University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Monday, February 16, 2015
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Campus remembers visiting executives on Presidents’ Day By Andrew Bahl THE DAILY CARDINAL
THOMAS YONASH/THE DAILY CARDINAL
Protesters fill Library Mall Saturday to express their concerns with Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed cuts the UW System.
When most students think of presidents and UW-Madison their thoughts drift to one of the more famous sites on campus: the stately statue of Abraham Lincoln perched atop Bascom Hill. This underscores the rich history of presidential visits to the city of Madison and the UW-Madison campus. From Rutherford B. Hayes to Barack Obama and nine commanders-in-chief in between, the campus has seen its fair share of presidential pomp and circumstance. The fun began in 1878 when Hayes paid a visit to the Wisconsin
State Fair, then held at Camp Randall Stadium. While Hayes spent most of his time drumming up support for the Republican Party with predecessor Ulysses S. Grant, he still found time to visit the UW-Madison campus. According to a 1929 Milwaukee Journal article, the 19th president stopped by “the Ladies Hall at the university and mingled in ‘a friendly manner with the young lady students.’” The next sitting president to visit campus was Herbert Hoover, who did so for a campaign visit in November 1932. William Taft and Theodore Roosevelt visited in 1915 and 1918, respectively, but both
Protesters brave cold to oppose budget cuts, racial injustice By Miller Jozwiak THE DAILY CARDINAL
For more than an hour Saturday, UW System students, faculty and community members endured a minus 11 degree wind chill to express opposition to Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget cuts. In the spirit of Valentine’s Day frozen fingers held up signs that said, “The Budget is Heartless,” and “Walker has a Love Child.”
“We must come together and stand together.”
Brandi Grayson member Young, Gifted and Black Coalition
The protest featured 10 speakers, including state Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, and several UW faculty members. Following the speakers, the protesters planned to march to the Capitol, but did not because barricades for a special city event surrounded the Square. Although the event was titled “Stop the Cuts—Save UW,” supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement were in attendance as well. Many
saw the two issues as related, including Young, Gifted and Black Coalition member and the protest’s emcee Brandi Grayson. “I am in solidarity with the UW faculty, with [the Teachers Assistant Association] and with the Young, Gifted and Black Coalition. We are standing against the proposed budget cuts by Walker,” Grayson said. “We must come together and stand together, we must understand that our liberation, black and brown people liberation, is bounded in everybody’s liberation.” TAA members attended the protest to voice concerns over how the cuts would affect TA salaries and job opportunities. Sociology graduate student Katie Zaman said she worries that TA funding sources will become “even more precarious,” along with her future job prospects in the UW System. Zaman said she believes people should write letters to the Legislature to further express their concerns. “We [TAA] have a letter writing event on Monday at Bascom Hall. Our last line of defense against getting this budget cut is to work on the legislatures. Not to mention that we will be in the streets,”
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GENE ZANDER/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO
Then-Sen. John F. Kennedy visited UW-Madison’s campus in 1960 to tell students about a new policy agenda.
had left office before they came. A Wisconsin State Journal profile of the event estimates that roughly 12,000 people attended Hoover’s campaign speech at the old UW Field House, while 60,000 more lined the streets to watch the presidential motorcade roll by. Despite the support of the large crowd, Hoover was trounced by Franklin D. Roosevelt days later, garnering only 38 percent of the popular vote. Eighteen years later President Harry Truman spoke at the same building to deliver a speech on the nation’s foreign affairs. Truman offered high praise for the university, calling it “a university center that has done so much for our great nation,” according to the Truman Presidential Library, but other parts of his speech struck a decidedly serious tone, coming mere weeks before the official start of the Korean War. “It is more than ever necessary for us to work together with the other free nations, to preserve our freedom and to increase our common welfare,” Truman said in his speech. His visit also showed the simpler security that a 1950 visit would elicit relative to with modern times. A tongue-tied Daily Cardinal reporter found himself face-toface with the president at one point during the event. “The writer looked at the President and racked his brains for something cheerful and encouraging to tell the world’s top executive,” reporter John Hunter wrote, referring to himself. “All he could manage was a weak
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STUDENT PROFILE
Organization bridges gaps between students By Bri Maas THE DAILY CARDINAL
On a campus of 40,000 faces, it can be common to feel lost. Two UW-Madison students launched a conversation-based class to build community among the diverse student body. Mackenzie Carroll and Tammy Tian have worked together with a group of students over the past year to bring Project Pengyou, an initiative that brings international and domestic students together, to UW-Madison.
Pete Davidson brings laughs from the ‘SNL’ stage + ARTS, page 4
The main goal of the organization is to create a comfortable environment where students of different cultures can share ideas and collaborate. Carroll said the members all need to feel included to elicit the best conversations. “One of our members told us this was the first time she felt like she had a family on campus,” Carroll said. “Providing that inclusive environment is really important to encourage ideas.” Tian said the inclusive environment helps students look
+ SPORTS, page 8
past typical cultural barriers through teamwork. “Because we focus on collaborative work through our projects, you have to look beyond stereotypes and differences that you see, and actually have a dialog,” Tian said. “When you work together with someone you realize the way they think, their perspectives and what’s important to them.” Through traveling to China
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Eight is Great
UW wins again
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”