Thursday, January 31, 2013 - The Daily Cardinal

Lecture-hall etiquette How to not be ‘that annoying kid’ in class this semester

+PAGE TWO

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Oscar anticipation Reflections on this season’s nominations +ARTS, page 5

Complete campus coverage since 1892

l

dailycardinal.com

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Frequency bar discontinues hip-hop shows

By Melissa Howison the daily cardinal

Popular downtown bar and concert venue The Frequency announced on its Facebook page Tuesday it will not host hip-hop events in the future due to a shooting that took place outside the building early Monday.

According to a police report, a shot was fired during a brawl outside The Frequency, located at 121 W. Main St., between two men who began fighting inside the bar.

Darwin Sampson, the owner of The Frequency, said in the Facebook post that although nobody was injured during the struggle, he is taking a necessary precaution by discontinuing hip-hop shows.

“I will not take another chance and put my employees and patrons in danger,” Sampson said in the post. “It is truly unfortunate that I cannot host an entire genre of music and artists because of the idiocy of a couple people and the ineptitude of the security company that evening.”

The Frequency does not have a history of violence, according to Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, but he said he does not “begrudge” Lichte’s decision to enforce the provision.

“What happened Sunday night is an isolated incident and I think it is unfortunate that hip-hop artists and its fans will have to suffer the

frequency page 3

on campus

Wisco Wonderland

Students took advantage of recently fallen snow Wednesday to show their pride by sculpting a giant “W” in front of Bascom Hall. Although Badgers had to trek through snow and wind on their way to class, they made the most of the winter storm. + Photo by Abigail Waldo

Residents discuss student-focused apartment development proposal

By Kristen Tracy the daily cardinal

Mifflin neighborhood members and current residents of the Dayton Square apartments expressed concerns about

a proposed housing development in the area, but the overall attitude was accepting at an open-forum meeting Wednesday evening.

The new development would

require the demolition of three current residential properties at 415 W. Johnson St., 226 N. Broom St., and 424 W. Dayton St, according to Madison architectural firm Potter Lawson President Eric Lawson.

“The thing that really attracted me to the Dayton apartments when I first moved there was the affordable rent.”

Sam Seering UW-Madison graduate

Stephanie Daher/the daily cardinal

Madison architect Eric Lawson presents plans for a new housing complex on Johnson Street to neighborhood residents.

The project would create a 319 unit apartment complex geared towards young professionals and students consisting of 34 studio, 211 one bedroom and 74 two bedroom apartments, according to Lawson.

In addition, Lawson said the building would have laundry on every floor, a common courtyard with an outdoor swimming pool on the lobby level and underground parking for cars, bikes and mopeds.

Sam Seering, a recent

mifflin page 3

UW student season tickets to remain at same price Students can rest easy knowing they will not have to pay more for season tickets to their favorite sporting events next year after University of Wisconsin-Madison Athletic Director Barry Alvarez released a letter Wednesday saying prices for football, men’s basketball and men’s hockey student season tickets will not increase for the 2013-‘14 seasons.

In the letter, Alvarez said that

student season ticket prices for football have not increased in the last four years. Additionally, he said men’s basketball ticket prices have increased only once since 2006 and men’s hockey just once since 2004.

Alvarez also thanked students for welcoming new head football coach Gary Andersen and new volleyball coach Kelly Sheffield to the Badger coaching staff.

Legislative emails show iron-mining company had input on bill proposal Legislative records released Tuesday by a liberal group show the mining company promising to build a mine in northern Wisconsin had input on the controversial mining bill currently moving through the legislature.

The company, Gogebic Taconite, showed interest in opening a mine in northern Wisconsin when a bill was proposed last session. Last session’s bill failed because of environmental concerns, but not before it was revealed the company had a hand in writing the bill.

After the new mining bill was announced Jan. 16, GTAC again said it was interested.

The new bill is designed to

streamline the permitting process for mining companies in the state by setting a 420-day time limit for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to review permit applications. The bill would also give the DNR power to exempt mining companies from certain environmental regulations governing wetlands and waterways.

The new discovery of GTAC’s specific requests on the bill’s proposals, taken from emails exchanged between legislative staff, shows the company’s requests were made in the areas of the bill Democrats

mining page 3

“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”

page two Don’t act like these people tODAY: flurries

hi 10º / lo -7º

2

l

Thursday, January 31, 2013

friDAY: mostly sunny hi 6º / lo 5º

dailycardinal.com

An independent student newspaper, serving the University of Wisconsin-Madison community since 1892 Volume 122, Issue 74

2142 Vilas Communication Hall 821 University Avenue Madison, Wis., 53706-1497 (608) 262-8000 • fax (608) 262-8100

News and Editorial

edit@dailycardinal.com Editor in Chief Scott Girard

Managing Editor Alex DiTullio

News Team News Manager Taylor Harvey Campus Editor Sam Cusick College Editor Cheyenne Langkamp City Editor Abby Becker State Editor Jack Casey Enterprise Editor Samy Moskol Associate News Editor Meghan Chua Features Editor Ben Siegel Opinion Editors David Ruiz • Nikki Stout Editorial Board Chair Matt Beaty Arts Editors Cameron Graff • Andy Holsteen Sports Editors Vince Huth • Matt Masterson Page Two Editors Rachel Schulze • Alex Tucker Life & Style Editor Rebecca Alt Photo Editors Grey Satterfield • Abigail Waldo Graphics Editors Angel Lee • Dylan Moriarty Multimedia Editors Eddy Cevilla • Dani Golub Science Editor Matthew Kleist Diversity Editor Aarushi Agni Copy Chiefs Brett Bachman • Molly Hayman Rachel Wanat Copy Editors Rose Lundy • Emily Rose

Business and Advertising business@dailycardinal.com Business Manager Jacob Sattler Office Manager Emily Rosenbaum Advertising Managers Erin Aubrey • Dan Shanahan Senior Account Executives Philip Aciman • Jade Likely Account Executives Erin Aubrey • Jordan Laeyendecker Dennis Lee • Hannah Klein Daniel Shanahan • Joy Shin Web Director Eric Harris Public Relations Manager Alexis Vargas Marketing Manager Caitlin Furin Events Manager Andrew Straus Creative Director Claire Silverstein Copywriters Dustin Bui • Bob Sixsmith The Daily Cardinal is a nonprofit organization run by its staff members and elected editors. It receives no funds from the university. Operating revenue is generated from advertising and subscription sales.

The Daily Cardinal is published weekdays and distributed at the University of WisconsinMadison and its surrounding community with a circulation of 10,000.

Capital Newspapers, Inc. is the Cardinal’s printer. The Daily Cardinal is printed on recycled paper. The Cardinal is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press and the Wisconsin Newspaper Association.

All copy, photographs and graphics appearing in The Daily Cardinal are the sole property of the Cardinal and may not be reproduced without written permission of the editor in chief.

The Daily Cardinal accepts advertising representing a wide range of views. This acceptance does not imply agreement with the views expressed. The Cardinal reserves the right to reject advertisements judged offensive based on imagery, wording or both.

Complaints: News and editorial complaints should be presented to the editor in chief.

Business and advertising complaints should be presented to the business manager.

Letters Policy: Letters must be word processed and must include contact information. No anonymous letters will be printed. All letters to the editor will be printed at the discretion of The Daily Cardinal. Letters may be sent to opinion@ dailycardinal.com.

Editorial Board Matt Beaty • Alex DiTullio Anna Duffin • Nick Fritz • Scott Girard David Ruiz • Nikki Stout

Board of Directors Jenny Sereno, President Scott Girard • Alex DiTullio Emily Rosenbaum • John Surdyk Melissa Anderson • Don Miner Chris Drosner • Jason Stein Nancy Sandy • Tina Zavoral

© 2013, The Daily Cardinal Media Corporation ISSN 0011-5398

For the record Corrections or clarifications?

Call The Daily Cardinal office at 608-262-8000 or send an email to edit@dailycardinal.com.

By Sarah Olson Guest Columnist

T

he start of the semester is a time for new things. New classes, new schedules, new professors and TAs—and new douchebags who don’t know how to act in a lecture hall.

The beginning of the spring semester is the perfect time to address poor lecture-hall behavior because ignorance is no longer an excuse. The freshmen now have a full semester under their belts, so everyone you encounter in class should know how to act—and how not to act—in a lecture hall.

Yet for some reason, I seem to encounter the same douchebags in my lectures every semester.

These are people who, with their inconsiderate and self-centered behavior, make going to lecture a pain in the ass for the rest of us.

1. The End-Seat Sitter

The End-Seat Sitter chronically sits in the end seat of a row or as close to the end seat as possible. This person tends to arrive 20 minutes early looking particularly apathetic and does nothing but look at his phone for the next 19-and-a-half minutes. By sitting on the end of what is most likely an empty row, the End-Seat Sitter invites every person who passes to pick a different seat. Thus, the seats in the middle are saved for the people who show up in the last two minutes before the lecture starts, forcing everyone who has already been seated to stand up and awkwardly shuffle backpacks

and laptops until that last person arrives. When one of these people asks to “squeeze past,” a particularly douchey End-Seat Sitter will roll his eyes passive aggressively or casually scowl.

2. The Online Shopper

The Online Shopper is most likely—but not necessarily— a blond female sporting cute gear that suggests allegiance to American Eagle. Clueless as to what is going on around her, she will spend 60 minutes of a 75-minute power lecture cruising sites for stores such as Forever 21 and Victoria’s Secret. Rain boots, dresses and yoga pants are the items on her shopping list. The Online Shopper can’t be bothered to take notes or ponder the implications of the Prisoner’s Dilemma. She has better things to do.

3. The Talker

The Talker will engage in idle chitchat with any unfortunate soul who sits next to him or her. The Talker will start with some simple questions. “What’s your name? What’s your major?”

If you don’t inquire likewise, the Talker will offer you this information anyway. The Talker will continue to ask you questions that gradually increase in complexity until he or she is asking, “What is the future of journalism?”

Thankfully, the lecture will start before you can answer. The Talker will likely keep quiet—or mostly quiet—for about 50 minutes. But as soon as the lecture is over, the

Talker will be eager to pick up the conversation again. An especially determined talker may walk out of the lecture hall with you in an attempt to prolong the fun.

4. Late With Coffee

The person who arrives five minutes late with a Starbucks cup in hand, or “Late With Coffee,” does not deserve sympathy. Late With Coffee walks in and looks around as if she’s surprised lecture has started without her. Lest you find yourself among the unfortunate people sitting in the row Late With Coffee sets her eyes upon, be prepared for the meek smile and apologetic eyes to which, although insincere, it is impossible to say no. Inevitably, this situation ends with three or four innocent people having to shuffle their papers and scramble to pick up their laptops in order to allow Late With Coffee to pass by them with her Caramel Macchiato and not a care in the world.

The fab five The Online Shopper

2

The End-Seat Sitter The Talker

4

Late With Coffee The Pack Up And Leaver

5. The Pack Up And Leaver

For some reason, the Pack Up And Leaver absolutely cannot wait to pack up his things and get out of lecture. The Pack Up And Leaver starts to close his notebook or put his laptop away with five minutes to go in lecture. The professor is still talking, but this doesn’t seem to matter to the Pack Up And Leaver.

When The Pack Up And Leaver decides the lecture is over and starts to pack up his things, he triggers a mass surrender in which 200 people all decide to give up on this particular lecture and call it a day. Not only does the noise of 200 people packing their backpacks render it impossible for the remaining few to listen to the professor; it’s also a slap in the face to the professor.

The man “yammering” up in front about evolution earned a Ph.D. from a renowned university and is a leading researcher in his field, but that doesn’t mean he deserves The Pack Up And Leaver’s attention.

In conclusion, don’t be that guy or that girl—that douchebag—who spoils a perfectly mundane lecture for the rest of us.

Challenge yourself this semester to rise above the stereotypical douchebaggery. Make this the semester you show up on time, move in to the middle seats and pretend like you give a crap about what’s going on in lecture.

You can do it. I believe in you.

Do you have any douchebags you would like to add to the list?

Share your ideas with Sarah at seolson5@wisc.edu.

Too much hookah ruins perfectly boring break Andy holsteen a hol lot to say

I

don’t know about all of you, but I’m pretty glad to be back in Madison. Time off is great and all; it lets you hang loose a bit, catch up on sleep. But being at home can be super boring.

There’s no way I’m the only person who gets this distinct—it isn’t precisely an angry or useless, more like a sickly—feeling whenever I consecutively sleep longer than two weeks in my childhood bed. It’s kind of like if vertigo and deja vu had an unprotected threesome with the movie “National Treasure”— just bad news. I guess, despite all my rage, I’ll never be Nicholas Cage. If you fully understand that reference you’re probably laughing but also pretty easy to entertain based on your pre-existing knowledge of pop culture. But look at who’s talking, right? It’s hard to write a paragraph without making some random interjection with yourself.

I mean, don’t get me wrong; I really enjoy hanging out with my parents and excessively playful dogs, but after a month it starts driving my 20-year-old mind slightly insane. I’m not entirely sure what causes it. It probably isn’t very funny though, so I’ll spare you all an uncomfortably acute and in-depth self-assessment. However, what you may find hilarious are the stupid ways I choose to occupy my time.

While most things in life can

sort of be proven as mundane if you really put some effort into it (I guess few pessimists really ever consider the obviously paradoxical triteness in trying to argue that your actions are pointless), my hometown pastimes don’t need much additional insight to reveal their incredible banality.

Unless you’re in a coma or one of those people that TLC makes out to be a total freak (excuse me if I’m forgetting or offending you), sitting on your ass day in and day out is tough. This natural phenomenon has gotten me into plenty of (possibly) unnecessary trouble over the years.

Despite my initial regrets, I usually end up with a sweet little something that makes people laugh. And alas, there is one tale in particular from this most recent break off of school that I will forever proudly show off in my arsenal of superbly dumb stories. Let me indulge you:

There are two hookah bars near my house in Illinois—some of you sadder suburbanites have probably been patrons at these establishments­ —one is called Inhale and the other is X-hale.

Naturally, I had to hit both locations in the same night, sort of a yin-yang type thing, except it was more like hell-hell.

OK, I’m not going to beat around the bush. I’ve ingested a lot of tobacco products in my life: cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, hookah, snus, snuff (do e-cigs count?)—I even have this nifty wooden pipe I whip out at special occasions.

Anyway, you get the idea; the list is pretty all-inclusive. But threestraight hours of hookah was by far the most painful experience I’ve ever had with the stuff.

I don’t really know why I decided this would be a good idea (see above section, I suppose). Maybe it was some inherent desire to find out which really came first: the

inhale or the exhale. Well, if curiosity didn’t kill the cat, it certainly mutated a few cells.

The weird thing about hookah is that it always seems like it’ll be a ton of fun before you start smoking it. I always think, “Oh, yeah let’s smoke some hookah! I’ll blow some of the little smoke-rings and sit around feeling super cool!” This honeymoon period is pretty short.

The withdrawal symptoms of an all-out hookah binge are unexpectedly unpleasant. By the time all was said and done, basically my entire facial region was uncomfortably numb. But hey, when desperation sinks in, I’ll pretty much do anything that’s in the name of not doing nothing.

This was the Crown Jewel of my break’s stupidity. Hey, that’d be a good name for a hookah bar!

How was your break? Email Andy at holsteen@dailycardinal. com and maybe you guys can chat over a smoke.

!

news

Thursday, January 31, 2013 3

l

dailycardinal.com

ASM appoints student co-chair to Diversity Plan committee

By Paige Villard the daily cardinal

Taylor Galaszewski/the daily cardinal

ASM Shared Governance Chair Britt Moes says a student co-chair will give students better representation on the committee.

mining from page 1 have challenged most heavily, including portions pertaining to wetlands, navigable waters and groundwater.

Democratic opponents of the bill have challenged those por-

tions, claiming they stand to eliminate important environmental protections currently in effect.

The extent to which GTAC helped in forming the new bill remains unclear. Some people criticize bills that use company input, while others maintain a

The Associated Students of Madison Student Council appointed Michael Jackson as student co-chair of the recently created Ad Hoc Diversity Plan Committee Wednesday.

The ad hoc committee is in charge of researching and drafting the next campus Diversity Plan by April 1. The committee consists of 25 members, with equal representation for faculty, academic staff, classified staff, students and non-voting community members.

ASM Shared Governance Committee Chair Britt Moes said having a student co-chair allows for more student representation on the ad hoc committee.

“The Diversity Plan will apply to students and having a student as co-chair is a great way to reach out to students on campus,” Moes said.

Moes said Jackson is the best student to fill the position because company with experience in a specific area can help pass a better bill, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

A representative at GTAC did not return a call requesting comment.

—Jack Casey

Regents honor UW-Madison professor with Diversity Award The University of Wisconsin System awarded UW-Madison professor Douglass Henderson the Regents’ Diversity Award Wednesday for his work to improve minority students’ academic experience.

The award was created five years ago to honor individuals or programs in the UW System that “foster access and success in uni-

versity life” for minority students, according to a statement released by the UW System.

Henderson, a faculty member at UW-Madison for over 20 years, helped create the Graduate Engineering Research Scholars program, which aims to increase the number of minority students in the graduate engineering program, according to the statement.

Other Diversity Award honorees include a professor from UW-La Crosse and a scholars program from UW-Whitewater.

Additionally, the recipients will receive extra funding to continue the programs for which they were honored.

The award recipients will be honored at the Board of Regents meeting Feb. 8 in Madison.

City officials declare snow emergency

frequency from page 1

City officials declared a snow emergency in Madison Wednesday that will last until at least 7 a.m. Feb. 1 and are urging residents to move vehicles off the streets.

The city is offering free parking on all city ramps between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. while the snow emergency is in effect. However, charges will

apply if vehicle owners do not move their cars off the ramp before 7 a.m.

Additionally, the city is asking Madison drivers to park their cars on the side of the street with odd numbered addresses both Wednesday and Thursday nights, adding that any violators will be either fined $60 or towed.

consequences for the actions of a few,” Verveer said. “But it is sheer luck that nobody was injured or even killed.”

Verveer said there has been a provision in The Frequency’s lease since the venue opened in 2008 banning hip-hop acts due to instances of violence during

mifflin from page 1

Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said he is highly supportive of the proposed development plan.

“The current buildings are not very attractive visually, and have parking lots in front of both Dayton and on Johnson which is, in hindsight, a very poor design,” Verveer said.

“Conceptually I am very supportive and generally that’s what I heard from the feedback tonight, but there are certainly some details that need to be worked out.”

The proposal will be presented to the Urban Design Commission on Feb. 20, the Plan Commission on March 4 and Common Council on March 19 and will have to be approved by all three before further progress can be made.

UW-Madison graduate currently living in one of the buildings that would be demolished, said he liked the plan but had some concerns about higher rental rates.

“The thing that really attracted me to the Dayton apartments when I first moved there was the affordable rent because there aren’t many apartment complexes downtown anymore that have affordable housing for students and young professionals,” Seering said.

Lawson said developers have not yet been able to come up with rent prices, but they should be competitive with other new apartment developments in the area.

he has the most experience and is underrepresented as one of only two graduate students on the ad hoc committee.

Also in the meeting, council representatives introduced a proposed bylaw change regarding the United Council of UW Students, a statewide group that lobbies for student issues such as state funding and increased financial aid.

Each student automatically pays $3 per semester to the Mandatory Refundable Fee that funds United Council. Students can request this money back if desired.

The current ASM bylaw requires a referendum on this financial support every other year.

With the policy change, a referendum would not be required biennially but may be called by a simple majority of the student government body or 10 percent of the student body.

ASM Student Council Rep. David Gardner spoke in favor

of the bylaw change and said it would be a powerful tool to hold United Council accountable to using student’s money in a more productive way.

“It’s sad to see money wasted on referendums when it could be used for lobbying for lower tuition,” Gardner said.

Vice President of United Council Beth Huang said by passing the bylaw change, United Council representatives would not need to spend time on campus every two years advocating for students to vote in favor of supporting their group.

Huang said representatives would much rather use the time to lobby for a student-friendly state budget during the time they would normally spend gathering support for the referendum.

Council will vote on the bylaw change next week. If approved it will need to pass again the following week.

UW ranks among ‘best values in public colleges’ Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine named the University of WisconsinMadison among the “Best Values in Public Colleges” in its February 2013 issue.

UW-Madison ranked number 13 out of 100 public universities on the 2013 list.

Kiplinger’s ranked the schools based on cost, financial aid, student debt after graduation, competitiveness, graduation rates and academic support.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill topped the list for the 12th year in a row. the previous owner’s tenancy but the landlord, Larry Lichte, has not enforced it until now.

Verveer said he believes Sampson has managed the establishment well and built it into a valuable place to see live music in Madison.

“I especially appreciate the fact that all their shows are 18+ shows that allow University of

UW-La Crosse, the only other representative from Wisconsin, ranked number 73.

Kiplinger’s cited figures from Peterson’s Undergraduate Database, which showed UW-Madison to have a 53 percent four-year graduation rate and $24,140 average debt at graduation allowing it to be among the best values in the nation.

The magazine also found UW-Madison meets 73 percent of the need for financial aid, stating the average need-based aid is $6,224 and the average non-needbased aid is $3,090 for students.

Wisconsin students and those who are under 21 to legally view shows there,” Verveer said.

The city did not request the bar stop hosting hip-hop shows and the decision was made entirely by Sampson and Lichte over concerns about the liability issues that could result from ignoring the lease provision, according to Verveer.

Wil Gibb/cardinal file photo

Downtown bar and live music venue The Frequency announced it will no longer allow hiphop artists to perform following a shooting outside the building in which no one was hurt.

opinion Political rhetoric overshadows the issues 4

l

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Nikki stout opinion columnist

O

ften times the rhetoric surrounding an issue becomes the issue itself. Emotional hangups and the ever-present argument of deeming something “unconstitutional” can overwhelm the issue at hand, and that can not only hinder solving that problem, it can also blow the problem out of proportion and then lead an effort to fix things that aren’t broken.

To have an unhealthy population is to have an unhealthy society. And this is a major cause of violent crimes.

In the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings, gun control has been at the forefront of national media coverage as the tension in Washington between Democrats, Republicans and the National Rifle Association has come to a head. Every day, statements are made by politicians on both sides of the aisle that the media latches onto.

These outlets then misquote them, misrepresent them and repeat their statements out of context. The constant back-andforth between Republicans and Democrats and its subsequent reporting by left and right wing

news outlets MSNBC and Fox, the issue. In this case, that is a respectively, takes the focus dangerous area to focus on. off what is really happening Solving the gun problem with and what needs to happen, and more guns, which is the NRA’s puts the spotlight on the petty supposed plan to avoid another words surrounding the issue. Sandy Hook-like incident, basiThe more extreme the cally consists of creating sound byte, the more a militant society with viewers they receive. a Cold War atmosphere The “news” is practiin public places and cally reality television, is simply ridiculous. percentage and the issues do not Constantly being armed of the get resolved. and constantly calling budget cut The sound bytes the bluff of the crimiby Ronald Reagan for coming from NRA nally insane is no way to the and Republican leadstructure a society.

Department ers are becoming more Yet the Democrats of Housing and more extreme. do not have a solution and Urban After President Barack at all. A simple ban development.

Obama announced his on typical non-assault plan to push gun-conweapons will not stop trol legislation, conserthese tragedies from vative radio talk show happening. An armed host Rush Limbaugh stated, society will most definitely not “I think he wants people to deter gun crimes. Whether or snap. I think Obama is chal- not something is made “illegal” lenging everybody’s sanity. will not deter crime—criminals Obama [is] literally pushing do not follow the law. A ban people to snap, attacking the on assault weapons is absovery sanity of the country.” lutely justified and should be This sort of rhetoric is not only followed up on. Stricter backmonstrously accusational and ground checks and stricter regoffensive, it is also complete- ulations on keeping guns out ly harmful to any strides the of the hands of the mentally ill president makes in resolving are absolutely warranted. But the issue. Those who are influ- in terms of eradicating events enced by Limbaugh’s foul drib- like Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech ble will always be in opposition and countless others, signing to the president, regardless of a bill into law is not going to the action he takes, because of accomplish anything.

Limbaugh’s personal vendetta During President Ronald against him.

Reagan’s war on the welfare This sort of rhetoric takes state in the 1980s, he drastithe focus off the issue and puts cally cut the budgets of many it on the individuals discussing programs that were potential-

40

ASM may be t0o expansive to fully represent the student body David Ruiz opinion columnist

T

he University of Wisconsin-Madison is a special place for a million reasons: top notch academics, competitive and exciting athletics, inspiring professors et cetera et cetera. One of the most important, and perhaps the most unrecognized feature that makes UW-Madison so unique is the shared governance relationship between students and administrators.

In fact, Wisconsin law dictates that students must be a part of the allocation of their segregated fees. The importance of student representation in important budget and educational decisions on campus cannot be undersold. Unfortunately, the structure of our student government has become bloated and inefficient and is in desperate need of a dramatic overhaul.

The Associated Students of Madison, or ASM, is the student government body that represents all of Madison’s students. ASM has an operating budget of $1.2 million. To put that figure into context, the entire general student services fund, which bankrolls the General University Tutoring

Service, the Campus Women’s Center, the Working Class Student Union, Sex Out Loud, PAVE and several other important student groups, is a total of $1.4 million. Although many students could breeze through their career at UW-Madison without much interaction with ASM, it is impossible to avoid the influence of the groups funded by the GSSF. In other words, ASM is a much more effective force on campus when they are outsourcing student services to groups such as PAVE. Although ASM provides many resources and benefits for UW students, their inflated and inefficient organization is wasting segregated fees and undermines the good work that ASM does around campus. Yes, the Student Activity Center is a nice resource, but why does it need to managed by our student government? The more things that get absorbed by ASM, the more bloated the organization gets.

ASM needs to take on an aesthetic of minimalism, and start hacking away at their budgets in dramatic fashion. By becoming too broad in their goals, ASM has strayed from its mission of “maintaining and improving the quality of education and student life on campus.” Our student government needs to have more faith in the student leaders that are not under its own umbrella instead

of trying to absorb more duties, services and responsibilities. If ASM cannot pare itself down to a more reasonable size, students should consider more dramatic action to ensure the stability and efficiency of our student government in years to come.

David is a senior majoring in English and computer science. Have an opinion on ASM? We want to hear it! Send us an email at opinion@dailycardinal.com and tell us your thoughts!

Want more Cardinal?

dailycardinal.com

ly beneficial to society. He cut the budget for the Department of Housing and Urban Development by 40 percent. He also cut the budget for mental health treatment. By allowing inner-city environments to grow, where violence is second nature and often seen as necessary to survive, and by refusing to allow would-be mental illness patients to seek treatment, thus often turning them into criminals, Reaganomics backhanded the country by turning its back on legitimate issues that could have easily been avoided. Urban development stopped, and individuals in low-income households were forced to fend for themselves, often moving into dangerous, crime-ridden areas that were essentially shunned by the federal government. And today, gun crimes are highest in inner-city areas.

A simple ban on typical non-assault weapons will not stop these tragedies from happening.

Mental health issues, a problem that 50 percent of the American population will face at some point in their lives, are expensive to properly treat.

The simple fact that, for some, treatment is not an option is

absurd. To have an unhealthy population is to have an unhealthy society. And this is a major cause of violent crimes.

So where do we go from here?

For starters, we, as an educated public, can look past the ridiculous rhetoric surrounding the issue and focus on the issue itself.

Media is a business. The news outlets making stories out of mindless banter is not for the purpose of educating a nation on the goings-on in Washington. It is merely to gain more viewers.

Similar to that, the NRA needs to realize that the Constitution is meant to adapt to the times.

The Second Amendment calls for the right to form a militia. A citizen’s militia does not mean an armed public. And finally, we as a country need to take care of our citizens. We cannot allow the mentally unstable to engage in unhealthy behavior or have access to dangerous weapons.

There must be resources for the mentally ill regardless of personal wealth, income or their insurance policies.

Banning hunting rifles and simple handguns will do nothing.

And when the large, for-profit news agencies cut the banter and stop debating what citizens can and cannot buy, then progress will be made. This is not an issue of personal rights and ownership.

This is a social issue.

Are you tired of petty mediabased rhetoric influencing our politics? We want to know what you think! Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.

You’re a UW-Madison student.

You’re smart.

You think.

You have opinions.

So why not share them?

Write for The Daily Cardinal!

YOU GOT IT!

Visit dailycardinal. com for more content!

Recruitment meeting Friday, February 1 4:00 P.M. 2195 Vilas Hall

dailycardinal.com

Thursday, January 31, 2013

l

arts

5

Bemoaning those old Oscar blues Austin Wellens all’s Well-ens well

A

h, award season, that magical time of year when the film industry gets together to congratulate itself for how great it is while the rest of the country sits around and watches. And sometimes people sing. It’s a special time.

Still, no matter how irritating, overhyped and more or less devoid of real importance things like the Oscars may be, they’re also an interesting gauge for mainstream American filmmaking and they give people like me with nothing better to do something to argue about. And given that 2012 was a pretty great year for movies, it seems worth discussing the Oscars at least.

As is true in most years, the Oscar nominations got some things very right (Michael Haneke for Best Director, “Beasts of the Southern Wilds’” popularity including Best Picture) and some things very, very wrong (no Best Cinematography for “The Master” and not a single nomination for “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”).

Regardless, this year the biggest prize, Best Picture, looks to be extremely competitive field, with nine very strong films nominated and no clear-cut winner in the bunch.

Take, first of all, the Spaghetti Southern, Tarantino’s “Django Unchained.” While it’s inarguably a masterfully made movie (I saw it twice within a few days), featuring an amazing script, brilliant Western-inspired landscapes and close-ups and inspired performances from Leo DiCaprio, Best Supporting Actor nominee Christoph Waltz and (the wonderfully hateable) Samuel L. Jackson, it’s been very controversial in its portrayal of slavery. Plus, its use of a certain word led to a maelstrom of controversy. Combined with the extreme, exaggerated violence of the film, “Django’s” best chance for winning may lie in how ridiculously pure entertainment value, its immaculate construction and in the fact that the Academy still owes Tarantino big-time for skipping over “Pulp Fiction” in 1994. While for some people (myself included) that might be enough, I’m not sure Uncle Oscar will agree.

Moving on to this year’s other big Christmas opener, Tom Hooper’s adaptation of “Les Misérables” was extremely ambitious in its attempt to

bring the beloved musical to the big screen for the first time.

It’s been panned by some for its use of long, unbroken close ups on the actors as they perform, ­a result of Hooper’s innovative decision to record the songs live on the set rather than pre-record the audio as most musicals do. This gives the film its undoubtedly finest moment in Anne Hathaway’s heartbreaking take of “I Dreamed a Dream,” (I cried…I’m not proud of it, but I cried), which should be enough alone to score her Best Supporting Actress.

As is true in most years, the Oscar nominations got some things very right and some things very, very wrong.

Along with her (essentially shoo-in) performance, Hugh Jackman is great as Jean Valjean (and Sacha Baron Cohen has way too much fun, in the best way), but the film is far from perfect. Those who criticize the excess of extended close-ups aren’t totally off base. While they serve the

extremely emotional nature of the film very well, accentuating the fantastic, personal performances, they do eventually grow repetitive. And while they’re meant to contrast the frailty of individuals in the context of the larger events of the story when put together with huge set pieces like the Barricade, the clumsy handling of some of these larger scenes diminishes the effect considerably.

Still, “Les Misérables” was both ambitious and, at least in terms of musicals, innovative, which it needs to be given credit for, and the results, while mixed, were easily more good than bad.

However, the Academy has a tendency to give the award to films that are more safely made or movies that don’t really have any mistakes in them, if only because they don’t really take any risks that could hurt them (think the cinematic equivalent of plain grilled cheese, where other movies are grilled cheese with tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers and three kinds of dairy). See “The King’s Speech” (also directed by Tom Hooper) winning Best Picture over “The Fighter,” “Black Swan,” “The Social Network,” “127 Hours” and essentially every

other aptly-nominated movie that year for the most recent example of this.

This segues into our third nominee, the shameless Oscar bait that is “Lincoln.” It’s one nomination away from the “Big Five” of Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director and Screenplay. It seems custom designed with this goal in mind. I mean, it’s a biopic of Abraham Lincoln, directed

by Steven Spielberg (looking at another Best Director, potentially), featuring Daniel Day-Lewis (a lock for a record third Best Actor award), with Sally Field (aka Mama Gump) and Tommy Lee Jones (aka … Agent K?)­—each of whom is also nominated.

It’s not even that there’s anything wrong with the movie (grilled cheese, remember). It’s very well made; some of the scenes are absolutely beautiful.

It’s a great movie. It’s just so obviously tailor made for the Oscar audience, that it’s the one movie I would honestly have a problem with if it won.

Maybe it’s just me being bitter.

Or maybe I’d like to see a risky, bold movie win and lend a little bit of validation back to one of the biggest prizes in filmmaking, like “The Artist’s” win last year.

“Lincoln” winning, in my mind, would undo that progress.

On second album, band’s talent is ‘Unknown’ no more CD REVIEW

II Unkown Mortal Orchestra

By Max Fisher The Daily Cardinal

Unknown Mortal Orchestra is soul music for the devil.

The extraterrestrial voodoo funk of frontman and mastermind Ruban Nielson is some of the strangest and slickest ever beamed to Earth. As with UMO’s puzzling eponymous debut, II is canvassed front to back with screechy psychedelic R&B that occupies a greasy niche between extrasolar loneliness and subterranean sleaziness.

Contemporary peers are almost non-existent; UMO deals in funky, impossible-toplace rose quartz sounds that call to mind the zany acidfried krautrock of Tago Magoera Can, the psychedelic prog weirdness of post-Mothers of Invention Frank Zappa and the screaming jazz-fusion of Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Nielson operates the guitar like a spider scurrying to build its web, navigating his way through piercing and trebly scales with chaotic and virtuosic finger picking. If he wanted to he could use UMO as a vehicle for showing off his insane technical skill, and that wouldn’t even be a bad

thing. But Nielson’s decision to isolate his quick, tenuous guitar work to sparing and tasteful notes primarily in the upper register is for the better.

It allows the kraut drumming of Julien Ehrlich and thumping bass of Jake Portrait to fill in the stoned, devilishly sexy soulful rhythm that characterizes UMO’s unique sound.

“From the Sun” grows the nascent record with a Cheshire grin. Sly arpeggios introduce Nielson’s arousing, androgynous coo: “Isolation can put a gun in your hand/If you need to you can get away from the sun.” The lyrics immediately invoke some of the dark themes that set the tone of the albumdeath, loneliness, drugs, sex and the occult. The patient, unsettling pace of the initial verses builds palpable tension. Suddenly, an overdriven drum fill at maximum decibels queues the spastic and ecstatic chorus: “I’m so tired, but I can never lay down my head!/I’m so lonely, but I can never quite reach the phone!” It may be one of the most euphoric fills of all time, and I dare you not to air-drum along.

Most of the other tracks on II pack similar punches, never failing to catch the listener off guard. Compounded by odd chord progressions and Nielson’s brilliant sense for sour-apple melody, most of the material on this record is meant to get lodged deep in your brain. “Swim and Sleep (Like a Shark)” is a catchy ’70s power pop/radio glam throwback relating what it’s like to exist in the semi-lucid state of narcotics withdrawal. To let

consciousness wash overhead, like a shark slithering numb and asleep through the depths.

Other highlights include carnal R&B jam “So Good at Being in Trouble,” kraut-funk schizoid “One at a Time” and Harley Davidson road groove “No Need for a Leader.”

The first 25 minutes of the LP represent an exceedingly formidable streak that builds to a spiritual plane of sadistic glee. But then two songs in a row more or less kill the momentum the record had been gathering to that point: seven-minute, static “Monki” and aimless instrumental “Dawn.” They’re not bad songs by any means, but they don’t lift the album to any new heights. II thankfully catches itself with the redeeming, gorgeous, jiving closer, “Secret Xtians.”

Each track on II is completely unique from the next, but the album still retains a unifying, thematic cohesion: That sound that makes every song unmistakably UMO. Overall, II is a step up in maturity from the band’s self-titled debut. Gone are the instantly loveable, hedonistic, verse/chorus/verse psych-funk singles like “Ffunny Ffriends” and “How Can U Luv Me” that got the world hooked on UMO in the first place. In their stead are bolder, more ambitious tracks hinting that, as great as both Unknown Mortal Orchestra and II are, neither will ultimately end up being UMO’s best.

Grade: A

Interested in not winning an Oscar of your own?

Come to the Daily Cardinal’s Recruitment Meeting!

FRIDAY FEB. 1 2195 VILAS HALL 4 PM

arts l

6

Thursday, January 31, 2013

dailycardinal.com

Local Natives soar on Hummingbird CD REVIEW

Hummingbird Local Natives

By Jonny Shapiro The Daily Cardinal

In 2010, Local Natives released Gorilla Manor in the United States, their debut album that, despite its energy and ingenuity, slipped through the cracks of the rising indie/ p o st- p u n k /p sych e de l i c scene. Sandwiched in among new albums from Vampire Weekend to LCD Soundsystem and released only about eight months after The Temper Trap’s Conditions , Gorilla Manor unfortunately got lost in the mix.

As a music fan that completely overlooked the band, I will take partial responsibility for their slighting. My first time hearing Local Natives was only a few months ago when a friend of mine played Gorilla Manor for me. If there is one thing I can appreciate hipsters for, it’s their uncanny ability to defy radio play and (albeit rarely) find music that reminds me of why I still (try to) buy full albums.

Three years later, Local Natives tightened their sound and are noticeably more mature in their songwriting and composition.

Their sophomore effort, Hummingbird, with the production of The National’s Aaron Dessner, exhibits Local Natives leaving the tribal influence that was found on songs like “Sun Hands” behind for a more deliberate sound.

In “Heavy Feet,” the band sounds as if they took a step back to straighten out their sometimes wild and freeflowing aesthetic. In this song, more than the others, Dressner noticeably imposes his will and layers fast-paced snare drumming, simple guitar chords, dreamy riffs and fluctuating vocals. The song crescendos toward the end, pushing all the layers to a cliff where they abruptly fall off, sending the listener on an affecting free fall that echoes the equally emotional lyrics, “After everything/left in the sun, shivering/ after everything.”

“Heavy Feet,” which makes a serious case for the best song on the album, carries a titular weight with it that was not often found on Gorilla Manor, and as only the second song on the album it sets a precedent for the rest of the record.

Hummingbird makes a slight turn toward their harder rock roots—if you can call it that—on its second half. This starts with “Black Balloons,” in which the first real guitar solo is heard (seven songs into the twelve song album) and tips during “Wooly Mammoth.”

But guitar solos and overzealous drum digressions are not this album’s strengths.

The listener is brought back to earth with the moody cries of “Colombia” near the end of the album before finishing off with a distorted guitar outro on “Bowery.” In contrast to “Heavy Feet’s” spirited lament, “Colombia” hits home with a simple piano progression and even more so with Kelcey Ayer’s incredibly moving and gloomy lyrics. Ayer asks a question that everyone asks themselves at some point in their lives: “Am I giving enough,” reflecting personal bouts with emotion in the listener as well as the overall mood of the album.

Lyrically, Ayer takes a much darker tone than he did on Gorilla Manor , most likely due to the death of his mother last summer. Though you wouldn’t be able to tell from the composition of Hummingbird, the lyrics tell a tale full of self-doubt and frustration. In “Ceilings,” Local Natives pull a page out of The Avett Brothers’ folk playbook, and write a song about self-limitations and defeat. “Tell me what I know again/to keep myself from second guessing.” This theme shows up in virtually every song, presumably just as Ayer intended as he mourns his late mother. In “Black Spot,” Ayer cries “I’m dying wrong, I can read it in the whites/And the thing is, I knew it before.”

He continues with this (“Breathing out, hoping to breath in/I know nothing’s wrong but I’m not convinced,” in “Breakers”) until the album hits the only song that caught my finger inching towards the next button.

“Three Months” takes the listener too low. The piano becomes overly simplified to the point where it becomes less than entertaining. In an album with so much emotion packed into the lyrics, the entertainment of the instrumentals can be forgotten about as a principle aspect of listening to music. The music here seems to have been a secondary thought, making this song a secondary listen and better appreciated as poetry rather than as music.

Something has been curbed since their first album, and some will say that it is the energy. Hummingbird has no shortage of energy; it is just focused elsewhere. Rather than focusing on youthful exploration, Local Natives have instead found their destination. The band definitely still has room to grow.

What is missing is a healthy middle ground between their newfound depth and their old-school tribal rock. Still, a more mellow sound and intensely emotional lyrics have helped them top their debut album and, in doing so, define themselves as more than a Fleet Foxes look alike.

Chad Cheverier

Los Angeles-based band Local Natives, comprised of Taylor Rice, Kelcey Ayer, Ryan Hahn and Matt Frazier, recently released their sophomore album on the label Frenchkiss.

comics

dailycardinal.com

Today’s Sudoku

All-American sports fiesta! 8 million pounds of guacamole are consumed on Super Bowl Sunday. Along with that, 14,500 tons of chips.

Thursday, January 31, 2013 • 7

“Water proof” boots

Eatin’ Cake Classic

By Dylan Moriarty www.EatinCake.com

© Puzzles by Pappocom

By Melanie Shibley shibley@wisc.edu

Solution, tips and computer program available at www.sudoku.com.

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.

Caved In

By Nick Kryshak nkryshak@wisc.edu

Today’s Crossword Puzzle

First in Twenty

By Angel Lee alee23@wisc.edu

Answer key available at www.dailycardinal.com

MUCHO MACHO ACROSS 1 Fashion with care 6 Like geriatric patients 10 Big concert equipment 14 Anjou divider 15 Christmas trio 16 Certain Celt 17 Seasoned salt 19 Tutor in “The King and I” 20 Bygone Spanish coin 21 New socialite, for short 23 Connecticut’s “Charter” tree 24 “Surf and Turf” legs 27 Insignificant amount 29 Behavior 33 8,000 pounds, for four 34 Iridescent gems 35 “Dirty” Cajun dish 37 Desperate guess 40 Giver of three wishes 41 Word with “much” or “late” 42 Cake helping 43 First name in Bond portrayers 44 Give an endorsement to 45 News articles 46 Quickie correspondence

48 Legendary Greek hero 50 Indian cotton fabric 52 Professionally correct 53 Longbow wood 54 “Addams Family” Cousin 56 Absolutely useless 61 Cut, as the fat 63 Shadowy male figure 66 Sound system of yesteryear 67 From the same tree?

68 A sister of Clio 69 It’s lower than dirt 70 Customer service call 71 Semicircular roofs DOWN 1 Burst of thunder 2 Kimono cousin 3 Needs a doc 4 For the taking 5 Important court action 6 Org. for doctors 7 Leg, in slang 8 Kin of “By Jove!”

9 Kitchen add-on 10 Turkish military title 11 Certain superhero’s nickname 12 For punishment 13 Relieve, as a thirst 18 Get by working 22 Term of endearment, for a frat boy 25 Heart’s bloodline

6 Sweet roll 2 28 As found 29 Feet, or four-footed friends 30 Fencer’s blade 31 Happy couple exiting a chapel 32 “Father Knows Best” actress Donahue 36 Converted from coal via distillation 38 Wile E. Coyote’s preferred brand 39 Porgy’s love 42 Imagined in one’s mind 44 Wedding VIP 47 ___ chi 49 Far from scarce 50 Cousins of legends 51 Mountain bird nest 55 Moppet 57 New kid on the block 58 Muslim leader 59 Like a fashionable arrival 60 First grandkid of Adam 62 Not pre- or -post 64 “The ___ Million Dollar Man” 65 Detonation maker

By Steven Wishau wishau@wisc.edu

Sports

thursday january 31, 2013 DailyCardinal.com

College coaches need discipline for leaving

Women’s Basketball

Rex Sheild rex’s higher education

W Shoaib altaf/the daily cardinal

Junior guard Morgan Paige will look to help the Wisconsin women’s basketball team bounce back from last week’s loss to Iowa with a win Thursday night against No. 7 Penn State.

Badgers look to get back on winning path

By Cameron Kalmon the daily cardinal

The Wisconsin women’s basketball team (1-6 Big Ten, 9-11 overall) will be hosting No. 7 Penn State (7-0, 17-2) in a Big Ten contest Thursday night.

The Badgers are coming off a tough loss on the road to Iowa.

The Hawkeyes outscored the Badgers 18-5 in the last 4 minutes to take the game 71-60.

With only one win in the Big Ten, UW has struggled thus far in conference play. Thursday will mark the half-way point in Big Ten play for the Badgers.

Penn State on the other hand has not lost in the conference this season. Wisconsin and Penn State already met earlier this month, which resulted in a 84-40 drubbing at the hands of the Nittany Lions.

“In all areas of the game, we were really not poised and not executing our offense the way we should, and then that led to some turnovers,” head coach Bobbie Kelsey said. “Once Penn State gets going, they’re very hard to stop because they have a lot of guards that can really hurt you in a number of different ways.”

Nittany Lion senior forward Nikki Greene scored 23 points and had 14 rebounds against the Badgers.

Wisconsin will try to prevent history from repeating itself, and they will have to do so by facing a solid team lead by head coach Coquese Washington, who was named Big Ten coach of the year last season.

Also up against the Badgers is junior guard Maggie Lucas who is currently the leading scorer for Penn State, averaging 20 points per game this season.

“Lucas didn’t get going in that game, but Nikki Greene did,” Kelsey said “It’s kind of like our Iowa game. You take away [Morgan] Johnson, and then [Jaime] Printy gets loose.

We have to fix that. We did watch video of the whole second half (against Iowa) yesterday. There were probably nine or 10 plays where it was us not doing the defensive plan we put in place.”

Wisconsin does have some weapons of its own, however.

The Badgers strong point is in their well-rounded team.

Senior guard Tiera Stephen currently leads the Big Ten with

Have a burning passion for sports?

Want to get closer to the action? Join The Daily Cardinal sports desk by coming to our recruitment meeting Friday, Feb. 1 at 4 p.m. in 2195 Vilas!

4.1 steals per game. In all games Stephen is second in the league, with 3.3 steals per game.

Junior guard Morgan Paige is currently leading UW in points per game with a 16.4 average.

The Badgers will have to focus on getting to the free throw line often against Penn State. UW is among the leaders in free throw shooting in the conference, and their accuracy from the charity stripe will be crucial against a top-ten opponent.

“Again, we have to emphasize that because that’s one way to score without pressure or without having to handle the ball,” Kelsey said. “You’re just standing up there and shooting free throws, but it’s a different pressure because you’re standing up there shooting free throws, and everyone’s watching. Some kids, it doesn’t bother them at all. Some, they feel like all eyes are on them, which it is, and they feel that.”

As the Badgers take a shot at redemption they will be facing one of the toughest teams in the league. The Nittany Lions are on an 11 game win streak, the thirdlongest streak in the nation.

hen the Philadelphia Eagles announced Oregon head football coach Chip Kelly was taking his talents to the City of Brotherly Love, it did not come as a shock to me.

Simply put, it would not be a normal college football offseason without a high-profile coach leaving his allegiance at the doorstep of a university. Wisconsin fans don’t need to look any further than former head coach Bret Bielema leaving for pastures supposedly greener and jumping ship to the SEC. While I have always been naive of the fact the world of college football is a big business, I have finally come to the realization that it is truly because of the situation at hand.

In this day and age, coaches can pack their bags and potentially leave an entire program in limbo with no strings attached, unlike the student-athletes who have to sit out a year per NCAA rules.

If a coach sees an opportunity to make more money, pay his assistants more, take over a more prestigious program or whatever the reason may be, the NCAA has absolutely no problem with it.

On the other hand, if a student-athlete feels the particular program is not the right fit for him because of playing time, the coaching staff, academics, etc., the NCAA has been strong in its stance of having the players miss out on a year’s worth of game experience, though they do not lose a year of eligibility. That’s simply not fair and not right.

The NCAA constantly stresses college athletics is all about the welfare of the student-athletes but I am still finding that hard to believe.

Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez said it best on the Dan Patrick Show when discussing Bielema’s departure. “I know the business.”

Alvarez thinks otherwise and he’s right. It is a business rather than serving the welfare of the student-athletes.

Not only does a quick bolt from coaches leave the athletic administration in a tough position, scrambling to find the best replacement possible, it leaves the student-athletes and even recruits in an arguably tougher position.

The student-athletes are forced to prove themselves all over again on the gridiron and recruits are left guessing about the biggest decision of their young lives.

In fact, Oregon’s four-star recruit (who since flipped his commitment to rival USC) Nico Falah was left blind-sided by Kelly’s departure, tweeting: “Chip Kelly left?!?! He was at my house 2 days ago.”

The jury is still out on the reason(s) behind why Kelly left a consistent national title contender.

Was it because of more zeros in his contract? Maybe. Was it because of potential NCAA sanctions on the horizon? That’s a good possibility and probably more likely.

Just ask Pete Carroll what he did when Southern Cal was under NCAA investigation. He traded in the SC dynasty he built for a NFL job without any repercussions from the NCAA, leaving the program to face the wrath of severe sanctions.

Those sanctions included former star running back Reggie Bush forfeiting the most coveted trophy in college sports and the current players he left behind losing out on postseason play.

I completely understand the notion of coaches chasing their dreams—whether it be in the NFL or to another collegiate program— but why can’t the student-athletes do the same?

Unlike these coaches, studentathletes are essentially being punished for wanting to give themselves a new opportunity outside of their current collegiate situation. Once again, that’s not fair and not right.

I am not sure what the ramifications should be for coaches leaving because that is for the NCAA to decide. I just hope they keep in mind these student-athletes when doing so instead of treating college football as a big business.

Do you think coaches should be punished for leaving programs before their contract is up? Let Rex know by emailing him at sports@ dailycardinal.com

The Daily Cardinal’s Sports Top Tweets From 1/24-1/31 We spend an inordinate amount of time on Twitter, so we’ve decided to justify that wasted time by compiling the week’s top tweets. They might be funny, they might be motivational and they might be none of the above, but as long as the tweets come from a past or current Badger player or coach, they pass the only prerequisite to make our list.