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THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1969 Volume XLIV, Issue 93
Thursday, March 14, 2013
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Chancellor finalist addresses funding Noah Goetzel State Politics Editor The last finalist candidate who could become University of Wisconsin’s next chancellor visited campus Wednesday to lay out her priorities of maintaining funding for the university, leveraging new educational technologies and expanding community outreach. Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank currently serves as acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, where she is responsible for a dozen federal agencies with a nearly $10 billion total budget. However, Blank said she now wants to leave the ubiquitous political battles in government and return to the realm of academia. “I’ve been there long enough, and I’m sort of ready to come back home again,” Blank said, adding her time in Commerce reaffirmed these feelings of nostalgia. The Minnesota native said she has been around big public universities a large
part of her life, teaching undergraduate, graduate and professional students alike. Blank is no stranger to UW. She was a finalist for the chancellor position five years ago and was a visiting fellow at Wisconsin’s Department of Economics and Institute for Research on Poverty in 1985. She began her day in Madison by answering student, faculty and community members’ questions during a public reception at the Chazen Museum of Art. Afterward, Blank fielded media questions ranging from rising tuition rates and fundraising efforts, to addressing labor licensing controversies and educational trends in the digital age. As someone with a rich background in economics, Blank said if chosen to be UW’s new chancellor, her objective would be to ensure the university has the funding to continue to operate at a high level. “The first priority for any chancellor has to be dealing with the balance between getting the budget
of this university together and making sure there is access for all students, particularly students in the state,” Blank said. Raising tuition among instate students is the last place UW should look to increase revenues, Blank said. She did not rule out the possibility of allowing out-of-state tuition to be more competitive peer institutions, but advocated for more outside fundraising campaigns from the Wisconsin Alumni Association and UW Foundation. While Blank said she would love to believe the state will give more funding to UW, she acknowledged the university cannot count on this and taxpayer funding will likely continue to plummet. “That’s one of the sad facts of virtually every public university in the country,” she said. Blank has switched between educational and bureaucratic positions for years. She was a an economics professor at Princeton and Northwestern, director for
Andy Fate The Badger Herald
Acting Secretary of Commerce and UW Chancellor candidate Rebecca Blank visited campus Wednesday. She said she wants to return to the world of academia. the Joint Center for Poverty Research, and a member of former President Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers. Blank also ran University of Michigan’s School for Public Policy for nine years.
UW’s Chancellor Search and Screen Committee Chair David McDonald said it would be difficult to miss a candidate as qualified and Blank when selecting finalists for the position. “She had distinguished
herself in every area of priority for a chancellor,” McDonald said. Blank did not comment on the Adidas lawsuit and Chancellor David Ward’s
BLANK, page 2
Five-year transit proposal approved City committee votes for plan to study, put in place effective changes to Madison bus routes Stephanie Awe Reporter
Andy Fate The Badger Herald
Newly elected members of University of Wisconsin’s student government rejoiced when results were announced Wednesday. The student body also voted for a new ASM constitution with 3,065 votes.
New ASM constitution passes 72 percent of student voters support structural changes to student government in election Muge Niu Higer Education Editor University of Wisconsin’s student body voted to pass a new student government
constitution that will alter some branches of the Associated Students of Madison and introduce new ones. The 15-page-long new constitution, which
includes various changes to the structure of the Associated Students of Madison, was voted on by a total of 4,255 students across campus in a threeday period from March
11 to March 13. It won by 3,065 online votes, with 72 percent of students voting in favor of it.
ASM CONSTITUTION, page 4
A city committee approved a five-year plan with potential for changes in the Metro Transit system at a meeting Wednesday. According to Mike Cechvala, Transportation Planner for the Metropolitan Planning Organization, the Transit Development Plan starts this year and will continue through 2017. The plan would continue to study and implement changes to configure the most efficient bus routes possible, he said. The Metro Transit experienced problems with overcrowding and bus stop spacing in the past, Cechvala said. While bus service hours have only been increasing 1 percent each year, ridership has been increasing by over 4.5 percent per year, he said. The buses currently stop on every block, which is excessive and only slows the
system, Cechvala said. MPO proposed consolidating the stops from eight to 10 per mile to four to six per mile, especially in the busiest neighborhoods on Johnson and Gorham Streets, Jenifer Street and Monroe Street, he said. Cechvala said MPO is more concerned with improving the speed and reliability of the system than it is with having stops closer together. By consolidating stops, the bus system is expected to run faster, he said. “You may have to walk a little bit farther, but you’ll have faster, more reliable service once you get there,” Cechvala said. The Transit and Parking Commission expressed concern about reactions from transit users, pointing out bus stop spacing would be less convenient. Ken Golden, a TRC member, said he understood
TRANSIT, page 6
Student leaders propose midterm policy INSIDE In 17-1 vote, Student Council supports legislation to allow students to rearrange exams falling in two-day span Alice Coyne Reporter Members of University of Wisconsin’s student government addressed proposals for establishing a two-day midterm policy that would closely resemble current rules for final exams as well as a freshman alcohol advising requirement in a meeting Wednesday. Currently, if a student has three finals within 24 hours, that student is able to approach their professor to have one of those
finals rescheduled. The student must be able to provide evidence of their finals schedule through the Student Center in order to be considered for exemption. Associated Students of Madison Vice Chair Maria Giannopolous said the midterm legislation would similarly allow students the opportunity to rearrange their midterms should they have three during the span of two school days. Like the finals legislation, the decision would ultimately be based on professor
discretion, but requests may have more sway with this legislation backing them, Giannopoulos said. Giannopoulos proposed the time stipulation be made longer than the 24 hours placed on finals legislation because students are also still attending class during the time they are taking their midterms. “I think there’s a really solid case for having the time requirement at two days,” Giannopoulos said, noting during finals, students have more time to
study and prepare without the imposition of classes. The two-day midterm legislation was originally proposed under the condition that each midterm must be worth 15 percent of the student’s grade in order to be considered. Rep. Libby Wick Bander questioned whether or not this policy was necessary, noting it is a decision that can be left up to professors on an individual basis. Faculty would still be able to use their discretion when granting students’
© 2013 BADGER HERALD
midterm modification requests, Giannopoulos said. She stressed enacting a policy, however, would help students realize they have the opportunity to have a say in their schedule in the first place. “This policy would help students that don’t realize they can have their exams changed,” Giannopoulos said, noting she personally encountered an issue of “crammed, back-to-back midterms,” and hopes to help students avoid
MIDTERM POLICY, page 6
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