news
Thursday, March 8, 2012 3
l
dailycardinal.com
UW System faces lawsuit for not releasing syllabi By Anna Duffin The Daily Cardinal
The UW System is facing legal action after denying the National Council on Teacher Quality’s open records requests to review syllabi from courses within UW System schools of education. Arthur McKee, the council’s managing director for teacher preparation studies, said the group is compiling information to rate teacher preparation programs nationwide. UW System spokesperson David Giroux said the system denied the open records request for the syllabi because the documents are the protected by state copyright laws because they are the intellectual property of the professors who draft them. McKee said the documents
would be used for research, not commercial, purposes and that copyrighted material can still generally be used for research. Giroux said the NCTQ requested hundreds of other documents which the system provided them. McKee said the public has a right to view the documents. They would help students who aspire to become teachers select the best programs to attend while helping school districts know which prospective teachers received the best education, he said. “These are public institutions, they’re preparing teachers in the state of Wisconsin for the state of Wisconsin for public schools using public dollars,” McKee said. “These documents should be available to anyone.” No matter how much releas-
ing the documents would help the state, though, Giroux said the law remains that syllabi are copyrighted material. “The syllabi are the intellectual property of our faculty members, so it’s not our decision whether to give it to someone else for whatever purpose,” Giroux said. Giroux said students who are educated in the UW System are typically highly regarded in the workforce and the system provides citizens with information proving the quality of its programs. “We are committed to providing Wisconsin citizens with ample information about the quality of our universities and the qualities of our graduates in every discipline,” Giroux said. “I honestly don’t see a lot of concerns with the quality of UW graduates.”
Groups question judge’s voter ID decision By Rachel Hahn The Daily Cardinal
Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen and the Republican Party of Wisconsin are calling into question the temporary injunction issued by Dane County Circuit Judge David Flanagan Tuesday halting Wisconsin’s voter identification law. An ethics claim filed by the RPW against Flanagan claims the judge failed to remain impartial in his ruling because he signed a recall petition against Gov. Scott Walker, a defendant in the case. “Gov. Walker is listed as a defendant in the case, and by signing a petition to recall the governor, Judge Flanagan made his bias clear,” Republican Party of Wisconsin Communications Director Ben Sparks said. “As such, we urge the Wisconsin
Judicial Commission to take up this matter and investigate these allegations as soon as possible.” The ruling, issued Tuesday, orders that the voter ID law, which requires photo identification to vote, cease to be enforced by the GAB. This injunction could mean voter ID will not apply to the April 3 Republican presidential primary and general local elections. Van Hollen, who also plans to generate legal action opposing the injunction said in a statement Wednesday, “We will be moving quickly to bring this matter before an appellate court to ensure that the properly-enacted and legallysufficient Voter ID law will be in full force and effect before the April elections.” UW-Madison Professor John Witte said it is “unclear” if the injunction will hold until
April 3 because of several factors including the appeals against the injunction and other lawsuits filed challenging the voter ID law.
“By signing a petition to recall the governor, Judge Flanagan made his bias clear.” J.B. Van Hollen Attorney General Wisconsin
“Ordinarily, this trial would have been done, the injunction would have been held, and voter ID would not have been able to be used on April 3. Given this case, the opposition may go after the entire ruling,” said Witte. The GAB is scheduled to meet Monday to discuss the voter ID injunction.
Daven Hines/the daily cardinal
Former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs spoke to students at the Memorial Union Wednesday.
obama from page 1 battleground state in the November presidential election, and students will play a crucial role in deciding who comes out on top. “We would not have gotten elected were it not for the energy we felt from young voters, but particularly students, in 2008,” Gibbs said. “We need to make sure (students) are just as into it and excited this time, because there is just as much at stake.”
PEOPLE Program gets $300,000 grant The UW-Madison branch of a scholarship program for minority and low-income students will receive a $300,000 grant to increase its academic enrichment programs for students pursuing higher education. Known as the PEOPLE Program, the Pre-college Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence currently supports 1,200 elementary through college students
asm from page 1
Grey Statterfield/the daily cardinal
The Urban Design Commission approved plans Wednesday to renovate the 100 block of State Street, including the possible demolition of two historic buildings.
100 block from page 1 ing a greater retail presence on Fairchild Street in addition to the proposed restaurant. While Lawson said the Block 100 Foundation is open to suggestions and willing to work with city commissions, devel-
opers Jerome Frautschi and Pleasant Rowland are unyielding on the presence of the Schubert building. “The Schubert building does not fit into the vision of what we are proposing,” Lawson said. “The idea of having a unique space in the city can only be
formed with the removal of the Schubert building.” Ald. Marsha Rummel, District 6, said she would not support final action on the proposal if it included demolition plans of the Schubert building. She recommends Block 100 Foundation consider reusing the building.
Gibbs said students will be particularly impacted by the election given the Republican presidential candidates’ policies on education. “For Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney to basically tell people your on your own when it comes to affording a college education, I think that says all you need to know about what a future would look like under either one of them as President of the United States,” Gibbs said. Wisconsin will hold its primary elections April 3.
Services Finance Committee’s denial of funding eligibility for the Multicultural Student Coalition, which was ultimately upheld by the Student Judiciary. MCSC members said they felt SSFC and judiciary discriminated against the group because MCSC represents minorities on campus. SJ Chief Justice Kate Fifield said to the best of her knowledge, the group’s ideology was never considered when determining its eligibility. She said it is important ASM committees trust each other. “If you say that we are not capable of making funding decisions or that I or my justices are not capable of ensuring the integrity of the system, that we cannot recognize discrimination when we see it, then we might as well hand over all of the money to the administration right now,” Fifield said. “If there is no trust in our organization, then we have no purpose here.”
by encouraging cooperation between students’ families, teachers and counselors, and working toward increasing low-income and minority student enrollment and graduation rates. The Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation, a federal student loan contributor, provided the $300,000 grant, which will fund training initiatives on college admission and fundraising, among other programs.