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Fall Welcome Back Issue 2015
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Welcome Back Fall 2015
Will Chizek/the daily cardinal
Former US Sen. Russ Feingold revisits Sellery Hall while on campaign trail By Andrew Bahl the daily cardinal
Former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., visited his alma mater Monday to help a family move into Sellery Hall and reminisce about his days as a Badger. As a freshman at UW-Madison 44 years ago, Feingold left his room at Sellery Hall to make way for a friend of his roommate. Instead of making the 40-mile trek back to his home of Janesville for the
weekend, he and a friend decided to stay in the lounge area, with mixed results. “We commandeered the entire lounge and barricaded ourselves in there,” Feingold laughed. “We were eventually overwhelmed by the other members of the floor but it was fun while it lasted.” Feingold’s campaign is similarly hunkering down for a 2016 rematch against U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., hoping that this time they will be victori-
ous in fending off the former Oshkosh businessman after losing to him in 2010. The Feingold campaign announced Monday that U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., will join Feingold at a campaign stop in Madison next month. Warren praised Feingold’s efforts to make college more affordable in a statement Monday. The event comes as part of Feingold’s campaign plan to visit every Wisconsin county. Feingold led his adversary
by five points in an August Marquette University Law School poll, although this gap is narrower than an April poll which gave Feingold an eight percent lead among likely voters. Feingold talked briefly about both the 2016 senate and presidential races and discussed his time at UW-Madison while helping a family friend move into the same hall that Feingold himself lived in almost 50 years ago. “Going here was one of the greatest thrills I’ve ever had,”
Feingold said. “The University is the foundation for what makes this state great.” He also took Gov. Scott Walker to task for instituting a $250 million cut to the UW System in the last budget and said that students need help in making college more affordable. “It’s hard to imagine the $250 million cut because … the UW System is one of our greatest assets,” he said, arguing the
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Independent report recommends county-wide race equity plan By Negassi Tesfamichael The Daily Cardinal
Dane County released a report investigating the county government’s practices and proposed a four-year plan to promote racial equity in various operations, from hiring practices to community outreach. The analysis, requested by Dane County officials in February and released Monday, surveyed 724 employees about their awareness of racial inequities in Dane County and the county’s efforts to alleviate those disparities. Race equity, which the report
defined as the principle that “race can no longer be used to predict life outcomes,” is something the report determines is difficult for some employees to recognize. “Sometimes when you hear the words ‘racial equity lens’ or ‘racial equity tool,’ people don’t know what that means, but it’s pretty fundamental,” said Dane County Board of Supervisors Chair Sharon Corrigan in a Monday press conference. “It’s looking at when you’re making decisions, and asking who benefits, who’s burdened, and what kind of unintended consequenc-
es the decision might have.” County Supervisor Shelia Stubbs, District 23, who spearheaded the effort to request the analysis, called the findings “a bold step to address the root causes of racial disparities.” The report found discrepancies in how county employees viewed diversity efforts in their departments. For example, 81 percent of managers were familiar with their department’s efforts to address issues of racial equity, but only 57 percent of non-managers could familiarize themselves
with the efforts. Subsequently, employees cited a lack of time and resources allotted to address racial inequities, despite two-thirds of employees reporting an interest in increasing their engagement. “It’s tough,” Corrigan said about the challenge of implementing the report’s recommendations with rank-and-file employees, a two-phase process that includes changes to internal procedures at the department level. “It’s not something they see every day or can relate to.” The independent report was
conducted by the New Yorkbased Center for Social Inclusion and the Government Alliance on Race and Equity. The Dane County Board Executive Committee will hear a formal presentation of the analysis during a meeting Thursday. Rob Chappell, a spokesperson for the report, said, “No action will be taken by the board yet.” Dane County Executive Joe Parisi said Tuesday the report “is a small part of our overarching goals to tackle the tough issues involving race. It’s great to have everyone on board.”
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”