'Searching' - Volume 50, Issue 18

STUDENT MEDIA AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2019 · VOL 50 Issue 18 · BADGERHERALD.COM

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Economic issues and hardship still prevalent for residents in Wisconsin, report shows.

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ARI INSPIRED DRAG

Legally Blonde, ‘Single Ladies’ set tone for drag-themed dance party at Majestic.

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PHOTO PAGE

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FEATURE

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NEWS

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OPINION

William Maloney Matt O’Connor Riley Liegel Jacob Bawolek Aidan McClain Peyton David Emilie Cochran Lucas Johnson Aly Niehans Izabela Zaluska Kristin Washagan Patrick WIlliams Haidee Chu Molly Liebergall Abigail Steinberg

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POINT COUNTERPOINT: FUTURE OF MARSY’S LAW FOR WISCONSIN

ARTSETC

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SPORTS

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College Democrats and College Republicans of UW-Madison debate the merits and flaws of Marsy’s Law.

DIVERSIONS

FOOTBALL: BADGER NFL PROSPECTS IN UPCOMING DRAFT

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With 16 seniors graduating, several have their sights set on joining the 31 former Badgers currently in the NFL.

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PHOTO

statue of liberty makes triumphant return

Photo ¡ What started out as a prank in the 1970s, the Statue of Liberty has become a quintessential part of the UW experience.

Daniel Yun The Badger Herald

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UW still has negative campus climate for Native American students

Lack of university support, absence of cultural sensitivity contributes to difficulties for Native students on campus

by Mary Magnuson Campus Editor

As of fall 2018, 575 students attending the University of Wisconsin identify as Native American, according to the Office of the Registrar enrollment reports. Those students range from undergraduates to graduate and professional students enrolled in a variety of majors and programs.

There are a variety of student organizations for Native students, and the American Indian Studies department was established in 1972 to “coor­d i­n ate the devel­o p­m ent of Native Amer­i ­c an Stud­i es courses and recruit­m ent of Amer­ic­ an Indian fac­u lty,” according to the AIS website.

Despite the apparent efforts by the university to support Native students and faculty on campus, many students still report difficulties navigating a predominately white campus, UW law professor Richard Monette said.

Monette teaches Native American law courses at UW and works as the director of the Great Lakes Indian Law Center. He works with both Native American students on campus and Native people off campus, offering both legal assistance and other types of support to tribes and organizations across Wisconsin.

Several factors, he said, can make the transition difficult for Native students, from small-scale things like differences in food or language, to larger, abstract issues.

“It’s difficult for them to come from a place where they have learned a different worldview — granted still in a difficult context — but to come here and not find that worldview, not find that worldview being welcomed or understood is very difficult,” Monette said.

Monette discussed some of UW’s attempts at easing the transition, though he said that resources and support networks for students are almost all student directed and led.

He cited the Amer­ i­ c an Indian Stu­ d ent and Cul­t ural Cen­t er, which is an off campus facility housing several student groups and other resources. It provides a safe space for students to connect with their culture in ways that they may not be able to do in the dorms — for instance, smudging or drumming.

In 2016, students were shouting and ridiculing Native American students a fire circle at Dejope Hall, Monette said. AISCC provides a space separate from the oftennegative campus climate.

But Monette also mentioned that because the AISCC is in the path of a university construction project, they will have to 4 • badgerherald.com • February 5, 2019

vacate it. This, along with little things — like the libraries categorizing Native books as “history” and invalidating the current experiences of students on campus — only exacerbate the difficult transition.

He said creating a system to connect students with certain Native-centered projects could be beneficial, but right now UW is a “little too disorganized.”

“We have a lot of places on our campus that deal with the native nations here,” Monette said. “It’s disorganized, it’s not uniform, it’s not streamlined, not centralized, very poor communication back and forth. So instead of extracting all the good from that, this ends up causing even more problems at times.”

For some Native students, the difficulty can mount into mental health problems, or worsen already existent mental health conditions. That was the case for Isabel Denning. A member of the Oneida Nation and a sophomore at UW in 2016, Isabel Denning committed suicide after mounting trauma, financial difficulties and her mental health conditions became too much to handle.

Isabel Denning’s father, Mark Denning, said she had sought treatment with University Health Services after her older brother had committed suicide and she’d experienced multiple sexual assaults. She’d dealt with bipolar disorder and anxiety as well.

But cultural differences and miscommunication had led UHS to drop her. Denning said that after visiting several different professionals and hospitals, she became an “unreliable narrator” to her own condition, unable to find the right resources.

“Madison let her in,” Denning said.

“They recruited her, and they let her in. Is that the end of the responsibility?

As a parent, at her orientation, I was told to leave her. To let her mature. And during that maturation, there was also a maturation of mental illness, and that created isolation.”

Isabel Denniång’s boyfriend at the time she’d committed suicide, Andrew Gray, said part of her difficulty adjusting to campus came from her peers’ inability to understand her identity as a native person.

People would ask her questions like “what are you?” referring to her ethnic or cultural identity without realizing the harmful connotation. Gray said asking a multicultural person that question forces them to package themselves into something simplified, while also invalidating their existence as multiethnic.

While perhaps something small, remarks like those only reminded Denning that she didn’t look like the other — mostly white — students on campus, Gray said.

Gray suggested that UW could help, perhaps with a course in cultural literacy as part of orientation, but he also said that one of the best ways non-native students could support their native peers is to open lines of communication with them.

“You gotta ask questions, and you gotta acknowledge your whiteness, to an extent,” Gray said. “Things that you take for granted, or you make assumptions about don’t universally apply to others. The cultural and racial differences are always there, and you’ve gotta be willing to ask questions in a way that isn’t loaded or judgemental.”

Denning also said that one of the biggest issues UW had was “overmatched” advisors.

Not only does each advisor have tons of students to support, but not every one has the cultural sensitivity that would help them to support their native students in productive ways.

In the end, Monette said that the biggest issue with the campus is the climate. Right now, it trends negatively for native students.

The only way to help native students transition safely to UW is to create a positive campus climate. And that’s not just a job for the administration, but also for the students, Monette said.

“What is and will be productive is to build a positive campus climate, and we don’t have that yet,” Monette said.

Photo · Despite recent efforts by the university to support Native American students, many report difficulty navigating a predominently white campus.

Katie Cooney The Badger Herald

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Despite statewide efforts, poverty levels remain ‘statistically unchanged’ Coalition on Human Needs reports 638,000 Wisconsinites live in poverty, while 1.5 million people live near poverty line

and others designed as food assistance.

People in poverty face a variety of issues, Weinstein noted — some of which have deeply worrisome effects.

Despite minor percentile improvements, “People in poverty are more likely to many Wisconsinites experience economic suffer ill-health, to be unemployed or in hardship and live in poverty, according to a unstable employment, to move frequently,” report released by the Coalition on Human Weinstein said. “Children who Needs and 9 to 5 Wisconsin. experience time in poverty are The report, or the “Wisconsin more likely to suffer ill health, Poverty Snapshot,” measured chronic health conditions, poverty across the state. developmental delays, fall According to the report, 11.3 behind in school, drop out of percent of Wisconsinites lived school, and earn less during in poverty in 2017, down .5 their adult years.” percent from 2016.

According to the Snapshot, But the report also stated that in Wisconsin, 26 percent of those numbers are “statistically those who are working-age unchanged,” or that the with incomes between half the percentile improvement is poverty line and just below the too minor to be significant or poverty line had employer-based statistically meaningful. insurance. 53.9 percent had The report additionally Medicaid coverage. stated that about 638,000 people The report also noted that, live in poverty in Wisconsin, in Wisconsin, 58 percent of and 1.5 million people live near households earning less than poverty. $20,000 paid more than half In terms of the U.S., of their income on rent in Wisconsin is ranked 2017. Ten percent of Wisconsin 33rd in terms of poverty. households, between 2015 and Deborah Weinstein, the 2017, experienced times when executive director of the they could not afford food.

Coalition on Human Needs, Weinstein also said those described this ranking. beyond the poverty line face “Wisconsin’s poverty rate economic issues as well. is lower than the national “Many people well above the average,” Weinstein said. “For poverty line find it increasingly 2017 ... the U.S. poverty rate difficult to save, to buy homes, was 13.4 percent — Wisconsin’s to get an education above high rate was 11.3 percent, so better school (or help their children than the U.S. total. With get one), or to be secure in lower poverty than the retirement,” Weinstein said. national average, you’d expect She added that, despite what Wisconsin to show up ranked Photo · Many factors contribute to poverty, including low levels of educational opportunties, single-parent family structures, unstable some may believe, many people with less poverty than many employment or a history of incarceration. who are poor have employment. other states.”

She added that while some may A multitude of factors to Marissa Haegele not work year-round or full time, contribute to poverty, including The Badger Herald a lot of work can be unstable, low education and opportunity, low-paid, and offering minimal single-parent family structure, 10th out of all states. and state government programs worked to no sick leave. low-wage and part-time employment, Weinstein, however, cited a troubling to lift people out of poverty. The report The Snapshot noted that President barriers to employment, or a history of trend in labor statistics. statesd that Social Security lifted 27 million Donald Trump’s administration’s ongoing incarceration, Rebecca Schwei, a researcher “A key and troubling factor is race: across individuals out of poverty nationally in battle with states regarding Medicare at the Institute for Research on Poverty at the nation and even more so in Wisconsin, 2017. Additionally, Supplemental Security and Medicaid could result in rollbacks UW, said. people of color and Hispanics of any race are Income lifted 3.2 million people out of to healthcare that greatly harm povertyThe Coalition on Human more likely to be poor,” Weinstein said. poverty, as did the School Lunch Program stricken populations. Similar measures to Needs website links national organizations Weinstein added that Wisconsin has a for 1.2 million people. cut funding for food assistance could have together to promote the rights and needs higher white population than the national In terms of helping those who are lowharmful effects as well, the report adds. to vulnerable and low-income populations. average and that the white population has a income, the report stated that 2.9 million “Efforts to deny health care or food They work with organizations that support lower rate of poverty than the rest of the U.S. fewer people were poor because of housing assistance will throw more people in civil and religious rights, along with those But the opposite is true for people of color. subsidies and 3.4 million fewer people were poverty because they get sicker and can’t get that support the elderly, women, children According to a report by the Henry J. poor because of programs like food stamps treatment,” Weinstein said. and the disabled.

by Nuha Dolby State Editor

Weinstein added that the unemployment rates in the state of Wisconsin are lower than the national average. According to the Department of Labor Statistics, the annual average unemployment rate in the U.S. was 4.4 percent in 2017. Wisconsin, with a 3.3 percent unemployment rate, was ranked

Kaiser Family Foundation, the poverty rate for white people is 8 percent nationally. In the state of Wisconsin, that rate is 6 percent.

The report also found that nationally, black people had a poverty rate of 20 percent. In Wisconsin, that rate is 27 percent.

According to the Snapshot, federal

February 5, 2019 • badgerherald.com • 5

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UW math tutorials reconnect students with math, foster engagement

Students who sign up for this optional, bi-weekly math workshop credit it with changing their grades, learning methods

by Natalie Yahr Reporter

After India Archer failed the required math classes at her Indiana high school, keeping her from earning a standard graduation diploma, she worked her way up to calculus at Madison College, where she excelled in her math courses.

But when Archer transferred to University of Wisconsin last year, the size of her first university math course was a game-changer.

Instead of around 20 classmates, she now had hundreds. And, at a university full of high-achievers, Archer, now a junior at UW majoring in computer science, figured her instructors would teach on a level designed to challenge them.

Most of all, she knew that she would now be responsible for her learning in a new way.

“In community college, they hold your hand a little bit more,” Archer said.

In a large university lecture, her teachers wouldn’t approach her if she got a low grade.

She’d have to monitor her progress on her own.

Sophomore Paola Santiago came to the same realization.

She had always enjoyed math as a student at Middleton High School, in part because she could get extra help when she needed it.

In a class of about 25 students, she could ask questions get one-on-one help during AllSchool Resources periods every other day. But college was different.

“If you understand it in lecture, great,” Santiago said. “If you don’t, you have to go find your own help. I was very lost, so I definitely hated it.”

Despite struggling through Calculus 1, both Archer and Santiago enrolled in Math 222, the second course in the calculus series. They also enrolled in a mandatory discussion section but found they needed more. At discussion, teaching assistants would answer questions, Archer said, but they’d go so in depth that they’d usually only get to a few questions each week.

“If that wasn’t your question then discussion didn’t really pertain to you,” Archer said.

In Santiago’s case, the teaching assistant would instruct students to work through a set of practice problems in teams. But the other students didn’t always want to work together, she said, and if she asked for help the teaching assistant would usually tell her to ask her team. Even if her team worked together, sometimes her teammates didn’t know or couldn’t explain the answer.

“It was just a longer process, and I never felt like I left the room understanding super well,” Santiago said.

6 • badgerherald.com • February 5, 2019

This nervousness is common, and it can have a major impact on students’ attitude toward math.

In a 2018 nationwide survey by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, more than two-thirds of math teachers said a lack of confidence was to blame for students’ math struggles.

If those teachers are right, students throughout the U.S. could use a hearty dose of math confidence. According to the most recent Program for International Student Assessment, which compared the reading ability and math and science literacy of 15year olds in 72 countries, American students’ math abilities continue to lag behind those of their international peers.

In the 2015 study, American students scored on average 23 points lower in math than the average of all of the nations surveyed. And the U.S. is losing ground: The average U.S. math score has fallen in each of the last two assessments.

But at UW, a few math instructors have dedicated themselves to bridging the confidence gap. For more than forty years, the voluntary Math Tutorial program has sought to help nervous math students develop the confidence they need to survive challenging math courses. Participants credit these tutorials with shifting their attitudes — and, in turn, their grades.

UW’s math tutorials are 50-minute, twiceweekly supplemental sessions designed to help struggling students master their class material. Students say the tutorials offer a different kind of help than the required discussions do.

“Tutorial was almost like a class again, but sort of not so fast, and you could stop it and ask questions,” Archer said.

Santiago agreed. She started participating in the tutorials in the same semester as Archer, who discovered the tutorials during her second calculus course, and said the tutors would begin by asking students what they’d done in their last lecture and what they wanted help with. They would even preview what the professors would cover in the next lecture.

Though a few of the instructors are specialized faculty, the tutorials are often taught by graduate assistants — some from the math department but others from various computer science or engineering departments.

But the tutorial instructors have an advantage over the graduate assistants that lead the mandatory discussion sections: They typically teach no more than ten students at a time, allowing them to personalize their teaching to fit the students’ individual needs.

Tutor Yuting Wu, a third year PhD student in electrical & computer engineering, knows

firsthand what it’s like to struggle through calculus. Going into her third year as a tutorials tutor, she still remembers finding Calculus 2 daunting when she took it as a UW freshman in 2012.

As a tutor, she watches the students’ facial expressions as she’s teaching. When she sees “overwhelming eyes,” she slows down, asks what they are confused about and goes over the material again.

When it clicks, she can tell.

“You can see the expressions on their face: ‘Oh, I’ve got this!’” she said.

The small class size also allows for more interaction, a defining feature of the tutorials.

When Santiago showed up at the classroom in the basement of Van Vleck Hall, she quickly learned that she wouldn’t be allowed to just sit quietly and listen.

“Right away I could tell that the tutor wasn’t playing games, and he didn’t care if you would be embarrassed if he called you out,” Santiago said. “He would look at you and you knew he was waiting for the answer.”

Over time, however, that built her confidence, she said. It forced her to not be scared to speak up and not be embarrassed if she was wrong.

But, most importantly, tutorials give students an opportunity to stick with a problem until they finally understand it, even if that takes a long time.

Senior Karishma Bhawnani, who joined the tutorials in her first semester at UW, recalls her tutor’s patience.

“He would explain the same question again and again, even if you didn’t understand it the first, third or even the fourth time,” Bhawnani said.

Though she spoke well of her professors, she said that most of them don’t have the patience — or the time — to do that.

Instructors and teaching assistants typically tell their classes about the tutorials but not everyone gets the message. Students also get emails about various tutoring opportunities, but Archer worries they can get lost in the flood of campus emails about apartment rentals, discounts and events.

And hearing about the tutorials doesn’t guarantee a student the chance to participate.

Due in part to the small class size, the program does not currently have space for all who apply. In the spring of 2018, 158 students applied, but only 110 were invited to participate, according to data provided by Frank Rooney, the program’s director.

Each time he wants to create an additional tutorial group, he must find both a tutor and a group of students who are taking the same math class and are available at the same time.

Committing to spend an extra 50 minutes twice a week in class might seem daunting to

busy college students, many of whom balance jobs or family responsibilities with their school work, but some tutorials students find creative ways to make it work. Archer wasn’t able to find a tutorial section that fit her schedule, so she often attended Rooney’s office hours instead.

Archer hopes that one day the program might offer night or summer tutorials so that students are never on their own — like she was this past summer when she took linear algebra.

Some students credit the tutorials with helping them survive their courses.

“If I had not had the help I had obtained from Dr. Rooney, I likely would have failed [Calculus 2],” Isabelle Tigges-Green, a senior majoring in chemistry and Spanish, said.

She estimated that without that help, she wouldn’t have been able to complete 80 percent of the homework.

Archer agreed. “[Calculus 2] was a very sink or swim class,” Archer said. “And Frank was my way of swimming.”

Both Santiago and Archer said the tutorials benefits go beyond just better grades.

When Archer first transferred to the university, she was sure she would be behind the other students. She even started attending therapy sessions at University Health Services to deal with what she calls “imposter syndrome” — the fear that she didn’t belong in this place.

But, with time and help, her confidence and self-esteem grew and she came to understand that she was probably in the majority.

“Unless you’re just crazy good at math, I think most people had to get extra help for [Calculus 2],” Archer said.

For some students, just the opportunity to have conversations about math can help them develop an entirely new relationship with the subject.

Nickolas Comeau, a senior majoring in neurobiology, said when he came to college, he thought of himself as “pretty bad at math” and signed up for the tutorials to be sure he’d get a decent grade in Calculus 1.

Today, he’s taking advanced math classes by choice, and he looks forward to his 8:50 a.m.

Calculus 3 tutorial.

In fact, as Comeau continued his studies, he discovered that he wanted to focus on the mathematical side of neurobiology. He credits the tutorial program with giving him time to develop a love for math. High school doesn’t allow students the time they need to figure out how they really feel about math, he said, but the math tutorials at UW do.

To those who think of themselves as not “a math person,” Comeau said the choice is theirs.

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As student debt rises, corporations get creative with relief programs

Natural Light assists students of legal age with debt across U.S., pledges $10 million over next 10 years in College Debt Relief Program

by Lena Simon Reporter

In the U.S., higher education is treated like a necessity but priced like a luxury.

Financial aid isn’t always enough to ensure that students can make it through college without taking out loans. But students across the country are finding unique and creative ways to ease the burden of tuition costs.

One of these ways is through help from corporations.

A recent press release from Anheuser-Busch unveiled this year’s iteration of the Natural Light College Debt Relief Program. The brand has announced its dedication to alleviating student debt by pledging $10 million for distribution over the next 10 years.

Daniel Blake, senior director of value brands at Anheuser-Busch, said rising college debt is important to Natural Light because it’s a critical issue to the company’s core consumer.

“This was really born out of our dedication to our fans,” Blake said. “We know how deeply this impacts them so we created this program to help address the issue for as many people as we can and hopefully call more attention to it on a national stage.”

College students certainly make up a large

portion of the consumer base of inexpensive beer, but not all college students are eligible for receiving funds. As part of the submission for the College Debt Relief Program involves purchasing Natural Light, meaning only those who are 21 or older are able to participate.

Luckily for those who haven’t been to college in years but still have student debt, the working definition of a “college student” is quite broad.

Blake said anyone who has received credit for a college course within the last ten years is eligible, meaning graduates who still have student loans to pay off can enter.

“We certainly see lots of students and recent grads, but the age range is varied, which is great,” Blake said. “We’re seeing plenty of folks well into their 30s and 40s, which just shows how large of a demographic the student loan debt issue affects.”

The application process is simple: Applicants must post a video to a social media website of their choice about their personal inspiration for going to college, according to the press release. The video must include the recognizable green dollarsign tab found on limited-edition cans of Natural Light, and it must be accompanied by the hashtags #NattyStories and #Contest for eligibility.

In addition to the College Debt Relief Program, Natural Light has another promotional sweepstakes centered on student loans that

involves the Super Bowl. According to the press release, Natural Light will be teaming up with Cash App to distribute $53,000 in real time to 151 fans during the game. The fans who win will each receive $351, an amount derived from the average monthly student loan payment, according to Student Loan Hero.

“Cash App is very popular amongst our target drinker but also, it allows us to distribute payment in real time based on who reaches out to us on social [media] on game day,” Blake said.

For those still under 21 and looking to get ahead of their growing mountain of loans, University of Wisconsin released a new program designed for students to get easy access to scholarships.

The Wisconsin Scholarship Hub replaced Scholarships@UW-Madison in August 2018 as the university’s online scholarship management system, built on the goal of alleviating the confusion that surrounds the search process.

The program’s development was spearheaded by the Office of Student Financial Aid and solicited collaboration from schools, colleges, and departments from all over campus, said Keith Brown, the assistant director of special awards at OSFA. Collaboration was important to ensure that each student can easily find opportunities for which they are specifically eligible.

“WiSH is intended to provide students

with an effective, intuitive tool for researching, applying for, and accepting campus scholarship awards,” Brown said. “Through partnering with Scholarship Administrators and campus leadership to launch WiSH, we’ve helped to bring some consistency to what can be a very confusing process.”

Brown reported that around 15,000 students have started utilizing WiSH since August of 2018, and more than 90,000 student and applicant records have been loaded into the WiSH system, allowing certain students to be awarded scholarships without requiring an application.

Additionally, the WiSH system is integrated with UW’s financial aid system to make accepting and evaluating financial aid offers as comprehensive and transparent as possible for students, Brown said.

There are plenty more objectives for the future of WiSH, Brown said and after the completion of a full academic year with WiSH, there will be plenty of data to analyze and evaluate.

Overall, Brown and colleagues are optimistic about the trajectory of the program.

“Above all, WiSH is but one component of our office’s goal to provide access to a UW-Madison education to as many students as we can, and we will continue our work to reduce student debt through scholarships into the future,” Brown said.

City water usage drops by more than one billion gallons since 2012 Though city pumped 9.2 billion gallons of water to homes, businesses in 2018, usage per person is expected to stay down despite growing population

by Maddy Phillips Campus Editor

Madison’s water usage dropped by more than one billion gallons since 2012, pumping 9.2 billion gallons to homes and businesses in the city in 2018, Madison Water Utility reported.

The amount of water pumped last year was two hundred million gallons less than 2017, allowing Madison to hit the water conservation and sustainability goal set by the city in 2006.

Amy Barrilleaux, public information officer for MWU, said Madison’s toilet rebate program has also helped the city reach its sustainability goal. “[The program] has saved almost a billion gallons of water so far, and it helped get a lot of those high water use out of peoples’ homes,” Barrilleaux said. “There are some toilets out there that use five to eight gallons with every flush.”

Barrilleaux explained the toilet rebate program, in which Madison residents get a $100 rebate for replacing their toilet with a low-flow toilet, has been one of most successful programs reaching more than 12,000 residents.

Joe Demorett, supply manager of MWU

pointed to more efficient appliances and plumbing fixtures, as well as a sharp decrease in the use of industrial water as a reason for the decrease. Along with these updated appliances and fixtures, Barrilleaux and Demorett attributed the decrease to climate as well.

“We’ve had a lot of rain,” Barrilleaux said.

“In the summers — especially this last one — it rained every few days which really limits the amount of outdoor watering that people do.”

With companies like Oscar Mayer and Bimbo Bakeries closing their doors, industrial water usage has dropped 73 percent in the past seven years, the city said. Residential water was reported to account for 35 percent of the water usage in Madison — even as the city continues to grow and add more customers, water usage per person is expected to stay down.

Professor of engineering practice Ned Paschke said decreases are being seen — especially per person — but noted Madison is still using a lot of water.

“The population is still growing,” Paschke said. “Therefore, you’d want to look at how many more people are living in the city and then multiply that by how much water they’re using

per day.”

Higher efficiency fixtures and appliances that have been developed over the last decade decrease water use per person a lot, Paschke said. Increasing prices of water might also be a factor in the decrease, he said.

Paschke said the trend of water usage decreasing is being seen nationwide, however it tends to vary in each city depending on its level of industry or if usage remains mostly residential.

“It depends on which metric one is using,” Paschke said. “It’s helpful to know if the decrease is measured by gallons per resident or gallons per resident plus institutional water usage. Institutional water usage including residential use could be a number double that of resident use alone.”

Barrilleaux said more measures have been implemented with the intention of conserving water as well. MWU replaced the biannual metering and billing system to be more accessible to the public and encourage residents to be more environmentally conscious.

Barrilleaux said people can also use the website to set up a limitation to their water use

by requesting MWU send an email notification when they’ve used a certain amount of water.

She said this initiative has increased people’s awareness of their water use with better visibility as to how their water is used.

“We invested in a new metering system,” Barrilleaux said. “So people can see their metering online either hourly, daily or monthly ... This is a huge change — it’s hard to overstate the impact of being able to see how much money you spend and how much water you use doing everyday tasks.”

Barrilleaux said MWU’s conservation initiatives — specifically rebate programs — must be approved by Madison’s public service commission and therefore, before making any concrete decisions, MWU plans to go into the city’s neighborhoods and survey residents on what they would like to see in future programs.

For example, she said, appliance rebates for washing machines or dishwashers could come up or sprinkler rebates.

Madison Water Utility plans to approach the public service commission in one to two years with another conservation initiative for the city, Barrilleaux said.

February 5, 2019 • badgerherald.com • 7

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Diverse state government aims to combat racial disparity in education Ranked as worst state for racial equality nationwide, Wisconsin lawmakers look to increase opportunities for black students

by Hibah Ansari State Editor

As black lawmakers take on new leadership positions in an increasingly diverse state government, Wisconsin officials have joined Gov. Tony Evers in prioritizing closing the racial disparity gap in education.

Recently appointed chair of the state Legislature’s Black Caucus, Rep. David Crowley, D-Milwaukee, said they will be looking at disparity issues that an African American child would experience all the way from birth to when they graduate college.

“We want to make sure that we’re visible, and people understand that we’re going to be fighting for education tooth and nail,” Crowley said. “We’re not going to be afraid to talk about the issues affecting African Americans.”

The inauguration of Evers and the state’s first black lieutenant governor, Mandela Barnes, as well as diversity in state leadership overall has black lawmakers feeling hopeful about curbing the state’s racial disparities, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.

Crowley said he looks forward to meeting with the governor soon to discuss some ways to tackle racial disparities in education access and success.

“We have to make sure that we are very strategic in making sure that we get the outcomes we need and want as it relates to

African American students,” Crowley said.

For black students in higher education institutions specifically, Crowley hopes to discuss more grants, paid internships and mentoring programs for black students on campus.

Crowley said he would also like to increase the number of black teachers in the state overall to improve graduation rates for black high school students.

Madison School Board candidate Ali Muldrow agreed that the lack of diversity amongst the school staff does not reflect the diverse school district they serve. She proposed ways to close the achievement gap and improve the educational experience for students of color.

An outward offering of robust opportunities — particularly in diverse subjects — can improve attendance and decrease tension in the classroom, according to Muldrow.

Muldrow also said educators need to reconsider how they administer standardized testing. She said that because the tests were designed by and for white people, students of color have a disparate opportunity in doing well on standardized tests like college admissions exams, for example.

Students have also expressed concerns to Muldrow about how the school district disguises punishment and humiliation as care. Muldrow said the school district is disproportionately suspending, expelling and

removing students of color from class with a great deal of indecency.

“Students see that happening,” Muldrow said. “It bothers students who are directly impacted by it — it bothers students who are observing it in the classroom.”

But Muldrow recognizes that there is a huge benefit to having people with diverse identities and experiences in leadership positions — especially with the governor ’s support. Because of this, communities of color can have more conversations about racial dynamics and advocate for change.

According to WSJ, Evers has named African Americans to top state positions like state Superintendent Carolyn Stanford Taylor.

Stanford Taylor had been assistant state superintendent since 2001. Now, she will be Wisconsin’s top education official.

WSJ also reported that Barnes intends to make equity a top priority, and legislators who represent underserved communities will drive the mission with him. This is a huge shift from former Gov. Scott Walker, who Barnes said was dismissive of race and class issues.

Crowley, who also commended Evers for appointing lawmakers of color to top secretary positions, agreed that the past administration never really acknowledged many of the issues affecting African Americans in Wisconsin.

“The fact that we have a governor who’s willing to even talk about these issues and

acknowledge that it even is an issue is a step in the right direction,” Crowley said. “We can’t talk about us being great when we know that we have a particular population that continues to be at the bottom.”

Even though this divided government will experience some “growing pains,” Crowley added that the new administration has ushered a sense of compromise and bipartisanship amongst the Republican party — which might keep their proposals from getting blocked in the state Legislature.

Muldrow also faces opposition, with school board candidate David Blaska running on a platform that pushes back on a greater focus on race and identity politics.

“He is speaking from a place of entitlement,” Muldrow said. “He doesn’t think it’s an issue because it’s not an issue for him, and I think that’s the definition of privilege.”

In his State of the State speech, Evers said he will work to make sure that Wisconsin is not the worst state to raise a black family.

Crowley agreed and commended the governor for focusing on the needs of the entire state.

“If we can’t make it better for black children here in Wisconsin, we’re not going to be pushing forward as a state,” Crowley said.

“It’s important to understand that when they do better — we all do better.”

Madison’s push for public art inspires hopes of civic engagement

Public art to address social issues in creative, efficient ways, decrease high crime rates, increase community feel of State Street, Madison

by Molly DeVore Campus Editor

William Grant Turnbull was recently approached about his latest public art piece, “StateScreen,” by a man who recognized him. The man told Turnbull that when someone threw their burger wrapper on the sculpture, he cleaned it up.

This is the exact kind of civic engagement and appreciation “StateScreen” and many other public art pieces in Madison are hoping to promote.

Located next to the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, “StateScreen is an aluminum cityscape installed on top of a low wall that features 11 intricately crafted Madison landmarks.

This piece was commissioned by the city as a part of Madison’s new “placemaking” efforts. Rebecca Cnare, an urban design planner for the city, said placemaking is all about having positive –– for people to do in a space.

“An absence of things to do can bring about places that people avoid, which can attract criminal and other non-positive activity,” Cnare said.

This idea of placemaking is a part of the cities new 8 • badgerherald.com • February 5, 2019

“two-pronged” approach to improving conditions at the top of State Street. Cnare explained that the first prong focuses on promoting positive activity on State Street and the second prong is about increasing the social services that are available to Madison’s homeless population.

Cnare added that one important aspect of placemaking is the “Power of 10” – the idea that to make a space successful there must be at least 10 things to do there. Now admiring “StateScreen” can be added to State Street’s list of activities.

Karin Wolf, the city’s arts administrator, pointed out that while public art is not the only solution to Madison’s social and economic issues, it is more effective than people think.

Wolf referenced an email she once got from a concerned citizen who criticized her for spending money on public art when “there are people sleeping on the street.” Wolf said public art can actually be very cost effective and has a large impact.

“People respond very positively to public art ... across the board, all people seem to enjoy beauty,” Wolf said. “We try to put beauty in our built environment … I think it does create a positive

atmosphere.”

Turnbull said the sculpture was actually one of the cheapest solutions to the crime that had been occurring near the Veterans Museum. The bench “StateScreen” was installed on had attracted criminal behavior for years, but removing the bench would have cost more money than the installation, Turnbull said.

While Madison’s public art budget is always being threatened, it will likely never be cut because of how valuable public art is to the city, Turnbull said.

“It raises property value, so it actually pays for itself with increased tax values … public art is always a good investment for any municipality really,” Turnbull said.

Turnbull also described his own transition from private to public art, explaining that he got tired of creating things that very few people would see.

He decided that rather than make “baubles for the insanely wealthy” he wanted to make art that everyone could enjoy.

Turnbull stressed that art should be available to everyone, including Madison’s homeless

population. Explaining that even though Madison has many free museums, people who are homeless don’t always feel welcome in these spaces, whereas “StateScreen” is located at a spot frequented by people who are homeless.

“Nobody is really seeing to their needs for beauty,” Turnbull said. “The stuff I build, you have just as much of right to it as anybody on the street.”

“StateScreen” is just one of many new art installations throughout Madison. Cnare said both the utility boxes that were decorated with wraps from local artists and the “Flamingo Wings” and “Hodag Claws & Horns” that were painted on the outside wall of the Wisconsin Historical Museum were done with placemaking in mind.

This support of public art will continue, Wolf said. There are plans to fund temporary art projects throughout downtown Madison this summer.

This continued support of public art is important because it shapes the way citizens view their environment, Wolf said.

“I do believe in the power of art ... even if it’s just a little respite in your day,” Wolf said.

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Ariana Grande drag party makes for dance-filled evening at Majestic Perfect venue lead to songs performed by five drag queens in ‘Thank U, Glitz’ dance club, featuring songs by pop stars Ariana Grande, Beyonce

by Angela Peterson ArtsEtc. Editor

The atmosphere of the venue of a live performance is often overlooked when someone reviews a performance. Critics, myself included, like to focus on the performers themselves and decipher whether their pitches were crisp, rhythms were tired, or conduct was off-putting.

In the process, critics ignore one of the main reasons why live performances are superior to a canned record. The space takes on a personality of its own, influencing the events which take place in the venue on multiple levels.

The “feel” of the venue is the only thing typically discussed in a performance review. Smaller venues are often called, “intimate,” whereas large venues offer ample opportunities for boisterous crowds.

Combining these ideas of “feel” along with the venue’s event schedule, Majestic still reigns supreme as the premier performance venue in the growing Madison arts landscape.

Friday’s programming, consisting of a “Brew n’ View” screening of “Legally

Blonde” and an Ariana Grande-themed drag party, titled “Thank U, Glitz: A Drag and Dance Party,” distinguished Majestic’s place further.

Majestic is a transformative venue which allows a variety of events to seem equally welcome in its confines, unlike the harsh, industrialized Sylvee. Built in 1906 as a vaudeville theater and functioning as a movie theater and dance club at different points in its history, the venue’s relatively recent conversion into a performance venue kept its historic warmth.

A bare lower level can be a dance floor just as easily at it can be a mosh pit. The bare-bones seating in the balcony at its worst provides a welcomed respite from standing-room only concerts for free, which isn’t exactly possible at its sister venue down Livingston.

I sat in the top for the “Brew n’ View” Pre-Party to kick off the evening, cozying in a corner while watching my girl Elle Woods get her JD from Harvard and prove Warner and Callahan wrong. Other patrons who are not one month shy of being 21 have ample opportunity to have these events live

Photo ·One drag queen steals the show with her vibrant performance.

Angela Peterson The Badger Herald

up to their name with the venue’s bar open throughout the screening and tables available for mingling with friends.

Honestly, I was a little unsure why I would pay a solid bit of admission to see a movie which up until a few weeks ago was available to watch for free on Youtube when I arrived.

The space allowed for the audience to feel communal and free, however, which gave all the more reason to laugh at the comedy in the film and really listen for all the small, quirky details.

After the film, the venue transformed from a screening theatre into a dance club for “Thank U, Glitz.” This feat was quite simple.

Event staff took down the folding chairs used for extra “Legally Blonde” seating and, with the help of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies,” set the tone for the drag-filled dance party.

All of the queens were local talents, with Bianca Lynn Breeze serving as the evening’s emcee. Breeze’s light-hearted tone welcomed the night’s guests and entertained them throughout the night’s proceedings.

With the night’s theme, each of the five drag queens had to perform one lip sync to an Ariana Grande song in addition to one to the

pop song of their choosing. This led to a night filled with well-known pop selections the audience could also sing along to. A special performance came in the second set, where the queens emulated Grande in her “Thank U, Next” music video by donning the iconic “Jingle Bell Rock” dresses from “Mean Girls.”

Breeze, Karizma Mirage, Bryanna Banx, Kayos Mirage and Regina Lynn Taylor all gave high energy performances in between periods of live dance floor time, contributing to a successful party. Particularly, Breeze’s “drag daughter” Taylor crafted an extremely energetic performance which involved heavy floor work. Karisma Mirage exuded a sense of mystic fantasy throughout her performance and commanded her time on the stage.

It’s simply impossible to imagine Friday’s double bill anywhere else but Majestic. Its success speaks to both the dedication and energy of the talented drag performers as well as the cozy, transformative powers of the venue itself. Luckily for me, I only have to wait a week to see this venue change yet again to set the stage for my next concert review.

Hey Majestic, “Thank U.”

Photo · Ariana Grande songs are sung by one drag queen, who dramatically expresses the songs with their talented vocals Angela Peterson The Badger Herald

February 5, 2019 • badgerherald.com • 9

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Yves Tumor follows DJ Speedsick in electrifying performance

Both artists brought passion, poise with their contemporary music to packed college-aged audience in dark, smoky Twilight Zone venue

by Veronica Kuffel ArtsEtc. Staff Writer

Fans gathered in the Play Circle at Memorial Union Thursday for a concert like no other. Yves Tumor and DJ Speedsick came to Madison and entertained their audience with free music and an original, interactive experience. Courtesy of the University’s own Wisconsin Union Directorate Music Committee, the musicians were welcomed and applauded with positive reviews.

Walking into the venue was like stepping into another world. It was dark — the smoke machine and cooler shades of the lights gave off an interesting Twilight Zone aesthetic. The arenastyle seats were pushed into the wall to make room for the large crowd of college-age fans. It was so packed, people were perching on the seats in order to see the stage. Godwill Oke was one of the many present that night.

“It was kind of like crossing dimensions,” Oke said.

After DJ Speedsick warmed up the crowd with an exceptional set, Yves Tumor came on stage with precision and flare. Dressed in a bodysuit and leather jacket, he sported an interesting wiglike headpiece and high heels. His visual was captivating and drew the audience in — and this was only the first impression we had of him.

Born and raised in Tennessee, Sean Bowie produces music under the stage name “Yves Tumor.” Tumor got his big break with his debut album, Serpent Music, created after he moved to Los Angeles. He currently operates in Turin, Italy

and focuses on developing experimental ways to project his music.

According to Tone, Tumor’s music deconstructs several genres of music and combines them into a contemporary dance beat.

The singer began his piece with this unique, experimental sound.

There was a lot of reverb and echo, and the background beats had a strange tone but a sense of familiarity from popular music. There were moments that truly captivated the essence of his original sound, like when he pressed the mic in front of an amp to make a planned feedback to the beat of the music.

During parts of the performance, Yves sat at the edge of the stage and stared at people in the crowd, projecting his music with passion and poise. The most interesting moment in his performance was when he jumped off stage and, laying on his back, continued to sing. He also walked into the audience a few times and let people touch him and take pictures.

“The crowd got really into it,” Oke said.

“Everyone was respectfully moshing, if that’s possible.”

Even for those who were new to his music, Yves gave a tasteful performance. He commanded the room with every word and every movement. He has this way of putting so much passion behind his lyrics, and you can tell he really means what he’s singing. The amount of emotion in his songs created this vibe of togetherness, and the entire stage glistened in Tumor’s dedication to his art.

The American Indian Studies Colloquium is a series of talks given by scholars, tribal officials, activists, journalists and other people active in the advancement of Native concerns, issues and causes.

Our goal is to create a forum wherein ideas and practices can be discussed among students, staff, faculty and community members that enhance the goal of self-determination for Indigenous Nations.

Assistant Professor, History, Bradley University

Assistant Professor, AIS & SoHE, University of Wisconsin -Madison

Veronica Kuffel The Badger Herald

Publisher and Editor of Madison Magazine

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Dillon Francis, Alison Wonderland bring energy to The Sylvee Artists performed in perfect harmony during first show of ‘Lost My Mind’ tour with popular songs, energetic beat, infectious enthusiasm

by Aidan McClain Director of Public Relations

Last week’s cold weather didn’t stop music lovers from lighting up The Sylvee Thursday night, as people arrived in droves to see a sold-out show featuring Dillon Francis, Alison Wonderland and Diablo.

The show was the first stop on Dillon Francis and Alison Wonderland’s joint “Lost My Mind” tour — and the fresh energy was evident in both performers’ sets.

The tour, following a joint-single of the same name released Jan. 25, will continue throughout the month and will transform multiple venues across the county into epic dance parties.

Special guest Diablo, a self-starting music producer in his own right, prepared the crowd with a quality set. Diablo elevated his career when he began to collaborate with other artists. His most notable collaboration to date? Lil Pump.

“I linked up with Smokepurpp, another big artist in Florida, then he linked me up with Lil Pump, who is, to date, one of the

biggest artists and collaborators I work with,” Diablo said.

Francis and Wonderland recognize Diablo’s artistry and capabilities, too. Diablo is working on new music with both artists, and is slated to release his debut album in March. Those who went to The Sylvee were lucky enough to see an up-and-coming artist perform in a reasonably modest-sized venue.

“ Every time I see one of you in

the crowd I feel a little bit safer … It just helps me take risks and it helps me keep going.”

Alison Wonderland

Following Diablo, Wonderland took a position at the stage’s main table to hypnotize the audience with dramatic lights

Photo · Despite polar vortex, fans remained energized throughout the sold-out show.

Aidan McClain The Badger Herald

and mesmerizing beat drops. In fact, the set was as equally a theatrical lights show as it was a musical performance.

The Sylvee went on to post photos from the show that capture the “brain-melting set.” The energy was at an all-time high, especially when Wonderland played remixes of popular songs, like her rendition of Dua Lipa’s “New Rules.”

She gives the fans a seemingly spiritual experience, and the fans give her the support and confidence to experiment and create.

“Every time I see one of you in the crowd I feel a little bit safer … It just helps me take risks and it helps me keep going,” Wonderland said in a recent Instagram post.

After endless dancing, jumping and at times combinations of the two, it was difficult to remember that Francis was still to come. The $40 general admission was the best purchase anyone in attendance had made all week. A back-to-back lineup of toptier electronic artists was almost reminiscent of a high-profile music festival — each artist using the same stage to bring something different.

When Francis took the stage, he shared his energy with the crowd, which was now moving with the same vigor as they were more than an hour prior

when Wonderland first took the stage.

Francis’ set stayed on track with Wonderland’s in that the lighting was as equally alluring as the music.

The two well-seasoned performers know how to put on a show and have proved this over the years with solo-sets of their own, but when they join forces they create an unmatched atmosphere.

Concert-goers didn’t let the polar vortex stop their enthusiasm, as they continued to dance to the music that has the gift of inspiring unanimous movement. The excitement never hit a low, and it was hard to not be consumed by the beats and rhythmic lights.

The Sylvee has had an excellent track record of bringing relatively big-named musicians to Madison, and they hit the nail on the head with Francis, Wonderland and Diablo.

When Francis wrapped up his set, it felt like the electric group energy that pulsed through The Sylvee was, unfortunately, coming to an end.

The “Lost My Mind” tour set out to deliver a memorable experience, and it delivered. Some people across the country will make the wise decision to see the show live, but for those who don’t have that option, there’s still something to look forward to — Diablo’s upcoming collaborations with both Francis and Wonderland.

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Lack of cultural spaces at UW creates an uphill battle for students of color searching for places of their own on campus As students establish cultural centers at the Red Gym, Native American, Chicanx spaces face potential demolition

by Haidee Chu Print Features Editor

Yi-Fu Tuan identifies with the desert.

Wearing a knit sweater and a pair of wire-rimmed glasses, Tuan, now 88, sat at the cafeteria of his retirement community as he recalled the day in 1951 when he and his friends arrived at Death Valley.

Against a hurling dust storm and a pitch-black night sky, he and his friends attempted to set up tents at 3 a.m.

As a Chinese man, he was unfamiliar with camping — the whole idea, he thought, was “alien.” He cocooned in their sleeping bags after futile attempts.

“I woke up in the morning, and it was just Death Valley right in front of me,” Tuan paused, letting out a hearty smile as he reminisced. “It’s … it’s Death Valley. I just loved it.”

He didn’t love Death Valley the way most would — at least not in the way a tourist would, a way that would render the desert exotic and foreign. It was beyond that — perhaps the opposite of that.

Amid the vastness of Death Valley, he felt a sense of belonging.

“This is me,” Tuan said. “This dryness, this sterility is me.”

Deserts, to Tuan, outlive the tropical rainforests which many of his fellow geographer friends are drawn to. Where his friends see homes to a luxuriant life, Tuan himself sees festering grounds for decay and death. Deserts, on the other hand, transcend the biological cycle of life and death — a characteristic symbolic of his own experience.

Tuan left China for Australia at 10-years-old, amid Imperial Japan’s military occupation in 1940. He would eventually make his way to the Philippines and the U.K. before finally settling in the U.S. A citizen of the world, Tuan, too, has lived beyond the conventional cycle of life and death, declaring a new beginning with each new country.

This life cycle has inspired Tuan, now regarded as the father of humanist geography, to dedicate his career to examining the idea of space and place — how humans relate to the physical environments which they encounter and occupy, and how they form associations and emotions while becoming more fully themselves in the spaces they inhabit.

“Place — or ‘here’ — we have constructed the meaning because that’s where we are. But space — or ‘there’ — is kind of empty,” Tuan explained. “Place is familiar and secure, whereas space promises the unknown adventure.”

It has been more than 10 years since Tuan retired from being a geography professor at the University of Wisconsin.

But this institution, where he spent his final years of teaching, continues to tell a story of space and place today.

UW tells a story about space and place — or perhaps, a story about feeling out of place and asserting one’s right to occupy a space.

Space for improvement UW students donning blackface arrived at Phi Gamma Delta fraternity for their Fiji Island–themed party May 2, 12 • badgerherald.com • February 5, 2019

1987. Greeting them front and center was a cardboard caricature of a black “native” — a man with exaggerated, distorted lips and a nose punctured all the way through by a bone.

Inundated with the blatant racism displayed in the space, the Black Student Union quickly organized a protest at the house. The caricature was initially removed but was soon reinstated after the protestors left.

The president of Phi Gamma Delta defended the caricature as part of a 40-year tradition, denying any racist intent. In a move to appease black protesters, the president claimed further that the caricature was “one of a Filipino native in keeping with [their] party theme.”

Filipino American activists from the Madison community quickly clapped back in an op-ed in The Capital Times, saying “bigotry is the fruit of ignorance — so is misplaced geography.”

After all, the Philippines is some 3,500 miles away from the Fiji islands.

In the aftermath of the party and in light of a flurry of other racist incidents on campus, the university administration organized a working group of about 80 students, faculty and staff to address racism on campus.

Skeptical of the university’s effort, student activists of all racial and ethnic backgrounds — brought together by solidarity in response to the multidimensional nature of the racism involved — quickly established an umbrella organization known as the Minority Coalition soon after the working group’s initial meeting.

The students who composed the Minority Coalition would later make up the majority of a steering committee of minority affairs, helmed by BSU co-president Charles Holley. In a move to establish visibility, space and place for students of color on campus, the Holley committee suggested among its list of recommendations the creation of a multicultural student center to focus on the needs of five targeted American minorities: Afro-Americans, American Indians, Chicanos, Asian American and Puerto Ricans.

Stemming from those recommendations, the Multicultural Student Center — today located at the Red Gym — was founded one year later.

Out of place The mere establishment of a dedicated cultural space is not itself an antidote for a pervasive culture, however.

More than 30 years after the MSC was created, students of color continue to conceptualize their place on the UW campus.

The 2016 Campus Climate Report found that, while 81 percent of all students felt welcome on campus, only 65 percent of students of color felt the same. Among students of color, 19 percent reported incidents of hostile, harassing or intimidating behavior.

As a freshman living in Chadbourne last school year, Emily Bian has many times heard her space referred to as “Chinatown” — a nickname given by her peers in reference to the dorm’s international and Asian American student population.

“That was so rude,” Bian said. “It was not just Chinese people, there were a lot of Korean students as well. And

also, it was way dominated by white people, so why would they say that?”

But on a campus composed of more than 85 percent white students, feelings of isolation and alienation inevitably extend beyond the living space and into the learning space.

After three years at UW, junior Shiloah Coley continues to find herself battling feelings of frustration that come with being the only black student in class. Part of that, she said, means confronting and conceptualizing the significance of being a black woman in predominantly white spaces — an identity students make sure Coley doesn’t forget when they look away from her whenever professors ask them to partner up.

“No one makes it easy to give you all the resources that you need in regards to being successful on this campus as a student of color,” Coley said.

“And I think due to that almost automatic feeling of being rejected from the rest of the campus community — because you can’t really find people who look like you or people with necessarily shared ideas or shared experiences — it makes it so hard for it to be someone’s place. You feel out of place.”

For senior Riley Tsang, the feeling of being out of place was reawakened when he found himself in spaces at UW that challenged him to reexamine his identity from different perspectives — in spaces that proved to be a stark contrast from the predominantly white, conservative Waukesha County where he said he had to whitewash himself to fit in growing up.

The beginning of that awakening came in part when a series of racist incidents plagued UW during his freshman year. The next year, following the election of President Donald Trump, the country saw a spike in Islamophobia and threats toward immigrant communities which many Asian Pacific Islander Desi American families are part of.

Tsang began to grow frustrated that there weren’t many visible ways for APIDA students to get involved with supporting their own communities and other communities of color.

That too, is related to the idea there isn’t a visible APIDA community on campus.

“If we had a space, we’d be able to form a community on campus,” Tsang said. “So I went to the director of the MSC and was like, ‘Hi, why isn’t there an Asian American cultural center?’ And he was like, ‘you should try to make one.’ That was my whole last year.”

Claiming place Tsang and recent UW graduate Shannon Thao began advocating for the APIDA Cultural Center in 2017, the same year the Black Cultural Center returned to the Red Gym in its third iteration. The second one, located on University Avenue, closed in 1973 after the Board of Regents took away funding from the center.

Inspired in part by the success of the BCC and concerned with issues facing Latinx students on campus, junior

Michelle Navarro and three other students — Josue Velazquez, Jonathan Godinez and Alondra Avitia — also began discussing the possibility of a Latinx Cultural Center at a social justice leadership retreat in February 2018.

But their efforts were met with resistance.

When Tsang proposed the APIDA Cultural Center to then–Dean of Students Lori Berquam last year, he said Berquam explained that the Division of Student Life lacked the requisite money or space. She struggled to prioritize projects — from helping APIDA students establish their cultural center, to the Latinx students hoping for the same, to the Native American students who may face imminent displacement from their cultural center.

Though disheartened with UW’s expansive bureaucracy and its limitations, Tsang passed on what he had heard along to other APIDA, Latinx and Native American students also fighting to occupy their rightful place on campus.

Together they formed a temporary crosscultural coalition, demanding visibility and access to form communities of their own — just as the Minority Coalition did 30 or so years ago.

“We were like, ‘let’s do this together,’ because we don’t want the administration to say who’s going to get what and when to get it,” Navarro said. “You don’t have to prioritize us, you can just give us what each of our communities deserve.”

Tsang concurred, adding that white supremacy is perpetuated when authorities pit communities of color against each other to fight for the “scraps of resources.”

Working in solidarity, the temporary coalition proved itself a force at the Campus Climate Student Forum in March 2018.

“They were very frazzled by [our presence] because they neither expected it to be live-streamed nor expected a whole coalition of students,” Tsang said. “We just kept on asking all these questions. We were stirring up some noise there.”

At the end, the university agreed to offer the APIDA and Latinx cultural centers the North Mezzanine on the second floor of the Red Gym, tucked away in the back of the MSC. With an end goal of securing permanent homes for the cultural centers, however, both decided to label the locations as startup centers — interim, temporary spaces.

“The MSC had an interim space before, and now it takes up almost the whole space of the Red gym,” Navarro said. “It was just really important that we claim our space starting now then work toward expanding.”

But the future of these centers, Tsang believes, depends greatly on the resources offered to them by the university in the meantime.

“The hard part is, the current space is pretty hard to get to and doesn’t have the funding for the full-time staff it needs,” Tsang said. “And unless we actively demonstrate that students will use this space, there’s a good chance administration will use it as justification to take away our space.”

Displaced While activism by the temporary cross-cultural coalition has helped the APIDA and Latinx cultural centers secure startup spaces in the Red Gym, no visible solution lies ahead of Native American students whose cultural center once again faces the potential of demolition under the current Campus Master Plan.

An update on the plan last year reinforced the speculation. The update proposed that two cultural spaces currently inhabiting North Brooks Street — the American Indian Student and Cultural Center, as well as MEChA House, a Chicanx organization that promotes community engagement, political participation and culture — be replaced by a new academic building and reimagined as part of a pedestrian mall.

The irony, of course, rests in the fact that these Native American students are confronted with the necessity to reclaim spaces on land that was historically theirs and theirs alone. This struggle began with the proposal of a cultural center in 1972, which was not realized until 2009, when the AISCC was established after Wunk Sheek’s former office was demolished for campus development, Aaron Bird Bear, assistant dean for Student Diversity Programs in the School of Education, said.

Michael Williams, co-president of Wunk Sheek, one of the five Native American student organizations that currently uses the space, said the effects of being displaced once again would be detrimental. He is currently working with UW-Native Nations in hopes of preserving the space.

“There were two years when we didn’t have a cultural center, and you can tell because that’s around the time that Wunk Sheek lost ASM funding,” Williams said. “That’s around the time when Wunk Sheek started losing member engagement. There’s a direct correlation between not having a cultural center and not being able to produce the kinds of events that we are producing.”

Dwindling cultural activities aside, Williams said that demolishing the AISCC would threaten the survival of spaces safe for Native American students on campus, citing the facts that nearly half of all Native American women on campus have reported being sexually assaulted and that at least one Wunk Sheek member reports being the target of cultural appropriation, cultural attacks and racial slurs every day.

“When you come from a reservation where everyone knows everyone … it makes it real hard when you come to a campus and you’re one of less than a percent of the campus population,” Williams, a Native American from the Oneida Nation, said. “When you can actually find other Native Americans or indigenous people that can relate with you and just kind of bring that sense of home back, that’s one of the best things that it can do, especially because Native Americans have a horrible dropout rate.”

Fusing space and place Back at the retirement community where Tuan and I shared lunch, he continued the story of his visit to Death Valley 65 years or so ago.

“If I had stayed in China, in the humid part of China, I would never know that there’s this side of me that identified with the desert,” Tuan said “It was out in space

— in Death Valley — that I encountered my psychological self, my place. I try to make the point that we humans are both [space and place] — it’s always both, partly because we have imagination.”

This duality of existing both in space and place, is precisely how Cindy I-Fen Cheng, associate history professor and director of the Asian American studies program, thinks of UW as she reminisces about her past 13 years here.

“UW is both a place where you wonder if you belong, but it’s also the potential that it could be,” Cheng said.

“And I think honestly, the process of minoritization is that you feel both rooted and displaced. It’s a conflicted feeling, but it’s also a place where you found great friends and things that you both belong to even though you know that there are obstacles like racism.”

This duality is a feeling that brews within many students of color at UW as they continue to work on reclaiming spaces where their heritage and culture would be honored and recognized at the institutional level.

For Coley, this duality takes form in reexamining her intersectionality as a black Jamaican-American woman as she shuffles between both predominantly white and predominantly black spaces on campus. And what makes her feels right in her place — her art — she shares with strangers that occupy spaces foreign to herself.

Coley just completed her first mural at Slow Food’s UW dining space to articulate “the importance of marginalized communities working to support each other and the importance of the next generation to come.”

For Navarro, this duality means volunteering her time to the unfamiliar space of university bureaucracy in hopes of creating a place for future students like herself.

And as for Tsang, he invests this duality into fostering APIDA culture on campus, which he said is “less about celebrating what’s in the past but rather creating a shared future together” — it’s about creating “a culture of solidarity, community and activism.” It’s about leaping forward from place into space, into to a realm of possibilities.

In a way, wandering into space is both a courageous and a comforting act — courageous because it signals departure from complacency, comforting because it carries with it hopes for a sense of belonging anew.

As Tuan and I parted ways, he made sure that I, too, would be firm in my sense of space and place — that I would not forget about my own identity no matter the spaces I traverse in the future.

“Any plans for the rest of the day?” I asked.

“Just editing a student’s paper. What else am I going to do — play mahjong?” he responded.

“They have mahjong here? I don’t even know how to play mahjong,” I said, laughing.

“See, you’re losing touch with your identity,” he said to me in a grandfatherly way.

I smiled in embarrassment, bid my farewell and walked away. The moment I left his sight, I pulled out my phone, opened up Safari and googled “Cantonese mahjong rules.”

badgerherald.com • February 5, 2019 • 13

OPINION

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Gov. Evers’ fight to end WEDC won’t be stopped by red tape Though PolitiFact rated Evers’ actions on the issue a ‘full flop,’ there is little reason to expect he will back down

by Ethan Carpenter Columnist

Looking at our presidents of recent history, an unfortunate pattern forms. To run for office is to make promises — to win is to break them.

As many times as Barack Obama reassured the nation “If you like your doctor, you keep your doctor,” jeering Republicans probably repeated it more when many Americans’ health care plans failed to conform to the Affordable Care Act’s new requirements. Two years after inauguration, Donald Trump’s big and beautiful border wall has yet to see a single brick laid, and as his prospects of getting funding from Congress dwindle, he seems to have abandoned hope of getting so much as a red cent from Mexico toward the construction.

“Politicians lie” isn’t exactly startling news, but these unkept promises were never as simple as a sleazy suit getting a cheap laugh by pulling the wool over our eyes. Obama tried to provide for pre-existing plans to be grandfathered into the ACA and Trump went so far as to order the longest government shutdown in history in a bid to secure wall funding.

Their campaign promises were aspirational statements. Their actions as elected officials were hard choices in response to the real muck and mud that comes from navigating a changing political landscape as an executive.

From the White House to the Statehouse to the School Board, the trustees of the people’s power are all too often dogged at the heels by ambitious promises, as impossible to unsay as they are to keep.

Enter Gov. Tony Evers. On the campaign trail, he pledged to defund the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, a private-public partnership created by former Gov. Scott Walker to offer loans to companies for the purpose of job creation. After affirming repeatedly the WEDC has to go, Evers has now abruptly changed tune on the matter. In an interview with Wisconsin Eye, Evers said he’s “... not going to be proposing anything in the budget about WEDC.” PolitiFact rated it a “full flop.”

If Evers was giving up the fight on the WEDC, this would be extremely disheartening news. Put charitably, it could be said to be a poorly-managed disappointment — its 2017 audit showed the organization’s failure to get back its loan payments or track job creation. To be less kind, it’s the organization that fought for a $500,000 taxpayer loan to a Walker donor ’s failing business after he told them the money would go toward paying off his Maserati. While the Republican 14 • February 5, 2019 • badgerherald.com

Photo · Gov. Evers has made his goal to take down the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation clear, but refuses to do so unless there is a comprehensive replacement.

Jon Yun The Badger Herald leadership of the Wisconsin statehouse will likely fight tooth and nail against it, our new governor has a responsibility to do everything he can to rid Wisconsin of the Walker era’s extraordinary financial corruption.

While Evers may be taking a step back, we have no reason to expect our governor to back down. Elaborating on the governor ’s view on the matter, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes made it clear Evers isn’t going to get rid of the WEDC without ensuring that some lever remains for the state to encourage economic growth, putting it as plainly as, “It’s not like we just want to get rid of the department and do nothing.”

As it stands, the legislature is under the control of Evers’ opposition. His ability to choose the CEO of the WEDC, as well as his ability to appoint members to its board have both been undercut during the legislature’s lame-duck session, the bill part of a Republican package of laws designed to hamper Evers’

power. While the governor could use a line-item veto to prevent the budget from including funds for the WEDC, doing so would be exactly what he’s previously stated he doesn’t want to do — destruction without a constructive replacement.

The measures passed regarding the WEDC, however, are temporary — and while the Republicans have a strong majority protected by one of the most coldly efficient partisan gerrymanders seen in the U.S., they do not have a veto-proof majority. While Evers’ current probing of reform and expansion of the mission of the WEDC is a positive first step, his popular mandate and its promises behoove him to continue to work for a publicly controlled replacement, and to resist attempts by Republicans to push more power into the hands of a non-representative state legislature.

As a former member of the Board of Regents and a teacher, Evers has witnessed the

callous cynicism of Republican control unfold for years. Their willingness to contort districts and institutions to match their partisan agenda has long replaced any sensible notion of adopting a platform that a majority of Wisconsin voters would support. Willingness to compromise is the mark of a mature adult, and willingness to be uncompromising with one’s core values is the mark of a strong spirit.

Evers was a regent who refused to side with the Walker-controlled Board’s willingness to undermine students’ free speech. Evers is a governor who has refused to back down on accepting the Medicaid expansion and fighting for access to affordable healthcare for all Wisconsinites. He has always been a fighter, and we have every reason to believe that he will continue to be one in the coming months.

Ethan Carpenter (emcarpenter2@wisc.edu) is a sophomore majoring in political science.

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Conservative opposition to common sense gun control misses the point

Red flag laws have opportunity to prevent violence, save lives, reduce suicide by removing firearms from at-risk individuals

by Julia Brunson Columnist

A documentary about Columbine.

Newspaper reports of mass shootings.

Neo-Nazi and white supremacist propaganda. Threats against ex-partners and spouses. Painstakingly-detailed manifestos posted on social media. Google searches about suicide, spiraling into a fascination with bump stocks and where to purchase them cheaply.

These were the “red flags” missed before several of last year ’s most horrifying mass shootings. With the benefit of hindsight, the content embedded in the computers and social media of those who commit violence often seems exactly that — a bright red flag.

A red flag law, proposed by Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, aims to address these flags. It would allow family members and law enforcement to petition a judge, temporarily removing firearms from an

individual who is a possible threat. Despite intense disagreement about the limits of the second amendment, red flag laws and universal background checks, among other proposed restrictions, are supported by a significant majority of Americans.

Red flag laws, which have been passed in thirteen states, are supported by several local law enforcement officials. Iterations of red flag laws — sometimes called an “extreme risk protection order” — have even evoked conditional support from the National Rifle Association, despite their rampant efforts to fight red flag legislation in numerous states.

When Kaul proposed “red flag” legislation at his inauguration, the push back from gun rights advocates was immediate. Concerns about due process were voiced, and with good reason. Establishing a fair and transparent process for removing firearms in a potentially dangerous situation is vital to an equitable implementation of law.

A recent column published by The Badger

Herald highlighted several of these concerns, deeming Kaul’s proposal “honorable” but speculative, mirroring conservative concerns over how, and why, guns could be removed from individuals.

“It is often suggested that ‘red flag’ laws can be used to protect an individual from themselves,” the article noted. “In 2016, there were 44,965 suicides — 51 percent of which were by firearm. This is obviously alarming. But this also means 49 percent of suicides were by another means.”

Later, the article implored readers to seek help outside of Red flag laws: “If you have any legitimate reason to believe that someone you know is going to harm themselves, consider talking to them — be a friend. Have them contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-2738255. Government coercion is certainly not the best option.”

This line of reasoning is concerning for

Photo · Critics of red flag laws deem them speculative. However, the possibility of saving lives and mitigating violence should outweigh any opposition.

Marissa Haegele The Badger Herald

several reasons. Certainly, seeking help for a friend is imperative if they are about to harm themselves or others. But suggesting suicidal individuals or their friends should avoid seeking other mental health resources at the potential cost of temporary gun dispossession is absurdly out of touch. If removing firearms from someone will save a life — or save lives, plural — then it is absolutely the best option. Period.

Beyond the worrying national statistics for firearm-assisted suicides, red flag laws address another concern of police officers — the possession of firearms by those convicted of domestic violence. According to data reported by Everytown For Gun Safety, 54 percent of mass shootings since 2009 were “... related to domestic or family violence.”

Despite federal restrictions on gun ownership by convicted domestic abusers, the ban does not apply to those charged with misdemeanor domestic violence. This loophole, among other vulnerabilities in the system, allowed the Sutherland Springs shooter to possess several firearms and kill 26 churchgoers in Texas last year.

Yet, opposition to red flag laws rarely addresses the statistical relationships between gun ownership and violence.

Despite the structured process to remove firearms — a petition before a judge, the temporary removal of firearms if a warrant is granted and a hearing two weeks later — the supposed infringement on due process persists as critics’ primary concern.

This conundrum is what my roommate refers to as the “Person of Interest” problem — how do you act upon knowledge that somebody might be a danger to others, if they haven’t committed a crime yet? How do you remove someone from an unhealthy situation if they’re not in one now?

I am no constitutional scholar. I cannot speak to the legality of gun ownership in the context of red flag laws. But I, among many other Americans, subscribe to the “better safe than sorry” mentality. Often used by proponents of open and concealed carry, this mentality suggests, above all else, we should aim to protect ourselves and our loved ones from harm.

Statistically, the path forward is clear: remove guns from at-risk individuals and reduce potential rates of suicide and gun violence in a household. Remove a firearm erroneously, and the price is a wait of fourteen days. In a world of “better safe than sorry,” is that really too much to ask?

Julia Brunson (julia.r.brunson@gmail.com) is a senior majoring in history.

badgerherald.com • February 5, 2019 • 15

OPINION

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Blocked Twitter users not completely protected by First Amendment

Brief analysis of previous court cases reveals the complicated history of First Amendment protection on the public forum

by Lianna Schwalenberg Columnist

There are at least two federal district court cases that exist to support government officials’ social media account properly fitting the role of “designated” public forums, or previously closed spaces that are deemed open for free expression. This issue has now reached Wisconsin’s western district court with the ruling on One Wisconsin Now v. Kremer, Jesse et al. The case affirmed three state assembly members violated the first amendment when they each blocked the plaintiff, a liberal advocacy group, on Twitter.

“Public officials

have created a public forum using public resources to discuss public policy ... ” Scot Ross One Wisconsinn Now director The lawsuit challenged state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, budget committee co-chair Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette and former Rep. Jesse Kremer, R-Kewaskum, arguing that the social media barrier, being blocked from a public forum and unable to interact with the lawmakers’ tweets, was viewpoint discriminatory.

“Public officials have created a public forum using public resources to discuss public policy … It should be open to all members of the public, period,” former One Wisconsin Now director Scot Ross said.

Though the court determined remedy is necessary, the case is still in progress to determine an appropriate remedy.

The question of the First Amendment as it relates to social media is still relevant here. So let’s break it down into a simple summary and possible implications.

One main clause of the First Amendment is the freedom of expression, or protection from government censorship. To be clear, there is no a “right” to an open public forum under the First Amendment. People making that argument should be careful.

We close off public forums all the time — 16 • February 5, 2019 • badgerherald.com

these are a subgroup of designated public forums called “limited forums” (see Good News Club v. Milford Central School) and they can discriminate against certain groups or the discussion of certain topics. In the One Wisconsin Now case, the court upheld the Twitter accounts were designated public forums because the lawmakers operated their accounts as state actors, not private citizens, and intentionally opened their accounts on a highly-interactive platform to the general public, making no attempt to discriminate based on constituent status.

When the government opens up a nontraditional forum for expressive activities, it is not allowed to discriminate based on viewpoint (for a case close to home, see Madison School District v. WERC). The court in the One Wisconsin Now case found every defendant engaged in discrimination against the liberal perspective, often as a way to protect their constituents from crude comments. This viewpoint-based exclusion from a designated public forum in addition to the forum’s vital governmental functions are the same reasons the court in Knight v.

Trump used to affirm the plaintiff’s First

Amendment rights.

While the main thrust of the argument is sound and the case is mostly settled, a few mechanical implications arise with this verdict. First, where do we draw the line between individuals using their accounts for personal reasons and using them for government purposes? Many use their accounts for both. On the same lines, many politicians, both Republican and Democrat, use Twitter ’s blocking feature.

The government and Twitter would need to make a concerted effort to compel all political actors to unblock everyone they have blocked for unfavorable viewpoints. Second, the Supreme Court has said “... a person’s right to speak is not infringed when government simply ignores that person while listening to others.” Thus, we are not completely opposed to the idea of creating echo chambers. So long as there remains a space to interact, post grievances, etc., making one website a safe place for particular voices is not entirely an unconstitutional idea.

Third, Twitter is a very interesting type of public forum in that most of the issues related to blocking are easily overridden.

Unlike banning someone from a website or physically restraining someone from entering a place, on Twitter, all the blocked user has to do is log off and they can view any public account. If a blocked user wants to make comments, they can create a new profile for free.

The First Amendment “... does not forbid a viewpoint-neutral exclusion of speakers who would disrupt a nonpublic forum and hinder its effectiveness for its intended purpose” (see Cornelius v. NAACP Leg. Def. Fund).

Given there are many constitutional reasons for limiting a public forum, it is worth asking what kinds of benefits there are to siloing ourselves in certain social environments, such as Twitter.

If a particular advocacy group is being particularly hostile to a policymaker ’s constituents, many might agree there should be some way to limit, without entirely excluding, their ability to contribute to public discourse — hence, the blocking feature.

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

Photo · The blurred lines between personal and government use of social media platforms makes the use of the blocking feature a new, though significant, issue.

Hayley Cleghorn The Badger Herald

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Point Counterpoint: Future of Marsy’s Law for Wisconsin College Republicans: Marsy’s Law will strengthen Wisconsin

College Democrats: Marsy’s Law may infringe on rights of accused

The state of Wisconsin has a proud history of advocating for victims’ rights and protecting our most vulnerable citizens.

Wisconsin was the first state to pass a victims’ Bill of Rights and was an early adopter of a constitutional amendment in 1993. Today, Wisconsin needs Marsy’s Law to provide a necessary update to Wisconsin’s Constitution that ensures crime victims are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.

Marsy’s Law is named after Marsalee Nicholas, who was stalked and killed in 1983 by her ex-boyfriend. Just one week after Marsy’s murder, her family members were confronted by Marsy’s killer in a grocery store and had no idea he had been released on bail.

Years later, Marsy’s Law for Wisconsin seeks to ensure that events such as these will never happen to victims or their families again.

Marsy’s Law would strengthen existing rights for crime victims and create new ones to ensure that they have a say as their cases are litigated and that they are updated throughout the process. Marsy’s Law would give victims of crimes rights equal to those of the accused and convicted, and would not take away any rights of the accused, as it absolutely shouldn’t.

At its core, Marsy’s Law ensures that victims have a right to their voice being heard in the criminal justice process, the right to notification, and the right to information about their cases. Mary’s Law also requires that victims are notified of their rights as they navigate the criminal justice system, just as defendants are.

In Wisconsin, many have come forward to share their stories of how the criminal justice system has failed them, even when they were children. It’s no surprise that victims’ advocates, district attorneys, law enforcement officials and legislators on both sides of the aisle support Marsy’s Law to ensure that the system is fair to victims.

In addition to protecting the rights of victims, the protections of Marsy’s Law ensures safer communities. By putting protections in place to back individuals as they navigate the criminal justice system, victims who would not have otherwise come forward

Democrats value the rights of victims. We believe victims deserve to be treated with dignity, respect, courtesy, sensitivity and fairness, just as Marsy’s Law proposes. While Marsy’s Law has good intentions that we encourage, we cannot offer our full support of this Legislation.

Marsy’s Law stems from California and is named after Marsalee Nicholas who was stalked and killed by her ex-boyfriend in 1983. After her family was unexpectedly confronted by the accused murderer at the grocery store, they called for victims rights advocacy. Fortunately, Wisconsin has already been a champion in victims’ rights protections. With a victim bill of rights and a constitutional amendment on victim privacy, we’ve made steps in the right direction.

Marsy’s Law aims to “strengthen rights that already exist in Wisconsin,” however, it doesn’t offer substantial changes for victims.

College Democrats recognize the importance of protecting the rights of both the victims and the accused. One flaw of Marsy’s Law is that it inaccurately represents the criminal proceedings process. In these trials, the accused’s rights are meant to protect them from the government, not the victim. Their goal of “simply putting victims on more equal footing” is creating false equivalencies. To chance infringement on the constitutional rights of the accused is incredibly dangerous. The Marsy’s Law provision on refusing to turn over evidence risks violating the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and its other details could deny the protections promised in the fifth and fourteenth amendments. As it stands, the text of Marsy’s Law does not provide adequate protection against these infringements.

But we cannot allow divisive rhetoric to create a false dichotomy where we cannot support both victims and the rights of the accused. Our criminal proceedings, albeit flawed, exist to ensure the innocent aren’t incarcerated and the true perpetrators roam free, risking harm to others.

Democrats are more than willing to work across the aisle to help support victims. While we cannot fully support Marsy’s Law, there are still other measures we can adopt to support victims’ rights.

We can significantly reduce rates of gun

are empowered to do so.

While the goal of every community should be to reduce crime overall, creating an environment where the criminal justice system supports victims and their families can aid in making sure that more of these crimes are reported so criminals don’t remain on the streets.

In Wisconsin, Marsy’s Law will need to be voted on one more time by the legislature (it was already passed once with widespread bipartisan support) and passed in a statewide referendum because it is an amendment to the state constitution. Moving forward, Marsy’s Law will continue to need voters to contact their legislators, people to share their stories, citizens to advocate in their communities and your eventual vote if it ends up on the ballot.

The College Republicans of UW-Madison are proud to support Marsy’s Law because standing up for victims and the rule of law allows the criminal justice system to serve our communities fully. Supporting people as they seek justice for crimes that they’ve fallen victim to is the right and just thing to do.

I’m proud that members of both of both political parties are coming together to support legislation such as Marsy’s Law, especially in an age of deep partisan division.

On its first vote in the Assembly, Marsy’s Law passed with a vote of 81-10 and in the Senate on a vote of 29-4. Wisconsin’s top law enforcement official, Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul supports Marsy’s Law along with his Republican predecessor, Brad Schimel.

Supporting Marsy’s Law transcends political ideology because supporting victims and a fairer criminal justice system is something both political parties can get behind. It’s time for Wisconsin to adopt Marsy’s Law — crime victims shouldn’t have to wait any longer to be protected.

Alesha Guenther (aguenther2@wisc.edu) is a junior majoring in political science and journalism.

She is also the communications director of the College Republicans of UW-Madison.

violence and domestic homicide between intimate partners. In 2017, 62 percent of domestic homicide victims were killed with a firearm. By disarming domestic abusers, we can measurably help protect victims.

Fighting mass incarceration is another key issue for Democrats. The U.S. has the highest prison population rate in the world. Through criminal justice system reforms, we can ensure resources are being better allocated to help victims.

Current flaws allow victims to become incarcerated. Domestic and sexual violence cases don’t always clearly identify the perpetrators. As a result, victims are often arrested and prosecuted. Women comprise a larger proportion of the prison population now more than ever before and most of these women are victims of domestic violence.

Additionally, we support offering mental health services to victims. The emotional and mental well-being of victims is important to us, and it’s critical that we offer resources to help victims. By addressing mental health, we can make a significant, long term impact on victims’ lives.

Marsy’s Law may appear admirable on the surface, the bill does not offer substantial measures to truly protect victims.

College Democrats support victims, which is why we can and must do better for them.

Since the bill was unable to pass through session in time to make this April’s ballot, we now have time to address these concerns before proceeding. Now is the time to make adjustments and put forth better proposals for the sake of Wisconsin’s victims.

Working across the aisle requires the work of both parties, and College Democrats recognize the importance of doing so when faced with a divided government. We look forward to the upcoming legislative session and we hope to find issues on which both parties can agree.

Cecelia McDermott (camcdermott@wisc.edu) is a freshman majoring in political science and geography.

She is also the press secretary of the College Democrats of UW-Madison. badgerherald.com • February 5, 2019 • 17

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Forward Madison FC: UW Alumni announced to Madison soccer team As the first Forward Madison FC player born and raised in Madison, Carl Schneider looks to be hometown favorite

by Harrison Freuck Staff Writer

University of Wisconsin soccer alumnus Carl Schneider is the newest signee of Forward Madison FC, Madison’s first ever professional soccer team.

Schneider is a unique player compared to the other early signees of the club, as he’s the first player signed by the club to be born and raised here in Madison.

Schneider played for local La Follette High School from 2007-11, leading the school’s soccer team to their first ever Big Eight Conference title his senior year.

The team finished 21-2-1 overall (9-0-0 Big Eight) under Schneider ’s leadership.

Schneider was also a four-year All-Big Eight Conference honoree, before choosing to pursue soccer in college at the UW. After redshirting his freshman season at UW, Schneider played defense and

midfield, starting in 51 games and appearing in another 10 from 2012-15.

Overall, Schneider compiled nearly 4800 minutes of playing time and also finished with two goals and an assist in his career.

Following graduation, Schneider went on to play in Sweden for IFK Åmål. In Sweden, Schneider helped the team get promoted twice in three years to the division above. He has now returned to where it all started, having been announced as the newest Forward Madison FC signee Tuesday.

Schneider said he’s most excited to play in his hometown again because he gets to play in front of those he knows and loves.

Not many fans showed up to his team’s games in Sweden, so he said Madison will be a nice change of scenery, as the city has always been welcoming to new sporting events.

Schneider went on to say that he feels his

“[My] career has come full circle, having played in Madison on every level.”

Carl Schneider “career has come full circle, having played in Madison on every level.”

He is also excited to be playing at a higher level in a place he’s always wanted to play professionally. His goals for this season include locking down a starting spot, being a part of one of the top teams in the league, and with that, a team promotion to a higher level of the United

Soccer Leauge by the end of the season.

When asked about what made him personally choose to play soccer professionally instead of pursuing a career in his area of study, psychology, Schneider said he’s always been passionate about playing soccer.

As a natural pick to be the hometown favorite, Schneider feels he’ll have an edge on opponents visiting Madison.

With many people watching from here in Madison, it’s easy to see why Schneider could become an instant fan-favorite, even if he doesn’t play the most flashy position on the field as a right back.

“If anyone is questioning whether or not to get tickets to the games this season, all you need to do is look at the Mallards,” Schneider said. “This crowd is going to be the same people, and it is going to be a party.”

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Football: Badgers seek NFL roster spot in upcoming draft

Paul Chryst will say goodbye to 16 graduating seniors, many of whom are projected to be early picks in this year’s draft

by Ben Kenney Staff Writer

The end of yet another NFL season has passed. With the NFL Pro Bowl already in the distant minds of viewers and parties from Super Bowl LIII already cleaned up, all eyes are already on next season.

The end of the week marks the time when professional teams start to rebuild their rosters, prepare for the draft and look ahead to what the next season has in store. For some teams, the future outlook is bright, but others find themselves at the top of the draft board after yet another disappointing season.

While the NFL off-season is just about to start, the Badger Football off-season is a few months old, and preparation for the draft for those who have declared has already begun.

Badger football Head Coach Paul Chryst will say goodbye to 16 graduating seniors this season: guards Beau Benzschawel and Michael Deiter, fullback Alec Ingold, linebacker T.J. Edwards and safety D’Cota Dixon.

For these seniors and a few others leaving Madison in pursuit of a roster spot in professional football, their careers as players are just getting started, as several of them are projected to be picked early in this year’s draft in Nashville.

Wisconsin football has a rich history of sending players to the NFL draft, many of whom succeed greatly on the world’s biggest stage. There are currently 31 former Badgers in the NFL, including Melvin Gordon as a running back for the Los Angeles Chargers, Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson, all three of the Watt brothers — J.J., Derek and T.J., Travis Frederick as a center for the Cowboys, New England running back James White, and Eagles running back Corey Clement.

The following departing players will hope to add their names to this list in April.

David Edwards (Junior) Edwards entered Wisconsin in 2015 as a tight end and redshirted his freshman season. Since moving to the offensive tackle position at the beginning of the 2016 season, he has become one of the best offensive linemen in the country. Notable accolades include Academic All-Big Ten (2016-18), First Team All-America (2017, 20 • badgerherald.com • February 5, 2019

AFCA) and First Team All-Big Ten (2018, media).

The 6-foot-7, 315 pound Edwards is currently ranked by CBS Sports as the fifth offensive tackle and has been given a second round grade by experts.

Beau Benzschawel (Senior) Benzschawel, a part of a senior class

to be selected in the third round in April.

Michael Deiter (Senior) Like Benzschawel and Edwards, Deiter redshirted his first year in Madison. After that, he went on to set a school record of 54 consecutive starts — 24 at left guard, 16 at center and 14 at left tackle.

He, along with Benzschawel and

offensive guard (behind Benzschawel) and has been given a fifth-round grade.

T.J. Edwards (Senior) T.J. Edwards ended his college career with 53 starts at linebacker, 366 total tackles, 37.5 tackles for loss, eight sacks and ten interceptions.

He will be particularly known for starting every game for the Badgers’ first ranked scoring defense and secondranked total defense in 2015.

While many experts don’t see T.J. Edwards’ game translating to the NFL, he is the sixth-ranked inside linebacker

by CBS Sports and has been given a fifthround grade.

D’Cota Dixon (Senior) Dixon suffered a season-ending injury in week four of his first season in Madison. Since then, Dixon played in 43 games and became a staple in the back end of Chryst’s defense.

Dixon’s distinguished Badger career included 179 tackles, 8.5 for loss, 2.5 sacks and five interceptions. He is a bit undersized for the safety position at the next level, standing at 5-foot-10, 205 lbs, but there have been elite level safeties to succeed at that size, most notably former Steelers safety Troy Polamalu.

Dixon’s draft prediction has bounced around since the college season came to an end, projected as high as the sixth round in some rankings, but he now is projected to sign as an undrafted free agent after the draft concludes.

Photo · David Edwards, Beau Benzschawel, Michael Deiter and D’Cota Dixon are among potential top picks.

Hazel Tang The Badger Herald who went 42–12, entered Wisconsin in 2014 as a three-star recruit out of Grafton, Wisconsin. After redshirting his freshman season, he emerged as one of, if not the, best offensive guards in the country.

Notable accolades include Second Team All-Big Ten (2016, coaches) and First Team All-American (2017-18, consensus).

Fittingly, Benzschawel is the highest rated guard by CBS Sports and is projected

Edwards, will be remembered for what he did to help protect his quarterbacks and help Jonathan Taylor to a Doak Walker Award and 4,171 rushing yards in Taylor ’s first two seasons in Madison.

Deiter capped off his college career this season by being named First Team All-American by the Football Writers Association of America and The Athletic.

He is listed as the second-ranked

Others Alongside the notable names above, defensive tackle Olive Sagapolu and fullback Alec Ingold are both projected to be drafted in the later rounds or signed as undrafted free agents after the draft process concludes.

Sagapolu, most known for his backflips, has the higher projection of the two, partly due to the scarcity of fullbacks in today’s NFL. But despite having a hill to climb to find a spot on an NFL roster, Ingold impressed scouts at last week’s Reese’s Senior Bowl, and many believe when it is all said and done, he will be playing in the NFL next season.

The NFL Draft will air on ABC and ESPN starting April 25 with round one, rounds two and three April 26 and rounds four through seven April 27.

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Men’s golf: Badgers go into spring season with high expectations After finishing 10th in last year’s Big Ten championship, senior Jordan Hahn talks ambitions for upcoming season

by John Spengler Sports Associate Editor

After a 10th place finish in last year’s Big Ten championships lead by a top 10 individual performance from then junior Jordan Hahn, the Badgers got off to a less than optimal start during their fall golf season.

Finishing 10th at the Badger Invitational and 11th at the Northern Intercollegiate, the Badgers fell short of last year’s performances and this year’s expectations of those same tournaments.

“ We have to play with confi-

dence, every one of us has the talent to compete with the best of the best, you just have to believe you can.”

Jordan Hahn

Last season, the Badgers managed to record a top-five finish at the Badger Invitational as well as a ninth-place finish at the Northern Intercollegiate.

Despite the comparatively weak performance at the onset of this season, the team looked to bounce back and finish the fall series of tournaments in a strong fashion.

“We did kind of get off to a rocky start in the first few events, but then we bounced back and played well towards the end,” Hahn said.

And bounce back the Badgers did.

Shooting 11 under par over 54 holes, they forged a new school record for overall team score and finished tied for sixth amongst an absolutely stacked field of teams. Furthermore, the Badgers capped off the fall season with a victory at the Pinetree Intercollegiate, lead once again by Hahn capturing a share of the first-place individual title.

This success came just as the fall tournament circuit was ending and the winter off-season was beginning. Yet the Badgers have no plans to cease setting records and winning tournaments in the spring.

Motivated by a flurry of solid performances towards the end of the first half of the season, the Badgers seek to improve as a team to continue their success.

“We all met as a team and had individual aspects of our game that we shared with each other and are going to hold each other accountable for,” Hahn said. “It’ll show if we actually worked and got better.”

Even with a regimented practice program and plenty of off-season time to travel and practice, the Badgers are often at a distinct disadvantage compared to their opponents to the South and West that enjoy warm weather year-round. Facing near arctic temperatures this winter, they have to deal with the hand they were dealt, which, Hahn said, is still quite a good one.

“I’d say the cold is a disadvantage, but we make do with it using our indoor facilities,” Hahn said. “We have trackman, indoor putting greens, chipping greens, you make do with what you’ve got.”

Cold or no cold, the Badgers are determined to make this season a good one. And, with the team season planning — surrounding their offseason practices as well as the resources made available to them — it’s tough to doubt that they will do just that.

A strong work ethic and the facilities needed to exercise that motivation certainly work in favor for the Badgers. They also have experience on their side.

Every starter from last year’s Big Ten championship tournament — except thensenior Eddie Wajda — is returning, making Wisconsin’s chances of a greatly improved performance at this year’s installment of the tournament.

“That’s been my mentality this past – to just go out and have fun. I want to set the standards high and shoot for the NCAA and Big Ten championships. ” Jordan Hahn

“It’ll really show at the bigger events and will make it easier to stick to a routine leading up to the events,” Hahn said. “At the same time, I think it’s good to have that youth and young talent to motivate the more senior members of the team.”

Young talent has also already begun to make a difference for the Badgers this year, most specifically with freshman Cameron Frazier.

Frazier put up promising numbers while competing as an individual. He is just one piece of a new wave of incoming talent that also includes two new recruits for 2019 out of California. Young talent, increased experience and great potential for off-season improvement present a unique opportunity for this year’s Badger team as well as future teams to come.

But the path to victory and possibly a Big Ten title is lined with formidable contenders.

“A strong finish would mean the world to me, but the biggest thing is that we’ve got such a great group of guys on the team and it’s so fun to be around them and being at practice every day. ” Jordan Hahn With teams like Illinois who won the Big Ten title last year by a stunning 15 combined shots over three days, the team must be willing and able to take on the best talent in the country to obtain success. Nevertheless, Hahn and the team believe they have what it takes to take on the best of the best. It’s just a matter of execution, he said.

“We have to play with confidence, every one of us has the talent to compete with the best of the best you just have to believe you can,” Hahn said. “You need to have that chip on your shoulder.”

Hahn has had that necessary chip on the shoulder to compete with the best of the best all season as he has consistently placed at the top of the field in competitive play. Hahn has finished inside the top 20 in every tournament except one, recorded a nine-underpar, and finished top 10 at the Notre Dame intercollegiate. He has certainly started the

season off with a bang.

Hahn has been producing success for the Badger team since he arrived four years ago.

Despite his long list of accolades, he still has his sights set high for the remainder of the season.

“I’ve noticed this last year that the more fun you have the better scores you’re going to post,” Hahn said. “That’s been my mentality this past fall – to just go out and have fun. I want to set the standards high and shoot for the NCAA and Big Ten championships.”

For Hahn and the rest of the team, the sky is both the limit and the goal for the spring portion of the 2018-19 season.

Everything that the team has done within the past few months indicates that the spring circuit of tournaments could be a great one for the Badgers. Distinct success may very well be in the future for the Badgers, and it would be a great way to end the collegiate career of a senior leader like Hahn that has given so much to the team.

“A strong finish would mean the world to me, but the biggest thing is that we’ve got such a great group of guys on the team and it’s so fun to be around them and being at practice every day,” Hahn said. “That is what’s most surreal to me, that I won’t be going to battle with these guys after this. I know it would mean the world to me and the rest of the team.”

The Badgers spring opener of Big Ten Match Play will take place Friday and Saturday at Hammock Dunes golf course in Palm Coast, Florida.

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senior year is wild. the other day, this dude in one of my classes showed up-- not even exaggerating-- 30 minutes late to our lab lavender menace @krisdicaprio

badgerherald.com Twitter: @badgerherald

college is spending a whole 4 years with the best people you’ll ever meet and then having to LEAVE them after??

To pursue a ““career””””? Idk chief that just sounds like a scam to me

Will: “what do you think Plaza was, before it was Plaza?” @samwaterbury: “Jesus lived here.”

Meg Fredericks @megfred73

Kleah Danielle @claysterrrr

you know shit is serious in Wisconsin when a bar closes early *some* pulp

omg I love when games are over and everyone’s mad and I’m just existing because I can’t commit to loving a team E$AP

@elhammohamud

@scottgordonwi

White people whenever they’re about to leave the location they’re currently standing in: “we’re goin on a field trip.” (((becca)

@BeccaCiao

Having a tearful reflection of the time Lizzo held my hand for like 10 seconds at her Majestic concert back in early 2016.

WATCH Russian Doll on Netflix @h_nryso_o

Making my sister sit on me because it’s the closest thing I have to a weighted blanket chloe

@chloeroseemoji

22 • badgerherald.com • February 5, 2019

ISO friends that don’t say “they’re both cute!!!” when trying to pick an insta ell

@ellensims

Credit hour-oscopes predict personalities

Each credit load carries implications for student’s livelihood, rational choices

by Angela Peterson ArtsEtc. Editor

Alright Badgers, it really do be past the add/drop deadline in the spring semester.

With schedules finalized, students are starting to characterize what their semesters externally look like. Statements such as “I have no time for fun, RIP me,” and “I should be pretty lax and free all the time, every day,” circulate every corner of campus.

Schedules are more than external determinations, however — they also reveal a student’s inner soul and personality. Deep analysis into a student’s credit load is an easy way to determine their vibe. Here’s a quick reference guide to unveil every Badger’s real mind.

1-6 Credits These students are very elusive, some might say even to a fault. They’ll try their best to keep up appearances in public just enough so everyone knows they still exist.

With so much time spent outside of class, students with this credit load have time to explore more diverse experiences in life, showcasing their commitment to such values.

As such, this student seeks new opportunities at every venture. They have probably tried the Unicorn Juice from Forage Kitchen already.

Since these students are rarely seen in class or at the library, some speculate these beings possess mythical invisibility powers.

Truly, it is this divine power which makes the students with this credit load transcendental in nature.

Marissa Haegele The Badger Herald

7-11 credits Officially part-time students, most in this group still tend to have chill vibes. With the more relaxed course load comes time for more relaxing activities, such as yoga, mediation and binge watching videos of 8-year-olds making slime at 2 a.m. in the morning.

Due to said chill vibes, students may be more level-headed when making decisions.

For example, these students are more likely to kick back and read a stimulating book than stress over a flood of papers and quizzes. For some other personalities, this decision may seem like a fever dream. The laid-back nature of this student allows for these dreams to become a reality.

12-15 credits It’s likely students with this credit load actually went to see an advisor to talk about their schedule, which illuminates key parts of their personality.

These students like to have a plan and stick to it. They will always get their coffee — a 16 ounce iced coffee with milk, sugar and a hint of vanilla — at exactly 8:11 a.m. daily. They will ride the bus to the Nat like clockwork after their discussion section gets out to run for half an hour. They use these strange inventions called planners to keep their life together. Clearly a foreign concept to some of us, this is just how students with these credit loads work.

New experiences are a bit of a fragile topic with these students. With everything so neatly planned in their lives, it might take a little extra coaxing to get these students to attempt a new venture. Once involved in a new activity, however, these students launch themselves fully into it. Some might call

them passionate in these approaches.

16-17 credits Teetering on the edge of control and sanity, these students often have insane triple majoring or certificate situations which require an intense load. These students may get a little flustered from time to time due to the amount of appearances they have to keep up with in their classes. Spot them in their sweatpants and messy buns in an aisle lecture seat and feel their slight pain and composure.

Handwriting is one particular mode of analysis someone can turn to when studying these individuals.

Some might call their notes, “illegible,” whereas these students might describe their writing as, “artistic.” It’s no wonder many pre-meds are in this group for that reason.

18+ credits This smells like sweet, sweet burnout. The inner agony becomes thoroughly external at these extremes.

Some wonder if they even need to be taking all of these credits for their chosen degree path.

The fact these students might love school more than they love their sanity is remarkable. One might even see these crazed students sitting in on classes they aren’t enrolled in since they are past the credit load limit. It’s a fun game to try to spot the 18 credit hour person in one’s lectures, as there’s always at least one.

I know people can’t tag each other in print pages, but take out a highlighter and tag yourself!

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Wri adv ters, erti edi sing tors bra nd a exe , pho mba cuti tog ves raph ssa dor , de s an sig ers, d co ners der , s ne ede d

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