Sing it again
FAKE NEWS FRIDAY: State senators square off in a shoot-out at the Capitol
The Wisconsin Singers will perform at the Overture Center +ARTS, online at dailycardinal.com
+PAGE TWO University of Wisconsin-Madison
Complete campus coverage since 1892
l
dailycardinal.com
Weekend, November 18-20, 2011
Pay freeze for state workers By Meghan Chua The Daily cardinal
The first employee pay plan created since the restriction of collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin passed Thursday, freezing state worker pay for two years and restricting overtime pay. Among those to be affected when the plan takes effect in January are 25,000 University of Wisconsin System employees and 32,000 state employees. 9,000 state workers without previous union involvement are also affected. The Joint Committee on Employment Relations passed the measure 6-2 down party lines, with Republicans supporting the plan. Changes have also been made to overtime pay, which cost state agencies, including the UW System, $70 million in 2010, according to a
report published by the Legislative Audit Bureau in May. Employees will now only be able to claim overtime pay for actual hours worked, rather than claiming both sick time and overtime pay for working different shifts of the same workday. Overtime hours will also be distributed based on a rotation of all employees instead of seniority. For employees of the university, the pay plan means there will be no raises for the next two years. Under the 2011-2013 budget, state agencies, including the UW System, can submit supplemental pay plans additional to those provided for all state employees, according to UW System Spokesperson David Giroux.
pay freeze page 3
Construction at Library Mall to end in mid-December By Shannon Kelly The Daily cardinal
The construction that has obstructed much of Library Mall for more than two years will finally be coming to a close in mid-December when ongoing utility replacements and upgrades are complete. The project was the final phase of a five-part plan to upgrade the utility system throughout the east side of campus and focused primarily on building an underground utilities tunnel to make maintenance access to the utilities easier.
While these new utility upgrades are estimated to last 30 to 50 years, this does not mean the Library Mall will remain free from construction. According to a statement from the university, it will approach the city about plans to potentially begin rebuilding the Library Mall and the State Street Mall sometime in the next six months. Dan Dudley, the campus Facilities Planning and
construction page 3
on campus
Goin’ off the rails A skier flips at the 3rd annual Hoofer Rail Jam at Union South. The event was sponsored by Hoofer Ski and Snowboard and area businesses + Photo by Mark Kauzlarich
UW issues guidelines limiting political activity on campus By Sean Reichard The Daily cardinal
In the midst of increased political activity around the state, UW-Madison posted guidelines Wednesday reminding faculty, students and staff of appropriate political activity on campus. The rules discourage students, faculty and staff from engaging in political activity in university buildings and housing. They also prohibit employees from using university resources for political advocacy or participating in political actions when they should be working. An example of inappropriate behavior would include a professor sending emails from a university account, urging colleagues to support or vote against Gov. Scott Walker, according to
UW-Madison Political Science Professor and free-speech expert Donald Downs. Downs agreed with the purpose of the guidelines. “I think that’s a principled thing for the university to do,” he said. “People should do their best to abide by [the guidelines].” While Downs said inappropriate political activity could warrant fines and reprimands, the university does not strongly enforce the rules. “I don’t think [violating the guidelines] is really criminal, but there could be some kind of violation,” he said. “I’ve never heard of them being applied.” According to Downs, consequences of violating the guidelines would depend on
the seriousness of violation as well as how long-standing and repeated it is. Downs criticized the guidelines for being ambiguous at times. He said individual professors, students and staff members can engage in political activity on their own, as long as they are not using university resources to do so. “The fact that we’re faculty members and staff of the university shouldn’t mean we can’t talk about [political] things,” he said. “That to me is different from actively using university resources to push causes and rally people around candidates and things like that.” For full details on the guidelines, visit the University of Wisconsin news homepage.
Student neighborhood changes, new bike path proposed By Taylor Harvey The Daily cardinal
Shoaib Altaf/the daily cardinal
Construction to upgrade the utility system throughout the east side of campus has limited student mobility through Library Mall.
Developers introduced a new Downtown Plan to Madison’s Common Council earlier this week, which includes the installation of a bike path along Lake Mendota and redeveloping some downtown neighborhoods. According to Principal Planner Michael Waidelich, the plan seeks to enhance economic and real estate development downtown. One major redevelopment in the plan is to “preserve, rehabilitate and modernize” student housing units in the Bassett, West Washington and Mifflin Street
Neighborhoods, which according to Waidelich, emphasizes “fairly heavy on conservation.” Waidelich said the redevelopment will impact students who view the neighborhood as a relatively cheap residential area on campus where “you don’t have to worry about taking care of [the house] too much.” If people make large investments and fix up units, investors will want to see the units taken care of and prices will probably be higher, according to Waidelich. “The real recommendation is for the plan to maintain the essential scale and character
in the area,” Waidelich said. “It would involve rehabilitating some of the houses, moving some of them, demolishing some of them and replacing some with new development.” Waidelich said the plan also aims to promote housing diversity to cater to the influx of nonstudents, such as young professionals and empty-nesters, who have resided in the Basset Street Neighborhood in the past 15 years. “Student dominance in the area will change a little if we are successful in encouraging more
bike path 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.”