'WI Want Change' - Volume 52, Issue 1

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TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2020 · VOL 52, Issue 1 · BADGERHERALD.COM

Student activists share their experiences with protesting for change on UW campus amid national social upheaval pg. 10

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MADISON MUSIC VENUES TO VISIT 9

Amid COVID-19 pandemic, music venues New guidelines bolster rights of While citizens and scientists across Madison have been forced to accused at potential expense of victim’s adapt, with live shows potentially retraumatization alike strive to keep themselves returning this fall

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WHY WE MUST END PRISON GERRYMANDERING IN THE U.S.

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U.S.’ historic acts of slavery did not end with Civil War. Instead, they live on in America’s prison system, where millions of Black men are incarcerated

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FOOTBALL: BIG TEN POSTPONES 2020 FALL SPORTS AMID PANDEMIC 16 Following announcement of cancellation of all fall sports for Big Ten, Wisconsin eyes spring football season

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Local artists create murals on State Street storefronts during BLM protests

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Nicholas Recreation Center expected to open to public September 14 ‘UW will have one of the best recreation facilities in the entire Big 10,’ RecWell spokesperson Mick Myamoto said

by Sally Reed Reporter

The long-awaited University of Wisconsin’s Nicholas Recreation Center is expected to open up to students early in the fall semester, according to updates from state and university officials.

According to UW Recreation and Wellbeing, the “Nick” was originally supposed to open January 2020. Delays arose from flooding, an extremely cold winter, issues with the pool tank, problems with the interior support structures, fire suppression issues, an issue with utility coordination and, of course, present obstacles related to COVID-19.

RecWell Associate Director of Member Experience Sadat Khan said UW put in place a plan for an elaborate recreation facility on the Southeast side of the UW campus based on UW student voting in 2013 and 2014 referendums.

“Badgers at that time were making a decision for the future generations of students. They weren’t just doing this for themselves, but cared and believed that their experiences with health and well-being affected them enough that they wanted future Badgers to have the right facilities,” Khan

said.

Communications Director of UW Facilities Planning and Management Steven Wagner said Wisconsin is heavily involved in the Nick project.

According to Wagner, all large capital projects go through the state budgeting process and are managed at some level by the Department of Facilities Development and Management, which is part of the Department of Administration.

Due to the magnitude of the project, the UW System Board of Regents approved the construction expenditure for the Nick, according to Wagner. Replacing the previous Southeast Recreational Facility, the incoming recreational center provides a centralized facility fit for the growing UW student population.

“The 30,000 square feet of fitness in [the Nicholas Recreation Center] is more than all of the current fitness that we have on campus. When you add up the square feet at the Nat, Shell and Ogg, it is less than how much we have in the new Nick,” Khan said.

According to Khan, in previous years, students went to multiple facilities that may not have all been adequate. The Nick will condense the features of RecWell into one place. According to RecWell, the project is part of a master plan that includes

two indoor facilities and two outdoor field projects.

Interim Director of RecWell Mick Miyamoto said accessibility and opportunity drove the design of the new recreation facility. Miyamoto said RecWell wanted to make the Nick available and approachable for everyone on campus.

“The Nicholas Recreation Center is fully ADA compliant, contains private gender-neutral spaces in terms of restrooms and locker facilities and has been consciously constructed to be available and open to all students,” Miyamoto said. “We don’t want there to be barriers where someone doesn’t feel comfortable using the space.”

According to Miyamoto, UW will host several events to commemorate the Nicholas Recreation Center, its donors, as well as the student segregated fees of alumni who graduated and did not get to reap the benefits of the facility.

Miyamoto said the Nick is full of extensive exercise equipment and spaces that students did not have full access to in other recreation buildings across campus.

“One thing that is very exciting for me personally, is the recreational track on the very top floor. As you run around the track you see views of Lake Monona on one side, the Capitol building around the corner, and around the next, you see

Lake Mendota. It is just spectacular,” Miyamoto said.

As the Nicholas Recreation Center prepares for its opening, the circumstances surrounding COVID-19 procedures offer another hurdle in permitting students’ access to the facility.

The 50-foot pool floor requires installation from contractors in Denmark, who are presently unable to get into the United States, according to Miyamoto. Nonetheless, the Nick facility is still set to open September 14, with all other features only modified, according to Miyamoto.

“Up until the most recent order from the county health officials, we were thinking that people could wear masks to the facility, but not wear them as they were exercising. We would have every other machine available, limit class sizes so that people can create distance,” Miyamoto said.

According to Miyamoto, in addition to the completion of the Nicholas Recreation Center, the Natatorium on the other side of campus is beginning its own massive renovation, which is expected to open Spring 2023.

“Once we get these projects done, UW will have one of the best recreation facilities in the entire Big 10, if not the country,” Miyamoto said.

New COVID-19 Connect app provides information, support to residents

App includes focuses on healing physically and coping mentally with virus, emphasizing fact-checking and quick updates

by Kelly Boyd Reporter

University of Wisconsin faculty and students created a free app to provide updates and important information regarding COVID-19 to Wisconsin residents.

The Center for Health Enhancement System Studies pioneered the creation of this inclusive multi-tool app.

The app relays information regarding the virus and offers tips on prevention and protection. The app also includes an online intervention feature that suggests ways to tackle mental health issues that are a result of COVID-19, according to the app’s webpage.

According to Co-Investigator Professor Marie-Louise Mares, there are various core components of the app such as discussion groups and fact checking elements. The first component, Louise-Mares said, was to constantly update the website with trustworthy and specific information.

“We also wanted to be very nimble and respond in a timely manner so that people who were blindsided by how quickly things were spreading would have a place to go to find that support,” Mares said.

With news on COVID-19 being a constant 4 • badgerherald.com • August 18, 2020

flood, Mares said focusing on and narrowing the information for students and the public was paramount to CHESS. Louise-Mares said CHESS’s discussion rooms featured on the COVID-19 app incorporate an interactive element which focuses on healing physically and coping mentally with the virus.

“I think the discussion groups are a core component where people going through the same thing can come on and express anxiety or confusion or just ask questions so we can reach out to DHS and get answers or to just provide comfort and reassurance,” Mares said.

As incoming freshmen are due to arrive on campus in the fall, CHESS considered the confusion the new students may face.

Tackling a new environment coupled with the uncertainty of a pandemic is not an easy task.

Marketing efforts to get the app recognized will help freshmen and others in Wisconsin find support and resources, Mares said.

According to Mares, the app also features a fact-checking component created in collaboration with UW’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

“In order to prevent the spread of misinformation, the team sees what misinformation is trending, clarifies it and

provides links to the correct resource,” Mares said.

Additionally, Mares said they try to thoroughly think through the implications and context of the pandemic with all who are affected.

Mares said the app provides a wealth of resources to those who have contracted COVID-19 while also providing resources to those who have lost jobs or are experiencing financial hardship.

“There are a lot of links and resources to helpful information about where to go for food banks, where to go for testing, unemployment navigation, advice and resources for people struggling with partner violence, substance abuse issues, etc.,” Mares said.

One discussion group topics is called “stigma and discrimination,” which offers specific mental health resources for Black communities.

According to an article by Wisconsin Public Radio, the virus is disproportionately affecting communities of color in Milwaukee. While Milwaukee’s Black population represents a quarter of the total population, they account for almost half of all deaths in the area.

Faculty Associate Debra Pierce said a communication team associated with

UW’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication used marketing efforts focused on connections with local newspapers and media outlets in order to spread awareness.

“At the launch, we placed ads in African American and Latino local community newspapers,” Pierce said. “We also reached out to more than 70 groups and individuals with strong influence and trust amongst communities of color via email and social media.”

With the help of specialists and educators in all facets of research, Louise-Mares said CHESS’s creation of the new COVID-19 Wisconsin app offers both support and resources with an emphasis on balancing accuracy and fact checking with efficient and prompt updating.

The team worked extensively on marketing and exposure in order to inform students and residents of the resources the app offers, Pierce said.

“We recognized and saw the disparities that Black and other communities of color were facing ... so our efforts focused on generating awareness and usage of the app amongst these important Wisconsin communities,” Pierce said.

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Madison-based youth organization pushes for legislative change New activist group Impact Demand emerges in wake of protests following death of George Floyd, demands community control

by Aashna Sheth State News Editor

Impact Demand is a newly-formed organization led by Madison youth with three primary demands — community control of police, outlawing no-knock warrants and the Hands Up Act. Founded by a group of youth protesters, Impact Demand has approximately 15 to 16 active workers leading departments within the organization and over 300 volunteers throughout the community.

Member of Impact Demand Juliana Bennett said their mission is to empower young people in Madison to make positive change throughout the community.

“We are organizers, you are the leader.

Together we are making strides in the common goal of demanding change for the betterment of Black Lives — to mold a more equitable tomorrow into reality today,” Bennett said.

Ayomi Obuseh, a founding member of Impact Demand, said outrage from the murder of unarmed Black man George Floyd by Minneapolis police spawned the organization.

“It is not an organization that [had] a foundation already created for us,” Obuseh

said. “It was started by protesters coming together in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.”

Obuseh has been advocating in the Madison community since high school, before helping create Impact Demand.

Obuseh said Impact Demand has started hosting educational events for the community.

“Our mission is to impact communities and demand change through policy, education and activism,” Obuseh said. “And through that, we host events [where] we try to educate everyone in the community as a whole.”

Members of the organization emphasized they are not leaders in the movement, but rather the organizers of individuals in the community looking to affect change.

Since June, Impact Demand hosted and organized multiple events such as the Paint Your Pride event held July 12 to celebrate Black LGBTQ+ lives and remember those who have passed away. They also organized the Glow in the Dark March for Black Lives on June 18 during the fourth week of the Madison protests.

Additionally, Impact Demand works closely with other organizations such as Freedom Inc. and Urban Triage, both of which are non-profit organizations who describe themselves as working toward social justice and

empowerment for Black communities and other communities of color.

Some of these organizations’ efforts include removing police from Madison schools and distributing funds in support of COVID-19 relief efforts — Impact Demand supports and pushes for both efforts simultaneously.

“We plan on having more events, tied into a youth-led movement, to showcase the kids that are also part of [the movement] and how the stuff that we’re doing affects their future and amplifying the youth voice,” Obuseh said.

Impact Demand focuses on modern-day society when drawing up event concepts and targets their message toward young people to drive their desired structural changes.

Obuseh and Bennett both highlighted the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement in fueling their efforts.

“I think this whole [movement] has been a progression,” Bennett said. “The Civil Rights Movement never really ended. With George Floyd igniting the momentum again [amidst] COVID-19, it brings a spotlight on the inadequacies in our current system. This is not a riot, this is a revolution.”

Bennett drew attention to a quote uttered at one of the open-mic peaceful protests in

Madison, “I do not want my grandchildren fighting for the same thing my grandfather fought for,” accentuating the long-term, deeprooted injustices that she said have been present in the United States.

Impact Demand is still a fledgling movement and, according to Obuseh, the organization has a number of plans in place to launch its next steps.

Bennett said Impact Demand has met with local officials and alders, and revealed the organization will meet soon with Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes.

Obuseh shared her own aspirations for Madison and the United States and said she hopes protesters will work to hold those in power accountable.

“My hope is that everyone continues to question everything,” Obuseh said. “Question their city, their representatives, because when you question and when you challenge people, you get answers, and that changes your perspective of what your reality looks like.”

Impact Demand has a webpage and is active on social media platforms such Instagram and Facebook, providing a space through which individuals can acquire information and contact the organization to volunteer and get involved.

WSLH uses wastewater sewage samples used to test for COVID-19

‘We like to look at a particular disease from as many angles as possible,’ chief medical officer on project says

by Azul Kothari Campus News Editor

Scientists at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene are partnering with UW-Milwaukee researchers and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to conduct statewide testing of sewage samples for COVID-19 after receiving a $1.25 million grant from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

The partnership aims to develop sewage testing into a tool public health officials can use in tracing the pandemic as it spreads through local communities in Wisconsin, according to a DHS press release. The release added sewage testing could potentially be used as an early warning system to anticipate COVID-19 flare ups.The release said testing could potentially be used as an early warning system to anticipate COVID-19 flare ups.

In principle, the widespread COVID-19 nose swab tests and the sewage test work the same way. Both tests must separate out genetic material, which is tested for the presence of genetic code specific to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, Sandra McLellan, an environmental virologist leading the UW-Milwaukee team, said.

But obtaining genetic material from a sewage sample is the challenging part, McLellan said.

According to WSLH researcher Kayley Janssen,

wastewater plants first filter out large solid particles from incoming sewage. The resulting water is sampled over 24 hours to produce a bulk composite half liter sample which is sent to the researchers.

Using a variety of filtration methods, the researchers end up with 50mL of liquid from which they extract genetic material.

Sampling wastewater from sewage treatment plants is meant to be complementary to human testing rather than a replacement, Jon Meiman, one of the DHS’s chief medical officers, said.

“Anytime we do disease surveillance, we like to look at a particular disease from as many angles as possible, since no one particular approach is going to give you the whole story,” Meiman said.

Data from the sewage tests could be used to assess confidence in ongoing individual testing.

If the data from sewage testing points to ongoing transmission in an area where individual testing turns up little to no cases, it could indicate the virus is spreading among a demographic that is not being tested, Meiman said.

For instance, young people who are less likely to be symptomatic are also less likely to get tested but will nonetheless shed the virus into the wastewater system, Meiman said.

Historically, the idea of testing for pathogens in sewage is not without precedent. For over half a century, scientists have used it to trace outbreaks

of polio.

McLellan said many in the field began thinking of wastewater testing as soon as the virus emerged.

A Dutch group was one of the first to put the idea to the test. In late March, they published research showing detection of the virus in sewage up to six days before the first reported case in some rural areas.

Places across the U.S. also began to invest in the approach, McLellan said.

“North Carolina, New York City, California and many other places have large regions that are coordinating and trying to get a surveillance program up and running,” McLellan said. “I would say almost every major city is thinking about this or actively trying to set it up.”

The team hopes to eventually have regular, weekly sewage testing from 100 different wastewater treatment plants, 80 of which will be in rural Wisconsin, Janssen said.

Janssen said sewage testing helps in rural areas because they don’t always have access to noseswab tests.

“Some of those communities don’t have the same access to testing that we do in Madison and Milwaukee,” Janssen said.

Early results from samples taken in May in Milwaukee, Racine and Green Bay show viral concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 hovering at the

lower limit of the researcher’s detection ability, McLellan said.

The researchers are working on optimizing their method to try to detect even lower concentrations, McLellan said.

“The samples we’re analyzing are from when there were a lot of stay at home orders and people were not really emerging into the community and mixing with a lot of other people,” McLellan said.

“As we go forward, I think we want to keep a close eye to see if those numbers go up.”

Using sewage testing, a few other states were able to predict local COVID-19 surges in advance, providing crucial time for shifting resources and ramping up public health responses, Meiman said. Because testing capacity remains limited, it could be targeted towards areas where flare ups are anticipated, Meiman said.

The director for the National Institute of Health said recent delays in testing reduced their usefulness as a tool for stopping transmission.

“The idea is that we can pin down that trajectory before things become too far gone, because by the time we start seeing a large number of cases, the actual size of the epidemic is much larger than we know,” Meiman said. “We’re looking at the tip of the iceberg, and we’re seeing that in the Southern United States right now.”

August 18, 2020 • badgerherald.com • 5

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UHS welcomes you to UW–Madison.

We’re excited for you to join our campus community this fall! Your health and well-being contribute to your academic and personal success. We’re here to support you so that you can thrive during your time at UW–Madison.

University Health Services (UHS) is the UW–Madison student health center.

All services are confidential, and most are available at no cost. Schedule appointments online at myuhs.uhs.wisc.edu or by phone at 608-265-5600.

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Many medical, counseling, and wellness services are available by phone and accessible online. uhs.wisc.edu/remotehealth

Primary and specialty care, STI testing, HRT, smoking and vaping cessation, and contraception. Flu shots and COVID-19 testing are also available. uhs.wisc.edu/medical

Individual, couple/partner, group counseling, crisis services, care management, outreach programs, and Survivor Services. SilverCloud and You@Wisc are online resources available to students 24/7. uhs.wisc.edu/mental-health

Crisis and after hours support 24/7 mental health crisis 608-265-5600 (option 9) 24/7 after hours medical nurse advice 608-265-5600 (option 1)

No-cost flu shots are available to all students. Check uhs.wisc.edu for dates, times, and locations.

COVID-19 is still a significant issue and, together, there are steps we can take to stay healthy and help limit the spread of illness.

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Required in all indoor public spaces, including classrooms, and outside when physical distancing is not possible. Accommodations will be made for those who cannot wear a face covering for medical reasons.

On-campus, drop-in testing centers are available. Visits are unlimited and no cost.

Students who live in residence halls are required to be tested every two weeks. Results will be available in MyUHS. Go to uhs.wisc.edu for dates, times, and locations.

Students on campus will be asked to adhere to a set of actions that protects their health and the health of the campus community.

Promoting health means respecting others and educating yourself around issues related to this pandemic.

Practice good hand and respiratory hygiene. Cough into your elbow and wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or use hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.

Track your health and symptoms daily at no cost with the UW–Madison COVID-19 symptom tracker.

Go to healthscreen.wisc.edu and start tracking today!

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Coronavirus disrupts UW’s swine program, leads to service partnership After processing plant closes, UW meat science program partners with Vita Plus to distribute surplus pork to local food bank

by Haley Bills Reporter

The COVID-19 pandemic created a host of supply chain complications for the University of Wisconsin’s swine program, leading to a creative partnership benefitting local communities.

After the Tyson Fresh Meats plant in Waterloo, Iowa shut down April 22, UW’s swine program no longer had an outlet to sell their pigs to, said Jamie Reichert, manager of the UW swine facility at the Arlington Agricultural Research Station.

But instead of letting these pigs go to waste, Reichert said, UW swine distributed around 45 surplus hogs to state food pantries with the help of Vita Plus, a Madison-based animal feed and technology company.

This partnership hatched after a virtual meeting regarding UW’s new Meat Science and Animal Biologics Discovery Building, Reichert said.

Vita Plus Vice President Al Gunderson, who participated in the call, reached out to Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences Professor and Extension Meat Specialist Jeff Sindelar in regards to UW’s surplus pigs.

After launching Serving Customers and Rural Communities, a project to put $100,000 into rural food security initiatives throughout the Upper Midwest, Vita Plus had the funding to buy some

of the university’s hogs, Gunderson said.

“When I heard that they were having problems getting their hogs marketed because the normal spots weren’t taking them, I said to Jeff, ‘Hey, I have an idea here,’” Gunderson said. “‘If you guys could harvest those hogs, we could maybe turn them into usable pork for some of these food pantries like we are doing with our SCRC program.’”

SCRC targeted smaller, rural organizations that tended to struggle more with the pandemic because they had fewer resources and a lowprofile, Gunderson said.

COVID-19 restrictions halted the work undergraduate students could do on-site and limited the university’s capabilities, Reichert said. So while the university could turn the hogs into carcasses, they could not process them into the familiar cuts like chops, sausage and brats necessary for the food security initiatives.

“Our bottleneck was that we only needed a handful of people to harvest the animals, but it gets really labor intensive when cutting and processing the meat,” Reichert said. “Because we couldn’t hire the undergraduates to do it, we didn’t really have anyone to do that part.”

According to Reichert, after the large processing plants like Tyson shut down, everyone turned to the local butchers, who became quickly overwhelmed. But Gunderson

found Jerry Stoddard at Stoddard’s Meat Market in Cottage Grove, who wanted to help finish the processing.

After connecting all the dots, the three-way partnership began with two 15-pig harvests in May, Sindelar said. First, the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences’ Meat Science and Muscle Biology Laboratory harvested the university’s pigs from the Arlington station.

Then, Stoddard and his employees picked the carcasses up from the MLB to bring back to Cottage Grove for processing.

From there, Dave Henning and Margerie Stieve from Vita Plus picked up the frozen pork from Stoddard’s to deliver to food pantries within a 75-mile radius of Madison, including those in Beaver Dam, Waupun, Lodi, Mount Horeb, Lake Mills and New Glarus, Gunderson said.

Sindelar said the last of three harvests marked around 8,700 pounds of pork distributed to state food pantries Monday, June 29.

“I think the rewarding thing, especially today, is that you could see that people can come together and work for a common cause no matter their backgrounds or interests to help other people,” Gunderson said. “I think that’s the thing that if we could all remember, maybe we can get through this.”

According to Sindelar, the harvests also

marked an ending of a chapter for UW-Madison’s Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, which just got a new building. These harvests were the last to take place in 90 years of the old MLB being operational.

Sindelar said the equipment used for the last harvest was moved into the new MSABD building later that week.

“In about a month, we will be starting up operations over there, so we are transitioning from our old program … and turning the chapter with a brand new facility, which is very much state of the art and should give us another 90 or so years of life,” Sindelar said.

Sindelar said photos and videos of the MLB that were shot after the last harvest will be distributed to about 2,500 alumni, people who worked in the facility and students who went through the program to earn their degrees.

The old facility was home to many great discoveries and people who put UW-Madison’s Meat Science program on the map, Sindelar said.

Every year since the MLB first opened in 1930, the program has given back to the community through research, discovery and education.

“To end on a note of doing something that is purely for the betterment of others is, I think, a really nice way to close things out,” Sindelar said.

“I couldn’t imagine a better, more appropriate way.”

Search for UW System president continues after finalist withdraws University of Alaska’s Jim Johnsen declines position of UW System president, citing internal difficulties within UW system

by Joseph Mitchell Reporter

University of Alaska President Jim Johnsen withdrew himself from consideration for the position of University of Wisconsin System President earlier this summer.

In October of 2019, former UW System President Ray Cross announced his retirement, causing a nationwide search to find his replacement. In June, the UW Board of Regents named Johnsen as the sole finalist for the position.

Johnsen later declined to take the position, just 10 days after he was named the sole candidate. In a statement on the University of Alaska Public Affairs Board, Johnsen said his withdrawal came as a result of “important process issues” within the UW System.

Johnsen’s withdrawal from the candidate pool revealed what some view as flaws in the Board of Regents’ controversial search process for a new UW System President.

Several have called the search a failure from its inception. President of the Wisconsin Conference of the American Association of University Professors Nick Fleisher said the process failed when the Board of Regents named the nine-person search committee in November — a departure from the normal

practice in selecting UW System presidents and chancellors.

“The process failed because it excluded all kinds of groups from the search process that are normally important,” Fleisher said. “Those groups include faculty, staff, students and the general public.”

The American Federation of TeachersWisconsin’s Vice President of Higher Education, Jon Shelton, said if a wider array of individuals convened to search for a new president, Jim Johnsen likely would not have been named the sole candidate in the end.

Shelton said Johnsen, a white male, was named the finalist in an inopportune time, a week after the death of George Floyd and amid national protests. Shelton said Johnsen’s lack of diversity initiatives at the University of Alaska made him an inappropriate candidate for the time.

“If you had faculty or staff on the committee, somebody would have said it’s not the best idea to move forward with one single candidate right now, given the bigger situation in the state,” Shelton said. “For those reasons, the search was flawed, and the Regents have recognized that.”

Shelton said UW’s search process is evidence of a trend to empower Regents rather than

faculty with regards to appointing leaders within the System.

Shelton said before a rule change in 2017, the process of naming campus chancellors involved a search committee consisting of faculty, staff and students. The committee then presented a handful of acceptable candidates to the Board of Regents, which ultimately determined to whom a position would be offered.

This process was altered in 2017. Shelton said the new search committee consists of a group of 10 people, including five Regents, two faculty members, two staff members and one community member. The change limited the power of the faculty and staff and gave more influence to the Regents, which sparked concern when replacing the UW System President.

Both Shelton and Fleisher advocated for a return to the previous hiring process implemented before 2017. Shelton said he sees a balance returning.

June 19, the UW Board of Regents selected former governor Tommy Thompson as the Interim UW System President. This decision was also made by the Board of Regents without inclusion of faculty or students, but Fleisher said for interim president, the selection process can look different. The current understanding is that Thompson will hold his position for the

upcoming year as the new search for a System president begins.

State Sen. Fred Risser (D-26), who represents the UW campus in Madison, said Thompson would serve well as an interim president.

“I think Tommy Thompson was a good choice to quickly come in and right the ship.

Thompson loves Wisconsin and the University.”

Risser said. “He should provide the needed stability while the Board steps back and takes a deep breath.”

As of now, there is no timeline in place for the creation of a new search committee.

Shelton said the future is unknown for the UW System, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which muddied the prospects of what a future selection process will look like.

Shelton emphasized the importance of confidence and excitement in a leader in higher education and voiced his hope for more inclusive future hiring processes.

“It is important for the leader of an institution as big as the UW System to have faculty, staff and students who are enthusiastic about that person.” Shelton said “If you’re the Board of Regents, you have to bring in faculty, staff and students on the ground floor. And have them be involved in the process every step of the way.

August 18, 2020 • badgerherald.com • 7

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UW System will comply with new Title IX rules for sexual assault

New guidelines bolster rights of accused at potential expense of victim’s retraumatization, absolve UW of off-campus responsibility

by Arushi Gupta City News Editor

The rationale, Gemignani-Valoe said, is these types of practices will afford greater due process to the accused, but evidence from traumainformed practices shows this policy can bring about revictimization and retraumatization of the victims.

“I personally would think it would give the accused the upper hand in the situation because people already aren’t coming forward about the violence that has happened to them … you’re not going to want to come forward if

2019, a lot of students on campus don’t feel like their investigations — even with the previous Title IX regulations — would be taken very seriously by the university. The results show 87% of all sexual assaults go unreported.

McGlone said the university hearing committee can no longer consider information from parties and witnesses if the party or witness was not cross-examined at a hearing.

According to McGlone, this requirement adds to the stress of participating in the conduct process.

United States Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos released Title IX guidelines on sexual assault May 6. All educational institutions receiving federal funding must comply with the guidelines by Aug 14, 2020 or have their federal funding revoked.

Under the new guidelines, sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome conduct which is “severe, pervasive and objectively offensive.”

Stepping away from Obama-era guidelines, which discouraged informal hearings, the new rules require colleges to have live hearings and allow informal resolution and mediation. Under the changes, institutions will no longer be held accountable for offcampus sexual assault incidents.

University of Wisconsin Madison’s Student Title IX Committee member Gianna Gemignani-Valoe said most sexual assaults tend to occur off-campus, and there is no evidence to support restricting investigations to the campus area.

“So it seems like it’s much less inclusive than what it should be and what the evidence would support,” GemignaniValoe said. “The practices in the investigation seem like they’re not rooted in any trauma-informed care principles at all.”

Gemignani-Valoe is the director of Relationship For Leaders, Advocates and Greek Students, a dating violenceprevention student organization on the UW campus. Relationship FLAGS offers peer-facilitated workshops to college students and received the Wisconsin Idea Fellowship and the Hilldale Research Grant.

In an email statement to The Badger Herald, UW spokesperson Meredith McGlone said the new guidelines set a higher standard for what constitutes sexual harassment, so it is likely fewer cases will meet the standard for response under Title IX. “However, UW-Madison and UW System have other policies in place that prohibit sexual harassment and other forms of sexual misconduct,” McGlone Photo - UW students protest nationwide sexual assault, anti-abortion legislation said. “We are working through how those policies will be applied given the Title IX Daniel Yun changes.”

The Badger Herald In addition to changing what constitutes sexual harassment, the new guidelines require universities to conduct crossyou’re going to be outed like that and potentially McGlone added UW is prepared to offer examinations. According to Gemignanibe retraumatized in the investigation process support to survivors but expects some may Valoe, UW or the accused is now allowed itself,” Gemignani-Valoe said. choose not to pursue a formal complaint because to, for example, have a university official or Gemignani-Valoe said according to the of this requirement. a third party cross-examine the victim and preliminary results of the Association of Director of Media Relations Mark Pitsch said broadcast it in a live hearing.

American Universities Campus Climate Survey the UW System is writing new rules and policies 8 • badgerherald.com • August 18, 2020

to comply with the Title IX changes.

“Our revised scope statement for the rules has received Gov. Evers’ approval,” Pitsch said.

“During this process, our universities remain committed to providing services and support to sexual assault survivors.”

Along with 17 other states, Wisconsin is suing to block the new Title IX changes. Gov. Evers blocked the UW System from complying with the new policies in June but later approved the changes after receiving revised scope statements from the UW System. The Board of Regents approved the new regulations as emergency rules for the UW System in a July 20 meeting without public feedback.

According to Director of Compliance Katie Ignatowski, emergency rules have a limited effective window of 150 days, which means the rules will expire Jan. 11, 2021. From then, the latest possible date the emergency rule can remain in effect will be May 11, 2021. While the emergency rule is in effect, the UW System will draft a permanent rule.

“We’ll have a three to four week public hearing period on the permanent rule in October and November of this year,” Ignatowski said in a Board of Regents meeting July 6. “By that point, we should have a few months under our belt with the emergency rule and we should also have a draft of the permanent rule to circulate for comments in the campus communities and the public.”

According to the AAU survey, about 26.1% of undergraduate women and 6.8% of undergraduate men have experienced sexual assault since entering UW. McGlone said UW is still committed to providing the full range of supportive measures, regardless of whether survivors choose to pursue a formal complaint. Supportive measures include counseling, academic and housing accommodations, and protective measures such as no-contact directives.

According to Gemignani-Valoe, however, many campus resources — such as Survivor Services and the Meriter’s Forensic Nurse Examiner Program — are underutilized. Valoe said ensuring due process of both the accused and the victim should not be at the victim’s expense.

“The question I would want to ask the DeVos administration is, ‘okay, if you’re looking at improving the due process, why are you putting in policies that directly go against a lot of good public health practices?’” Gemignani said. “If you give an abuser the upper hand that just revictimizes victims and amplifies existing issues that are already on campuses.”

ARTSETC.

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Shows go on: How local music venues are adjusting to pandemic What Madison’s music scene might look like this fall with social distancing measures as well as thousands of returning students on campus

by Rachael Lee Staff Writer

A unique feature of the University of Wisconsin’s campus is that it seamlessly blurs into State Street and the rest of downtown Madison.

Historically, Madison’s local music scene boasts varieties of genres and hundreds of live music venues that host local bands and nationwide tours. Music is a significant pastime of both students and city residents, and we interviewed and researched different venues to see what live performances will look like this fall in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Overture Center is a stunning architectural landmark in the heart of Madison, located on State Street. The Overture Center is both an art gallery and performance arts center that also hosts private events.

Overture Hall, with its magnificent concert organ, is capable of housing more than 2,000 people. Due to the pandemic, the Overture Center will suspend live performances until at least November 2020.

This is because most groups that were supposed to be performing will no longer be touring this fall. The Overture Center is still considering holiday programming. In addition, art exhibits will still be available virtually.

The Hamel Music Center is a new performance

venue built for the UW-Madison Mead-Witter School of Music. The HMC officially opened in 2019 as a “state of the arts performing and teaching facility” and hosted recitals, concerts and masterclasses.

Like the rest of campus, the HMC is following the Smart Restart directive announced by Chancellor Rebecca Blank.

“Our faculty and staff have been working closely with our dean and chancellor as we continue to prepare for the fall,” Communications Coordinator for the School of Music Eric Murtaugh said. “The health and safety of the entire MWSoM community is our number one priority.”

The Bur Oak, previously known as the Winnebago, is an independently run event venue and coffee shop. They have been open since June with a “socially distant setup” for shows.

The venue reported that the system was “pretty seamless and safe and was quite effective in keeping people distant during the shows [the Bur Oak] did hold.” All tables are at least 6 feet apart, but typically further. High touch surfaces like the bar and doors are sanitized throughout the evening.

A mobile phone app called NOBLE allows customers to order food or beverages from their seat and pick up at the bar so there are no lines to

deal with.

Currently there is a mask ordinance in place for Madison, so they also anticipate that there will still be masks needed on upon entering this fall. Some upcoming performances at this venue to look out for include: 9.10 — Peter Mulvey 10.5 — Jackie Venson 10.13 — Jon McLaughlin 10.15 — Dana Perry 10.17 — Mo Lowda & the Humble The Sylvee, named after Sylvia “Sylvee” Frank, opened in 2018 as a “new venue for emerging artists, established cultural icons and community events … [rising] in the heart of a Madison renaissance.”

The box office has been reopened since June 19, and though many shows have been either canceled or postponed until next year, there are still some events to look forward to this coming fall semester: 10.31 — Dillon Francis x Yung Gravy 12.12 — Horseshoes & Hand Grenades The Wisconsin Unions on campus have a dedicated committee that provides free music and movies to students, faculty, staff and Wisconsin Union members.

The Memorial Union Terrace, with its

multicolored chairs, are recently reopened for reservation only, and currently both the Memorial Union and Union South remained closed.

But, the WUD calendar shows that there are still musical events scheduled for the fall. Some of the upcoming concerts include: 10.03 — Roomful of Teeth 10.24 — Reneé Fleming 11.07 — Camille Thomas The Majestic Theatre in Madison opened in 1906 and is the oldest theatre and live music venue in the city. Though many shows are postponed or canceled due to the pandemic, there will be performances starting from late August, such as: 09.09 — Joywave - The Possession Tour 10.01 — Adelitas Way - The Habit Tour 10.18 — Waxahatchee It is paramount to consider the health of both yourself and others when attending these events.

Remember to follow safety guidelines outlined at the federal, state and county levels such as wearing a face covering when in public and staying at least six feet away from others.

Music plays a role of uniting people and bringing vivacity to life, especially during times of struggle. This makes it especially important to be considerate of others when out and about.

Taking a look at summer hip-hop releases through end of July

Ranging from Drake to Flatbush Zombies, hip-hop scene continues to move even amidst COVID-19 interruptions throughout hottest season

by William Lundquist Staff Writer

May and June have been a hectic couple of months for hip-hop releases. Since COVID-19 has prevented artists from touring and performing shows, many in the music industry have put their foot to the gas pedal and are releasing music at a rapid pace, perhaps to make up for the lack of income from concerts and festivals.

May started off with a bang as both Drake and Lil Baby released projects on the first day of the month. After the underwhelming hodgepodge of throwaway singles that was Drake’s previous project “Care Package,” “Dark Lane Demo Tapes” was a refreshing release from the Canadian singer-songwriter.

The project sees Drake exploring new sonic ideas, with the occasional UK drill beat popping up on songs like “War” and “Demons.” The album also includes “Toosie Slide,” which is pretty much a pop song through and through.

While few will argue that this project is among Drake’s finest work, you can’t fault him for a lack of variety or creativity on the tape.

Lil Baby’s album “My Turn” is among the strongest releases so far this summer and

remains atop the Billboard 200 for four weeks.

The project contains a whopping 20 songs, ranging from high energy bangers like “Woah” and “Heatin Up,” to more introspective songs like “Emotionally Scarred.”

Lil Baby’s unmistakable flow shines throughout the project, as it hardly seems like the man ever pauses to take a breath. While the album does seem a bit repetitive and formulaic at times, Lil Baby does not disappoint when it comes to the lyricism, production and energy in this album.

May’s next big release saw Chris Brown and Young Thug team up on their collaborative project “Slime & B.” Despite having two of the biggest names in R&B and hip-hop, this album falls well short of anything worth listening to.

Young Thug’s verses sound aimless and disengaged, while Brown’s singing does not mesh well with Thug’s sporadic style of hiphop. Avoid this project at all costs.

Some less forgettable releases in May include Lil Tjay’s “State of Emergency,” and Polo G’s “THE GOAT.” Bronx native Lil Tjay is one of the up and coming artists in the NY drill scene, and the production on “State of Emergency” is some of Tjay’s best to date.

But, his nasally voice is unmistakably pumped with enough autotune to make a bullfrog sound like Beyonce, and this makes

listening to more than two of his songs in a row a less-than-enjoyable feat.

Polo G’s project, on the other hand, has been receiving quite the critical acclaim — and for good reason. Polo G also employs some drill beats on the project, but his voice requires little production because he is a naturally gifted singer. Polo G’s lyricism is carefully crafted and woven with intricate stories of pain and suffering.

His perspective on the album is truly refreshing and empowering, both unique qualities for the new wave of autotune rappers.

Future’s “High Off Life” was one of the more cohesive projects that dropped in May. Throughout the album, Future stays true to his patented style of sporadic vocal inflections as he raps about his extravagant life of drugs and sex on songs like “100 Shooters” and “Trapped in the Sun,” but to the surprise of many, Future also reveals emotional depth and introspection in his lyrics on “Up the River” and “Accepting My Flaws.”

The biggest flaw of the album is the lack of tuning on songs like “Harlem Shake” and “Outer Space Bih,” where Future’s singing is in an entirely different key than the instrumental.

June has been a much slower month for

hip-hop releases, with many artists focusing on making singles addressing the political climate of the nation rather than releasing entire projects.

Rap duo Run the Jewels — Killer Mike and El-P — kicked off June with their highly anticipated project RTJ4. The album is full of powerful boom-bap instrumentals and braggadocios lyrics without shying away from topics like police brutality and the current political climate in the United States.

The anger and loud energy of the duo is as strong as ever, and Run the the Jewels remains the last of a dying breed of old school conscious hip-hop heads.

Flatbush Zombies also released their first project since 2018 with the EP “now, more than ever.” Unfortunately, the project only contains six songs, but the Flatbush Zombies still manage to solidify their place among the best underground conscious MC’s.

The album features the dark, gritty production Erick Arc Elliott has become known for, and each member of the group has their chance to shine, despite the project being a mere six songs.

Other notable releases in June include “FLORIDA JIT” by Smokepurpp, “The Smartest” by Tee Grizzley, and “City on Lock”

by City Girls.

August 18, 2020 • badgerherald.com • 9

FEATURES

WI WANT CHANGE

@badgerherald

Student activists share their experiences with protesting for change on UW campus amid national social upheaval

by Nuha Dolby Print Features Editor, Illustrative Director

“Whose streets? Our streets!” came the chants down East Washington Street, as protesters marched toward the Capitol.

The protest, one of multiple, back-to-back protests that went on for days, was in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and a larger demand for policy reform.

Months earlier, “There is no donation on Earth you can make that makes up for the fact you are destroying the planet,” was the call at a fall 2019 protest for climate change awareness, highlighting the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s investments in oil and gas companies and demanding divestment.

And in 1969, as many as three thousand students demonstrated in front of ten campus buildings in the memorialized Black Student Strike. In an eerie foretelling, 900 Wisconsin National Guard troops were activated in response.

Over fifty years later, Wisconsin again activated the National Guard to protect state buildings and infrastructure after protests for Black rights have again dominated the campus community — and now the city at large.

These protests, populated heavily by UW students, were ingrained with the theme of change. And as time passes and more and more students become publicly and openly involved with causes they care about, student activism is becoming entrenched in student life at UW. At another protest for climate change, the crowd sang, “We’re gonna rise up, rise up till it’s won. People rise up, power come down.” That call grows louder and louder each day as UW students demand the changes they want to see.

[CAMPUS] CLIMATE CHANGE

Marina Minic, a rising senior majoring in Chemistry and Environmental Studies, is on the Executive Board of CLEAN,

10 • badgerherald.com • August 18, 2020

or Campus Leaders for Energy Action Now. It’s a group that recently became an official registered student organization, and they work to push the administration to transition to 100% clean and renewable energy.

As part of CLEAN, Minic’s work has included helping get signatures on a petition to UW administration demanding the switch to clean energy. The petition currently has about 1,600 signatures, according to Minic, and has been dropped off to the Chancellor of the university, Rebecca Blank. She’s also been able to have discussions with both Blank and Melissa Nergard, UW’s director of Sustainability, regarding CLEAN’s goals for the university.

She’s part of the Wisconsin Student Climate Action Coalition, too, or WSCAC, a group created this past winter. Consisting of students who are also often primarily involved with other organizations, WSCAC helps groups collaborate on the cause.

Minic said her pathway to getting involved actually started in the classroom.

“I came into college pretty interested in environmentalism,” she said. “But it wasn’t until I took a film class freshman year that I started doing more. There was a unit in the class that talked about the environmental activism movement in the seventies and how it was actually pretty problematic in terms of equity and placing a lot of responsibility on indigenous people in this country.”

Minic said it “disturbed” her and woke her up to activism and doing it “properly.” Her freshman year, she said she got involved in doing Lakeshore cleanups and working with the Sierra Student Coalition on environmental appreciation.

As time passed, she decided on an environmental studies double major, in turn, and looked for work in the field. The summer after her freshman year, she worked for Environment Minnesota, the state chapter of the national Environment America group, and she worked on a campaign to ban polystyrene in the state. During her sophomore year, she got another internship with the Wisconsin chapter of EA. “Through Environment Wisconsin, I got the position of UW’s campus Renewable Energy Coordinator. And that’s how I started doing research on the university’s renewable portfolio, and that’s how I found CLEAN,” she said. “So I started going to CLEAN meetings, and I became really good friends with everyone in the organization and ended up going on to the Executive Board. Since then, I’ve been ride-or-die for CLEAN.” Her original goals and concerns about the inclusivity of protests, learned from the UW classroom, have not been forgotten years later. In a video covering the divestment campaign at UW, taken when Minic was a junior, she discussed the ties between climate change and marginalized communities.

“Climate change disproportionately affects a lot of marginalized communities. Communities of color, low-income communities, all feel it worse,” she said. “So I think that’s an integral part of why we’re even doing all of this. [We] fight for those who are contributing the least but feeling it the most.”

RALLYING FOR CHANGE

Tyson Holtz, a rising senior majoring in Spanish and Communication Arts, is actively involved in civil engagement, by protesting.

He started out as a member on the ASM Committee of Equity and Inclusion, where he advocated for trans rights. He said interacting with students at UW on the committee, and in general, helped him form the beliefs he now holds.

Part of those beliefs involve supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, and Holtz attends the local Madison protests regularly.

Being white, he stressed the importance of being there to protest and show support for marginalized groups without making it about yourself.

“I’m there to uplift other people’s voices,” Holtz said.

He said getting involved in protesting was often through social media. Holtz said pages on Facebook are run by organizers and keep protestors and those wanting to get involved in the loop on ways to support.

He also added the importance of getting involved in student government.

“Join ASM. There are tons of subcommittees and you don’t really need to do a ton or be scared to be unqualified to get onto them,” he said. “You basically show up and are able to be a part of something, and that’s really cool, especially for freshmen.”

And it’s of note that groups and students have been able to force some of the changes they want to see. Holtz said that while he was on the subcommittee, he was able to make some tangible change on campus.

“We focused on gender neutral bathrooms, or like inclusive bathrooms on campus, because at the time, there weren’t too many in a lot of the buildings,” he said. “Since then, we’ve been able to get a lot more bathrooms, which is definitely a success on that end and helps to make people feel more accepted on campus.”

Minic said CLEAN had seen some changes made, too.

“The university’s planning on creating a Sustainability Advisory Council that’s going to launch in October 2020. And we got the preliminary list of board members last fall, and there was only one student on the board, and we just found that strange since the university is mostly made up of students, and students are more likely to have a more bold voice,” she said.

She said CLEAN and other students involved were horrified and immediately decided they would focus on making sure more student voices got on the board. They began petitioning, contacting administration officials and trying to be heard.

“So on our petition, one of our asks was to get more student seats on the board. And the administration actually ended up reaching out to us,” Minic said. “They asked if we would submit a proposal as to why and how we would put more students on the board.”

This past spring, CLEAN worked with ASM to create a joint proposal on how to add more students to the board. It went through, and now there will be an undergraduate and graduate student seat, with applications for the position currently being worked on.

“That was a direct result of our petition, which feels good that when you work hard and try to make change, sometimes it actually works. That’s really exciting,” Minic said. “Hopefully the university will be able to make some more bold climate action commitments.”

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STUDENT [IN] GOVERNMENT

A unique facet of UW activism and involvement has been something many students might not realize is possible — being on local government as an elected official.

Elena Haasl is a rising junior, majoring in Community and Environmental Sociology and Political Science, and represents District 5 (a majority-student district) on the Dane County Board of Supervisors. On DCBS, they’re also on the Health and Human Needs Committee and Executive Committee. They took their place on the Board this past April, at age 20.

Making it onto local government started off way before Haasl even thought about running. They started out on the Campus Climate and Diversity Committee through the Associated Students of Madison (UW’s student government) Shared Governance Committee.

Haasl also was a student ambassador and student implementation board member for #IAmUW, chair of the College Democrats of Wisconsin Diversity Caucus, and outreach and membership director of College Democrats of UWMadison.

As part of their overarching political involvement, Haasl worked on a city council campaign in Madison, where they discovered a love for local government. And it was through this work others noticed Haasl’s potential. They were told by people on the campaign they would be well suited to DCBS and the work it does.

Haasl set off contacting people on the board, trying to learn what they could about supervisors’ day-to-day work and responsibilities. Later, the then-District 5 supervisor, Hayley Young, contacted them. Haasl was informed Young wasn’t running for re-election and that she furthermore thought they would be a perfect fit for the job.

“And after a lot of deliberation, I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll do it,’” Haasl said. “I decided to run also because there wasn’t another student running for District 5, and I thought it’s really important to have student representation in a district that’s predominantly students.”

And so the campaign was set to begin. Haasl said perhaps, unsurprisingly, it wasn’t easy.

“I won’t lie, it was a lot of work. And it was tricky to balance school and work and running a campaign,” they said. “But thankfully, I had a really strong support network … it’s really cool to see a lot of people my age getting involved in local politics and getting experience. And for my campaign, it was really cool to see a whole group of students coming together to do this.”

The campaign, for students and by students, had effects that propagated beyond Haasl’s own election. Their former campaign manager, Nada Elmikashfi, is now running her own campaign for state senate.

To those wanting to get involved, Haasl has some advice borne of experience, too.

“I would say it’s actually really easy to get involved in politics and [get] to know local elected officials and even state representatives. You can join political organizations on campus,

Illustrations by Nuha Dolby

whether it’s College Democrats or Republicans, or party neutral organizations,” Haasl said. “You can get involved in causes that get people registered to vote or opportunities to go canvas and knock on doors. There’s opportunities to phone bank or take a digital approach to reaching out to people for the political process.”

PROTEST WITHIN PANDEMIC

In the era of COVID-19, where some may fear going out or engaging in-person, some UW students have found other means to work on the causes they care about.

Alexandria Beam, a rising junior majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders, found a way to help out that doesn’t require her to leave her home and capitalizes on a theoretically unrelated skill she already had — jewelry making.

“I started making seed bead necklaces and bracelets earlier this year for my sisters and I to wear. A few months ago, as the Black Lives Matter movement was really gaining speed, I began reading into opportunities to support the cause,” she said. “One article I read encouraged artists and crafters like myself to use their talents as a means of raising money for organizations in need. After some research, I decided to raise money for the Innocence Project by crafting these necklaces and bracelets.”

Beam advertised her creations on social media platforms, and friends and family reached out within hours, inquiring purchase information. She credits some of that to the timing of current trends.

Seed bead jewelry has become a popular summer accessory, and she said she figured that would help her reach a larger audience.

To date, she’s done two rounds of custom jewelry so far, adding up to around 20 pieces of jewelry. One hundred percent of the proceeds have been donated to The Innocence Project, a nonprofit that seeks to overturn wrongful convictions and reform the justice

system.

Holtz also noted he tries to be active on social media about the causes he cares about.

“I have been very active on most of my social media platforms, which is very different for me. I used to never ever post anything on Instagram, and I didn’t really until around the end of May, when everything started really picking up. I realized I could not be silent,” Holtz said. “So that’s why I really started posting.”

Holtz said he wrote some statements on his own, specifically addressing those who, like him, are white. But he also stressed that he tried to post and share content from creators directly impacted by the causes he supported.

“I also share a lot of different posts made by Black creators and really just tried to not give my own beliefs. I just really tried to uplift Black voices,” he said. “If someone from my hometown hasn’t ever met a Black person, maybe they’ve met one or two in their lifetime, how are they ever going to hear these experiences if they don’t have voices being uplifted and shared on their timelines?”

Being from a predominantly white, conservative area, Holtz said social media was a huge tool for him — it’s accessible, takes fairly little effort to post on or share content and reaches a large audience fairly quickly.

If it happens to only reach a couple people, that’s okay too.

“Every single day I share something on Facebook. I make Instagram stories and retweet things on Twitter, and it may not be a lot, but I figure if there’s one or two people who see it and maybe disagree and want to talk about it, that’s still doing something,” he said.

Given the confusion surrounding COVID-19 and campus life, Minic is also working to make sure her messages on climate change get out despite the potential limitations. She said one focus will be thinking of projects that can continue their larger goal of pushing the administration toward clean energy. She’s hoping these projects can involve new students and be carried out despite COVID-19, like awareness campaigns or sharing relevant information on the subject.

Another goal is not only to support the students who will be on the Sustainability Advisory Council, but also make sure those elected are aware of what the student body at large is wanting to see happen.

And yet another focus will be utilizing the internet.

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to have some online petition drives and spread our petition to different organizations on campus, so that those groups can send them to their members,” Minic said. “I’m sure there’ll be a lot more social media engagement, in the age of COVID-19, and writing letters to the editors of different papers and things that people can see online.”

She added she wasn’t necessarily anticipating a downturn in efforts, just a change in how things are done.

“I think I think we’ll still be busy, it will just be a little different,” she said.

August 18, 2020• badgerherald.com • 11

OPINION

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We must give voices to incarcerated, end prison gerrymandering

America’s historic acts of racism and suppression did not end with slavery, rather they still live on within US prison system

by Kaitlin Kons Columnist

If one thing has resulted from our country’s incessant racism embedded in the fraying threads of our democracy that so arrogantly and hypocritically declared all men were created equal, it is an understanding that there is a perpetual famine begging for the fruits of justice in the innumerable masses of discarded and unrecognized lives.

There is never a lack of injustice, never a loss for wrongs that need to be righted, never a culture satisfied with half-freedoms and surface level equality.

Our country was bred impatiently, imperfectly and is immeasurably detrimental to the lives of those deprived of justice. There has been neither a time nor generation better able to recognize its faults whilst bathing in the glory of its imperfections.

We must give in to the hope that we are the generation we have been waiting for. We must come to the realization that we can actively address the failures of those that came before us.

Wisconsin is one of the biggest exploiters of prison gerrymandering in the nation. The Prison Gerrymandering Project describes this practice as, “When legislators rely on the Census Bureau’s prison counts to draw legislative districts, they unintentionally give extra representation to the

districts that contain prisons and dilute the votes of everyone else.”

State legislative districts in Wisconsin are drawn to include incarcerated people within the districts that those prisons are located. Since thousands of people within these districts are counted and treated as residential placeholders, this produces severely disproportional legislative districts. One could call them discount districts— the same amount of people for a fraction of the price.

Take Wisconsin’s District 53, for example, where 5,583 incarcerated peaple were counted in the last Census. Without this prison population, the district population would be 10% lower than its required size.

District 53 has a higher population of Black people than 74 other districts in Wisconsin. 2,784 Black people reside in district 53, but 79% are incarcerated. The prison in this district is made up of 49.9% Black people. The national statistics are not much better with Black people making up only 12.7% of the total population, but 41.3% of the incarcerated population.

Because of Wisconsin’s law stating that population is determined by the most recent Census count, the impact on the local level is dramatic, to say the least. Some examples include — 75% of District 2 in Waupun County is incarcerated, 62% of Adams County Districts 13 and 5 are incarcerated and 80% of one district and 53% of another district in Juneau City are

incarcerated.

It’s not just that much of these districts are majority incarcerated, it is also that many of their voices aren’t being heard.

When discussing the interests of his 61% incarcerated district, Ald. Ryan Mielke of D-3 of Waupun County said, “There’s no reason to communicate on property I don’t have access to.”

So, not only is this an issue disproportionately affecting Black Americans, it is also an issue of completely disregarding the interests of 2.3 million incarcerated people.

There has been a call to action, though one that has flown under the radar, for changing state law to count people who reside in prisons in Wisconsin at their last address before incarceration. There has even been a proposed amendment to the statues that require this change by the 2019-2020 State Legislature — deeming individuals in prisons as residents of their former municipalities, not the prison they inhabit.

It is time to reexamine the thought process that leads most people to believe incarcerated people should not be granted the right to vote.

There are two dominant reasons why people believe prison populations should not get the right to vote. First, it is that they have committed crimes deserving of forfeiture of their basic freedoms, hence prison. Secondly, they cannot participate fully in society, so there is no reason to cast a vote that won’t affect them.

To counter the first argument, I present the case argued in 1958 of Trop v. Dulles stating a prisoner cannot under law lose their right to citizenship.

The most basic and fundamental freedom one enjoys as a citizen is their right to vote. I implore you to consider that, for those in prisons who are subject to close quarters, lack of physical activity, violence, beatings, rape, psychological abuse, lack of adequate— in some cases, any— health care and an overall stripping of one’s humanity, being there is enough. It is overkill. They’re still citizens who deserve to elect a representative who is going to fight for their safety and ability to get back to the world they once knew.

Which leads me to my second counterargument— claiming prisoners don’t deserve the right to vote because it does not affect their lives. This is not only misleading, but follows the school of thought that a vote should only be cast for oneself. The abhorrent nature of a purely selfish vote is what is preventing these people from getting their voices heard.

There is no denying the institutional racism against Black Americans in our “justice” system.

Therefore, there is no argument to be made against enfranchising the incarcerated without directly contributing to the cyclical and inhumane system of racism that will hold back generations of Black Americans to come.

Kaitlin Kons (kkons@wisc.edu) is a junior studying political science and public policy.

Recording of Evers raises ethical questions beyond one-party consent

Secret recording of meeting between Evers, Republican officials creates heightened tensions which may be detrimental

by Samiha Bhushan Opinion Editor

The ethics behind recording someone without their consent has always been a bit of a gray area among lawmakers and citizens alike. As such, states vary widely in whether they require one or all parties’ consent to record a conversation.

Wisconsin’s one-party consent law recently came under fire following a recording May 14 of a private phone conversation released by Gov. Tony Evers’ staff. The conversation between Evers and Republican lawmakers had been released under an open records request. Evers claims he didn’t know the conversation was being recorded, rather it was one of his staff recording to maintain diligent notes on the meeting.

This has resulted in a bipartisan push to fire the staff responsible for the recording, with both Republicans on the call — Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau — calling for their dismissal. Rep. Jonathan Brostoff, D-Milwaukee, has also pushed for action to be taken against the person responsible.

Unsurprisingly, this event has created a deeper rift within an already tenuous relationship between Evers and the Republican legislature.

12• badgerherald.com • August 18, 2020

Fitzgerald was particularly critical of Evers.

“The governor has gone so far off the deep end, he’s making secret Nixon-esque recordings from the East Wing of the Capitol,” Fitzgerald stated.

“This conduct is totally unbecoming of our state’s top executive and opens up questions about what other recordings his administration may have.”

It is not difficult to see where Fitzgerald comes from. The mere act of recording a conversation between the governor and lawmakers without their knowledge was a severe lapse in judgement at best, a felony at worst.

For critics pushing for the termination of singleparty consent following this event, it may not even fall under this category. If Evers or his staff present in the recording didn’t authorize the recording, the staffer responsible committed a crime. Illegally recording a phone call is a Class H felony, subject to a fine of up to $10,000 and six years of prison time.

The deteriorating relationship between Evers and the Wisconsin Republicans has come with dire consequences to Wisconsin residents, including the absentee voter fiasco three months ago. Evers’ executive attempt to push the April elections back by two months was met with resistance from the Republican-controlled senate, resulting in a reversal in his decision. This was essentially

political performance on Evers’ part to artificially create distance between himself and the senate.

It is difficult to conclusively say whether the recording was an intentional gambit on Evers’ part. During the recording, Vos blamed the COVID-19 outbreak in Racine on immigrants, resulting in massive backlash from the Latinx community and Democrats — including Brostoff — all of whom are demanding Vos’ resignation.

Throughout this debacle, Evers has not revealed the staff involved in the recording or his place within all of this. He has refused to comment on whether Vos should resign, stating that he had not heard the recording. Yet, he was in the meeting itself.

This consistent lack of transparency from Wisconsin officials brings forth another important point. Yes, it was unprofessional, if not illegal, to record the telephone meeting. But why was this a telephone meeting in the first place?

The meeting was a result of the Wisconsin Supreme Court striking down Evers’ Safer-atHome order attempting to address the pandemic.

Republicans were resistant to the order, and in the meeting Evers and GOP leaders discussed the state’s actions in the coming months.

It is evident this meeting precluded to crucial action being taken in response to the pandemic.

Many, including Bill Lueders, the president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, have rightfully contended the state officials should have had their meeting in public given the importance of the issues at hand.

The political nuances behind the recording go far, far beyond one-party consent ethically. It all boils down to the bureaucratic nonsense that prevents state leaders from effectively serving the public.

Democrats say it was Republicans who started the rift by approving lame-duck laws limiting Evers’ power as governor. Republicans complain about Evers’ inability to compromise on proposed bills. And so on and so forth.

The constant back-and-forth between Evers and the GOP must end come November. Wisconsin has historically been a battleground state, and the political instability experienced by the state will have inevitable disastrous consequences. We have already risked the lives of Wisconsin residents in the past due to this dispute, let’s not risk the entire country’s future. This starts with increased accountability and transparency from our state officials.

Samiha Bhushan (bhushan3@badgerherald. com) is a sophomore majoring in English literature.

OPINION

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Wisconsin voter ID laws unfairly target out-of-state students

Common Cause lawsuit filed in response to unabashedly partisan voter laws that benefit Republicans, suppress student voting

by Anne Isman Columnist

This past March, as nearly every University of Wisconsin student was frantically packing their bags in the midst of the pandemic, the last thought on anyone’s mind was how they would vote in the Wisconsin primary.

When your columnist first registered to vote in Wisconsin as an out-of-state student, she vividly remembers telling her friend that they both would have plenty of time to get their Voter IDs at the Wiscard office before the April 7 primary election.

Come mid-March, both your columnist and friend were at home in New York, unable to vote absentee without the photo ID Wisconsin law requires.

Out-of-state students who plan to vote in Wisconsin state and local elections during their tenure at UW cannot vote in Wisconsin, even if they possess a state government-issued ID, voter registration, student ID and proof of enrollment.

Wisconsin voter laws require a state-issued photo ID be presented at the polls. A student’s campus photo ID may be used only if it contains the student’s name, issuance date, an expiration date

not more than two years after the issuance date and the student’s signature, which renders Wiscards non-compliant as voter IDs. Out-of-state students have to jump a hurdle in-state students don’t to vote. In-state students already possess a Wisconsin-issued photo ID card compliant with current voter laws — their driver’s licenses. The burden of obtaining a proper voter ID card falls on out-of-state students, and not in-state students. This was the basis of a lawsuit against the state filed by Common Cause, a national democracy reform organization.

At the crux of Common Cause’s lawsuit is its demand that Wisconsin laws remove enforcement of the issuance date, expiration date and signature requirements on photo ID laws.

If implemented this would ultimately allow UW students to use their Wiscard for voting. In 2011, a Republican-led legislature put these requirements into effect, which stated that the expiration date for a compliant voter ID must not exceed two years, even if issued by a four-year institution.

Executive Director of Common Cause Wisconsin Jay Heck posits that this legislation exists to discourage student voting.

“Obviously a lot of college students are

Republican, but their calculation is that more college students would likely vote for Democrats,” Heck said.

It may be advantageous for Republicans to prevent students from voting, as nearly 60% of voters between the ages of 18 and 25 identify as Democrats.

Regardless, Wisconsin voter laws are unnecessarily redundant, given that this is the only law that requires separate proof of enrollment when using a student ID to vote, in addition to the other required forms of ID out-of-state students must obtain.

It is clear that voting as an out-of-state student is more difficult, especially when considering the many incoming freshmen who are likely unaware of these regulations.

During the past election day, 989 compliant photo IDs were issued, proof that nearly 1,000 students had to scramble just to cast their ballot alongside their in-state peers.

The Common Cause lawsuit is one of three circulating right now arguing against essentially meaningless voter laws, including a 2015 lawsuit filed by One Wisconsin Institute that claims the requirement for a separate student ID with explicit

issuance and expiration dates does not protect against fraudulent voting.

While it is often the most popular argument in favor of instituting voter ID requirements, voter ID laws are proven to be ineffective against voter fraud, which doesn’t actually occur as often as these laws imply.

What voter ID laws truly prevent is high voter turnout, simultaneously disenfranchising about 21 million voters who lack proper voter IDs. As it pertains to the roughly 340,000 college students in Wisconsin alone, voter ID laws only serve to prevent a group with already low turnout from voting.

Still, Common Cause’s lawsuit is valid in that many current restrictions not only lack proven efficacy in preventing voter fraud — for instance, a two-year expiration date — but also create hurdles for a specific population of students in Wisconsin, which as the lawsuit argues, is unconstitutional.

For now, students can pick up their votercompliant ID from the Wiscard office during normal business hours, which have been adjusted to Mondays and Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Anne Isman (isman@wisc.edu) is a sophomore studying economics.

While court ruling protects DACA recipients, their fight isn’t over As DACA recipients find relief following Supreme Court ruling, Wisconsin, UW must ensure they are sufficiently represented

by Ken Wang Columnist

June 18, the Supreme Court successfully blocked the Trump Administration from terminating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals act. DACA is an Obama-era plan to protect individuals who are brought to the United States without documentation as children, allowing them to live and work in the country.

This is a major effort by the Supreme Court to prevent the deportation of nearly 700,000 DACA recipients and preserve diversity within our society. After all, what kind of politician would blame children for political or social issues?

Professor Charles Kupchan, who teaches International Affairs at Georgetown University and is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said “for Trump, making America great again means making it white again.”

The Trump administration argued that DACA cannot be created through the Executive Order, because an Executive Order bypasses congressional approval as a set of laws. Therefore, it centralizes more power to the Executive.

According to Trump, DACA is unconstitutional.

This argument is unjustified. The power of issuing Executive Orders is vested within Article II of the Constitution, stating that “[the president] shall take care that laws be faithfully executed.”

The Obama Administration saw DACA as fit to faithfully execute the 14th Amendment under the

equal protection clause, which applies to DACA recipients because they have the right to live and work in the U.S., making them naturalized citizens on both federal and state levels.

If the DACA Executive Order is unconstitutional, then Trump’s Executive Orders on the suspension of entry of nonimmigrants of certain students and researchers from China and suspensions of patients who present a risk to the U.S. Labor Market following the COVID-19 outbreak are also up for legal debate.

Both Executive Orders blocked legal immigration processes by restricting visas without Congressional approval or authorization.

Wouldn’t this also be a unilateral effort on immigration that centralizes power to Trump?

Trump’s argument to end DACA remains unjustified, ill-willed and most importantly, unconstitutional, as found by the Supreme Court.

After hearing the Supreme Court’s decision, Martín Batalla Vidal, a DACA recipient and activist who is a plaintiff in the case, said, “We are able to breathe a sigh of relief.”

There are around 6,600 active DACA recipients in Wisconsin. But, the future of the program still remains uncertain. For one, the Supreme Court defined the administration’s action as unconstitutional due to procedural issues, meaning that Trump will keep challenging the program with proper procedures. How can the public and the government protect DACA programs when it is challenged again?

DACA recipients must constantly renew their permits. While the permits allow them to legally live and work in the U.S., they could be denied opportunities at any given time.

“Because DACA recipients can be denied opportunities, they have the chance to be deported at any time, meaning that the protection offered by DACA is not absolute,”Assistant Professor Marla A. Ramirez, who was previously undocumented and is now teaching and researching immigration issues at the University of Wisconsin, said.

In the State of Wisconsin, permits do not have the same effects as legally distributed IDs like driver’s licenses, which would deny DACA recipients the right to exercise their political powers such as voting or holding offices. Why is this problematic? Because of this, policies regarding DACA and immigration made by the legislature lack proper representation.

This does not mean the undocumented community does not have a voice. But, according to Professor Ramirez, “the government responds to the voices poorly.” Therefore, the state legislature should pass laws to allow DACA recipients to apply for driver’s licenses or other legally distributed IDs. What can UW do to continue pushing for immigration reforms? For one, the Chancellor and the Board of Regents should pressure the state legislators and actively work with our Senators to allow DACA recipients to apply for Driver’s Licenses in Wisconsin. Another thing the

university should keep doing is establishing a safe space for all students where they feel welcome and respected. This is a multifold issue that the university needs to consider — financially, legally and mentally.

On the administrative side, the university should cooperate and offer more funding to the Dreamers of Wisconsin organization, as they provide scholarships to DACA recipients annually.

“The university should open up more organized funds so that students would have more sources to pay for their expenses,” Ramirez said.

“The university also has the power to advocate for undocumented students to pay for state-level tuition, which would be a good first step.”

On the legal side of the issue, the university should offer students free legal consultation and actively request equal protection and due process under the 14th Amendment. As Ramirez mentioned, DACA recipients constantly live with uncertainty and fear of deportation.

In order to achieve this, Anna Oltman, a PhD candidate in International Relations, believes that the university should protect students. “[The university should] ensure that UW students are not targeted by immigration enforcement and that the university protects their sensitive personal information,” Oltman said.

Ken Wang (hwang832@wisc.edu) is a sophomore majoring in political science.

August 18, 2020 • badgerherald.com • 13

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SPORTS

Football: Say hello to new generation of Wisconsin running backs With departure of running back Jonathan Taylor to NFL, Wisconsin backfield is up for grabs with multiple players vying for touches in 2020

by Charlie Dern Associate Sports Editor

After being spoiled year after year with NFL-caliber running back talent in the Badger backfield, Wisconsin fans should expect a change in pace this season. Instead of featuring a primary “Bell-Cow” backfield where teams rely on one running back to carry the load, like Jonathan Taylor over the past three seasons, this year, Wisconsin could shift toward running by committee.

This year ’s backfield features a deep running back class with no true standout.

Though familiar faces in Nakia Watson and Garrett Groshek are no Jonathan Taylor, those two backs, along with others, bring something unique to the table and can complement each other on the field, which will help fill the mammoth void of replacing the two-time Doak Walker Award winner.

Projected Starter — Nakia Watson (Redshirt Sophomore) With 74 touches in the 2019 season, Watson showed glimpses of his potential.

But, Watson could improve his vision and his ability to read blocks. Though he received the second-highest amount of touches last season, 34 of those were in nonconference play.

Watson saw the most action during the Sept. 7 showdown against Michigan and struggled, only tallying 13 carries for 31

yards — 2.4 yards per carry. The 5-foot-11inch, 225-pound back proved his patience and second-level speed in his game against Central Michigan. With about 8:40 left in the second quarter, Watson took a handoff from quarterback Jack Coan and ran an off-tackle zone run that was quickly snuffed out by the Central Michigan linebackers. Instead of fighting for one or two extra yards, Watson waited inside, found a hole to run, and exploded to the outside for a 23-yard gain.

As the leading returning rusher, expect Watson to get the majority of carries this season.

Projected No. 2 Back — Garrett Groshek (Redshirt Senior) Through three full seasons with the Badgers, Groshek has proved he can do it all. Whether it be rushing, receiving, blocking or even throwing the ball, Groshek is a guy on the Badgers that will get it done.

With 42 carries for 194 rushing yards last season, Groshek was primarily used as the third-down back and pass-catcher. Groshek is a great pass blocker and was used often for passing plays, where he caught 29 passes for 289 receiving yards. Wisconsin also used Groshek in the screen game, fooling defenses into thinking he was picking up pressure and then slipping out of the backfield into daylight.

Groshek’s receiving abilities were displayed in the Nov. 30 game against

Minnesota. With a ticket to the Big Ten Championship game on the line, Groshek fooled the defense and followed his blockers downfield for a 70-yard screen pass early in the fourth quarter. As the veteran of the Wisconsin backfield, Groshek’s role will likely be similar next season, with increased touches in-between the tackles on earlier downs.

No. 3 — Isaac Guerendo (Redshirt Sophomore) Though Guerendo is not familiar to the common fan, he may turn some heads next season. After originally coming to Madison as a wide receiver, Guerendo has battled through position changes and multiple injuries that rattled the earlier parts of his career.

During the final few games of the season, Guerendo was given more chances on the field. Guerendo displayed his speed and size — his two best features — against Minnesota. On a reverse kick return, Guerendo got loose for a 49-yard return in a crucial game. Next season, expect his role in the backfield and on special teams to get expanded even further, as the Badgers will want to maximize his potential.

No. 4 — Julius Davis (Redshirt Freshman) Davis should see playing time in some form next season, but what that will look like is up in the air at this point.

While touches are basically up for grabs,

Davis could work his way up during the summer and fall camps, but it is hard to see how Davis will get an extended role given how cluttered the backfield already is.

A powerful runner known for his ability to shake tackles, an injury suffered in high school derailed his freshman year in which he saw no playing time. His HUDL highlight tape shows his limitless potential as Davis consistently runs through multiple defenders, brushes off a few others then bursts downfield for a score, game in and game out.

While next year won’t be a breakout year for Davis, that does not mean his time will never come in Madison. His future is far too bright.

No. 5 — Jalen Berger (Freshman) The 6-foot-0-inch, 190-pound four-star recruit who committed to Madison this year is still undeclared on whether or not he will be receiving a redshirt to gain another year of eligibility.

The pro to Berger receiving the redshirt is that this season, he can still fully practice with the team and get minimal playing time, while still gaining a year of eligibility.

Berger ’s commitment to Wisconsin adds another strong running back to Wisconsin’s New Jersey pipeline, following Taylor ’s lead. Expect to see Berger during the final drives of games, getting touches and learning the college speed.

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As uncertainty surrounds football, Big Ten postpones fall sports season Players and coaches take to Twitter to express desire to play, as the university announces the season will be moved to spring

by Will Whitmore Sports Editor

After a rollercoaster 24-hour period, the Big Ten Conference has decided to move the 2019-20 fall sports season to next spring.

Last Sunday, rumors surfaced that Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren preferred fall sports to be played next spring, but Warren reported no final decision had been made.

After days of speculation, multiple sources Monday reported the Big Ten would postpone their Fall 2020 season.

Along with other sources, Dan Patrick reported 12 of the 14 presidents from the Big Ten voted against having a fall season.

According to Patrick’s report, presidents from Iowa and Nebraska were the only schools to support the fall season. With a formal announcement expected Tuesday, the Big Ten was under surveillance from the entire college football landscape.

After the Big Ten’s decision, the Pac12 also decided to move to the spring.

Meanwhile, the ACC and Big-12 are still weighing their options while the SEC seems to play their season as planned.

Though the Big Ten’s decision is major news, perhaps the greatest takeaway from the last couple of days has been the union from all of the football student-athletes coaches across the country in separate conferences.

Many players in the power five

conferences including 2019 Heisman finalist Justin Fields and projected 2020 first-round pick Trevor Lawrence have all tweeted out their desire to play. Behind Fields and Lawrence, players have made the hashtag “We Want To Play” trending around Twitter.

The unionization of players across the country could be more intimidating for the presidents at these universities. A players union created from this unfortunate situation could give athletes more of an opportunity to voice their opinions regarding controversial topics including being paid for their likeness.

There will be a lot of attention surrounding the other power five conferences’ decision for the 202021 football season. Regardless of their decision, there seem to be more questions rather than answers about how sports in America can go back to normal in a world going through a global pandemic.

“As the Big Ten statement indicates, sports are simply different from other campus activities. There is no way to preserve physical distancing during competition, and masking can make competition very difficult,” UW Chancellor Rebecca Blank and Athletic Director Barry Alvarez said in a statement. “As a result, playing the fall season would pose risks that we think are not acceptable for our student-athletes and our athletic staff.”

Photo- 12 of the 14 presidents from the Big Ten voted against having a fall football season Nuha Dolby The Badger Herald

Football: Breaking down Wisconsin’s quarterback competition

by Will Whitmore Sports Editor

After leading his team to a Rose Bowl appearance and finishing ninth in the NCAA in quarterback rating, you would think senior quarterback Jack Coan wouldn’t have to answer questions about his starting position.

Think again.

Some in the media believe that Coan, the three-year starter from Sayville, New York, could be surpassed by flashy redshirt freshman Graham Mertz. A June Sports Illustrated article ranked the position fight between Coan and Mertz as the Big Ten’s most competitive quarterback battle.

Though Mertz’s talent is undeniable, starting him over Coan to begin 2021 would be astronomically disrespectful to Coan. In 2019, Coan completed 69.6% of his passes and threw for 2,727 yards. Both are highs for Badger signal-callers since Russell Wilson’s epic 2011 campaign. Coan’s impressive statistics are just one of many reasons as to why he should be under center in 2021.

Many fans label Coan as a “game manager,” a quarterback that limits mistakes but also relies heavily on strong 16 • badgerherald.com • August 18, 2020

defensive play and the running game to get wins. Coan is much more. Last year, with a top-10 scoring defense and two-time Doak Walker Award winner Jonathan Taylor in the backfield, Coan gave Wisconsin the best opportunity to win consistently.

Now, with questions surrounding the running back position and three of Wisconsin’s four top receivers returning, Offensive Coordinator Joe Rudolph may showcase more of Coan’s arm talent. Last season, Coan ranked fifth in the Big Ten in yards per attempt (8). With the playbook opening up, Badger fans will hope this number increases this season.

A prime example of Coan’s passing on display was in Wisconsin’s Sept. 7 rout over Central Michigan. In the lopsided 61–0 win, Coan completed 26 of 33 passes for 363 yards and three touchdowns. Not only was Coan’s stat line impressive, but on multiple occasions, he showed his ability to complete the big play. Two of Coan’s three touchdown passes were over 35 yards. With an opened up playbook, Coan will look to take more shots in the upcoming season.

Coan also showed the ability to step up during Wisconsin’s biggest games in the 2021 season. In Wisconsin’s first major test against Michigan, it was Coan who made an

emphatic statement.

After Taylor went down dealing with cramps, Coan kept the Wolverine defense on their toes, using his legs to rush for two touchdowns that extended Wisconsin’s lead to 28–0. Coan’s big game on the ground created an insurmountable deficit for the visiting Wolverines and the Badgers cruised to a 35–14 victory.

In the Big Ten Championship game against Ohio State, Coan shined. Coan went 17-for-33 for 232 yards and again scampered for two touchdowns. Though Wisconsin fell to the Buckeyes, Coan accumulated an impressive 92.3 quarterback rating.

Without question, Coan’s experience and leadership prepare him for the big moments.

Though Coan will likely begin his senior campaign as the starter, backup Graham Mertz will be breathing down his neck.

Mertz, one of the Badgers’ best recruits in recent memory, has the potential to see the field this year. In two appearances, Mertz impressed and completed 9 of 10 passes for 73 yards in non-conference action. During his senior year at Blue Valley North High School in Overland Park, Kansas, Mertz threw for 3883 yards and 51 touchdowns. For his stellar play, Mertz was awarded Kansas’ Gatorade Player of the Year award, given to

the top athlete in the state.

What has Badger fans more excited is Mertz’s performance in the 2019 AllAmerican Bowl. In a game filled with the nation’s top recruits, Mertz shined and threw a bowl-game record five touchdown passes. The excitement surrounding Mertz has many wanting him to get the nod. The question is, will the lights will be too bright for the young quarterback?

Another thing to consider is, with today’s lenient transfer rules, Mertz could decide to play elsewhere if he becomes frustrated with his status on the depth chart. It has been a trend for quarterbacks to transfer schools and have success. The last three Heisman winners have won the award after transferring (Joe Burrow, Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield).

It will be interesting to see how this quarterback competition plays out if there is a season. While Badger fans want to see their team in action, questions surround who will be under center in 2021.

Though it is unclear which player will start, Badger fans should be reassured that the Badgers have two capable quarterbacks on their depth chart. The question is, who will be taking the snaps, and who will be donning the headset on the sideline?

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BANTER

Lakeshore kids more likely to survive COVID, uncredible college junior says No one wants to be unhappy in their residence hall – turns out, unhappiness could help keep freshmen safe during coronavirus pandemic

by Keagan Schlosser Banter Editor

Living in the dorms freshman year is an exhilarating, scary, novel experience. You have the opportunity to make new friends, take pride in your Lakeshore or Southeast neighborhood and discover that you’ve never loathed a person more than the one sleeping six feet away from.

As preventative safety efforts to slow the coronavirus will greatly impact residence halls, freshman year will look starkly different this upcoming fall. Not only will this quintessential college experience become tainted, but there may also be constant anxiety over receiving the virus in such tight quarters.

However, I have some good news … for people who may have believed their housing assignment is, well, bad news.

According to my own research, which is based purely on personal experience and anecdotal information, students living in the Lakeshore neighborhood will be more likely to never contract COVID-19.

I lived in Lakeshore my freshman year. I loved it in the way you might love a bad tattoo.

At first you’re skeptical and regretful, only to later embrace the character and charm it brings you. Initially, you only embarrassingly reveal it upon request, but you soon want to flaunt it to the world.

I truthfully only felt this way because of stigma.

Who says infinity signs aren’t coming back?

Um, rather, who wouldn’t want to live by the beautiful Lake Mendota?

Historically, UW students sneer at the Lakeshore neighborhood. It’s too far or there’s nothing to do or how could you be happy living among the dullest set of human beings you’ve ever encountered in your life?

While all of these may seem like negative attributes to most incoming freshmen, during a pandemic, they’re ideal!

Let’s start with the obvious – Lakeshore is a hike from most spots in Madison. Or at least it was for me because I’m a lazy piece of garbage and a slow walker. Freshman year, I took the bus. A lot. A lot a lot.

It may be harder to take the bus this fall as social distancing calls for lower passenger capacity. It’s likely Lakeshore kids will be forced to walk and/or bike everywhere. This is the safest option for a few reasons.

Because many eateries, activities and late-night excursions thatdefinitelydonottinvolvedrinking are on average a 30-minute walk, Lakeshore kids will have to think twice about whether or not going outside and/or exposing themselves to a potentially deadly and ridiculously spreadable virus is really worth it.

Southeast kids are more likely to engage in risky behavior because of their convenient proximity. The only thing that’s close in Lakeshore is the a) lake and b) the luxurious, state-of-theart dining halls.

Without these fun extracurriculars, Lakeshoreers will eventually get stuck in a monotonous (yet safe!) cycle of — waking up, groveling in disgust at the person they met on Facebook in May, going to class, having a Naked Juice and Clif bar for dinner, listening to Frank Ocean alone in their room (so as to pretend they’re the main character in a coming-of-age film) and going to bed.

Honestly? The CDC would be proud.

You’re wondering – of course some Lakeshore kids won’t go out and risk infection, but what about their friends who are a little more ballsy or own a scooter or something?

It’s extremely difficult to make friends in Lakeshore anyway, so it’s unlikely that most freshmen will have a friend group larger than three.

Not to say you can’t make friends in Kronshage or Dejope or what-have-you, but there’s nothing shameful in long, daily conversations with your mom.

With Lakeshore’s knack of creating there’s-no-one-elseso-we-may-as-well-be-friends friend groups, it will be simple for Lakeshore kids to keep their circle small and keep potential exposure to a minimum.

On average, you see less Photo · Freshman year will be tough without being able to see your friends. But that shouldn’t be a worry for those of you in Lakeshore. students around when living in Keagan Schlosser Lakeshore. Or maybe it’s that The Badger Herald you see the same people more frequently. That one guy that made you watch Mad Men after spending an entire date talking about Mad Men? Ya, you’ll see him at least twice a week. anything. beyond these basic human functions. With Lastly, no outsiders are coming to Lakeshore.

Of course, there are plenty of activities to do their can-do attitude, a Lakeshore kid can It’s mega convenient to pop over to Gordon’s on the lake — hammocking, strolling, studying, make anything as fun as it is over in Southeast. or Rheta’s Dining Hall between classes. It’s fun eating, crying — but all of these can be done Count your blessings Lakeshore-ers! You’ve to play basketball or the spikey game with a either completely alone or six feet away from been granted a foolproof way to stay healthy mini-trampoline outside of Sellery. You know someone! during the pandemic! Enjoy the view, wear what’s neither fun nor convenient?

There’s no need for any first-year to be your masks and try — but not too hard — to Coming to Lakeshore to do literally risking their health doing activities that go make some friends for goodness’ sake.

Augst 18, 2020 • badgerherald.com • 17

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Conquering corona-campus: a guide, presented by yours truly COVID-19 is bringing plenty of changes to our beloved campus, but with these easy tips and tricks, it’ll feel pandemic-less in no time!

by Keagan Schlosser Banter Editor

Raise your hand if you’ve heard the word “unprecedented” more times in the past month than in your entire life. Let that feeling of raising your hand really sink in, feel the stretch in your triceps and let the stench of your natural deodorant come wafting into your nostrils.

You may not get to experience this sensation for another five months.

It’s safe to say that the University of Wisconsin– Madison’s campus will be … unparalleled to anything us college kids have experienced before.

Becky Blank has promised us a hybrid school year, but as I’ve been presented with solely online classes, the only hybrid I’m worrying about is a respectable pajama/functioning adult clothes combo.

If you plan on leaving your living quarters at all next semester and are anxious about what the semester will look like, you’ve stumbled upon the right article. This is your go-to guide to living out your fabbest life on UW’s Corona Campus!

Masks Let’s talk facial coverings. Whether you’re a Fashionista or a Plain Jane, you don’t have to let this requirement become a blah moment! While wearing masks can feel drab, the coverings themselves don’t have to be. One easy trick to liven up your look is to pick a bold solid color that can easily match (or clash with) any outfit! Neon green, pastel pink, denim even!

If you’re a little spunkier, choose a more intricate design (hint! pattern on pattern is very in right now.)

It never hurts to add a little sparkle to your mask.

Don’t be shy, and grab the glitter glue!

Above anything, use a mask to your advantage.

You have the opportunity to cover nearly half of your face. No matter how naturally beautiful you are at 8:50 in the morning, this is a blessing, honey.

Slap on some thick eyeliner, and call it a lewk.

6 feet protocol I’ve often made some of my closest class friends by sitting one foot apart in a computer lab, constantly invading their space to make sure I’m doing an assignment correctly. This, unfortunately, will not be happening anymore. Instead, people are going to have to rely on their natural wit and charm to make class friends.

Tough, I know. Luckily, I have some tips.

Practice on your roommates or prepare phrases to say, “Emily, that’s a great point you made. Also, do you want to be socially distant pals outside of class? We could bake brownies over Zoom and use the Microsoft Teams chat function to talk all night long!”

Although proximity may not be a contributing factor, remaining sweet and thoughtful will attract new acquaintances. The same goes for class crushes.

No, you won’t be having a Cady Heron “It’s October 3rd” moment, but you can flex your smarts at a distance — even if that distance is online.

For those reliant on attractive classmates to keep you on your toes, have no fear. Canvas pages are extremely helpful tools to find the full name of a classmate. Employ a stealthy friend or take it upon yourself to find their Venmo, Linkedin and Spotify profiles.

Ever heard of the Campus Directory? Suddenly, you have their digits. Smooth as ever.

Besides classes, let’s think of some more socially distant dilemmas. The Carte line? Crossing University during a passing period? Until the university addresses these issues, you may want to consider packing your own paninis for lunches and using alternate routes — such as the tunnels — to get from class to class.

Get-togethers This one may be the most difficult to adjust to.

In a pandemic, you can’t trust anyone. One must carefully pick and choose who to spend time with.

I recommend establishing a small group of friends and only doing activities with them. No study dates, no tinder matches. Now, if you’re anything like me, you only hang out with a rather small, exclusive group anyway, so it shouldn’t be that much of a change.

But this also means you won’t be able to do regular friend group activities. Here are some alternatives: Instead of going to Memorial Union’s Open Mic Night, simply host one yourself.

Instead of pursuing Paul’s Pelmeni after a long Thursday night at the library, fancy up your own homemade dumplings. How hard could it be?

Instead of bouncing from frat to frat on Friday night, drink alone in your room and cry to Mitski’s latest album.

Coronalternatives can be fun!

Online School Rumor has it that only the prettiest, most talented, smartest, coolest people have a completely online schedule this fall. So if you’re like me, you might also have all of your classes at a remote distance.

Truthfully, this blows. But it presents a few fun options to go along with it.

If coffee shops open, you can become a grungy, mysterious regular at Colectivo. Pretend to be a moody Master’s student while you’re really just skimming the first sentence of each paragraph of an assigned reading.

Having class online also presents you with the option to multitask during class. Instead of scrolling through Twitter during your chem lecture, do something productive. Baking pumpkin bread or aligning your chakras. Laying face down and dreading your existence is also an option.

Hopefully by this point, your nerves around fall semester have eased. The vibes will no doubt be dramatically different, but it’s up to YOU to make the best of covidity. Peace, love, wear your mask.

August 18, 2020 • badgerherald.com • 19