THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN’S ISCO ONSIN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER APER SINCE 1969 Friday, September 30, 2011
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Volume XLIII, XL Issue 19
SPORTS | PREVIEW
ARTS | CONCERT PREVIEW
NEWS | HEALTH
Wilson, Martinez head conference battle
Toronto twosome Zeds Dead to bring Madison’s ‘Pulp Fiction’ generation a dose of dubstep with performance Saturday | 7
With flu season approaching...
In highly anticipated matchup, Badgers and Huskers ready to determine best in Big Ten | 10
Find out where you can get your free shot on campus starting tarting tomorrow | 2
Advising changes coming to SOAR Registration program will give students more time to pick classes, get guidance Jackie Allen Campus Reporter After two years of reviewing orientation programming for incoming University of Wisconsin students, UW is changing the first-year registration program to give students more time to pick classes and get advising before they start off their first semester on campus. While the majority of the changes to the Student Orientation, Advising and Registration will focus on advising and scheduling issues, minor adjustments will also be made to the program’s parent and guest programs, health and safety information as well as placement exams, said Wren Singer, director of the Center for the First Year Experience. “A lot of the feedback we get from students on SOAR is that they wish they had more time on course selection, that
they feel rushed and it’s stressful,” Singer said. “And our goal is to spread it out, and then they have more time to talk to their parents as well.” In the past, SOAR participants met with their advisers on the second day of orientation. Advising and enrollment will now span for two days to give students an opportunity to consider registration more and discuss options with their parents, she said. She added advising would still include both individual and group advising sessions. Transfer students will have more time to meet individually with an adviser to discuss transfer academic needs. Associate Dean Kevin Helmkamp said the advising changes are intended to improve the student experience at orientation. He added an extensive review of the SOAR program has been underway for about two years and included University Housing and advising departments across campus. Cross-College Advising Services Assistant Director Becky Ryan said advisers are aware of the changes
to SOAR and are currently determining how best to implement the new advising procedures to help new students. “Basically all the details are being worked out as we speak,” Ryan said. “We are excited about it, and we are really interested in doing it a different way and think[ing] more clearly about how we satisfy those needs.” Singer added the costs to the SOAR program will not increase due to these changes, and in some cases are expected to decrease. CFYE Assistant Director Carren Martin said placement exams would also be offered at various UW campuses before orientation begins, giving new students more options to take exams and the ability to travel to a campus closer to home before they meet their advisers in Madison. Martin added the parent and guest information would move to focus more on the transition for new students from home to college, rather than the detailed information they received in the past, which
SOAR, page 4
Malory Goldin The Badger Herald
The Center for the First Year Experience, located on Park Street, plays a role in some of the programs offered at SOAR.
Legislature gets to work to create Wis. jobs Dems suspicious of partisan motivation, agree on need for more employment Matt Huppert State Editor On Thursday, the Wisconsin state Legislature officially kicked off a special session on jobs called by Gov. Scott Walker, whose
claims of bipartisan motives drew question from some Democratic representatives. Members of the Senate and Assembly briefly convened Thursday morning to “gavel off” the special session on jobs called by Walker, Andrew Welhouse, spokesperson for Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said. The meeting was adjourned following the introduction of the session, he said.
The special session will run concurrently with the regular spring session of the Legislature and will include bills authored by both Democrats and Republicans. Floor meetings on the special session will convene on the same day of the next regular session meeting of the Legislature in midOctober, Welhouse said. Walker issued the executive order calling for the special session, dubbed “Back to Work Wisconsin,”
in order to keep the Legislature focused on the creation of jobs, according to a statement from Walker. In the statement, Walker said the special session offers certainty to employees and state employers that officials are committed to creating more jobs. He said the session also makes his campaign promise to create $250,000 a more realistic possibility. “My administration
Gearing up for Game Day A production worker for ESPN helps set up the College GameDay stage on Bascom Hill. Thursday, workers set up the skeleton stage that will host the college football show this weekend. The network will broadcast from the hill leading up to the highly anticipated game that will pit the Badgers against the University of Nebraska. Malory Goldin The Badger Herald
remains focused on job creation and this special session includes legislation from both sides of the aisle that will make it easier for employers to create 250,000 private sector jobs,” Walker said in the statement. While the special session was mandated by Walker, Welhouse said the session gives more flexibility to the Assembly and Senate. For instance, members of the Legislature can call floor meetings prior to the
next scheduled meeting in mid-October. In the Democratic weekly radio address Thursday, Rep. Barca, D-Kenosha, said the Democratic representatives appreciate the governor’s inclusion of several bills proposed by members of their party. However, he said the overall effect of the session will strongly favors the implementation
WALKER, page 4
Sen. pushes for less disclosure Grothman: Campaign donations more than $100 should not need to include employer Katherine Krueger Deputy News Editor Citizens contributing to state political campaigns could no longer be required to disclose their employer if a proposal from a conservative lawmakers alters current Wisconsin law. Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, called Thursday to end the requirement from the state that says individuals donating more than $100 to a candidate are required to share their employment information. In an interview with The Badger Herald, Grothman said the measure, which is currently being drafted, comes after boycotts of Wisconsin companies based on donations made to partisan campaigns. He cited a boycott of Georgia Pacific products, a company owned by Koch Industries, Inc., which Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, promoted as the latest example of singling out contributors
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based on their political leanings. “We have a new level of instability in this state because unions and certain legislators have been calling for the boycotting of businesses who support Republicans,” he said. Grothman said the original spirit of the state law for disclosure of a contributor ’s occupation and employer embodied a political climate in the state that did not support powerful groups or elected officials encouraging the boycott of state companies. Should the current rules of disclosure continue in the state, he cautioned that against the “chilling effect” that citizens could grow more hesitant to contribute to campaigns out of fear for negative retribution for their small business or employer. He added such boycotts of state businesses only function to worsen the unemployment rate.
GROTHMAN, page 4