Communion: Round two
A trip down birthday lane Parties, pizza and pinatas University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Interviews with band members of Tennis and Building on Buildings
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Tuesday, November 19, 2013
UW System launches Flex Degree Option
Jessie gallimore/the daily cardinal
Campus community members watch the live broadcast forum Monday at Union South.
UW forum highlights insurance options under Affordable Care Act By Adelina Yankova The Daily Cardinal
The University of WisconsinMadison hosted a statewide, multicampus forum Monday discussing insurance options for young people under the Affordable Care Act. The event was broadcast to
22 different college campuses across Wisconsin and attracted approximately 500 viewers around the state, representatives said at the forum. Among the speakers were health services executives, insurance specialists and outreach offi-
cers. Additionally, Kathleen Falk, Region Five director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, was available on conference call to discuss the importance of insurance for young people.
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The University of Wisconsin System began accepting applications Monday for the Flexible Option Degree Program, a service that will help adult students receive college credit in nontraditional ways. The program was announced in June 2012 to help individuals learn new skills needed for the current job market by breaking down the traditional barriers of obtaining a UW college degree. Its self-paced, competencybased format will allow adults to obtain an online degree while still balancing work and family schedules, Ray Cross, the chancellor of UW Colleges and UW Extension said at a press conference Monday. Cross also explained the ongoing need for college degrees in the current workforce, noting only 30 percent of Wisconsin residents currently have college degrees, and by 2025, it is expected 60 percent of jobs will require them.
Obama’s economic adviser discusses US fiscal policy By Alex Bernell The Daily Cardinal
Jason Furman, President Barack Obama’s chief economic adviser, delivered a speech at the University of WisconsinMadison Monday, in which he discussed his three goals for achieving successful American fiscal policy. These goals include returning the economy to its full potential, expanding its competency more quickly and reducing the gap between the government’s spending and total revenue. Furman said his first order of business is bringing down the unemployment rate, which he noted is currently improving. The success of the economy growing more rapidly depends on economic inequality, Furman said. Inequality influences a slower productivity rate in the economy. He added the percentage of income wealthy United States citizens hold is the largest percentage share of income since 1928. Furman also said the national debt will stabilize over the next 75 years if the difference between government spending
and its total revenue is 1.7 percent of the gross domestic product. Attaining this percentage is more manageable than many people assume, according to Furman. He said there is a huge amount of uncertainty about this percentage, but regardless the outlook, it looks better than it has in the past. According to Furman, Obama’s policies are a good framework for reducing the fiscal gap. Furman said programs like the Affordable Care Act will help decrease the deficit. “The Recovery Act is a fiscal policy that helped make sure that the United States did not go into a second depression,” Furman said. Furman said the biggest challenge is not figuring out fiscal policies to help the United States economy, but actually getting them through Congress and Washington. However, Fanny Moffette, a Ph.D. candidate in UW-Madison’s Agriculture and Applied Economics Program, said she “expected much more
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According to Cross, although there are no direct relationships between students and professors, the Flexible Option Degree Program will be just as rigorous as a typical UW course. “Essentially, if you know it, and you can do it, and you can prove it, then you can earn a UW degree,” Cross said. The program will address skills that are lacking in the Wisconsin workforce, according to Barb Daley, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee College Nursing professor and Dean for Academic Affairs. She said Information Technology, Business and Health Care are a few degrees the program will focus on. University of WisconsinMadison employee Aaron Apel submitted his application at the press conference, distinguishing himself as the first official applicant. — Jackie Bannon
John Lehman announces run for Lt. governor
jessie gallimore/the daily cardinal
James Furman, chief economic adviser to President Barack Obama, spoke to UW-Madison students on campus Monday.
Wisconsin Sen. John Lehman, D-Racine, announced Monday he plans to run for lieutenant governor in the November 2014 election. Lehman said in a statement he is well-prepared to serve as lieutenant governor because of his more than 20 years of public leadership. He cited his extensive public service as a state representative and his two former chair positions in the state Senate. In the statement, Lehman also highlighted his progressive voting record, citing education as his most important issue. He also called himself an “environmental and pro-worker activist.” The senator called Gov. Scott Walker’s approach to governing “extreme,” and said he was confident in his campaign’s ability to expose the “glaring failures of Walker-Kleefisch.” “I know, as well as anyone, the need to defeat [Walker,]” Lehman said in the statement. According to the statement, Lehman is both excited by Mary Burke’s candidacy but recognizes there could be other Democratic challengers to declare for governor.
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”