game and the WCHA Tournament crown. She shot the puck between McNaughton’s legs, but the Badger netminder dropped into the butterfly position and allowed absolutely nothing.
With 5:28 left, Emma Venusio was sent to the box, and the Badgers bent but didn’t break on the penalty kill. With 25 seconds left, Patty Kazmaier finalist O’Brien dropped a no-look pass to senior forward Sarah Wozniewicz, who hit a wide-open net to give the Badgers a very late lead.
After the clock hit zero, the refs called o sides and put a few seconds back on the clock, and the clock hit zero again, “Jump Around” serenaded the victors as the Badgers celebrated their WCHA Tournament championship.
By Daniel Desmond STAFF WRITER
The Big Ten Conference Tournament begins on Wednesday in Indianapolis, but for the Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team (28-8, 13-7), their path has now taken an unexpected turn following Saturday’s stunning 86-75 loss to Penn State.
The loss cost Wisconsin the double bye in the tournament and dropped the Badgers to the No. 5 seed with UCLA claiming the No. 4 seed. Wisconsin’s tournament play will now start a day earlier than the team anticipated as they will face the winner of Northwestern and Minnesota on Thursday.
The Badgers went 2-0 against Minnesota this year and won by seven on the road earlier in the year against Northwestern.
Regardless, this is March. No game is a sure thing, and Wisconsin will be playing on a neutral court for the first time since Nov. 24.
How will Wisconsin fare in the Big Ten Tournament?
Wisconsin is 5-7 in the Big Ten Tournament under head coach Greg Gard.
Last year, Wisconsin was also a No. 5 seed and had a great run in the tournament before ultimately losing 87-93 to Illinois in the championship game.
If the Badgers win on Thursday, they will face UCLA on Friday.
When these two teams played on Jan. 21, the Bruins won 85-83, and Wisconsin had their third-lowest defensive e -
ciency of the year. With a win over UCLA, the Badgers could be matched up against No. 8 Oregon or the No. 1 seed Michigan State — two teams Wisconsin lost to earlier in the season.
The regular season loss to Oregon on Feb. 22 actually marked what has now become an end-of-season slump for Wisconsin as they went 2-3 over their final five games.
The Badgers’ struggles are largely due to poor 3-point shooting as the team is 25.8% from beyond the arc during their five-game sputter, with star guard John Tonje having his worst scoring stretch of the season (23.5% from three).
Following the loss to Penn State, Gard said, “It’s a domino e ect. Obviously, those five that walk out to start the game, they’re out there for a reason. We need to have those guys out there.”
The Badgers have been without senior guard Max Klesmit for the last three games, and sophomore Nolan Winter got injured early in the second half against Penn State.
Hopefully, this is merely a cold shooting streak, and with both injured starters set to return for the Big Ten Tournament, the Badgers will restore their o ensive continuity and success.
The bigger issue is that during this stretch and throughout the season, Wisconsin has had the lead at halftime, but have failed to close out the game.
In six of Wisconsin’s eight losses, the team has led at the break, and during their recent slump, the Badgers carried leads into the second half in all three losses.
“Specifically in the back part of the first half and the entire second half, I thought they were the much more aggressive team, the much more physical team,” Gard said following Penn State. “I’m disappointed in our response to it. How we didn’t have bite to us.”
In a majority of their second-half shortcomings, the Badgers have lacked intensity, committed more turnovers and have had an uncomfortable lack of flow to the o ense.
In March a five-minute lapse can end a season, and with Wisconsin playing its worst basketball right before the biggest stage, there is a major cause for concern. The returns of Klesmit and Winter will hopefully help right the ship and allow the o ense to find its old form.
Nevertheless, from this point forward there are no second chances in tournament play, and the Badgers need to fix their struggles fast before a promising season spirals down the drain.
