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Fake News Friday: Source of Grainger gas leak discovered
+PAGE TWO University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Weekend, November 16-18, 2012
Bus drivers begin to enforce bus pass policy
Taylor galaszewski/the daily cardinal
SSFC Chair Ellie Bruecker and UW System Student Regent Katherine Pointer debated how to ensure Wisconsin universities have enough revenue after decreases in state funding.
ASM forum discusses rising tuition at UW Debate focuses on balancing cost, quality By Meghan Chua The Daily Cardinal
The Associated Students of Madison’s final Shared Governance Week of Action forum Thursday sparked discussion about how to handle the costs of University of Wisconsin System schools in the face of decreasing state funding and increasing tuition and fees.
University of WisconsinMadison Student Services Finance Committee Chair Ellie Bruecker and UW System Regent Katherine Pointer, the student appointee on the Board of Regents, each voiced their own ideas on how best to raise and manage universities’ funds. Pointer, who voted in favor of increasing tuition for all UW System schools when the Regents raised UW-Madison tuition to over $10,000 in June, said students were the only group they could draw on to generate revenue. At UW-Madison, where faculty compensation is 20 percent
below the national average, retention of the university’s exceptional educators is a top concern, according to Pointer. “They’re the core of why Madison is so incredible,” she said. According to Pointer, tuition at UW-Madison is low compared to that at its peer universities. However, Bruecker said she opposes tuition and fee increases and instead emphasized fiscal responsibility. She said students have been more responsible in managing segregated fees, which SSFC allocates to student
Metro Transit bus drivers began enforcing a long-standing policy of requiring people to show identification with their unlimited ride bus passes Monday and have since confiscated several bus passes. Mick Rusch, a Metro Transit spokesperson, said although drivers have not pulled a large amount of passes, drivers have confiscated passes from several people who were using bus passes of older siblings or other family members. Metro Transit is enforcing the ID policy because people who have not been issued a bus pass by the University of WisconsinMadison or a local business are using passes paid for by other groups, according to Rusch. “It’s a misconception out there that once you have this pass, that it’s a free pass,” Rusch
said. “[Passes issued by an organization] are not meant to be a family pass and not meant to be passed on.” Bus drivers can choose whether or not they request passengers to show an ID when they swipe their bus passes, according to Rusch. “The drivers are doing a very good job of pulling the passes that they really think are a problem,” Rusch said. Rusch said in order to keep buses on schedule, some drivers may not request ID verification. “It is [the driver’s] discretion to verify as many IDs as they possibly can,” Rusch said. “But if it’s going to mean being late or if there is another situation, it’s his call on how to handle the situation and how to keep moving.” —Abby Becker
County approves day shelter By Stephanie Castillo The Daily Cardinal
County officials approved in a 33-2 vote Thursday the opening of a temporary day warming shelter on 827 E. Washington Ave., a site formerly used for an Occupy Madison camp. Occupy Madison members and Madison’s homeless used the controversial warming shelter site in the fall of 2011. After county campsites closed for the season this November,
Occupy members set up camp on East Washington Avenue, prompting complaints from residents who live near the site. Because Occupy does not have a permit for the site, the city of Madison issued an eviction notice Nov. 9 ordering Occupy residents to leave East Washington Avenue. The group then set up camp at Lake View Hill County Park despite
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Walker hints at federal approach to Affordable Care Act Gov. Scott Walker and state Republican legislators have recently indicated they would support a federal-run health insurance exchange over a state-run exchange. Walker must make a decision on how the Affordable Healthcare Act will be implemented within the state by Friday’s federally mandated deadline. Walker, who initially neglected implementing the law, was forced to start planning for a statewide health-care exchange system after President Barack Obama won the presidency and Democrats maintained control of the U.S. Senate. The governor can either establish a state-run exchange or leave implementation to the federal
government. The exchange, no matter who implements it, will set up an online marketplace where citizens can purchase government approved health-care plans. Democrats have pushed Walker to choose a state-run approach, but Republican legislators disagree. State Sen. Frank Lasee, R-De Pere, wrote a letter to Walker Wednesday urging him to leave implementation of the act to the federal government. Lasee said Walker should not implement a state exchange and instead, let the federal government implement the exchange, allowing Wisconsin to avoid state tax increases on citizens and preventing additional feder-
al subsidies to the state at a time when the federal government is already heavily in debt. “It is in our citizens’ best interest to … find out what the federal exchange looks like before we act,” Lasee said. Walker, in an interview with The New York Times Wednesday, hinted he would likely leave implementation to the federal government because he has doubts about the freedom the federal government would grant states if they ran their own systems. “I’d much prefer control at the state level, but the problem is, I don’t think [state exchanges] are really state run,” Walker said. —Jack Casey
on campus
Come one, come oil
Alex Epstein (above) and Dr. Dino Ress debate the issue of oil dependency in the United States at Memorial Union Thursday evening. + Photo by Grey Satterfield
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”