THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER R SINC SINCE CE 1 1969 969 NEWS
Vo V ollu u ume mee X m LIIII, L II Issue 6 II Volume XLIII, 69
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
www.badgerherald.com
ARTS
| CITY LIFE
Snow-free December bodes well for city coffers ers
SPORTS | MEN'S HOCKEY
| SPOT ON
“Mad Men” will meet Dean Martin at an upcoming student organization’s dance event at the Majestic. | 2
Madison has yet to be smacked with a blizzard this season, leading to thousands of dollars in savings. | 4
All the pieces are there The Wisconsin men’s hockey team has the talent to take down topshelf teams, but many of its players have seen too few winters. | 8
ACLU hits voter ID law with suit Tori Thompson News Reporter A Wisconsin civil liberties activist group has filed a lawsuit against Gov. Scott Walker alleging the new voter ID law unconstitutional. On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin filed a lawsuit against the voter ID law, which goes into effect in February. They argue that besides being unconstitutional, the voter ID law disenfranchises voters. “The photo ID law imposes a severe and undue burden on the fundamental right to vote under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution,” the complaint says. According to the complaint, the law is also in violation of the 24th amendment, which bans poll taxes. However, Republicans have argued the new law will preserve the value of
elections. The practice of requiring photo identification will prevent fraudulent attempts to vote, Walker spokesperson Cullen Werwie said in an email to The Badger Herald. “Requiring photo identification to vote helps to ensure the integrity of our elections,” he said. “We already require it to get a library card, cold medicine and public assistance.” Along with the governor, members of the Government Accountability Board were also listed as defendants in the complaint. Reid Magney, spokesperson for the GAB, said the board is in charge of implementing the voter ID law. Individual members, he said, are responsible for a number of tasks, including educating the public about the new law, training election workers and making the necessary changes to the voter registration system. However, an ACLU
member said the new law jeopardizes the democratic process. “The right to vote is part of the basis for our whole democracy,” Stacy Harbaugh, spokesperson for the ACLU of Wisconsin, said. “Real voters in Wisconsin will be affected by this law.” Harbaugh said ACLU is representing groups of people who are less likely to have government-issued IDs, such as students, veterans, people with disabilities, people from low-income households Matt Hintz The Badger Herald file photo and people of color from A student casts a fake ballot at Memorial Union earlier this fall. After the voter ID bill was signed into law, officials at the campus the Milwaukee area. The and city level braced for the law’s logistical changes by hosting mock elections where voters could do a run-through at the polls. plaintiffs of the ACLU lawsuit are all residents of Wisconsin and represent VOTER ID BILL DISCRIMINATION CLAIMS many of the groups ACLU The ACLU alleges six classes of people are discriminated against by the recently-passed voter ID bill. said will be affected by They are the people who: voter ID the most. • ... for legal or practical reasons are finding it nearly impossible to get the underlying According to Harbaugh, documents necessary ACLU is not the only • ... will face a severe financial burden to acquire a birth certificate or drive to a state DMV opponent of the voter office. ID law. She said it has • ... would have to surrender their out-of-state licenses to get a Wisconsin ID. also been challenged in • ... are enrolled in state technical colleges that lack an acceptable photo ID. Wisconsin state court based • ... cannot afford to pay to get a certified copy of their birth certificate in order to get a free on the state constitution. photo ID. ACLU, page 2 • ... lack an acceptable photo ID but have a Veterans Identification Card.
‘Suspicious’ recall signatures OK, with conditions Adrianna Viswanatha State Reporter The top elections officials in the state decided Tuesday to allow only signers and circulators of recall petitions to prepare the petitions and to allow technical college students to use their student IDs to identify themselves at the
polls. At their meeting Tuesday, the Government Accountability Board voted to reverse their decision from Sept. 9, which stated that technical college IDs could not be used to vote. They decided unanimously, based on the lesser likelihood of fraud with technical school IDs.
The board also voted Tuesday to ensure more security with recall petitions. They decided an individual must have their signature examined by both the electors and the circulators, and only a signer or circulator can prepare a petition. GAB elections specialist David Buerger and
Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act Coordinator Katie Muller spoke to the GAB’s strategy for review of recall petitions. Currently, Gov. Scott Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and four Wisconsin senators may face recall elections. He said there are
A studying pause for paws A friendly pup visits students at Chadbourne Hall who are in the midst of one of the most academically stressful weeks of the year. Matt Hintz The Badger Herald
presently 300,000 petition pages of the 540,208 needed by Jan. 17, 2012, for a successful recall. Petitioners declined providing a more updated figure at the meeting. Buerger and Muller addressed concerns over the hiring of temporary staff to assist in the review process. They said they
would be screening for partisan tendencies in their potential employees. “The overarching priority for the staff we are hiring is that they are coming from a nonpartisan basis,” Buerger said. There were also
GAB, page 4
Changes could limit Pell grants Federal education aid awarded may truncate; students may have harder time qualifiying Katie Caron Campus Reporter
Prankster reflects on subversive acts Adelaide Blanchard News Editor Years ago, armed with super soakers loaded with cheap perfume, members of the Ten Fat Tigers commandeered the University of Wisconsin student government — holding them hostage until campus police arrived. Taking the student government hostage
was only one of the outrageous pranks staged by the group to subvert normal campus life. Ben Granby was the leader of the guerilla art group known as the Ten Fat Tigers — a prominent purveyor of mild chaos on campus in the late ‘90s. After spending years in the Middle East writing and doing humanitarian work with a non-profit, Granby is
back in Madison and sat down with The Badger Herald to retell some of the highlights and stories behind the cacophony. The Ten Fat Tigers started when Granby and a friend were talking about the Pail and Shovel Party, a prank group from the 1970s that is famous for building the giant Statute of Liberty on Lake Mendota and for sneaking thousands
of pink flamingo yard decorations on to Bascom Hill. From there, Granby said his next thought was, “Why don’t we take over student government?” Early in the campaign trail, Granby and other members of the Ten Fat Tigers mock-crucified a student in Library Mall — the student Jesus even
TEN FAT TIGERS, page 2
© 2011 BADGER HERALD
Proposed changes to the Federal Pell Grant Program in the 2012 federal budget could impact college students across the nation, including those at the University of Wisconsin. Using parts of bills proposed by the U.S. House and Senate, the bill for the 2012 Department of Education budget would reportedly eliminate the six-month grace period for government-paid interest on subsidized loans and reduce Pell Grant eligibility from 18 semesters to 12. In addition, the changes would bar students without a high school diploma or equivalent from receiving Pell Grants and reduce the family income where no payment toward education is necessary from $30,000 to $20,000 a year. UW Director of Financial Aid Susan Fischer said it is important to remember that the latest developments are proposals, and things could change. However, she said the changes as proposed would mainly impact students receiving the Pell Grant or subsidized Stafford Loans at UW.
She said the proposal made her somewhat concerned about costs to other programs, and the elimination of the sixmonth grace period — which would reportedly save $400 million for the fiscal year — is most worrisome to her. Fischer added in the 2010-11 academic year at UW, about 5,250 students received the Federal Pell Grant, which equals about $19 million in aid. She said not many students would be affected by the other parts of the proposal. The piece requiring a high school degree or equivalent for eligibility would not affect the school because of admissions standards. Kyle Sanger, a spokesperson for the Wisconsin Association of Student Financial Administrators, a nonprofit organization supporting financial aid administrators and agencies involved in Wisconsin’s postsecondary education, said the possible cuts to the Pell funding could be a big blow to UW and colleges across the U.S. He added the bigger issue is the reduction of funds to subsidized loans
GRANTS, page 4