Saying goodbye to UW-Madison Mayan apocalypse style
Movies of 2012: Is the best still yet to come? +ARTS, page 5
+PAGE TWO University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Fitzgerald calls for change to GAB Incoming state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said Monday he would like to replace nonpartisan judges on the Government Accountability Board with political appointees, saying the board too often favors Democrats. Fitzgerald said the GAB, which reviewed petitions and set election dates for the gubernatorial and state senatorial recall elections, did not carry an independent voice over the last two years, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Monday. He said rather than the six retired nonpartisan judges who april wang/the daily cardinal
SSFC Rep. David Vines proposes multiple amendments to the MCSC budget, which was voted down in a meeting Monday.
SSFC votes to minimally fund MCSC By Caroline Zellmer the daily cardinal
The Student Services Finance Committee voted Monday to minimally fund the Multicultural Student Coalition at a level of $10,600 after multiple amendments and debate in the secondconsecutive meeting. According to SSFC Chair Ellie Bruecker, this funding level will allow for, at minimum, an office, one student hourly position and basic office supplies. Many SSFC representatives felt MCSC had made significant internal changes since it was granted funding eligibility last year, which are grounds for minimal funding according to SSFC bylaws. Changes
included the removal of some programs which were originally proposed in the group’s hearing. Bruecker said these criteria are in place to hold groups accountable. “It is the hope that [MCSC] will be able to maintain some responsibility with funding and work themselves back up to a budget that is more responsible and better for the group,” said Bruecker. Rep. David Vines spearheaded multiple budget amendments and said he supported approval of an amended funding level of $137,156.32 rather than minimal funding. The group’s original budget proposal was approxi-
are currently on the board, the GAB should have partisan members appointed in order to “strike more of a balance.” The GAB has faced criticism from both Democrats and Republicans in the past, particularly for how it handled the recall election of Gov. Scott Walker and state senators in the past two years, according to the Journal Sentinel. In a press release Monday, current state Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, said Fitzgerald’s idea promotes an “anti-democracy agenda.” “Their goal appears to be doing everything possible to
gain and keep power, not helping Wisconsin’s middle class,” Barca said in the release. The GAB oversees elections by reviewing campaign finance reports and handling ethics violations in Wisconsin. GAB Director and General Counsel Kevin Kennedy said in a statement the board’s decisions will always fall under criticism, but those criticisms “should be evaluated based on who is making them.” “Just like in a sporting event when a referee makes a call, seldom are all sides happy with the decision,” Kennedy said in the statement. —Justin Williams
Palermo’s Pizza admits to labor violations Palermo’s Pizza reached a settlement agreement Friday with the National Labor Relations Board acknowledging it committed labor law violations, following allegations of labor practice violations from employees. The agreement came after workers from Palermo’s factories went on strike, accusing the pizza company of unlawfully firing workers for their attempts to unionize, as well as over immigrant audit threats. In the agreement, Palermo’s admitted it violated labor laws by threatening to fire workers for unionizing, telling employ-
ees that joining the union was “futile” and physically blocking workers from leaving the factory to join the strike, according to a statement released by Voces de la Frontera, a Wisconsin-based immigrant rights group. The UW-Madison Student Labor Action Coalition and the Labor Licensing Policy Committee have urged university administration to cut ties with the pizza company until the workers were rehired and allowed to unionize. As a result of the settlement, Palermo’s will offer to rehire nine employees with
full pay, including worker Stephanie Ramirez, who lost her job after attempting to join the workers’ union. “I am happy that the NLRB has agreed that we were wrongly fired, and I’m grateful to go back to work after six months of trying to make ends meet,” Ramirez said in a statement. “It is shameful that Palermo’s would characterize illegally firing my co-workers and I as a ‘minor technicality’ when all we did is stand together to improve working conditions and make this a better company.” —Sam Cusick
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Faculty Senate passes resolution in support of Human Resources redesign The University of WisconsinMadison Faculty Senate approved a resolution in support of the Human Resources redesign project Monday amidst debate over an amendment to give more power to shared governance bodies affected by the plan. The amendment, which was proposed by Sen. Noah Feinstein, aimed to require affected governance bodies, such as the Academic Staff Assembly and a future university staff governance body, to vote to approve all future results and recommendations of the HR redesign.
“Our job is not yet done,” Feinstein said. “The things in HR design that will have the greatest impact on our lives… things that affect our compensation, our benefits and our role as supervisors, those things are still to come.” However, the senate ultimately voted not to adopt the amendment, with many senators saying it would be redundant, as shared governance is mentioned throughout the HR plan itself. Others said it could
on campus
HAI-YAH!
Students in the Choi Tae Kwon Do Club practice the Korean martial art Monday night. The UW-Madison group focuses on promoting individual growth. + Photo by Nithin Charlly
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“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”