'Stemming from Spring Street' - Volume 50, Issue 17

STUDENT MEDIA AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN

TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019 · VOL 50 Issue 17 · BADGERHERALD.COM

Stemming from

Spring STREET Cell biologists, biomedical engineers alike discuss the history and potential of UW’s pioneering stem cell research.

pg. 12

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Evers receives praise for a racially diverse cabinet, but criticisms for its lack of rural representation.

NONAME, NO PROBLEM Chicago rapper brings short but lively show to a packed Sylvee crowd.

Riley Liegel Austin Grandinetti Noah May

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FEATURE

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OPINION

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LEGISLATIVE CALENDAR DISCRIMINATES AGAINST JEWISH LEADERS

ARTSETC

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SPORTS

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Plans to hold legislative sessions on Jewish holidays will force Jewish leaders to choose between serving their communities and worship.

DIVERSIONS

WOMEN’S HOCKEY: BADGERS POISED TO EMULATE PAST SUCCESS

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Another dominant campaign under Head Coach Mark Johnson has drawn similarities to past championship teams, but this year’s Badgers are writing their own story.

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PHOTO

NONAME IN MADTOWN

Photo · Noname stuns Madison on last stop of ‘Room 25’ tour.

Quinn Beaupre The Badger Herald

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Wisconsin smoking rates above average, vaping rates on the rise

Expert says people are ‘deeply misled’ in believing vaping is healthy alternative to smoking, as both pose health risks

by Nuha Dolby State Editor

While smoking rates have gone down amongst adults in the state of Wisconsin, vaping rates amongst teens have gone up, recent reports suggest.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the state’s smoking rate has dropped five points since 2011, although it is still above the national average of 14 percent.

Vaping rates, however, tell a different story. According to WSAU, 20 percent of Wisconsin students vape, up from eight percent in 2014. Additionally, one in five has tried an electronic cigarette in their lifetime.

Lorraine Lathan, director of the Wisconsin Tobacco Prevention and Poverty Network, said the downward trend in smoking is not a recent development.

“The cigarette smoking rate has been on a downward trend nationwide since 1964 when the U.S. Surgeon General sound the alarm by concluding that cigarettes is the cause of lung cancer in men and a probable cause of lung cancer in women,” Lathan said.

“Each year in Wisconsin, 7,356

[people] die from tobacco-related disease and illness. These are preventable deaths. ” Lorraine Lathan Director, Wisconsin Tobacco Prevention and Poverty Network Lathan said public policy continued to dissuade smokers. She cited the Fairness Doctrine of 1968, which required public service announcements warn viewers of health risks linked to tobacco.

Darcie Warren, senior manager of Tobacco Control at the American Lung Association in Wisconsin, added that the state of Wisconsin took steps as well.

“Wisconsin [has taken] bold action, too,” Warren said. “We went smoke-free in all workplaces, including all restaurants and bars. We increased cigarette taxes because we know many smokers, especially young smokers, are price sensitive. These strong policies encouraged people to quit smoking and kept kids from starting.”

But rates of vape usage have gone up, along with the economic value of electronic 4 • badgerherald.com • January 29, 2019

cigarettes. At the forefront of this surge in vaping is JUUL, a popular electronic cigarette company valued at $15 billion as of July 2018.

“Vaping is probably less harmful than smoking, but not harmless.”

Megan Piper Associate research director, UW Center for Tobacco Research and Investigation

According to a press release from the CDC, JUUL’s sales of individual devices went from 2.2 million in 2016 to 16.2 million in 2017. By December 2017, JUUL had the largest electronic cigarette share in the marketplace, comprising nearly one in three electronic cigarettes sold.

Megan Piper, associate director of research at the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, said the FDA has been cracking down on electronic cigarettes after seeing the rise in underage usage.

She cited that, under pressure from the FDA, JUUL rolled back its social media presence because its advertisements were seen to appeal to youth.

She also emphasized how deeply misled many people are in thinking that electronic cigarettes are a “healthy alternative” to cigarettes.

“It wasn’t until after 40 or 50 years of many Americans smoking that the links between smoking and diseases such as lung cancer, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and other risks were detected,” Piper said, suggesting that it is a very new trend that will require study over time.

She explained that the vapor produced by electronic cigarettes does not contain carbon monoxide or certain other harmful byproducts that are commonly found in cigarettes.

Lathan, however, added that JUUL pods are still highly addictive and contain nicotine, the key substance from cigarettes. One JUUL pod contains the same amount of nicotine as a pack of cigarettes.

Regardless, Piper said that electronic

cigarette cartridges and the resulting vapor do appear to be less harmful, although still not healthy.

“Based on laboratory studies done in the past few years, it appears that vapor contains fewer toxic substances, and in particular, fewer carcinogens, than does tobacco smoke,” Piper said. “It is not entirely free of harmful substances, though, so it would probably be most accurate to say that based on what we know now, vaping is probably less harmful than smoking, but not harmless.”

Warren added that regardless of whether electronic cigarettes are less harmful, they have become extremely popular among teenagers and underage children.

When it comes to vaping and its relationship to cigarette usage, however,

there appears to be a consensus.

“In research conducted by UW CTRI, adults who smoked and vaped tended not to quit smoking, but to continue both smoking and vaping — creating a dual addiction,” Piper said.

She cited a 2013-14 survey conducted among ninth graders in California, which found that those who had used electronic cigarettes were almost five times more likely to have used other nicotine products, like cigarettes and hookah, in the previous six months.

When it comes to these addictions, Lathan said they unfortunately cost human lives.

“Each year in Wisconsin, 7,356 die from tobacco-related disease and illness,” Lathan said. “These are preventable deaths.”

Photo · Wisconsin’s smoking rates have dropped five points since 2011, but they still remain above the national average of 14 percent.

Emily Hamer The Badger Herald

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Bus Rapid Transit program seeks to advance inclusivity in Madison

Proponents believe BRT could make public transportation more accessible to underserved neighborhoods, people with disabilities

by Molly DeVore City Editor

current metro system, the website said.

Trowbridge said that while BRT would increase frequency and reduce travel time, lack of funding may limit its overall impact. Trowbridge said Wisconsin’s lack of Regional Transit Authorities, which were made illegal during the 2011-2012

transportation system, they cannot access these jobs.

This, in turn, affects the disabled community, Jess said, as the difficulty of accessing jobs causes employers to inadvertently exclude people with disabilities.

For Denise Jess, the CEO and executive director of the Wisconsin Council of the Blind and Visually Impaired, navigating Madison’s public transportation is a task that takes careful planning and is a source of constant anxiety.

Jess is visually disabled, and like many people with disabilities in Madison, she relies on public transportation as her only mode of commuting.

“You have to dedicate pretty much a day to potentially do business on the other side of town.

And maybe that piece of business is only a twenty minute doctor’s appointment, but it’s going to take you an hour and a half to get there and another hour and a half to get back, so that might be time lost from work,” Jess said.

Madison’s public transportation is incredibly frustrating for those with disabilities to navigate, Jess explained. For those like herself who are visually impaired, it can be easy to miss stops if they are not announced. For people with mobility issues, it can be challenging to get to their desired stop and end location, she said.

An October 2018 report titled from the with 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, WISDOM, the Wisconsin Council of the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Sierra Club and the Chippewa Valley Transit Alliance sought to bring Photo · Improvements to trasportation are needed as Madison transitions from a mid-sized to a large city. awareness to what they described as an inadequate public transportation The Badger Herald Archives system. The report suggested that Madison would benefit from faster, more frequent bus service. legislative session, may inhibit BRT’s growth.

“We have Epic out in Jess conceded the need for more efficient and “We just don’t have the ability to grow our Verona, we have Exact accommodating transit services. system without that kind of a funding source,” Sciences, we have Promega “If I could get from the east side of Madison to Trowbridge said. “We may be able to build the first out on Sheryl Parkway — the west side of Madison within half an hour, or an line of BRT with help from the federal government so we have these really big hour equivalent or maybe a little bit longer than it as part of a grant, but with ongoing operations employers and some of the would take to actually drive, then I could do my and growth we can barely keep up with inflation jobs that they’re offering business and I can come back,” Jess said. “That’s with our current Madison Metro system. Really would be great for people empowering.” the property taxes are the only thing that can help with disabilities … but how David Trowbridge, the principal transportation keep up with inflation.” do you get there?” Jess said. planner for the city, said Madison is currently Ashwat Narayanan, transportation policy Barbara Pfarr, WISDOM’s looking into a Bus Rapid Transit line that could director at 1,000 Friends of Wisconsin, said Transit Task Force chair, potentially solve some of these problems. As this inability to expand could be detrimental. explained that when explained on BRT’s website, the transit line is a Narayanan explained that as cities on the discussing transportation, high frequency, limited-stop transit system that is periphery of Madison, such as Sun Prairie and Wisconsin has traditionally faster and can transport more riders than current Verona, continue to grow, more jobs are created. focused on roads and cars buses. Furthermore, BRT uses dedicated lanes to But many of the available workers in Dane because of the powerful road avoid traffic and would compliment Madison’s County live in Madison, and without a reliable construction lobby. But Pfarr

warned that roads are not the best use of funds, as public transit serves all people.

Trowbridge stressed the importance of improving Madison’s transit system before the city is over developed. He explained that Madison is currently transitioning from a mid-sized city to a large city, and if investments in transit are not made now, the city will suffer from congestion.

Jason Beloungy, the assistant director at Access to Independence Inc, said BRT must have lines in neighborhoods that are currently underserved in Madison. To ensure BRT is fully inclusive, Beloungy said it needs to be accessible to all people.

“Any planning that you do for any system, transportation or otherwise, has to have a legitimate and significant level of community engagement from all the communities affected,” Beloungy said. “We’re seeing that more and more, and I know that is something the city is working on — to get folks to the table from a variety of disability communities.”

According to their website, BRT is currently planning on leveling and widening boarding platforms and improving accessibility by adding additional doorways. They are also hosting community meetings and conducting surveys in an effort to receive community input.

While Wisconsin’s public transportation system is still adjusting to changing demands, Narayanan hopes that BRT can lead the way in accessible transportation for all.

“We want to make sure that anything we do from a public transit perspective is done in a manner that really holds public transit to a very high standard, and we can set the template for other cities across Wisconsin,” Narayanan said.

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Evers’ cabinet picks praised for diversity, chided for rural representation While cabinet features greater gender, racial representation, Republicans have criticized its primarily urban makeup Services. She currently assists Evers as assistant state superintendent for student and school success. Crim previously spent two While experts and state officials have mostly decades at the UW System. praised Gov. Tony Evers’ diverse cabinet picks, Now that he has been sworn in as governor, he has received criticism for its lack of rural Evers will appoint longtime Madison representation and its partisanship. educator Carolyn Stanford Taylor as state Sworn into office just weeks ago, Evers’ superintendent of public instruction. cabinet roster provides insight into how he Despite praise for his cabinet, Republican will lead as governor. So far, Evers has chosen legislators have criticized Evers for picking less partisan officials than former Gov. Scott members primarily from metropolitan areas, Walker. like Madison or Milwaukee, rather than Furthermore, six of Evers’ cabinet officials rural areas. According to the Wisconsin State are women and four are people of color — a Journal, nine out of 13 department secretaries success for diversity and representation in are from Dane or Milwaukee counties. state government. All four of his top aides are According to UW political science professor also women.

Andrew Reschovsky, 40 percent of the state’s Rep. David Crowley, D-Milwaukee, said population lives in Milwaukee and Madison, he is happy to hear the governor is moving and over 87 percent live in metropolitan areas. in the right direction, but hopes he will He said it is not surprising that many further commit in improving representation people with the most relevant experience live throughout all state departments. in urban areas.

“We have to look at different department “I am hard pressed to see why there are positions as well as making sure that African ‘implications’ to the fact that the majority Americans are in certain positions and that of Evers’ choices of cabinet members live in we’re really reflective throughout all the state metropolitan areas,” Reschovsky said. “The governor appears to have chosen cabinet Photo · Following his election last November, Evers’ cabinet has been the subject of speculation and criticism on both sides of the aisle. members based on their appropriate Jon Yoon experience.”

The Badger Herald Reschovsky also said cabinet secretaries must deal with a set of policy issues that affect the entire state, but where they come from is not necessarily important in determining their competence for the job.

Witte said a lot of people who have experience working for the state Legislature are based in the Madison area already.

“The Republicans have a point in the sense that the Democrats get their votes in Milwaukee County and they get their votes in Dane County,” Witte said. “It’s quite

by Hibah Ansari State Editor

government,” Crowley said.

In a statement to The Badger Herald, Rep. Melissa Sargent, D-Madison, said the cabinet picks are knowledgeable in their respective fields.

She added that the the new members bring diverse perspectives that reflect the needs of Wisconsin’s population.

“Evers’ cabinet is comprised of individuals who are prepared to address issues from a multifaceted scope, and to do so with both pragmatism and compassion,” Sargent said.

As reported by the Wisconsin State Journal, Evers’ cabinet roster features several of his top deputies at the Department of Public Instruction.

University of Wisconsin political science professor John Witte said that while Evers has done well in appointing people who worked with him while he was the state superintendent of public instruction, his challenges in education lie with repairing the relationship with teachers unions.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Evers chose Dawn Crim as secretary of the Dept. of Safety and Professional

natural that the people they appoint are going to come from those counties and those areas.”

Witte added that criticisms regarding where the cabinet picks are from are primarily partisan. Republican legislators take issue with a mostly metropolitan cabinet because they represent mostly rural areas, he explained.

“It is evident that Gov. Evers is

ready to lead using an informed and responsible approach, rather than simply for political gain.”

Rep. Melissa Sargent, D-Madison

To accommodate a Republican-majority legislature, Witte said Evers picked a less partisan cabinet. Prioritizing experience over ideology is an example of Evers’ willingness to compromise with Republicans, Witte said. As a result, Republicans have shown a willingness to compromise as well.

“The governor is in a situation that is mostly defensive,” Witte said. “The governor has a great veto power in Wisconsin — the strongest veto power of any governor in the U.S. resides in Madison — so he can veto legislation that the Republicans put forward.”

On the other hand, a Republican-ruled state Assembly can also veto Evers’ proposals, Witte said. But because of Wisconsin’s divided government, both sides have no choice but to compromise.

Witte is confident the governor will do so.

“I know Tony Evers personally and I’ve known him for a long time,” Witte said. “He’s not somebody who’s going to rigidly stick to a position. He will compromise when he has to.”

While Evers chose cabinet members that are more experienced than ideological, his pick for the Department of Transportation has been the most criticized. Craig Thompson was involved in transportation budget debates as a former lobbyist, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.

All department secretaries in the cabinet and other appointees by the governor must be confirmed by the state Senate.

“The Governor ’s cabinet picks are far removed from the hyper-partisanism of the last administration,” Sargent said. “It is evident that Governor Evers is ready to lead using an informed and responsible approach, rather than simply for political gain.”

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Nonprofit to launch next month in support of women entrepreneurs

Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation, Madison Gas and Electric, other partners help bring Kiva to Madison

by Gretchen Gerlach Print News Editor

Wendy Baumann, president and chief visionary officer of the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation, had her eye on Kiva for a long time.

The nonprofit organization was making waves in developing countries by helping to alleviate poverty and grow small businesses by way of crowdsourced loans to entrepreneurs. When it piloted in the U.S. in 2011 with locations on both coasts, Baumann was convinced.

“This is amazing, we need to get Kiva in Wisconsin,” Baumann said.

director of the Kiva U.S. pilot project, to make Milwaukee a Kiva City if sufficient money was raised. He agreed, and $25,000 later, Milwaukee became the eleventh Kiva City in the U.S., helping entrepreneurs access the financing needed to grow their businesses.

Following the success in Milwaukee and worldwide, Baumann said she was contacted by other cities wanting to

from WWBIC, Madison Gas and Electric and the Doyenne Group.

Pam Christenson, MGE’s economic development director, explained that partnering with Kiva was an obvious choice. The utility company, she said, is nicknamed “your community energy company,” with roots in Madison dating back more than 150 years.

Besides providing electricity to 151,000

“Women entrepreneurs and

people of color are often excluded from funding. They also recieve a very small percentage of funding from venture capitalists. But when women start businesses, they are very good at it.”

Pam Christenson Economic Development Director, Madison Gas and Electric

According to the Kiva website, the nonprofit is currently based in 81 countries, and helps 3.1 million borrowers around the world build small businesses, attend school and access clean energy.

The loan process is simple. As explained on the website, a zero percent interest loan is first posted to Kiva for lenders to support. Then the fundraising period begins, where lenders crowdfund the loan in increments of $25 or more, until the fundraising is complete. When the borrower can, they repay the loans, and the lenders use the repayments to fund new loans, donate or withdraw their money.

The nonprofit boasts a 96.9 percent loan repayment rate, and $1.25 billion has been funded through Kiva thus far.

Wisconsin was not originally on Kiva’s list of locations to pilot the program in the U.S. But Baumann, with WWBIC’s support, persevered. She convinced Jonny Price,

Photo · Kiva is supportuning entrepreneurs in 81 countires around the world, and has funded $1.25 billion in loans thus far.

Liz Vidyarthi Courtesy of Kiva get involved and become Kiva Cities themselves.

“We thought Madison would be ideal,” Baumann said, pointing to its “culture and what it’s all about.”

Baumann said Madison’s potential for Kiva City status quickly gained support, and Mayor Paul Soglin added $150,000 over the next three years to jumpstart the Kiva City program.

Bringing the nonprofit to Madison was a collaborative effort, achieved with support

customers in Dane County, MGE said its also passionate about encouraging and supporting local businesses to boost and create a diverse economy.

“We get involved in things that help the community,” Christenson said. “Doing so can take on a lot of different shapes.

Kiva, for example, is a way to help startup companies and help individuals and aspiring entrepreneurs.”

Aspiring women entrepreneurs, to be exact. According to their website, while

Kiva financing is available to anyone and everyone, 81 percent of the loans go to women.

Christenson said it’s particularly important to support women in their business ventures.

“Women entrepreneurs and people of color are often excluded from funding,” Christenson said. “They also receive a very small percentage of funding from venture capitalists. But when women start businesses, they are very good at it.”

Andrea Hughes, project director at WWBIC, said women do not always have the necessary resources or training to start a business. Furthermore, venture capitalists, who are predominantly male, do not always understand or appreciate the products that women entrepreneurs produce.

According to the Kiva website, 46 percent of men around the world have access to financial services, but only 27 percent of women can say the same.

Christenson, however, believes Kiva has the ability to move the needle for women entrepreneurs. The Kiva lending process, she said, is geared toward strong character rather than strong credit, which she hopes will allow the business sector comprised of women entrepreneurs to grow.

“Wisconsin also ranks low in entrepreneurs,” Christenson said.

“Which is another reason we are behind this — to change those metrics.”

In partnering with Kiva, Hughes said WWBIC’s main goal is to assist people in building their dreams, and providing them the stepping stones needed to help them grow. According to their website, WWBIC, a statewide economic development corporation, has been providing individuals with loans, resources and opportunities to start, strengthen or expand their businesses since 1987.

Christenson said MGE views Kiva as a new tool and opportunity for the Madison community to perpetuate economic growth. These loans change lives, and have the potential to truly make a difference in the Madison community, she said.

Since coordinating a team of trusted partners, advancing a plan and funding the initial startup for Kiva Greater Madison, Baumann was pleased to announce the nonprofit will launch in Madison Feb. 4.

“It’s going to be a really big deal, and I’m really happy we are making Madison a Kiva City,” Baumann said.

January 29, 2019 • badgerherald.com • 7

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UW researcher paves way for space exploration with local implications

By tweaking plant genes, Gilroy Lab has improved understanding plant growth in space, benefiting local agricultural practices

by Anna Walters Campus Editor

For the last decade, astrobotanist Simon Gilroy and the Gilroy Lab have spearheaded the University of Wisconsin’s research on outer space plant growth, and with the future of deep space exploration rapidly approaching, the need for plants in space as sources of food and oxygen is sure to follow.

NASA reported they are currently in the beginning phases of the first deep space exploration mission, called the Deep Space Gateway. The mission is set to reach destinations beyond the Moon, such as Mars, in the late 2020s.

“The discovery that we made

about how those plants percieve that stress has the potential to be applied not only in outer space, but locally here in Wisconsin fields.”

Richard Barker Gilroy Lab research assistant

With this in mind and through years of research, Gilroy and his lab have engineered plants on Earth to withstand the stress of outer space, and hope to further the possibility of deep space exploration by studying how plants respond to the complex environment. The goal: To produce food for astronauts and people living on the Moon or, one day, Mars.

Earlier this month, the results of a Gilroy Lab research study, in collaboration with NASA, was published. The research sought to understand the effects of microgravity on the growth of Arabidopsis seedlings grown on board the International Space Station.

Richard Barker, a research assistant in the lab, explained the long term goal is now to transfer the technology they have demonstrated with the Arabidopsis seedlings to other crops.

Barker said growing plants on board a spaceship which will not see Earth for a long time not only serves the purpose of feeding astronauts, but also provides psychological benefits. Planting and harvesting the crops can help sustain astronauts’ mental health 8 • badgerherald.com • January 29, 2019

and stability, Barker said.

“We’ve made informed guesses based on According to the National Oceanic and But growing plants in space comes with Earth experimentation about which genes Atmospheric Administration, Madison’s many challenges. Gilroy said space is a very and plant responses might be important for rainfall has doubled in the last 40 years, with stressful environment for plants because of plants growing in space and can precisely the heaviest rainfall usually occurring near the lack of gravity. modify gene expression in key cellular the end of summer. Barker said these rain Gilroy explained the structure of water pathways to give plants an advantage when events have impacted the local agriculture molecules causes them to stick to things, growing in microgravity,” Swanson said. and the livelihood of the city’s farmers. but when there is no gravity, water is not Gilroy and his lab members have sent By understanding how plants respond to absorbed into the soil or the plant easily. both normal and genetically engineered spaceflight and by engineering them to be Instead, the water encases the surface Arabidopsis seedlings to the ISS in four resistant to the stresses of outer space, which of the plant, which stimulates the same separate missions since 2013. As Barker mimic the stress of flooding, they have the environmental stress a plant faces when stated in a video by BTN LiveBIG, the Gilroy opportunity to create flood-resistant plants drowning in water on Earth.

Lab is the first lab to report that the seedlings that will have an advantage in Madison’s “When you water a plant on Earth, you engineered for space grew better than the increasingly extreme climate, he explained. don’t think about it, but gravity makes it all normal seedlings did.

Currently, the Gilroy Lab is working on work. You just take your watering can, tip it Barker said the findings from the research two major projects. In collaboration with on its side, the water flows out, drops down missions to space could also benefit farming Target and NASA, they will be studying how into the soil, then it flows down through the on Earth. cotton responds to microgravity in space, soil and you’ve watered your plant,” Gilroy “The discovery that we made about how in an attempt to improve the sustainability said. “You’d never think about how it works, those plants perceive that stress has the of the farming of cotton on Earth. Secondly, but in space, that whole process becomes potential to be applied not only in outer they hope to study the effects of a pathogen super complicated. There is no gravity to space, but locally here in Wisconsin fields,” stimulus on plants in space to see if it could pull the water. Space is a weird place to put Barker said. improve their growth as well. biology.”

The molecular pathways activated in microgravitygrown plants show involvement of “oxidative stress,” which is common in plants experiencing stresses due to pathogens or flooding while growing on Earth, Gilroy said. The lab has engineered plants on Earth to deal with oxidative stress much better than regular plants do.

Sarah Swanson, director of the UW botany department’s Newcomb Imaging Center and a member of the Gilroy Lab, explained that by observing how gene expressions differ in plants grown in microgravity on the ISS versus plants grown on Earth, researchers have found that plants good at dealing with stress on Earth seem to be better at growing in space.

With this information and modern technology, the Gilroy Lab can monitor the level of every gene in Photo · Gilroy Lab researchers have discovered that space is a very stressful environment for plants to grow in because of the lack of the plant and can tweak gravity. the necessary genes so that the plant is better prepared Bryce Richter to deal with stress.

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Noname combines stunning poetry, humility in Sylvee debut

Despite short set, Noname wows filled Sylvee audience on the last stop of her ‘Room 25’ tour, enamoring listeners with her unique sound

by William Lundquist ArtsEtc. Staff Writer

On a freezing cold Saturday in January, thousands of fans rushed through The Sylvee’s doors to see Chicago rapper and sensation Noname perform the last show of her nationwide Room 25 tour. Noname even took the time to remark her surprise at the number of people in the crowd who came to her show despite the weather, keeping consistent with her humble, down-to-earth stage presence and overall demeanor.

Even though Noname is now a star in the music industry, seeing her perform live still felt like an intimate experience. She didn’t back down from performing her most vulnerable music and fed off the energy in the crowd all night.

Elton, another Chicago rapper/singer, opened the show for Noname. He expressed his appreciation for Noname towards the middle of his set.

“She could’ve brought anyone but she chose me,” Elton said.

Elton’s giddy excitement about being given the chance to perform on one of the biggest stages of his career was one of many beautiful and humanizing moments throughout the

show where the audience was reminded that performers are just people.

Though still a relatively unknown underground artist, Elton brought incredible energy and excitement to his set. I usually think of an opening set to a concert as a time-filler, an obligatory performance where the audience stands around and waits for the artist they really came to see. Elton’s performance did not feel like that at all. His youthful exuberance and rapping ability lit up the crowd and got everyone dancing and cheering.

When his set ended, many in the audience wondered who exactly Elton was, as they were genuinely impressed with his performance and wanted to hear more of his music. I am always happy when the opener is a new artist I’ve never heard of before and impresses me enough to want to check out more of their music. Elton is definitely an artist worth looking into if one wants to hear more of the new-wave Chicago blend of rap and neo-soul.

After an intermission, Noname’s band took the stage as the Room 25 sign lit up, prompting an eruption of screams and applause from the crowd. The band broke right into “Self,” and Noname came

sauntering on stage, rapping her verse as she walked. All of my anticipation and excitement for the show came bubbling to the surface and was only released when Noname rapped one of her most memorable, quotable bars: “My pussy teachin’ ninth grade English.”

Noname’s stage presence, much like her music, has evolved from a timid, introspective vibe into an energetic, infectious celebration of life. In many of her past performances, Noname did not dance or move around stage much, sticking to her mic stand and delivering her poetry with a dreamy look in her eyes.

Her dreamy look has not faded — instead, it has evolved into an invigorated, captivating look that goes hand in hand with the power of her poetry. Seeing Noname come into her own live, dancing around the stage and encouraging the crowd to sing along with her, allowed her confidence to shine through in her performance and became a truly beautiful sight.

It’s difficult to appreciate the greatness of Noname’s lyricism in the moment, but looking back on it, everyone in attendance at her show was a witness not only to a rare poetic talent, but a collective musical, genre-bending eff ort put forth by Noname, her band, and her backup singers.

I was really interested to see how the

experimental soundscape, with its incredible variety of sounds on Room 25, would translate to a live band form. Luckily, my expectations were surpassed in every way. It sounded like many of the original beats were being played through the speakers, but most of the sound came from the four-piece band of keys, guitar, bass, and drums, as well as the three back-up singers.

The band held down the feel of the instrumentals while still freestyling and giving certain songs an extra jazzy kick. The back-up singers were particularly memorable, as they blended harmoniously and helped Noname with many of the hooks. Each backup singer had their time to shine, and in the last encore of the show, one of the singers went off on a scat-singing solo which brought the house down.

The only disappointing part of the evening was the length of Noname’s set, which was only an hour and change, but the price of the ticket (a mere $25) was more than worth it for the quality of music performed throughout the night. I would highly encourage you to give Noname a listen if you haven’t already, and be on the look-out for her tour dates in the future, as she seems to love coming to Madison almost as much as we love having her.

Photo ·Noname takes center stage at The Sylvee.

Photo · Noname shares poetry with an entertained Sylvee crowd.

Quinn Beaupre The Badger Herald

Quinn Beaupre The Badger Herald

January 29, 2019 • badgerherald.com • 9

ARTSETC.

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Cheong’s ‘She Presents’ moves viewers with depictions of women ‘Yeonhee Cheong: She Presents’ showcases variety of experiences, expectations faced by women in watercolors, letterpresses and video

by Angela Peterson ArtsEtc. Editor

There are times when I feel compelled to examine my own work as a female journalist, and see if I am truly representing women as thoroughly as my feminist nature should require me to. Sadly, when I examined my numbers, it didn’t turn out so well.

In my year with The Badger Herald, I, a supposedly fair journalist, have sourced men 23 times and women 5 times. When I have interviewed women, they have largely fallen into normative categories for the gender — singing songs about love and broken hearts.

I’m not asking the graphic design department to create a pie chart for these statistics out of respect for my own sanity, but this selfanalysis illuminates one feature of women’s representation that She Presents, Yeonhee Cheong’s artistic collection, combats.

Formerly a merchandise buyer and fashion designer, Cheong’s maturation into middle age inspired the collection. These influences are seen throughout. The series of “Caption” letterpresses look as though they stepped off the page of a fashion cookbook, while the watercolor paintings are composed of vivid colors one would expect from an avant-garde

textile.

The “Caption” series in particular features images of women other than Cheong herself.

These women are taken from different backgrounds and Cheong explores their psyches in each portrait with a caption.

“Observing what women and others wear has been a part of everyday activities.

Somehow, I always enjoyed watching them and figuring out what they tried to signal more than dressing up myself. Becoming a middle-aged woman and the changes it accompanied brought me out of the game of anxiety and let me distinguish other people’s ideologies from my thoughts,” Cheong said.

Cheong is successful in determining women’s ideologies in these works. For example, an image of a Toddlers & Tiarasesque beauty queen comments on the “training” she is given to present in an extremely feminized image. The first figure in the letterpress series paints quite a different image with Sandy, an androgynous 19-year-old activist breaking the traditional feminine mold.

In the second room of the gallery, a video art piece titled “Letter P” plays.

The recording depicts Cheong seated with changing text to her right. The words all

contain the letter “p” in some way. But the exhibit is much deeper than a Sesame Street depiction of a letter like this. Each “p” seems to express the anxiety Cheong holds in presenting herself and her work. Each word morphs into another nervously, like “play” and “display” later giving way to “impress” and “oppress.” Cheong acknowledged this anxiety still plays a part in her creativity.

“I am still anxious because creative art demands me to be a pioneer and visionary, but I’ve learned to embrace the uncertainty,” Cheong noted.

Throughout the collection, references to a “professional” husband are made, insinuating that society views a man’s success upon his ability to provide for his wife and family. The most striking of these comes in “A Professional’s Wife,” a watercolor painting where Cheong’s physical body is portrayed by a series of contained plants looking over her son and husband.

Her husband seems cold in contrast to the warmth of Cheong, lending to the constant cultural stereotype that men must be straightforward and not frivolous, like women are supposed to be.

“Despite all the feminist efforts, misogyny that also oppresses men has not gone.”

Photo · “A Professional’s Wife” depicts Cheong as a container of flowers next to her husband and son.

Photo · Letterpresses from “Caption.”

Angela Peterson The Badger Herald

Angela Peterson The Badger Herald

Cheong said.

The Arts + Literature Laboratory provides an intimate background for Cheong’s works.

With viewing hours occurring only during periods of daylight, the space’s natural light provides a beautiful, simple feeling to the works of art. Exposed wood and stone paneling add additional elegance to the gallery.

Experiencing this collection is an introspective way to spend a chilly winter day in Madison. I toured the works alone and found solace throughout the two rooms, eventually absorbing and reflecting the experience while “Letter P” played. Cheong noted the water color self-portrait series and the “Caption” series are both not yet complete. She anticipated creating a men’s version of the “Caption” series next.

Whatever she presents next, it is sure to be a continuation and expansion on her great current work.

Yeonhee Cheong: She Presents is displayed at Arts + Literature Laboratory until Feb. 21.

Gallery hours are available from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays. Additional hours are available by appointment. Admission is free.

January 29, 2019 • badgerherald.com • 11

FEATURES

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FEATURES

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Twenty years after groundbreaking stem cell discovery, UW scientists work on putting medical, therapeutic potential into practice UW researchers discuss role of public outreach, exchange in strengthening homegrown scientific research

by Mary Magnuson Campus News Editor

Just a few blocks from the University of Wisconsin campus, brownstone apartment buildings stand blanketed by snow, cars and bikes lining Spring Street. I’ve hardly passed Union South, but already it feels like I’m in a different world.

Stately libraries and academic buildings coagulate to form the university far behind me.

Standing at the corner of Spring Street and Brooks Street is a dark, squat building, unable to claim any description more colorful than “a box of bricks.” It’s out of place, as far from “residential” as it’s possible to be. But I have the address correct. This brick building I stand in front of was the headquarters of WiCell Research Institute in 1999. It is the place where, a little less than twenty years ago, a groundbreaking discovery in medical science took place.

In 1998, a year before the headquarters was established, UW cell biologist James Thomson became the first person to derive human embryonic stem cells — a type of selfreplicating cell that, under the right scientific guidance, can be differentiated into other types of cells throughout the body, from the brain to the eye to the heart.

The discovery of this versatile cell that could continually propagate shook the scientific community, as well as the public. Though Thomson’s discovery sparked excitement from the academic community and inspired ideas about medical applications for stem cells, it also attracted its fair share of controversy.

At the time, the abortion debate punctuated headlines across the country. Some felt the application of these cells would be immoral, fearing the cells would eventually become human fetuses used for scientific research.

Scientists, on the other hand, were hopeful about the research’s potential to dramatically improve medical treatments and save lives. So the scientists pushed forward, even as critics claimed they were putting the worth of one life above another.

In order to support the continuation of stem cell research, UW created WiCell, a multifaceted organization that now distributes stem cell lines across the world. But first, the organization had to help develop a space for researchers to work without risk of backlash, Robert Drape, executive director of WiCell, said.

“There was a concern that all federal funding might be taken away, so WiCell was formed to get the research off campus and then support investigators, help provide space for new technology,” Drape said.

Quickly after the WiCell headquarters was established, UW stem cell research exploded.

UW created the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center, part of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.

Today, there are more than 90 faculty members associated with the SCRMC across the UW-System, and the center itself works not only with faculty members and labs but also with the public, conducting outreach and education projects.

Thomson himself became a subject of public attention.

When I spoke with him over winter break, he said he was in the press a lot for several years around the founding of WiCell. And though he and his work have since received less 12 • badgerherald.com • January 29, 2019

media coverage, he said the attention “drowned out the fun of just doing the science.”

Though the anti-abortion movement was wary of Thomson’s discovery, stem cell science nonetheless soon developed in ways that would revolutionize cell and medical science.

A Growing Field Twenty years later, Thomson is still using stem cells. After deriving the embryonic cells, his team focused on studying their characteristics. Soon, they learned how to grow them more efficiently. Having figured out the optimal culture conditions for the cells, they studied how they replicate and differentiate into forms applicable in different regions of the body.

That led to the therapeutic research they do now. His team is attempting to develop artificial arteries used in transplants for patients with arterial dysfunctions.

Deneen Wellik, a stem cell researcher who studies lung growth and disease, has also witnessed growth in her field. When the chair of the UW Department of Cell and Regenerative Biology received her Ph.D. from UW about 25 years ago, her field didn’t even exist.

Wellik told The Badger Herald stem cell research has changed from using only the basic, embryonic cells Thomson discovered to using specialized stem cells either in vitro or in vivo — inside or outside an organism — to developing medical treatments and cell therapies for patients whose cells don’t always act correctly.

“I think an additional focus in the last year has been how we might understand and then manipulate or coax these existing stem and precursor cells into new activities that might be more highly therapeutic,” Wellik said.

“ I think [UW] is continually involved in the political and ethical ramifications that are involved in this type of research as well, so they are really keeping up with the times and playing a leading role.”

Darcie Moore UW neuroscience professor

Wellik also spoke about the development of UW as a stem cell powerhouse. Funding and grants, she said, can lead to groundbreaking discoveries. She added independent grants that leave the project specifics and direction up to the scientists — the experts in their fields — are often the ones leading to new ideas.

Wellik cited high-risk, high-reward grants that award money to cutting-edge, frontier research. Darcie Moore, UW neuroscience professor, is one researcher on campus

who received a grant of this kind recently from the National Institutes of Health.

Moore’s research focuses on aging in brain cells. Since beginning her time at UW in 2016, she has observed how UW and its programs have been evolving to keep up with the rapidly changing field.

“It’s always been an incredibly strong stem cell university, it’s been internationally recognized because of the work of people like Jamie Thomson and Su-Chun Zhang,” Moore said. “I think [UW] is continually involved in the political and ethical ramifications that are involved in this type of research as well, so they are really keeping up with the times and playing a leading role.”

supporting UW research developments, especially when those developments move to clinical trials and commercial applications. Senior licensing manager Andy DeTienne spoke about a sharp increase in the development of therapeutic projects utilizing stem cells. “[We’ve seen] a strong move in the therapeutic development area toward clinical trials,” DeTienne said.

“For many, many years there were only one or two clinical trials utilizing stem cells as the base material for those trials, now there’s been an increase in that over the last couple of years.”

Research and Development At UW, stem cell researchers come from all disciplines of biology and medical science.

Some are medical doctors working to combat disease and to develop artificial, transplantable organs or pharmaceuticals — others are regenerative biologists studying the brain and neural connections, or the eyes, ears, etc. Some study cells on the molecular level — others are engineers who work to develop clinically applicable products.

Many labs are a combination of disciplines and specialties.

Krishanu Saha is a biomedical engineer. He works with genes, using stem cell models to test their response to different viruses in hopes of developing new cell therapies.

Like Wellik, he also sees stem cell science changing, especially to keep up with new technological developments in computer sciences.

“Overall, there are more engineers working with stem cells,” Saha said. “The field has become more quantitative, much like other areas of biology. The measurements that we can do nowadays with the stem cell culture can arguably track every single transcript in every single cell at many time points. That really was not feasible twenty years ago.”

Saha said he works with machine-learning specialists to understand patterns within his data and develop his research. This also means that many of the new trainees in his lab learn new computational methods to apply to the biological work they do. Their hope is to eventually develop clinically applicable therapies using their research.

Like Saha, Eric Shusta is also a biomedical engineer.

He works with stem cells in drug development, taking advantage of the fact that embryonic cells prove to be an efficient test material for creating medical treatments and drugs that could be used on humans. He explained that stem cells can help predict a chemical’s effect on a human in ways that animal-testing alone cannot.

“Humans are not mice or rats, and often many drugs fail that work in a mouse, but not then subsequently in a human,” Shusta said. “So the idea here is we’ve got this bridge going from mice to a human clinical trial.”

When stem cell research brings to life therapies or pharmaceuticals like Saha and Shusta work on, UW has resources to aid the researchers in patenting and clinically developing their innovations. The main UW organization helping researchers take that next step is the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

WARF is a patenting entity that works on licensing and

“ We’re on the fine line between academia

and industry, which gives us the ability to be nimble. I expect that we will change in whatever way the university needs us to, to support the work that they do.”

Tenneille Ludwig Head scientist, WiCell

Into the Future Considering all the strides stem cell research has made in the last 20 years, the researchers the Herald talked to all sounded excited about potential pharmaceuticals, transplants and cell therapies that could use stem cells to dramatically improve the medical field.

Wellik draws on her observation that the field has trended more toward the study of endogenous stem cells in the years since Thomson’s discovery. These are tissue-specific cells, meaning that they are — while fundamental and unspecific — especially medically applicable on certain kinds of body tissues.

Moving forward, Wellik predicts more researchers will begin to focus on coaxing these cells to differentiate in ways that could prove highly effective as medical treatments. She also foresees researchers attempting to culture embryonic stem cells with different cell types to develop new therapies.

“I think together those approaches are going to lead to extremely significant insights and abilities to manipulate populations,” Wellik said. “Not just by transplanting them, but by learning how to coax them into new activities in organisms — to try and repair, or improve maintenance or cure disease.”

Shusta, however, suggested that biomedical engineers like himself may have a different vision for the future of stem cells than regenerative biologists like Wellik. Shusta added while regenerative biologists may focus more on developing therapies, he focuses on the role of stem cells in clinical pharmaceutical trials and drug development.

Because of that, Shusta said he sees stem cell labs

expanding to biotech and pharmaceutical companies, especially since companies without their own labs usually contract outside companies to run stem cell tests for them. He also predicts stem cells becoming a link between preclinical tests and clinical trials.

“I think it’s going to be an integral tool in all drug development,” Shusta said. “There’s been a big transition on that over the last few years, and I think we’re going to see that continue as the ability to model different cell types in a dish using [differentiable] stem cells gets more and more routine.”

Researchers and commercial organizations will likely take stem cells to new heights and in new directions, and WiCell is expected to grow and change alongside them — just as they have in the past — Drape said.

Once a small brick lab building on Spring Street, WiCell is now an international cell bank that distributes Thomson’s five original lines of embryonic stem cells all over the world.

Though Tenneille Ludwig, head scientist at WiCell and a former researcher in Thomson’s lab, said she can’t necessarily predict WiCell’s specific functions twenty years from now, she believes one thing has remained constant: WiCell has supported stem cell research from the beginning, and it’s expecting to do the same in the coming years.

“We’re on that fine line between academia and industry, which gives us the ability to be nimble,” Ludwig said. “I expect that we will change in whatever way the university needs us to, to support the work that they do.”

Outreach and Education Ever since Thomson’s initial and controversial discovery, scientists have had difficulty communicating their work to the public. Wellik said this difficulty may sometimes lead to a lack of public enthusiasm toward their work.

Though in Wellik’s experience, the public is very open to the idea of less invasive, less painful medical treatments — the eventual goal of most stem cell research — it’s often difficult for scientists to provide information about the highly technical research behind them.

“I think there are opportunities to communicate [this research], but I don’t know what the best ways are,” Wellik said. “It’s a very important question that I think deserves a lot of time and attention. I think that our field would be aided greatly by an enhanced ability to communicate with the public.”

Moore said that often, new developments seem scary to the public because they open up many new questions. The public raises — sometimes very valid — questions and concerns about the ethical ramifications behind research projects.

She said scientists and professionals at the university are always trying to answer these questions and address these concerns — as they should — but the public doesn’t always understand that researchers are motivated by good intentions.

“Scientists are generally cautious,” Moore said. “There might be a few rogues out there, but typically we are people who are trying to understand science, and get the most useful knowledge that can be used to treat people without causing harm.”

Sam Christensen The Badger Herald In response to skepticism as such, Moore’s lab, the SCRMC and several other researchers the Herald spoke with engage in public outreach. This work exposes people to and provides information on stem cell research to increase public understanding of the field. The public outreach, Wellik said, often includes a service project that applies the research to help others in the community.

Moore described the importance of outreach regarding not only education but also policy implementation. She said research cannot help anyone if people are unaware of it, or if they’re scared of its potential ramifications.

“Outreach and helping communicate the science to all people is actually very critical,” Moore said. “Because if we do things and no one is aware of what that is, or if they’re unaware of the science behind it, then it will actually never be implemented in any way to be beneficial to others.”

Wellik said that outreach and science communication are what allow discoveries like Thomson’s to positively impact the public. Imagine if the university hadn’t created WiCell 20 years ago and if Thomson’s lab had lost their funding.

Science evolves every day — sometimes slowly, with small steps, sometimes with great leaps. But experts like Moore and Wellik said both researchers and the public must learn to communicate and cooperate. Where stem cell science will be in twenty years is difficult to predict, for Thomson’s groundbreaking discovery itself was unpredictable.

“It is often the unexpected finding of one individual or a small group of individuals that fundamentally changes our understanding and/or our ability to do research,” Wellik said. “Jamie Thomson’s discovery twenty years ago is one of the perfect examples.”

badgerherald.com • January 29, 2019 • 13

OPINION

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New legislative calendar excludes Jewish leaders, constituents

Holding legislative sessions on Jewish holidays forces legislators to choose between representing voters and worship

by Abby Steinberg Opinion Editor

The government, at every level, has many responsibilities — protecting citizens, representing constituents, fostering. economic growth, supporting bipartisanship, etc. The list goes on. But the government’s most basic obligation is to make laws.

Laws play a role in our understanding of morality. They set the tone for what is ethical in our society. The power that comes with lawmaking is lofty and significant — it’s why we place such prestige and high standards on our lawmakers.

It’s been said that he who has the gold makes the rules. Flip the saying around: “He who makes the rules has the gold.”

It works both ways. The power to decide what is right and what is wrong is more valuable than money. Such power can effect change, or uphold insensitive practices.

The line between the two sounds pretty thick. But the Wisconsin state Legislature has shown that the line between progress and the status quo can be easily reduced to an either/or decision.

Earlier this month, the office of state Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison, released a statement regarding the 2019-20 legislative calendar. The calendar includes a possible session on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the holiest observance of the Jewish calendar. Subeck voted against the resolution to establish this calendar because of the conflict.

One could “non-Christian

argue ignoring holidays only inconveniences a few people.

But Subeck’s absence means her entire constiuency loses representation on important matters.

”

Sadly, this isn’t an unprecedented move.

Last session, Republican legislative leaders included a session on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. Then, Subeck was allowed to speak before the vote to discourage her peers from voting in favor of the discriminatory calendar. This time, Subeck wasn’t allowed to speak until after the vote, which meant the Legislature would make the same mistake a second time.

14 • January 29, 2019 • badgerherald.com

Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke, R-Kaukauna, said though the schedule includes the week of Oct. 8-10, the Legislature only expects to hold session on the tenth. This is a nice sentiment — but nice isn’t good enough.

There is still no guarantee session will not take place on Yom Kippur because it is on the calendar.

If the Legislature did not plan on meeting during the holiday, there is no reason the calendar would look the way it does.

“Scheduling a possible session day on Yom Kippur, one of two Jewish high holidays, is akin to doing so on Christmas or Easter,” Subeck said.

“There would never be a possible session day scheduled for these Christian holidays and the Photo · Allowing discrimination of an entire demographic on a smaller scale only allows for more large-scale discrimination and hate same should be true crimes. for major Jewish holidays.”

Marissa Haegele This should be true The Badger Herald for not only Jewish celebrations, but for minuscule as a legislative calendar, hold ones. A single brick does not constitute a those of Muslim, Hindu and any other extreme weight and have the capacity to building, but add several more and over non-Christian faiths.

One could argue ignoring non-Christian influence the opinions and treatment of time, there’s a wall to climb. Quit building the wall — let’s dismantle it. holidays only inconveniences a few several different groups. The deliberate disregard of Jewish festivals signals that Though the legislative calendar has people. But Subeck’s absence means her Wisconsin’s most powerful body is been approved, the state Legislature entire constituency loses representation still has time to rethink its treatment of on important matters. Subeck should not not concerned about Jewish people in Wisconsin’s Jewish community and nonhave to choose between representing her particular and those of non-Christian faiths Christian religious communities. There constituents and observing a religious in general.

In comparison to the recent Pittsburgh is always time to change, to do what is ceremony — to ask her to do so is a synagogue shooting, President Donald right. The only thing standing between flagrant disregard for the separation Trump’s Muslim travel ban or the our government and a more accepting of church and state. There is a fine line vandalism near Madison’s Gates of Wisconsin is a simple step over a very thin between shifting the status quo and relying Heaven synagogue in 2017, the legislative line. on discriminatory practices. Unfortunately, calendar incident seems less significant the Legislature chooses to toe this line and less shameful. But dismissing this Abigail Steinberg (asteinberg@badgerherald. again and again.

Finally, we must consider the notion of deliberate disregard for Wisconsin’s com) is a sophomore majoring in political power. The Legislature is arguably the Jewish community is akin to normalizing science and journalism. discrimination. Tragic acts of hatred are most powerful political body in Wisconsin. only possible when we ignore smaller Its actions, even ones as seemingly-

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OPINION

Red Flag gun legislation unconstitutional, violates fundamental rights

Proponents have honorable intentions, but due process more important than fighting crime that might not even happen

by Andrew Stein Columnist

Wisconsin’s new Attorney General Josh Kaul delivered his inaugural address earlier this month, in which he advocated for the passage of “red flag” gun laws.

Tony Evers has also come out in support of such legislation, and thirteen states across the country have “red flag” laws in some capacity.

“Red flag” laws, also known as Extreme Risk Protection Orders or Gun Violence Restraining Orders, codify a procedure for which family members, friends or law enforcement may petition a judge to grant a firearm confiscation order if the court determines an individual to be a threat to themselves or others.

Advocates believe such confiscation may be helpful in preventing individuals who might have suicidal thoughts or pose a danger to the public. Others believe it to be a way to limit firearm possession for those who become mentally unstable for a variety of reasons — be it depression, anger or psychopathy.

While stopping violence against oneself or others is certainly an admirable goal, there are also glaring legal and constitutional issues with such laws.

Kaul advocated for red flag laws by explaining that “we can make the situation safer by temporarily disarming that person through a formal process — going to a judge, making sure that the process is temporary and that Second Amendment rights, generally speaking, are protected.

A red flag law ought to be a temporary disarming of that person until the danger has been addressed — until a court can weigh in and say this person is now safe.”

He says that rights “generally speaking are protected.” There can be no middle ground when it comes to fundamental rights, and the job of the attorney general is to protect those rights, 100 percent of the time.

When someone has a “red flag” case brought against them, it deprives them of their due process rights. They have not committed a crime and thus may not be deprived of their fundamental rights.

An individual’s belief that someone might commit a crime does not constitute sufficient evidence to demonstrate that one may commit a crime. Simply owning a gun does not suggest that a gun owner intends to commit a crime or cause violence.

Only when someone takes action toward committing a crime does it becomes a crime.

Simply thinking about such activity is not criminal.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island wrote that “the breadth of this legislation, its impact on civil liberties, and the precedent it sets for the use of coercive measures against individuals not because they are alleged to have committed any crime, but because somebody believes they might, someday, commit one.”

For instance, one might think about harming their friend when they are upset, but the thought isn’t a crime — taking steps toward harming their Photo · The government shouldn’t have the right to take away citizens’ guns with limited evidence of potential for crime — lawmakers must friend is, such protect that fundamental right. as brandishing a weapon or Hayley Sperling threatening to The Badger Herald harm them.

Then one might be used as evidence to take away an The Maryland courts approved the be inclined to contact police to report a individual’s rights, including their gun confiscation order following a family crime — with evidence, of course. rights. member ’s request after an incident at the But owning a gun and being angry is not If you have any legitimate reason to house a few days prior. But another family a crime. Neither is having depression. believe that someone you know is going member said Willis “likes to speak his It is often suggested that “red flag” laws to harm themselves, consider talking to mind,” but “wouldn’t hurt anybody.” can be used to protect an individual from them — be a friend. Have them contact This is just one of the results of “red flag” themselves. In 2016, there were 44,965 the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline laws. While the reasoning for such laws suicides — 51 percent of which were by at 1-800-273-8255. Government coercion is seems legitimate — to protect individuals firearm. This is obviously alarming. But this certainly not the best option. and the public — it also leads to undesired also means 49 percent of suicides were by Consider this case from Anne Arundel consequences. another means.

County, Maryland. Police arrived at At this point, while Evers and Kaul It would certainly be a constitutional 61-year-old Gary Willis’ house to execute support red flag laws, it appears that they issue if we were to discriminate against all a confiscation. Willis answered the door won’t be passed through the Wisconsin individuals who have been diagnosed with with a gun in his hand, then put it down state Legislature. And this is a good thing. depression. as he was speaking with the officers. When Our lawmakers’ jobs are to protect our Imagine you are a gun owner diagnosed officers informed him that they were to fundamental rights, and when no crime has with depression, anxiety or postconfiscate his firearms, he became upset — been committed, no rights can be deprived. traumatic stress disorder. Now imagine he picked up the firearm, police wrestled the government taking your guns. Being with him, and Willis’ gun went off and Andrew Stein (andrew.stein@wisc.edu) diagnosed with depression is not a crime, struck no one, but one of the officers fatally is a senior majoring in political science and and should not under any circumstances shot Willis. economics. badgerherald.com • January 29, 2019 • 15

OPINION

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Liberal arts remain important at UW-Stevens Point, but in new way

Despite criticism over plans to cut majors with low enrollemnt, central WI college will serve students more effectively

by Lianna Schwalenberg Columnist

Recently, the New York Times published an article highlighting the trend of rural colleges closing, merging or downsizing. Not an unfamiliar issue to the University of Wisconsin System, UW Stevens Point Chancellor Bernie Patterson unveiled an 18-page proposal last November to eliminate six liberal arts majors, create two new institutes and refocus the college on interdisciplinary, career training — all in an effort to meet the changing demands of north and central Wisconsin.

With declining enrollment numbers and a diminishing budget, the college worked to cut costs other ways, with little success.

“We’ve already turned over every rock we can for those savings,” Patterson said. “This is not where we’ve started. This is where we’ve come to.”

Thus, the chancellor has put forth a proposal which, if approved, may go into effect July 2020.

Once a thriving college geared towards the farm and paper mill economies, “a pathway to the middle class, a respected place to get a bachelor’s degree without spending too much money or moving too far from home,” UW Stevens Point is now in the process of scaling back and restructuring its curriculum.

For some, the fear is that this may be “an

attempt to radically change the identity of this institution.” As one student asked, “What is a university without a history major?” Others may wonder if these changes pose a threat to accessible higher education.

As the only UW campus located in the heart of the state, UW Stevens Point — along with its branch campuses in Marshfield and Wausau — is the local university for many Wisconsinites.

But the fear of losing access to higher education is unfounded for two reasons.

The key to the middle class is not exclusively bought by a liberal arts education. Research from the left-leaning Brookings Institute found that 75 percent of Americans who follow three simple rules have joined the middle class: Finish high school, get a full-time job and wait until age 21 to get married and have children. If getting into the middle class is the main concern, evidence should quell those worries.

Second, the proposal in its fullness does not actually call for the complete elimination of the liberal arts, but rather an infusion of its training into the curriculum.

In an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio, Patterson and Provost Greg Summers, a former history professor, reveal their strong beliefs that particular traits of a liberal arts degree, such as critical thinking, persuasive communication, creative problem-solving and sorting through ethical dilemmas, are vital to training better

professionals.

Another common thread for this discussion is the deep ties to the constrained state budget.

The New York Times and The Atlantic both make this argument, citing how former Gov. Scott Walker’s mandatory tuition freeze shirked the “search for truth” in favor of meeting economic demands.

UW System President Ray Cross even told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that if they were allowed to raise tuition costs, we would not be having this discussion. But the truth of the matter, as acknowledged by Summers, is that the student demographic has changed in three ways.

Students are more cost-conscious, employers want students with both a technical and liberal arts training and the demand for higher education is increasing among adult students with jobs and families. It’s not just for 18-yearolds fresh out of high school anymore. These changes are coming, regardless of funding.

Finally, and perhaps most compellingly, the protectionist argument always seeps its way into these discussions. Many look to UW’s flagship campus, UW Madison, as the bastion for the liberal arts in higher education. But this particular institution has a much larger endowment than UW Stevens Point and is able to recruit high-performing students from all over the world, which is likely why the

university is able to insulate itself from the financial crisis.

As documented by The Atlantic, when majors are put on the chopping block, the perception is that those students and faculty feel expendable — that their areas of study are not valuable. But the complete opposite is true.

Those disciplines matter, but in a very particular way. UW Stevens Point, and hopefully other rural universities in similar situations, should work to strike that balance of integrating, not eliminating, the liberal arts with career-focused paths in a meaningful way, rather than merely requiring students to take a couple of classes. UW Stevens Point’s proposal is an excellent model, thoroughly oriented with the future in mind.

When asked by WPR how eliminating the history major achieves these goals, Summers replied that the majority of college students do not major in history, yet many of them take at least one history class, and those classes are useful for thinking historically about issues.

The idea, Summers says, is to redesign their programs so that history plays a critical role in every one of them.

Lianna Schwalenberg (lschwalenber@wisc.edu) is a recent graduate with degrees in communication arts and philosophy.

Implied consent laws set dangerous precedent for abuse of power

All citizens have a right to personal boundaries, law enforcement does not get to decide who doesn’t have that right

by Cait Gibbons Opinion Editor

In 2013, Wisconsin police were dispatched after witnesses watched Wisconsin resident Gerald Mitchell, who appeared to be highly intoxicated, get into his car and drive off. Mitchell was later convicted of operating a vehicle while intoxicated and with a prohibited alcohol concentration, as a blood draw confirmed his blood alcohol content to be 0.222.

But here’s the catch: Mitchell never consented to have his blood taken, and police had no warrant to do so.

Prior to his trial, Mitchell moved to have the results from the warrantless blood draw suppressed on the grounds that it violated the Fourth Amendment, which protects against illegal search and seizure.

In response to the motion, the state maintained that the blood draw was pursuant to Wisconsin statute 343.305, which explains that any person who operates a motor vehicle on a state highway is deemed to have given consent to tests of sobriety — even if said driver becomes unconscious.

Wisconsin’s Supreme Court upheld Mitchell’s conviction under the determination that Wisconsin’s implied consent statute does not 16• January 29, 2019 • badgerherald.com

violate the Fourth Amendment. But Mitchell has now taken the case to the Supreme Court of the U.S., which has agreed to hear it.

Versions of the implied consent statute are present in the state laws of 29 other states. In recent years, seven state courts have deemed warrantless blood draws unconstitutional, while six others have upheld their constitutionality. As such, Mitchell vs. Wisconsin has the potential to hold considerable national weight.

In the case of Birchfield vs. North Dakota, Justice Samuel Alito held the opinion that while the Fourth Amendment does allow for warrantless breath tests, a warrantless blood draw is a step too far.

“The Fourth Amendment permits warrantless breath tests incident to arrests for drunk driving,” Alito wrote. “The impact of breath tests on privacy is slight, and the need for BAC testing is great. But we reach a different conclusion with respect to blood tests. Blood tests are significantly more intrusive, and their reasonableness must be judged in light of the availability of the less invasive alternative of a breath test. Respondents have offered no satisfactory justification for demanding the more intrusive alternative without a warrant.”

Dissenting from the opinion of the court, Justices Ruth Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor took it a step further, saying that even a warrantless breath test is a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

“Because no governmental interest categorically makes it impractical for an officer to obtain a warrant before measuring a driver’s alcohol level, the Fourth Amendment prohibits such searches without a warrant, unless exigent circumstances exist in a particular case,” Sotomayor wrote.

Upholding warrantless blood draws from an unconscious citizen has the potential to set a dangerous precedent. It grants police the power to violate the personal boundaries of citizens on the grounds that police think a crime might have been committed.

That certainly does not sound like assumption of innocence until proof of guilt.

We have firm ideas about personal boundaries and autonomy when it comes to interactions between two ordinary citizens, so it seems like an abuse of power to allow police to overstep those personal boundaries. Police are not above the law, and they certainly cannot be above societal expectations of respect for privacy and individuals’ personal liberty.

All this isn’t to say that current laws are too harsh on drunk drivers. In fact, Wisconsin remains the only state in the nation to not criminalize first-time DUIs — rather than treated as felonies, Wisconsin essentially treats such a first-time offense like a speeding ticket.

But, citizens have a certain right to give or revoke consent about what is done to their own bodies, without fear of criminal prosecution for executing that right. Police and lawmakers should not have the right to violate this consent, especially because allowing such a violation would set a dangerous precedent going forward.

Upholding the implied consent statute in this case has the potential to open the door to allowing police to misuse their power in other, even more dangerous ways.

As Sotomayor explained, obtaining a warrant is really not so difficult that it should justify such a violation of one’s privacy. The Fourth Amendment exists for a reason, and we can’t allow law enforcement to dance around the constitution by creating exception after exception to make their lives easier.

Cait Gibbons (cgibbons@badgerherald.com) is a junior studying math and Chinese.

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OPINION

Lack of transparency regarding SNAP benefits harmful to students When students are unable to take advantage of resources, government and university must step in and help them

by Keagan Schlosser Columnist

Food insecurity, as described by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is the condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food. This issue affects nearly 40 million Americans, including 20 percent of students at four-year universities.

While universities do their best to provide financial aid, students in need aren’t often left over with a financial surplus to feed themselves. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is meant to aid those facing food insecurity by providing food stamps to buy groceries. But while qualified college students may apply, the restrictions on student eligibility are neither advertised nor transparent on the Food and Nutrition Service website. This creates a clear problem, as students who could utilize SNAP benefits don’t know how to access them, leaving their hunger problems left in the dark.

In 2016, per the request of four Democratic senators, the Government Accountability Office conducted a first-of-its-kind study which examined the lack of food access on college campuses. This study cited vital research from the University of Wisconsin’s HOPE Lab. Before the HOPE Lab closed in 2018, founder Sara Goldrick-Rab produced headlining studies about homelessness and hunger among universities.

After looking at 14 four-year and twoyear colleges in California, Kentucky, Massachusetts and Michigan, the GAO concluded that “almost 2 million at-risk students who were potentially eligible for SNAP did not report receiving benefits in 2016.” What’s even more concerning is that at nine of the fourteen schools, the report found that some college officials were unfamiliar with or did not fully understand SNAP’s student eligibility rules.

The study further explains that officials would like FNS to better explain SNAP eligibility for students, but the FNS website has yet to make the issue any clearer. If neither university students nor faculty understand SNAP’s guidelines, then how are the two million hungry students able to take advantage of what the government program is meant to do?

With the addition of challenging college courses, being on the lookout for the next meal can increase a student’s anxiety, depression and isolation. These stressors combined only weaken academic performance. To add to mental health deprecation, food insecure students

don’t always feel comfortable reaching out for help.

Lydia Zepeda, a UW consumer science professor, conducted a study called “Hiding Hunger” to find out why people who qualify for food banks choose not to use them. What Zepeda found was that students felt they couldn’t share their problems with peers or faculty because they felt ashamed.

For this reason, food insecurity on campuses goes highly unreported and subsequently unnoticed.

Fortunately, UW has a plethora of services for foodinsecure students to utilize. The Campus Kitchens Project and Food Recovery Photo · Almost 2 million students eligible for SNAP benefits in 2016 did not recieve them, an issue created by confusing eligibility Network-Free requirements and stigma surrounding food insecurity.

Student Lunches use surplus food from the Joey Reuteman dining hall and serve The Badger Herald buffet-style meals open to all students, But it would be hard to use SNAP if one As for better awareness of this issue free of charge. The Lutheran Campus Center didn’t know they were eligible. UW faculty around campus, Diaz-Valdes says that there Lunch and Slow Food UW also set up lowand students have done an amazing job are “a lot of things that could be better cost meals for any student to enjoy. When creating programs for students in need. The advertised.” In reference to food insecurity in season, UW Campus Food Shed and F.H. next step is to create more awareness around and confusing SNAP guidelines, she said it King’s Harvest Handouts provide fresh helping students access SNAP benefits. needs to be a “campus wide effort.” produce. Students have even taken it upon The UW financial aid office hosts It’s time that all faculty members themselves to run and serve Open Seat, a workshops open for all students. The and students become aware of just how student-produced food pantry. There are topics vary each month, ranging from Free prevalent food insecurity is on campus. also additional resources, such as Badger Application for Federal Student Aid help That effort can only be made through Fare, Dial 2-1-1, and the Dean of Students to mental health awareness. Perhaps it’s widespread, continuous knowledge and Office, which provide temporary, yet helpful time to put something else on the agenda: understanding of this issue. aid. eligibility for SNAP and other campus The lack of transparency on SNAP’s While these organizations wipe away resources for students facing food insecurity. student application is highly inhibiting a tremendous amount of burden on Joselyn Diaz-Valdes, a senior financial those who could benefit most from it. students, they require a lot of outreach on aid advisor at UW, explained that since Without FNS stepping up and promoting the student’s part. Additionally, there are there are so many layers of bureaucracy its service to college students in need, certain time restraints surrounding them, involved to navigate the SNAP application, many bright and hopeful students could go introducing potential time conflicts. she recommends visiting either University without meals, impacting their education For those who really need it, the most Health Services or the financial aid office, and lives, and in turn, impacting the lives of permanent and reliable support is food where faculty members will happily explain everyone around them. stamps. In fact, this October, the Flamingo the process to a student.

Run inside Gordon Dining Hall started to “Having another person sit down with Keagan Schlosser (kschlosser2@wisc.edu) is a accept SNAP as payment for certain items. you can really help,” Diaz-Valdes said. freshman majoring in communications. badgerherald.com • January 29, 2019 • 17

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Men’s basketball: Wisconsin adjusts to life without Trevor Anderson

Short rotation and limited experience could end up haunting Badgers as depth becomes a concern ahead of March

by Vicki Dombeck Sports Editor

It wasn’t until the Badgers traveled east for a matchup against in-state rival Marquette last year that the Badgers showed any serious weaknesses in 2018-19. In a 74–69 overtime loss, the Golden Eagles exploited the Badgers’ lack of depth at the point guard position.

With starting guard Brad Davison going scoreless and D’Mitrik Trice held to just 10 points, the Badgers severely missed redshirt sophomore guard Trevor Anderson. Anderson re-aggravated a knee injury during the Badgers win over Iowa only a week earlier.

Anderson, a walk-on who spent his first year of NCAA eligibility at UW-Green Bay, gave up his scholarship to carry out his childhood dream of playing for his home town Wisconsin Badgers. Anderson was redshirted under Head Coach Greg Gard last season. He seemed poised to have a much bigger role for the Badgers off the bench in 2018-19.

Through the first eight games of the season, Anderson didn’t put up jaw-dropping stats, but he assumed his role as a team leader

and as another experienced player that Gard could count on. Most importantly, however, Anderson provided depth. His time on the court would have shouldered some of the burdens on offense from Davison and Trice.

Davison, Trice and junior guard Brevin Pritzl have each seen their minutes increase slightly since Anderson went down. But while one or two minutes doesn’t seem dramatic over the course of a 40-minute game, one of the Badgers’ greatest struggles over a 1-4 stretch was their inability to close out games while making late runs. Having Anderson in the mix could provide valuable rest for his teammates.

More explicitly, an extra one or two minutes of rest for anyone on the team could turn a game around. It could mean that a player has enough stamina to play aggressive offensively and score baskets down the stretch. It could mean that a 50-50 play at the end of a close game goes our way thanks to some extra energy. It could mean that we make a play that changes the whole momentum or outcome of a game.

These are the small, but extra things that the Badgers fell short on during their stretch of

four losses in five games.

The Badgers averaged a 5.5 margin of defeat in those four losses. Each game had moments where a potential comeback run was feasible, but the Badgers just ran out of time and energy to finish the job.

Anderson’s injury has affected who Gard has had to add to the rotation. Wisconsin will have to look a little deeper into their bench and potentially use more players to fill Anderson’s minutes.

“ More explicitly, an extra one

or two minutes of rest for anyone on the team could turn a game around. ” Tai Strickland has been another option at point guard. Strickland showed his ability to score and handle the ball as he put up 14 points versus Savannah State Dec. 13 at home.

The downside to Strickland is that he doesn’t have the same poise or experience compared to other point guards like Anderson.

The Badgers will also expect more minutes out of players like Kobe King and Aleem Ford.

As two players who can handle the ball along with being scoring threats from both inside and outside, a larger and more versatile role will be drawn out for them moving forward.

The Badger bench contributed solid minutes in their home upset of No. 2 Michigan, providing optimism that Gard has found a rotational system that the team can rely on. King finished the game with six points, playing a career-high 31 minutes off the bench.

Ford scored nine points in 15 minutes of play.

From the display of fluidity and stamina that the Badgers showed during their win over Michigan, Gard’s team seems to be getting back on track and is showing progress in overcoming an injury hurdle that no team can prepare for.

The Badgers will continue Big Ten play and look to keep on track as they travel to Nebraska for a face-off with the Cornhuskers Tuesday and host the No. 13 Maryland Terrapins Friday.

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Women’s hockey: Badgers seem poised to emulate past success As Wisconsin looks to another Frozen Four run, here’s how this year’s Badgers stack up against past championship teams

by John Spengler Sports Associate Editor

had a winning regular season and WCHA tournament record over Minnesota-Duluth, the team that they would eventually face in the NCAA Frozen Four Final.

Moving to the 2008-09 season, the Badgers captured the title after a three-loss season that also included five ties against ranked opponents. The current Wisconsin team already has three losses, yet they have managed to win more games and avoid ties, unlike the 2008-09 team.

While the Badgers faced Mercyhurst for

Finally, in the Badgers’ most recent championship season of 2010-11, the team registered a tremendous regular season record, losing only two games to finish with a 37-2-2 record. None of the teams that Wisconsin managed to defeat in the regular season, however, appeared in the Frozen Four. Thus, the Badgers had a more dominant regular season than this year’s team, yet faced an easier path to the title.

Despite facing what would turn out to be a relatively weak regular season schedule

The University of Wisconsin women’s hockey team has undoubtedly enjoyed a dominant season up to this point. With a No. 1 national ranking, impressive wins over top-ranked teams, and a second-place standing in a stacked WCHA conference, there is few arguments against the strength of this year’s Badgers.

Yet the ultimate goals of the Wisconsin program stretch beyond a standout regular season — the Badgers must have a strong postseason performance to truly satisfy their expectations.

More explicitly, a national championship is the end goal for an already dominant Badger hockey team, given the program’s winning tradition.

Given their performance in 2018-19, it makes sense to believe the Badgers have a clear path to the national championship and a strong chance at taking home the title. But how does this season compare to championship seasons that the Badgers have enjoyed in the past?

The Badgers captured their first program national title in 2005-06, a season in which the team enjoyed an exceptional regular season. Suffering just four regular season losses, two of which were against teams ranked in the top-five, Wisconsin clearly established themselves as a contender for the national title. Unlike the championship seasons to come, the 2005-06 Badgers had some blemishes on their record that brought into question whether or not they would be able to string together wins over top ranked opponents as needed to Photo · With victories over their toughest competition and only three regular season losses to their name, this year’s win a title.

Badgers have the chance to cement their name in UW history.

Ultimately, however, Badger goalie legend Jessie Vetter was able to nearly Hazel Tang singlehandedly lead the team to The Badger Herald victory that season, only allowing an astounding three goals in their final 10 the first time in the Frozen Four final that compared to their postseason opponents, games of the season. year, they failed to beat their Frozen Four the Badgers were uplifted by record-setting In the 2006-07 season, Wisconsin performances from then-senior Meghan dominated nearly every single opponent semi-final opponent — Minnesota-Duluth — all regular season. The Badgers had a Duggan. Without this late-season push, it’s they faced in the regular season and playoffs.

Accruing a record of 31-1-4, the Badgers put shaky regular season performance against entirely possible that the success of those on a brilliant performance from start to finish. Minnesota-Duluth and other teams that they Badgers would have been limited to the would ultimately have to overcome in order regular season.

Even if this year ’s team were to win every to win the national title. Despite the setback, So, what does all this mean for this year ’s remaining game on their schedule, they still wouldn’t match the 2006-07 team’s winning they managed to come out on top and leave Badger team?

Boston with a championship trophy to bring Well, to begin with, the 2018-19 Badgers percentage. have already suffered less than or the same Furthermore, the 2006-07 Wisconsin team home to Madison.

20 • badgerherald.com • January 29, 2019

number of losses as past championship teams.

But perhaps the most promising aspect of this season has not been the number of wins and losses. Rather, it’s been the Badgers’ performances against top-ranked teams. The Badgers swept No. 4 Princeton earlier this season, split their two series against No. 2 Minnesota, and traded wins with No. 7 Ohio State.

It has certainly been an as dominant, if not more dominant, performance against top-ranked opponents compared to past championship teams. Consider the 2008-09 season in which Wisconsin fell to Minnesota-Duluth before facing them in the Frozen Four. In contrast, the current Badger team has had a comparatively successful record against potential championship contenders.

Furthermore, with their only losses of the season coming against juggernauts Minnesota and Ohio State, the Badgers have handled business against inferior teams who they should be beating with ease.

As far as individual talent is concerned, no specific team member this season has decisively led the team to victory the way that past legends have. The Badgers’ top-three point scorers — Abby Roque, Annie Pankowski and Sophie Shirley — are all within just three points of each other on the season.

While no one skater has come to dominate offensively, junior goalkeeper Kristen Campbell has put on a performance to rival past Badger legends of the on the defensive end.

With a 93.1 save percentage that trumps Vetter ’s career percentage, Campbell has allowed the Badger offense to shine so much that the team now ranks second in the nation in goal differential.

It’s impossible to predict the future of this season’s Wisconsin team, yet signs point to a team that has a clear potential to achieve great success in the postseason. But given the nature of the win-or-go-home NCAA Tournament, even one bad performance from the Badgers could prematurely end a promising season.

The 2018-19 Badgers have demonstrated the ability to consistently overcome the best teams in the country. If the Badgers continue to play to the best of their ability and execute as they have done all season, a national title lays theirs for the taking.

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Men’s hockey: Looking back at how UW has fared since December In midst of powerhouse Big Ten conference, Badgers have remained united through adversity and inconsistent play

by Garrett Seymour Staff Writer

The University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team (9-11-4-0, 5-5-4-0 Big Ten) has without a doubt experienced some trials and tribulations against fierce competition since a home series split against then-No. 6 Penn State in early December. With 12 pivotal conference games remaining in the 201819 season, it’s worth looking back at what the team has accomplished over the past six weeks as the Badgers prepare for a push to earn themselves their first postseason bid since 2014.

Dec. 7-8: Michigan State @ Wisconsin (20-0) Coming off the series against Penn State, the Badgers were able to take the first two wins against conference rival Michigan State in regulation to the tune of 5–3 and 3–0, respectively. In the first game of the

series, Wisconsin got off to a hot start with three goals in the first period courtesy of sophomore forward Jason Dhooghe and freshmen forwards Mick Messner and Ty Emberson. After Michigan State turned in a three-goal period of their own in the second period to tie the game, Wisconsin was able to avoid a comeback loss thanks to goals from senior defenseman Peter Tischke and sophomore defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk in the third period.

The team was able to win handily the following night as well, outshooting the Spartans 43-21 with goals from sophomore forward Sean Dhooghe, freshman defenseman K’Andre Miller and senior forward Seamus Malone.

0)

Jan. 4-5: Denver (No. 8) @ Wisconsin (0-2-

Following the holiday break, the Badgers had a less than ideal start to 2019 with a home series against now-No. 4 University of Denver. While the Badgers lost the first

game 6–3 in regulation and the second 4–3 in overtime, positives from this series can be easily overlooked. The box score for the first game is a bit misleading — while Wisconsin ended up losing the first game by three goals, the two teams were quite even on most accounts. Goals from sophomore defenseman Tyler Inamoto and Malone led to a 2–2 tie entering the third period, but the Badgers were not able to keep up with a potent Denver offense in the third period as the Pioneers rattled off four goals to close out the game. The Badgers ended up losing the shot battle 33-28, though shots were even in the second and third periods.

Despite jumping out to a quick 2–0 lead in the first period the following night off of goals from freshmen line-mates Dominick Mersch and Brock Caufield, the overtime loss was surprisingly lopsided. Denver was able to battle back with two goals in the second period, ultimately outshooting Wisconsin 40-16 in the contest. While a powerplay goal from senior forward Matthew Freytag put the Badgers up 3–2 with 10:52 remaining in regulation, the Badgers were unable to fend off Denver’s high-powered offense and fell in overtime.

Jan. 12: U.S. National Under-18 Team (exhibition) @ Wisconsin (0-1) Wisconsin’s 6–2 loss to the U.S. National Under-18 Team was a bit bittersweet. While the team was outscored and outshot 3623, watching three future Badgers perform at a high level on the college stage — Cole Caufield (two goals, one assist), Alex Turcotte (one goal, one assist) and Owen Lindmark (812 on faceoffs) — was a special moment.

According to Central Scouting midterm rankings for the 2019 NHL Draft, Turcotte — a center — rounds out the top-five ranked North American prospects for the upcoming draft. Turcotte has recorded an impressive 18 points (nine goals, nine assists) in 13 games with the team this season. Cole Caufield — a right-wing —is not far behind him, as the 18-year-old winger is ranked 15th among draft-eligible North American skaters, amassing 46 points (31 goals, 15 assists) in 35 games with the team this year.

Photo · Despite struggling through a difficult stretch of their schedule, this young Badger team has demonstrated maturity and resilience in competing against the nation’s best teams.

Dane Sheehan The Badger Herald

Jan. 18-20: Notre Dame (No. 12) vs.

Wisconsin (0-1-1) A win has still eluded the Badgers in 2019, following a 6–4 home loss and a 2–2 tie on neutral ice at the United Center to No. 12 Notre Dame, now No. 11 in the country. In the first game at the Kohl Center, goals from Miller, freshman forward Roman Ahcan,

sophomore forward Tarek Baker and senior forward Will Johnson made for a 4–4 tie entering the final seven minutes of regulation.

But a Notre Dame goal 13:36 into the third put the Fighting Irish up by one and gave them the opportunity to score an empty net goal with 1:17 remaining.

On the Chicago Blackhawks’ home ice this past Sunday, the Badgers battled hard to tie the Fighting Irish 2–2 in regulation thanks to first period goals from Mersch and Ahcan.

Unfortunately, Wisconsin was unable to secure the point in the Big Ten standings, as they were unable to capitalize on a plethora of scoring chances in the second, third and the three-on-three overtime period.

Jan. 25-26: Wisconsin (1-1) vs. Minnesota At first glance, the Badgers’ 9–4 loss to Minnesota Friday night gave the impression of a blowout. The reality, however, is that the Badgers were only down one goal heading into the final five minutes of regulation. A late second-period goal from Messner and three third period scores from Jack Gorniak, Brock Caufield and Malone brought the score to 4–5 before Minnesota rattled off four goals in the final minutes of the game. The battle was truly lost on special teams, as Minnesota was able to capitalize on three power plays and also added a shorthanded score.

But the Badgers secured their first win since Dec. 8 Saturday night in a 4–3 defeat of the Golden Gophers. Goals from Mersch, Linus Weissbach and Messner allowed for a 3–3 tie game entering the third period. Tischke — the team’s captain — notched the game-winner four minutes into the final frame. While Minnesota was able to add another three goals on the odd-man advantage Saturday, the Badgers’ penalty killing unit was able to hold strong when it mattered most. Daniel Lebedeff was fantastic in the contest, killing the final two power plays and stopping all 12 shots in the third period.

Coming Up While Wisconsin’s overall record could be better, there is still a lot of Big Ten hockey to be played. With series against top programs like Michigan, Michigan State, No. 11 Notre Dame, No. 3 Ohio State and No. 15 Penn State still on tap, there is an open opportunity to move up in the rankings if Wisconsin can get hot at the right time. Additionally, strong play against these top conference teams can only help the Badgers’ chances of earning an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament by winning the Big Ten tournament.

January 29, 2019 • badgerherald.com • 21

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Monster truck rally inspires fear, awe, Mountain Dew admiration Monster Truck Nationals combine greatest fears, desires for amazed, frightened audience at Alliant Energy Center

by Angela Peterson ArtsEtc. Editor

If you are reading this piece online, please skip down to the third graph, it won’t apply to you. Sorry readers! Banter is a mess — as it always is.

OK, print readers, here we are in the second graph (yes, I am also a student who isn’t majoring in journalism and has no clue why these are called graphs instead of paragraphs, I am sad to see “para” go). As seen earlier in the issue, I had the chance to view a beautiful gallery of artwork early in the day this past Saturday. I spent that evening in a similarly beautiful way.

I attended Monster Truck Nationals and survived to tell the tale.

Now some might say, “Hold on, there were monster trucks in Madison and no one told me?” Yes, I am sorry some missed the boat. Held at the Alliant Energy Center, the event is just far enough away to make students think it is in Narnia and would only approach the arena using an Uber or Lyft. To think that only 20 short years ago, this arena served as the hockey team’s home ground. It is practically Narnia compared to the La Bahn Arena. To think, if I had saved the money from my two Lyft rides to get to and from the site, I could have gotten three whole hot dogs and a cheese cup!

So anyway, I took some buds down on to Narnia to see these promised monster trucks. Our first chauffeur, Nick, was curious about what strange event was occurring at the arena. My roommate, Kelli, had but one answer.

“Monster trucks,” Kelli said. “Angela, don’t you dare give context.”

In an unusual spurt of silence, I did exactly what Kelli said. Nick was intrigued but ultimately declined an offer to join us at the event.

As indicated on our tickets, a “Pit Party” kicked off the evening. Since everyone in our group was new to the monster truck game, none of us knew what that entailed.

When “Sweet Home Alabama” played as a

bus-like monster truck filled with people banked a corner in the dirt-filled arena, we knew this was an extravaganza we were not prepared for. Merchandise booths stood filled with t-shirts and hats depicting one of the star trucks of the event, Tail Gator. Our entourage was lucky enough to encounter this truck and its driver during the Pit Party, yet my journalistic obligations were fragile in such emotional times and I regretfully forgot to ask for his name. Mr. Tail Gator driver, I am indeed sorry.

The next portion of our Pit Party fun times consisted of sampling the new Mountain Dew Fuel beverages devised by the sponsoring Pepsi corporation. We accurately described the blue favor as “Slurpee,” red as “cough syrup” and yellow as “distinct flavors of certain fake nuts Angela is allergic to.” The green traditional flavor still serves Mountain Dew best.

Needing a break from the looming significance of the monster truck plains, I waited half an hour in line for a large popcorn. Shout out to the one cashier working, you were the real MVP, dealing with all of the coupons presented to you.

Back in the arena, a motocross exhibition commenced after a recording of Whitney Houston’s stirring rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” played. I was extremely concerned about the lives of these riders. One particular rider, as he leaped off the ramp on his motorcycle, lost all contact with his motorcycle. Weighing the risks of this, I decided that, personally, I would rather forgo applause than die a painful death.

The monster trucks were big, fierce and scary to my fragile self. Tail Gator went super fast in its racing trial, taking less than 15 seconds to race around the course.

I wish I could share more on the magic of the monster trucks, yet an uncharged phone and the need to hail a Lyft precluded me from viewing the monster trucks for an extended period of time. If one is considering becoming a monster truck, I would recommend transforming into a cute monster bus first.

Photo · A variety of photos of monster truck fun at the Alliant Energy Center, which may as well be Narnia.

Angela Peterson The Badger Herald

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