UN declares family planning a universal right
Turkey-time tunes A perfect playlist for post-pumpkin partaking
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Monday, November 19, 2012
Student group receives state, national attention By Cheyenne Langkamp The Daily Cardinal
The University of WisconsinMadison made state and national news last week after a student government committee granted an atheist organization the largest funding amount of a group of its type on any college campus in the country. The Student Services Finance Committee approved over $67,000 in student segregated fee funding for the campus group Atheists, Humanists and Agnostics on Nov. 8, 2012, prompting coverage from multiple media outlets including the Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel and Christian Post. AHA President Chris Calvey said the past week has been a “wild ride” and an overall “gratifying” experience. The organization first became a registered student organization in 2005, created to fill a void due to the lack of organizations for non-religious students, according to Calvey. AHA serves students through two programs, Faith Questioning, a peer-to-peer mentoring service for anyone struggling with faith, and Secular Support Groups, a group-
student group page 3
Ejections down at final home game of 2012 football season The number of University of Wisconsin-Madison students ejected at the final home game of the 2012 Badger football season decreased compared to the last game in Camp Randall stadium, with ejections due to seating issues in the student section below the season home game average. University police arrested 19 students during the game against Ohio State and ejected 43, compared to 77 ejected during the Michigan State game Oct. 27, according to data from the UW Police Department. Throughout the season, at home games police cited and arrested the most students Sept. 15 in the game against
Utah, which was the only 7 p.m. game in Camp Randall this year. On average, UWPD ejected 55 students, issued citations to 16 students and arrested 17 students per home game. The majority of ejections were related to either intoxication or seating issues. Nineteen people were ejected from Saturday’s game due to seating issues. An average of 46 people were ejected for seating issues per home game throughout the season, but the UWPD reported only two at the first game of the season Sept. 1. Ejections due to seating
ejections page 3
Grey Satterfield/the daily cardinal
Palestine supporters march up State Street Friday after a Library Mall protest over U.S. financial aid to Israel in the midst of the most recent violence in an ongoing conflict.
Protesters debate U.S. role in Gaza Strip Israel, Palestine supporters hold rallies on campus By Sam Cusick The Daily Cardinal
Library Mall echoed with the sounds of Palestine supporters Friday who waved signs saying “Stop the killing in Gaza” to protest U.S. financial aid to Israel. Amidst the recent controversial events in the Gaza Strip area, tensions have been running high between people of Palestinian and Israeli descent, and tension was evident Friday when a group of Israel support-
ers arrived at the protest. Pro-Palestine protesters organized the rally to raise awareness about the “plight” of the Palestinian people in the Middle Eastern conflicts and get students more involved in the issue, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison Junior Zeyad El Omari, who helped coordinate the event. “We want to make sure that our visibility is bolstered and that as many people as possible can see us and understand the actual conflict,” El Omari said. The Israel supporters who joined the rally were organized by MadPAC, a pro-Israel student group on campus, and showed up to demonstrate there
are “two sides to every story” and that Israel wants peace, according to MadPAC President Natanya Russek. “We represent the voice that Israel wants peace, wants conversation and wants people’s lives to be saved,” Russek said. “It’s on both sides that people’s lives are being sacrificed for a conflict that everybody wishes could be over.” Despite acknowledging each side had a right to express their opinion, debate between the two groups became heated as each side argued their position. The pro-Israel protesters left the site after finding debate to be unpro-
protests page 3
Committee rules MCSC in violation of university policy
Graphic By Angel Lee
Ejections due to seating policy issues fluctuated throughout the football season, peaking at the Oct. 6 game against Illinois.
A university committee ruled Friday the Multicultural Student Coalition will be on probation beginning April 1, 2013, after violating a university contracting policy last year. The dispute began in April 2012 when then-Student Services Finance Committee Chair Sarah Neibart filed a complaint with the Committee on Student Organizations, which sets and reviews policies overseeing the functions of registered student organizations, claiming MCSC had violated university policy regarding four training contracts. According to Associated Students of Madison Press
Office Director David Gardner, trainings over $5,000 fall under a “simplified bid process” in which a group must show evidence it looked at several “vendor” options and chose the one that seemed best able to conduct the training at the least expensive price. CSO members ruled that because all four of MCSC’s training contracts were submitted on the same day for the same vendor, the committee would consider it as one contract totalling more than $5,000, which put MCSC in violation of the simplified bid process policy. Should MCSC be found guilty of similar contract viola-
tions during the probation period, a one-year suspension will likely ensue, dependent upon a second CSO hearing. According to Gardner, if put on suspension the group would lose its status as a student organization, as well as its space in the Student Activity Center and ability to hold meetings and events. In addition to probation, the group will have to undergo internal reforms and present them to the CSO as proof that a similar contract violation will not happen again. An MCSC representative did not return phone calls or emails requesting a comment Sunday. —Cheyenne Langkamp
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”