University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Since 1892 dailycardinal.com
Weekend, October 19-22, 2017
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Max Zimmer’s Breakout
Time for Alumni to take a stand
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Thousands of rape kits sit unprocessed, but UW barred from testing By Emily Curtis SENIOR STAFF WRITER
To decrease the number of untested sexual assault kits in Wisconsin, then-Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen formed a team in 2012 to address the issue. By May 2014, the state Department of Justice discovered over 6,000 sexual assault kits had gone untested state-wide. By May 2017 — after a year of inventorying 557 law enforcement agencies — agency officials confirmed that 6,391 sexual assault kits have been inventoried. Of those kits, approximately 4,000 are designated to be tested. The lack of sexual assault kit
testing has been well-documented, and is not something unique to Wisconsin — in 2015, it was estimated that around 70,000 kits were untested nationwide. Although the DOJ hopes to have all 4,000 kits designated for testing to be sent to labs for processing by Fall 2018, UW-Madison’s genetic programs can not join the effort. Sexual Assault Evidence Kits, also known as rape kits, are packages that contain evidence collected after a reported sexual assault. According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, the largest anti-sexual violence organization in the nation, the evi-
dence compiled in a kit includes “a checklist, materials, and instructions, along with envelopes and containers to package any specimens collected during the exam.” The challenge Testing rape kits is a multistep process that most healthcare providers and police departments can’t do. For years, kits piled up in hospitals and police departments across the state. The backlog accumulated because these kits were never submitted to the state
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SAFEwalk use increases after recent crimes
JON YOON/THE DAILY CARDINAL
SAFEwalk employees are working more shifts per week to accomodate for the increase in walk requests around campus. By Lawrence Andrea CAMPUS NEWS EDITOR
The number of UW-Madison community members requesting to be walked home at night has dramatically increased following multiple assaults and robberies on campus since the beginning of October. According to Transportation Services Communications Specialist Carolyn Wolff, the number of students and staff requesting SAFEwalk — a program that employs groups of students to safe-
ly escort others home from various locations around campus free-ofcharge — has nearly tripled since the beginning of the semester. Wolff said the number of walk requests peak on nights “immediately following on-campus incidents.” Recently, a UW-Madison student was attacked near Ingraham Hall while walking home from College Library at around 1 a.m. The attacker, a registered sex offender who has since been arrested, allegedly cut the victim with a knife as he attempted
to force her into the trunk of his car. To accommodate the spike in requests, SAFEwalkers have increased their number of weekly shifts. Walkers who usually work two escort shifts per week are now working four to five shifts. Wolff said SAFEwalk is in the process of hiring more staff, and that they have not had issues responding to the increased number of walk requests. Marc Lovicott, director of communications for the UW-Madison Police Department, said these escorted walks are important, especially “in a time in which we hope people will be cognizant of their safety and their surroundings.” SAFEwalk employees train with university police and are able to assist in a variety of situations, Wolff said. Each escort team carries a two-way radio that is able to act as a mobile emergency phone between UWPD and SAFEwalk dispatchers. Those who wish to request a SAFEwalk can call or text 608-2625000. Requests can also be scheduled in advance.
Marginalized groups’ lawsuits hit SSFC for inaccessibility By Lauren Sorensen STAFF WRITER
Two UW-Madison student organizations representing marginalized communities are suing the Student Services Finance Committee after they were denied eligibility for General Student Services Funding. Both the Multicultural Student Coalition and the Wisconsin
Association of Black Men are pursuing lawsuits, citing a vague and confusing funding application process. Both failed to submit components of the funding application required for first-time applicants, which the committee said resulted in their ineligibility. SSFC defines a first-time applicant as any organization that has not
been funded in the past fiscal year. MCSC has been a GSSF organization since 2000, with a budget most recently for fiscal year 2013. The organization said that the first-time applicant definition is too vague, resulting in confusion that ultimately led MCSC to not submit the supplemental waiver for first-time applicants.
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CAMERON LANE-FLETCHINGER/THE DAILY CARDINAL
UW-Madison PhD student Jacob Hellman attempts to sell jewelry to customers at his stand Wearable Archaeologies, a task he said “doesn’t feel like a job” because of his love for it.
Long wait for farmers’ market space proves beneficial for vendors By Claire Chappell STAFF WRITER
It’s a Saturday morning in early October. Any glimpse of the summer sunshine is slowly fading, occasionally peeking out from behind the clouds and radiating warmth on your skin. With a bag of vegetables in your left hand and a loaf of Stella’s Bakery cheese bread in your right, you look on the Capitol Square grass and see nothing less than AcroYoga, running toddlers and couples on brunch dates. Many UW-Madison students can relate to this euphoria if they’ve visited the Dane County Farmers’ Market. What one can understand about the market, however, is usually limited to personal observations while strolling around. But those involved with the market, including Alfonso Morales, Sarah Elliot, Josh Lubenau and Jacob Hellman, understand the market’s inner workings — how one gets a booth as well as the benefits the market has on the community. Saturday on the Square was “basically a response by white middle-class consumers to remember where their food came from,” said
Morales, a UW-Madison professor of urban and regional planning. When grocery stores’ popularity increased in the 1920s and ‘30s, the number of markets and street vendors decreased. Morales said eventually, consumers came to question the produce in grocery stores, wondering, “Why do we only get two types of tomatoes? Why don’t they taste like what I remember my grandparents’ tomatoes to taste like when I was a kid?” So, in 1972, the Dane County Farmers’ Market began. Typically, he said, markets are a substitute for grocery stores, where you would spend that money otherwise. And because one doesn’t necessarily have more money to spend on market produce instead of grocery goods, there is no direct growth of the economy. Yet, Morales said, “There is probably a net gain [for the community]. It’s a big tourist thing, something to brag about, socially, [in the] community, politically and more.”
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“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”