Thursday, February 15, 2024 - The Daily Cardinal

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Thursday, February 15, 2024

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ARTHURFEST RETURNS

BUCKY’S GOING GREEN

New venue, battle of the bands among changes in the DIY music event’s second year.

UW-Madison commits to 100% renewable electricity by 2030.

+ ARTS, PAGE 7

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Officer shoves pro-Palestine protester

By Liam Beran & Mary Bosch CAMPUS NEWS EDITOR & PHOTO EDITOR

A campus police officer shoved a proPalestine protester during a demonstration against companies attending a University of Wisconsin-Madison engineering career fair Tuesday afternoon.

In an Instagram video posted by student group Mecha de UW-Madison, a UWPD police officer pushes the protester to the ground during a confrontation in an entry hallway to the building.

“You are being violent. We were peacefully protesting, and you were being violent,” the protester said in a subsequent video.

Multiple protestors accused an officer, who The Daily Cardinal identified as Adam Boardman, of pushing the protester. The Daily Cardinal could not independently verify whether Boardman was the same officer who pushed the protester in the first video.

“You can’t come in,” Boardman said after the incident. “There are no flags and sticks allowed inside the building.”

Mecha alleged UWPD “assaulted” two additional protesters at Tuesday’s career fair.

In a separate video posted by Mecha, a different protester is shown being brought into a police car.

UWPD officers cited one individual

around 4:30 p.m. “following an attempt to disrupt the event and prevent students from meeting with recruiters,” UW-Madison spokesperson John Lucas told the Cardinal via email. The individual was later released, per Lucas.

Lucas said the university responded to “multiple attempted disruptions” at the event.

The UW-Madison Dean of Students and UWPD posted fliers around the event outlining guidelines and rules for attendance. The fliers describe “preventing the entrance/exit to any event room” as a prohibited behavior.

Additionally, Lucas said yelling, amplified sound and other actions that limit participation are not allowed at UW-Madison career fairs.

Demonstrators protested against companies at the career fair who supply military arms to Israel, according to a post from the UW-Madison chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. Arms suppliers BAE, Caterpillar and General Dynamics, who were present at the event, have been protested worldwide for their support of Israel.

Lucas said the university is currently reviewing the incident.

Shell replacement leaves some student Roman resigns athletes worried about practice space as campus police chief

Brent Plisch to take over as interim chief until replacement is found

By Sreejita Patra STAFF WRITER

LIAM BERAN/THE DAILY CARDINAL

By Mia Salbego STAFF WRITER

The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents on Thursday authorized a reconstruction project for the Camp Randall Sports Center — colloquially known as “the Shell” — that would turn the former workout facility into an indoor football training center.

The Shell closed for public access in April 2023, with UW Athletics taking ownership over the facility. The project will also demolish the McClain Center, a training facility used for various UW Athletics teams since 1988.

Both the Shell reconstruction and McClain demolition, alongside the other capital projects authorized by the Regents, passed in a unanimous Feb. 7 vote by the state Legislature’s budget-writing committee. The projects still await a full floor vote and signature from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who prioritized the renovations in his proposed 2023-25 capital budget.

Since opening in 1956, the Shell has served students as a place to work out, train and hold team practices. With its recent closure, many students — particularly those who used the Shell’s special facilities — said they were affected by the loss. “[The Shell] is the only real indoor track

that we have in the Madison area,” said Michael Kuhn, a senior UW-Madison student and Wisconsin Track Club member.

“A true 200-meter track where you’re not rounding these unnatural corners or running on a felt surface.”

In the time since the Shell’s closure, athletic clubs looking for an indoor track have been directed to the Bakke Recreation and Wellbeing Center, the $113.2 million dollar facility opened in April 2023. They say it’s been an insufficient replacement. “[The Bakke track] is absolutely not regulation,” Kuhn said. “The turns are super sharp — you almost have to come to a complete stop if you want to do your rep.”

For some students who live further away from the Nicholas Recreation Center and the Bakke, the two current campus-accessible workout facilities at UW-Madison, the Shell’s location was ideal. “[The Shell] was super convenient because so many people live in that area — around Klief Park, or in the ‘sophomore slums’ and around Regent Street,” Kuhn said.

Construction for Camp Randall Sports Center replacement and the McClain facility demolition is estimated to cost over $285 million, according to a report from the Regents

Capital Planning and Budget Committee.

The new project looks to maximize existing space by replacing underutilized facilities and save revenue by reducing maintenance costs, according to the committee report.

The Board of Regents report referred to both the Shell and the McClain Center as “underutilized and obsolete facilities,” but some UW-Madison students disagreed.

“That doesn’t really make sense to me,” said Tommy Dougherty, track club president. “A lot of people loved the Shell. A lot of my friends preferred the Shell over the Nick, not just for track training, but for other workouts as well.”

In the interim, club athletes have worked toward an agreement with RecWell and Badger Athletics to utilize the track in the time until its demolition. The agreement, a $200 per-practice stipend, was finalized earlier this month.

But Dougherty said that raises affordability concerns for other athletic clubs unwilling to pay the sum.

“We’re the only club signed up to use the Shell because we’re the only club willing to pay that $200 for the track,” Dougherty said.

The Regents’ committee report estimates the project’s construction to start in August 2024, with a projected final completion in December 2026.

Brent Plisch has been named interim chief of the UW-Madison Police Department following the resignation of long-serving chief Kristen Roman, a university official announced Monday.

In a press release, UW-Madison Finance and Administration Vice Chancellor Robert Cramer said Plisch will assume Roman’s duties until the university selects a permanent chief. He did not provide a reason for Roman’s resignation.

Roman, who was made university police chief in 2017, announced her resignation after seven years of service at UWPD and 26 years with the Madison Police Department.

Plisch has been with the department since 2005 and previously served as an assistant chief of administration and support. Pilsch was a former Army captain prior to his public safety career.

In the release, Cramer described Plisch as an “effective leader” who will “strive to keep our community safe while also building bridges to a wide range of stakeholders.”

Cramer said the university has plans to conduct a nationwide search for the department’s next permanent chief. The process will include student and community feedback, and more information about the search will be shared as the process begins.

DRAKE WHITE-BERGEY/THE DAILY CARDINAL

“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”

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Thursday, February 15, 2024

Wisconsin leaders struggle amid free speech debates

An independent student newspaper, serving the University of Wisconsin-Madison community since 1892 Volume 133, Issue 21

2142 Vilas Communication Hall 821 University Avenue Madison, Wis., 53706-1497 (608) 262-8000

News and Editorial edit@dailycardinal.com Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Drake White-Bergey Tyler Katzenberger

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UW campuses debate free expression as Republicans seek to fund free speech programs.

By Ella Gletty-Syoen

News Team News Manager Ella Gorodetzky Campus Editor Liam Beran College Editor Noe Goldhaber City Editor Marin Rosen State Editor Ava Menkes Associate News Editor Jasper Bernstein Features Editor Ellie Bourdo

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STAFF WRITER

University of Wisconsin System campuses have seen continued debates over belonging, free expression, and social and political identity in recent months as Republican lawmakers seek to fund free speech programs.

Republicans have largely concentrated on how conservative students choose to selfcensor opinions that are perceived as unpopular or controversial in academic settings.

At the same time, many marganlized students say they feel unsafe on UW campuses due to frequent hate speech incidents, raising questions of whether choosing to self-censor and facing formal limitations on free speech are not the same.

A pair of Republican lawmakers introduced a proposal in January to allocate $500,000 annually toward the UW System’s Wisconsin Institute for Citizenship and Civil Dialogue (WICCD), an office created in 2022 focusing on free speech programming and viewpoint diversity on college campuses.

Rep. Scott Johnson, R-Jefferson, and Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara, R-Appleton, presented the bill in a hearing for the Committee on Colleges and University earlier this month, arguing the office has not been adequately funded by the UW System.

Over $250,000 in funding was allocated to the institute in its first year.

“Funding would support educational workshops, public events and activities, faculty and student research, and professional development, among other things. It would also allow the Institute to serve as a clearinghouse for best practices and curriculum development,” Mark Pitsch, UW System director for media relations, told The Daily Cardinal over email.

WICCD was created by UW System President Jay Rothman in response to a November 2022 free speech survey that found students’ perceptions of free speech rights differed greatly by political affiliation.

Most students surveyed said they expressed their unfiltered views on a “controversial topic” in the classroom because they knew enough about the topic, cared about the topic or were encouraged to speak on it.

However, the report noted a significant difference in students’ perceptions of how welcome their opinions are in the classroom. More than 64% of conservative students reported feeling pressure to censor their speech or conform to a professor’s viewpoints, compared to only 20% of liberal students.

“The premise here is to develop, on each campus, opportunities for diverse student commentary, and for students to feel comfortable with their commentary,” Johnson said.

Only 10% of students reported experiencing social consequences for speaking up about a topic. The nature of these consequences was not explored at the time.

Timothy Sheil, a professor of English, philosophy and communication studies at UW-Stout who helped initiate the survey, told the Cardinal in June the trend of conservative self-censorship is found across most surveys.

“The further right, the more trends showed up — feeling like they would selfcensor more, feeling like they might be being pressured to a point of view by the professor,” he said.

Can the institute address student self-censorship?

WICCD’s goals are to encourage viewpoint diversity, promote freedom of expression, protect academic freedom and increase civic participation in universities and communities, Johnson said.

Thomas Pyle, College Republicans of UW-Madison chair, told the Cardinal he and his friends do not often express their opinions in school papers.

“I’ve been able to talk to my friends about this, and they often feel the need to express different opinions on their papers, not say what they’re actually thinking in class because of fear that the professor will judge them differently,” he said.

When asked whether professors have stopped conservative students from taking a certain stance or opinion in class, Pyle said, “I wouldn’t say they’ve been stopped for their political views, but they’ve definitely been challenged.”

Former UW-Madison political science professor and constitutional law expert Howard Schweber said greater self-censorship does not always indicate limitations on First Amendment rights. He drew a distinction between a right to free speech and a right to feel “welcome.”

“The idea of a free speech right to feel ‘welcome’ is brand new, a recent invention by political conservatives looking for a justification for interfering in the operations of institutions of higher education,” Schweber told the Cardinal.

“A law that dictates whom you must make feel ‘welcome’ in your company would be both unconstitutional and bizarre.”

University leaders unequipped, sources say

are

KATIE SCHEIDT/THE DAILY CARDINAL

University officials have struggled to confront the emotional impacts unrestricted speech, including offensive or hate speech, can have on students while still upholding legal principles central to the First Amendment.

Behavior that includes targeted harassment and threats made against other students is not protected under the First Amendment. However, Schweber said most other restrictions on speech by public universities amount to government censorship, violating the U.S. Constitution.

Schweber said difficulty handling issues concerning free speech is a result of leaders receiving no formal training on First Amendment issues as part of their jobs.

“The problem here is that neither students nor faculty nor administrators receive basic instruction in free speech and academic freedom principles,” Schweber said.

“The fact that state legislators sometimes seem to be equally unaware of these basic principles is a whole different topic of conversation.”

One key criticism of the university’s free speech policy is that it fails minority populations — especially students of color — who say they do not feel safe or listened to on campus.

“How can we start improving the campus if we are not listening to the campus?” Associated Students of Madison (ASM) Chair Kevin Jacobson said at a meeting with university leaders last fall.

The fight over racial equity and free speech on campuses has been brought to the forefront as Republicans nationwide work to limit or eradicate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices in public universities.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, negotiated a controversial deal with the UW Board of Regents in

December requiring the UW System to cap new DEI position hires for three years and restructure one-third of DEI positions in exchange for employee pay raises and building projects funding.

Additionally, an unprecedented nationwide rise in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents following the IsraelHamas war coupled with instances of discriminatory and hate speech in Madison has left many students wondering when — and how — the university can take action against harmful or violent speech on campus.

Conversation and debate over the issue intensified last May, when a video of a white UW-Madison student saying violent racial slurs drew widespread condemnation from campus and community leaders.

Thousands of students signed a petition and hundreds protested in Bascom Hall demanding the student’s expulsion, despite the fact that university leaders said they could not legally expel the student.

“Simply stated, the law does not allow the university to take punitive action for words like these spoken in private spaces, even when those words are racist and hateful,” UW-Madison Deputy Vice Chancellor of Diversity and Inclusion LaVar Charleston said at the time.

Students can file a bias incident report to a free speech committee run by the UW Board of Regents, according to UW System policy.

Determining whether conduct crosses a line to constituting threats or harassment is done on a case-by-case basis by university officials.

“Through civil dialogue initiatives our universities are undertaking, we believe we can foster engagement and inclusion while preserving free speech rights,” Pitsch said.

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Armed with valentines, TAA demands paid family leave in letter to Mnookin

By Annika Bereny & Amari Mbongwo SPECIAL PAGES EDITOR & STAFF WRITER

The Teaching Assistants’ Association on Wednesday delivered a letter with more than 700 signatures to University of WisconsinMadison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin demanding 12 weeks of paid family or medical leave for graduate student workers.

“People are choosing between continuing in their program and starting a family,” said Madeline Topf, TAA copresident. “It’s pretty common and acceptable advice to tell graduate workers to not have children during grad school.

It’s tough being a grad student and a parent, but it’s great that as a union and as a graduate student community that we can help each other out.”

As part of a Wednesday demonstration, the TAA also distributed valentines with personal stories about graduate student and faculty struggles to start a family while working for UW-Madison.

“I had a child while writing my dissertation at UW and received disparaging comments from a committee member, laughing,” one card read.

“He said I would never finish.”

Event attendee and doctoral student August Brereton held a sign that read, “Pregnant mama, Ph.D. student. Don’t make me choose.”

After beginning her doctoral program, Brereton said she looked for available support but found no available policies at the university level.

She worked with her department to create a flexible plan during her pregnancy.

“There is just sort of an impossibility about it if you get pregnant at the wrong time,” Brereton said. “I was sort of lucky in that it lines up with being done with coursework.”

The TAA first drafted the letter in May 2023 following Gov. Tony Evers’ plan to fight for 12 weeks of paid parental and medical leave for state employees.

“We’ve been working on both collecting signatures for a petition [and] collecting stories from folks at UW who have had to navigate the process of getting paid leave, either paid family leave or maternity leave,” said Nina La Vonne Denne, TAA co-president. “Those stories are really poignant.”

Democratic lawmakers held a press conference Wednesday morning to introduce paid family leave policy for the state. Denne also spoke at the event.

Valentine’s Day has historically been a day of protest for the TAA. In 2011, more than 1,000 UW-Madison students protested potential budget cuts from then-Gov. Scott Walker. This came during protests against Act 10, a controversial law that limited the ability of public unions to collectively bargain on any issue other than wages.

“What we’ve done is we’ve handwritten dozens of Valentines that tell the stories of UW graduate students, alumni and faculty. We wanted to give those stories

ALEXA COLEMAN/THE DAILY CARDINAL

to Chancellor Mnookin in the form of Valentine’s while calling back to the TA protests during Act 10,” Denne said.

Denne also said a police department horse at UW-Madison is afforded more parental leave than grad student and faculty workers, referencing a Tone Madison report from May. “Think about how we, as graduate students, don’t get that same policy,” Denne said. “Humans deserve the same rights that horses do at UW-Madison, and we think that policy should extend to everyone.”

Both Topf and Denne also men-

tioned a card presented to Mnookin Wednesday that detailed the story of a graduate student worker whose disability was seen as a direct threat to their education due to the lack of paid medical leave.

“I’m a disabled graduate student,” the card read. “When I reached out for help due to my chronic illness. I was essentially told my only option was to drop out and reapply.”

Following the event, TAA leaders said they hope to begin an ongoing conversation with UW-Madison administration about graduate student rights.

“One of the things that we’re pushing for in conjunc-

tion with this issue is for the union to be able to meet with a chancellor directly, which is something that she’s denied us,” Denne said. “We are interested in having these types of conversations with her directly so that we can share these stories.”

A UW-Madison spokesperson said Wednesday Mnookin is committed to offering paid parental leave and continues to work with UW System and state partners to advance the initiative.

Noe Goldhaber of The Daily Cardinal contributed to this report.

Dane County Sheriff ’s Department announces body-worn cameras pilot project

By Vanessa Gavilan STAFF WRITER

Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett announced a pilot project Feb. 2 that will require deputies to wear body cameras to record daily interactions with community members.

The program will start with the Dane County Sheriff ’s Office West Precinct, which spans most county townships west of Madison. The year-long program will be used as a measure of accountability as well as an opportunity to find areas for improvement within the department, according to Dane County Captain Kerry Porter.

“We’ll take a look at those [recordings] and [look at] what kinds of things we can do better,” Porter told The Daily Cardinal. “Are there training opportunities? Do we need to increase the communication skills of our deputies? Are things going really well?”

The pilot project will serve as a future guideline for how to implement the technology in a way that best serves the citizens of Dane County,

according to Barrett.

The project was first proposed in 2015 and was assigned a subcommittee of community members to research requirements and instances of bodycamera use. The project was originally rejected due to doubts about effectiveness and high costs.

Since the original proposal, a 2017 OIR report promoting the pilot project and the creation of a Police Body-Worn Camera Feasibility Review Committee in 2020 encouraged the Sheriff ’s Department to move forward with the project.

“Sometimes it’s better not to be the one paving the way…other agencies have gone through a lot,” Porter said. “We’ve done a lot of research with policies from other agencies around the country [looking at] best practices and those things [that] have been developed.”

The Sheriff ’s Department received approval for the project in November and budgeted $320,000 for the technology in the 2024 Dane County Budget.

The policy is currently in the

KATIE SCHEDIT/THE DAILY CARDINAL

process of being finalized, and several public information sessions will be held for questions and concerns, according to Porter.

The prospect of continuing the technology after the pilot project largely depends on its

success, Porter said.

“Measurements of success [include] accountability, transparency, training issues, those types of things,” Porter said. “We don’t have a definitive measurement of success, but we hope that’ll come with

time as we go through it.”

The public information sessions will be held on Feb. 15 and Feb. 29 at 6:00 p.m. at the Middleton Town Hall at 7555 Old Sauk Road for community members to learn more about the project.

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At Monona Terrace, fighters face off for a shot at the big stage

By Tomer Ronen

As even as it gets

STAFF WRITER

LIAM BERAN/THE DAILY CARDINAL

At Fabiola’s, community history is preserved through cuisine

By Sanjeev Anand STAFF WRITER

Even on a mild winter’s afternoon, the lively chatter of Madison students and residents cascaded within the homey walls of Fabiola’s Spaghetti House and Deli.

The restaurant was created as an ode to the history of Italian restaurants within the Greenbush neighborhood, according to Fabiola’s owner, Sam Brown.

Brown, who was born and raised in Madison, wants to continue that history, especially since the last red sauce pasta house on Regent Street, Josie’s, burned down in a 2004 fire.

He said Fabiola’s is his ode to bygone red sauce pasta houses and supper clubs that used to dot the neighborhood.

“I believe strongly in the importance of restoration and the importance of preservation,” Brown said, “We’re trying to preserve what this neighborhood used to mean to people and the food that you used to be able to eat here.”

Brown also said, as a resident of the Greenbush neighborhood and Neighborhood House Community Center board chair, he feels a “fiduciary responsibility” to continue some of these traditions.

Restaurant spaces have always been familiar to Brown, who said he started his journey in the industry washing dishes for Rocky Rococo, a pizza restaurant chain co-founded by his father in the same space where Fabiola’s opened in November.

“By utilizing a smaller space and packing people in just a little bit, you’re creating an atmosphere that’s a lot more like a party,” Brown said.

Brown’s inspiration for creat-

ing a sense of togetherness using tighter spaces drew from his visits to numerous red sauce restaurants in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and Milwaukee. La Scalora, a Chicago-based classic Italian eatery, stood out to him as a strong source of inspiration for what would manifest as Fabiola’s.

“You’re dining close to other patrons, and there’s just something about that I find tremendously life-affirming,” Brown said. “I wanted to see if I could create something that has that urban hustle.”

In addition to preserving a sense of invitation in Fabiola’s snug area, Brown said the spaghetti house’s design was embedded with elements of local history.

Upon the closing of Snick’s Sportsman Bar, a local Monona treasure that served the town since its inception in 1939, Brown and Snick’s owner John Quale salvaged the iconic spot’s bar along with all the other hardwood panels in the building.

Brown included the hardwood and bar from Snick’s in Fabiola’s, and the pasta house’s arbor structure was formed from beams originally set in Snick’s pool room.

“A bar is kind of a living thing, and you know, to imagine a bar ending up where people can’t gather around it is awfully sad,” Brown said.

As for the name? Brown said Fabiola was his late grandmother’s best friend, whom he shared lasting memories with.

“My father has very fond memories of going over to [Fabiola’s] home as a child and I named Leopold’s after my paternal great grandfather, and so this continues in that ode.” Brown said.

SANJEEV ANAND/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Joel Aguilar came out of his locker room to a gaggle of cheering teammates. Seconds later, his opponent – Jejuan Curry – silently and somberly approached his family.

Curry’s third straight loss as an amateur means a likely end to his mixed martial arts dreams.

While most of Madison’s sports fanatics had their eyes on a border battle clash at the Kohl Center, Chosen Few Fighting Championships (CFFC) brought over 1,000 fans to a sold-out Monona Terrace Convention Center bottom floor on Feb. 3.

The matchup between Aguilar and Curry was one of twelve fights that night.

Born from the ashes of Madtown Throwdown — a Madison MMA promotion that shut down in 2013 — CFFC held its first fight card, titled “Inception,” in February 2014 at Monona Terrace. Since CFFC’s founding, the event has become the top MMA show in Madison.

Madison native and fulltime firefighter Josh Sterry, the company’s CEO, president and matchmaker, teamed up with head of fighter relations and event operations Tony Rook to produce a plethora of successful athletes, reaching major promotions such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the Professional Fighters League and Bellator.

Saturday’s main event winner is the most successful of them all.

After an 11-1 start to his professional career, which included an 8-0 CFFC record and featherweight championship in the promotion, fighter Alex Gilpin got the call from the big leagues.

Gilpin debuted in the PFL in 2019 at age 27 and worked his way through the ranks. By the end of the year, he earned a title shot, an opportunity to achieve his dream and a chance to win $1 million on ESPN. He lost.

And with that loss, the dream ended. Gilpin parted ways with the promotion, and a nearly four-year hiatus began.

Gilpin didn’t fight again until “hopping on a flight with 36 hours notice,” he said in a June 4 Instagram post.

On Feb. 3, Gilpin did it the right way. Against Erik Vo, an overmatched opponent on an eightfight losing streak, Gilpin needed just 47 seconds to lock in a D’Arce choke and give the crowd exactly what they wanted — a win for the hometown fighter and the crescendo on a highly successful night for fighters hailing out of Madison.

“I think our matchmaking — creating really good fights for the fans — is one thing [that makes CFFC stand out],” Sterry told The Daily Cardinal. “Taking care of the fighters and treating them like they deserve to be treated.

Because without them, we don’t have a show.”

Sterry’s words were omnipresent from the jump.

The very first fight of the night saw two middleweights making their amateur debuts, with what was likely a 20-18 lead for Janesville’s Jake Blaser getting flipped on its head.

After six minutes of cruising, Blaser got TKO’d in the third round — a defining win for Milwaukee’s Lemar Brooks.

The second fight of the night once again saw a huge flip in momentum. In a fight between two Milwaukeeans, Curry’s guillotine attempt on Aguilar turned into his demise and a first-round loss by armbar.

After a no-contest in the next fight, Brice Prairie’s Nick Moe faced off against Milwaukee’s Mike Lock. The fight went the distance and ended in a split decision.

Madison’s Kolbe Ayikoue and Hazen Rice and Fond du Lac’s Mike Klapperich each followed with unanimous decision wins.

Moziah Clark and Maxine Knetter – both from Madison – rounded out the amateur portion of the card. The pair secured finishes on their way to the promotion’s flyweight and women’s featherweight titles, respectively.

There was a clear gap in competition at times. Rice, who entered the night as a 1-0 prospect, battered Arcadia’s Dago Sandoval on the feet and the ground for three rounds. Klapperich, who entered the night at 2-0, knocked 3-0 Ryan Stevens’ mouth guard out repeatedly on his way to a fight of the night bonus.

A step above As the UFC put on its 85th show at the sterile UFC Apex – one of the only things the MMA giant has kept from the COVID era – the atmosphere at Monona Terrace was electric.

“We’ve always tried to take each event and build off of that,” Sterry said. “Try to do something bigger and better each one.”

CFFC put an “extra effort” into bringing in overhead screens to display the fights live above the cage for those standing further away and focused heavily on video production and quality, Sterry said.

“It takes a small village to do this,” Rook said. “We have a fan-

tastic team that does this with us.”

With 19 of the 24 fighters hailing from Wisconsin, family, friends and teammates all made the trek to the state capital to cheer on their loved ones.

Never was it more clear than when those representing the Capital City/Chosen Few (CCCF) fight team stepped in the cage.

Following the disappointing nocontest for Kingsley, the Madisonarea fighting team went 7-0 to finish the night, with Ayikoue, Rice, Clark and Knetter rounding out the amateur fights before sweeping the main event.

In just 61 seconds each, JT Schulte and Garrett Carlson finished their opponents by rear naked choke and TKO. When Gilpin finished the show, the team had a total of 169 seconds of cage time.

For each win, the crowd in Monona Terrace’s Exhibition Hall A went into more and more of a frenzy. CCCF only became more dominant as the night progressed, as if they fed off the crowd.

What’s next For every dominating win like Gilpin’s — who called for a spot in the UFC following his victory — there is a loss like Curry’s.

Many of the fighters appearing in amateur fights may never fight again. A split round two may mean the end of Lock’s career, nine minutes of being a punching bag could nix a promising start to Stevens’ career and a ninth straight loss could be Vo’s sign to put the gloves down.

But for many fighters, the camaraderie built on the training mat is a bond they can’t walk away from. Fighting is life for them.

“No matter what you’re gonna get hit, you’re gonna get kicked and you might get taken down,” Carlson said.

“But you can’t be scared of that. I’m gonna beat this dude, and whatever I need to do, I’m gonna do it.”

For Carlson, the mentality worked. He fulfilled his prefight prediction of a first-round finish and took one step closer to the big leagues.

For Saturday’s eleven losers, it’s about how many times they get back up.

TOMER RONEN/THE DAILY CARDINAL

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A Badger shot putter aims for the Olympic trials

By Carson McGrath STAFF WRITER

For athletes of all levels, attending the Olympic Games is a dream. However, before athletes can compete at the Olympics, they must first qualify for and succeed at the Olympic Trials.

Athletes at universities across the country are working toward taking that first step to becoming Olympians by qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Trials.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is home to several athletes who are hoping to qualify for and compete at the event, and Jason Swarens is one Badger athlete who has his eye on the prize.

Swarens, a member of the UW-Madison Track and Field Team, comes from a family that has a great history with UW Athletics.

His grandfather played football for UW-Madison, his grandmother was a UW-Madison cheerleader and his aunt was a member of the UW-Madison Track and Field Team.

Following in his family’s footsteps, Swarens joined the track and field team at his middle school in sixth grade, where he was a thrower. He has been throwing ever since.

Swarens placed 13th in shot put at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in June 2023, and he placed seventh in the weight throw and ninth in the shot put at the 2023 Big Ten Championships in February.

To qualify for the Olympic Trials, Swarens must throw the qualifying mark at a meet before the trials begin in June 2024.

“I feel very confident about the trials. I don’t have to do anything new that I haven’t done, maybe a slight personal record,” Swarens said.

Trying to accomplish a large goal like qualifying for the Olympic Trials while also being a student can become overwhelming. In order to manage his mental health as an Olympic hopeful, Swarens

makes sure to not put too much pressure on himself.

“My freshman year, I felt like I needed to have the best throw every meet.

You have to realize that will not happen every time, so you just have to use those moments where you don’t have your best day as a learning experience,” Swarens said.

If he makes it to the trials this summer, Swarens will be competing against collegiate-level athletes as well as professionals.

“I know there’s a lot of older guys right now, professionals that are throwing. I know they’re going to be working hard to get to the Olympics, too,” Swarens said.

That being said, Swarens is mainly focusing on qualifying for and doing his best at this summer’s Olympic Trials.

“My goal is just to make finals,” Swarens said.

In order to work toward his goal of competing at the Olympics one day, Swarens is taking things step by step in order to make his dreams a reality.

When it comes to qualifying for the Olympic Games, Swarens said he feels that Los Angeles 2028 will be his year.

“My ultimate goal would be to compete at the 2028 Olympics. I think that competing in Los Angeles in front of your home crowd would be so cool,” Swarens said.

Reflecting upon past seasons as an athlete at UW-Madison, Swarens explains that the Wisconsin Track and Field Team receives support from a variety of Wisconsin fans when they travel for meets.

“Everywhere we go, there’s usually someone that’s a Badger fan,” Swarens said.

Hopefully, the Badger community will have the opportunity to rally together and cheer Swarens on at the Olympic Trials this summer at the University of Oregon.

COURTESY OF CAROL CHEN

COURTESY OF UW ATHLETICS

Phoebe Bacon focused on passion, not pressure, in bid for second Olympics

By Carson McGrath STAFF WRITER

While striving to make it back to the Olympics for a second time, University of Wisconsin-Madison swimmer Phoebe Bacon is making sure she prioritizes her love for swimming leading up to her return to the Olympic Trials stage.

“I just want to be able to go there and show everybody that you can still have so much fun at any level that you’re doing your sport at,” Bacon said.

Bacon’s collegiate career thus far is an accomplishment in itself. The star swimmer competed at both the 2021 Olympic Trials and the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, and she is a two-time Pan American Games gold medalist. Like many other UW-Madison athletes, Bacon hopes to make the Badgers proud at the 2024 Olympic Trials — and hopefully the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Bacon graduated in 2020 from Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, an all-girls school in Bethesda, Maryland. During her high school career, she broke records set by other swimmers before going on to break her own records.

Bacon has a lot in common with a well-known alumna from her high school, seven-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer, Katie Ledecky.

“I’ve grown up with her. We went to the same grade school, we went to the same high school and I’ve known her for years. I know her whole family,” Bacon said. “She’s always been a major role model to me.”

The two swam together for Team USA during the 2021 Olympic Games, a memory Bacon said she will always cherish.

“Getting to go to the Olympics and having Katie as my teammate, I was kind of in awe,” Bacon said.

Reflecting on the 2021 Olympic Trials and Olympic Games, Bacon said one of her biggest supporters was Yuri Suguiyama, head coach of both the men’s and women’s Swimming and Diving Teams at UW-Madison.

Suguiyama has coached Olympians in the past, including Ledecky.

Suguiyama used that experience to coach Bacon through her first Olympic Trials. Bacon said he helped her to control her nerves and channel those feelings into a stronger race performance.

“He had a major impact going into those trials,” Bacon said.

Bacon also reflected on her teammates, a group that played a crucial role in bringing her to UW-Madison in the first place.

“It felt like another home,” Bacon said about the team’s environment.

Bacon explained that when you have to jump into a cold pool in the early hours of the morning, it is important to enjoy the people you are surrounded by.

Bacon’s Badger teammates cheered her on through the 2021 Olympic Trials, where she received a silver medal in the 200-meter backstroke that sent her to the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Bacon knows that her teammates at UW-Madison will support her no matter the result this summer.

Bacon has already qualified for the 2024 Olympic Trials in June. With one Olympic Trials already under her belt, Bacon said she is focused on remembering her love for swimming during the high-pressure event.

“I want to go back to that nine, tenyear-old that would stand behind the blocks, wave over at my mom on the side of the pool deck and then dive in and just swim for fun,” Bacon said.

Bacon urged any other UW-Madison athletes who might be competing at the 2024 Olympic Trials to have confidence in themselves and the tools that UW Athletics equips them with.

“Keep working hard and trust your coaches. Trust your training because the hours and the time commitment that we do put into our sports will pay off if you really want it,” Bacon said.

While competing at the Olympic level can become intense at times, Bacon said she was unable to envision a life where she does not have some sort of love for swimming.

Bacon plans to take that passion and use it as fuel for success in the pool this summer.

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Bringing the diamond back: The case for bringing baseball back to UW-Madison The time is now for Wisconsin to reinstate their baseball team.

By Andrew Habas STAFF WRITER

As Big Ten baseball gears up to start the season this month, anticipation builds among teams and players, all eyeing the ultimate prize: a berth to Omaha for the College World Series, the zenith of college baseball.

However, out of the 14 schools in the Big Ten, there has been one program missing from the action year after year.

The Badgers will now enter their 33rd year without a baseball team despite other strong Big Ten programs.

Also, the addition of four schools from the PAC-12 will expand the Big Ten to include 17 schools with active baseball programs.

A compelling illustration of this issue is the story of Tristan Ellis, a freshman middle infielder for the University of Minnesota.

Hailing from Greendale, Wisconsin, Ellis was one of the top infielders of his class in the state, dreaming of donning the cardinal and white of the Badgers.

Yet, the lack of a baseball program at UW-Madison compelled him to cross state lines and join a Big Ten rival, highlighting a missed opportunity for the university to harness local talent and bolster its athletic legacy.

“Being from Wisconsin, I would have loved to go play baseball there,” Ellis said. “I feel a lot of guys from Wisconsin would have gone there.”

Ellis said having a comprehensive athletics program that includes baseball can enhance the university’s rep-

utation nationally. Success in athletics can increase the university’s visibility, attract potential students and foster pride among alumni and supporters.

“I was a huge fan. I was raised in a Badger household. I still root for the Badgers,” Ellis said.

UW-Madison had to cut the program in 1991 for financial reasons.

In order to bring the program back, UW-Madison would need to add a women’s sport in addition to baseball to keep in compliance with Title IX. Title IX exists to keep opportunities fair for both genders.

This makes the situation require careful financial planning and a commitment to equal sports access, showing the complexity of reintroducing baseball within the constraints of law and budget.

Although the university does not have a Division One program, it does field two club teams with very strong talent on both teams.

“Our club has always been successful, so that winning aspect helps a lot and makes playing for the program really fun,” said junior catcher Michael Savarin.

Despite the success of the team, they receive very minimal funding and all equipment is self-owned, a very similar environment to a high school team.

“It is definitely mainly a playerfunded program. Most of the players bring their own gear, and we share bats a lot,” said freshman outfielder Nick Scott.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JEFF BLOCK/DAILY CARDINAL

Adding a baseball team could increase student and community engagement on campus. Baseball games provide a communal space for students, faculty, alumni and local residents to gather, support their team and strengthen their connection to the university.

“I would love to attend baseball games if we had a program,” said Nathan Kim, a UW-Madison freshman. “Back home, that is something my friends and I would love to do in the spring.”

The University of Michigan has one of the richest college baseball backgrounds in the country according to mgoblue.com, and consistently holds a spot in the top 25 nationally.

Despite having such a strong program, freshman Jack Counsell, an infielder for Michigan, said Wisconsin

having a baseball team could have changed things.

“It definitely would have made the decision [on committing] much more difficult,” Counsell said.

Bringing back baseball isn’t just about reviving a sport; it’s about rekindling a sense of pride and belonging within the UW-Madison community.

By restoring the baseball program, the university can capture lost opportunities and ignite a renewed sense of community and pride.

It’s time to join the rest of the Big Ten and reinstate baseball at UW-Madison.

Andrew Habas is a staff writer and a freshman studying business. Do you agree UW-Madison should bring back Division One baseball? Send all comments to opinion@dailycardinal.com

Early application cycles: a detriment to college admissions?

By Caitlynn Hastings STAFF WRITER

“The best years of your life” — that’s what college is supposed to be, right?

Almost every adult I’ve spoken to about the start of college has the same thing to say. After a brutal year of applications and decisions, I was ready for those years to begin.

Gen Z is quickly breaking records for college attendance. In a country that houses 4,313 degree-granting colleges and universities, students have many options.

Despite these options, the process of applying and attending university has become a daunting machine.

Depending on where or how you grow up, attending a four-year college or university is more of an expectation than an option. If you’re applying to several schools, like many of my high school classmates and I did, there is pressure — pressure to get results and pressure to get in. With price tags on a post-secondary education reaching $75,000 per academic year at some schools, students considering a large or private university may have to confront loans or debt.

At the same time, college acceptance rates are dropping as more students are being encouraged to apply early. Many schools have developed up to three or four rounds of admissions decisions, including early decision, early action and regular decision.

With each of these choices, there are some important things for students and parents to understand. For instance, if you apply in the early decision cycle and receive an acceptance, it is binding. In this process, a student and their parent or guardian must sign an agreement prior to

ALICIA SHOBERG/DAILY CARDINAL

submitting their application consenting to this policy. This cycle is distinct from early action, in which your admissions decision comes early, but is not binding.

There are some appealing factors to the early decision option. As the name implies, early decisions come early relative to regular decisions with timelines ranging from October to December or early January. The beauty of this is that it relieves stress, given accepted students know the school they are attending as early as they can.

This is great for students with a “dream school.” If they know their top choice school ranks far above others, getting that decision early can be a massive relief. But in other hidden ways, early decision may not be so ideal.

The biggest downfall of early decision for many students is financial. Depending on the school, tuition can add up to painful numbers, and an unwritten rule is that early decision often means less financial aid because colleges have less incentive

to award merit scholarships. At the very least, students are unable to compare aid packages when bound by an acceptance.

This is important when applying early decision as tuition can be a factor that students don’t know to consider.

About 450 schools under the Common Application offer an early decision cycle, a little less than half of the more than 1,000 total schools available on the service. A common statement regarding early decision is that it will give you higher odds of being admitted to a college or university.

Unfortunately, this can come at a cost for low-income students. Because there is an argument to be made for less financial aid being provided to Early Decision admits, some students may not choose this cycle in fear of inadequate support.

This leads to the benefits of early application cycles being reaped primarily by higher-income students and families. With the privilege of higher education already being a difficult divide between socioeconomic classes and

areas of the country, these admissions cycles further disadvantage students with such a background.

In a world in which obtaining a college degree in the United States can burden students with monstrous loans or debt post-grad, why do we support a system that may further the problem? Although there is appeal in making a choice on a college a few months earlier, the cost is not worth it in the years following.

It is also infinitely important to consider the age of most college applicants.

Seniors in high school are often 17 or 18 years old when choosing where they want to continue their education. Studies show that the human brain is not fully developed until age 25. In supporting a system where students feel pressured to apply and make their choice as quickly as possible, the financial repercussions may not be felt until it is too late to turn back time.

It is our responsibility to develop a system that allows the generations that follow us to make the best choices for their long-term financial and academic success. We need to reevaluate the issues within our system and create one that will minimize fallout and assist future generations in their advancements. As colleges become more obsessed with putting financial gain over the benefit of their students, we must decide whether or not to support that system.

Caitlynn Hastings is a staff writer and a freshman studying journalism and political science. Do you agree colleges need to reevaluate offering early application cycles? Send all comments to opinion@dailycardinal.com.

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Thursday, February 15, 2024

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Midwest Gypsy Swing Fest blends local, international talent

By Paige Stevenson GRAPHICS EDITOR

SREEJITA PATRA/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Second annual Arthurfest draws large crowd of music lovers

By Annika Bereny SPECIAL PAGES EDITOR

Cymbal clashes, heavy bass lines and fast fingers on the guitar cut through the room as the band Mio Min Mio, headed by University of Wisconsin-Madison senior Arthur Machado, faces off against Madison-based band SuperCritical. It’s an amp vs. amp battle set-style show, where 10 bands face off in five hour-long sets. Each duo alternates songs until a winner is crowned.

Mio Min Mio’s first song starts off hot. The music is loud, people are dancing — and then they pause. Machado breathes deep for a moment, and it’s all you hear in the mic. Another pause. Then the drums, guitar and bass come back in full force as a mosh pit filled with stray elbows and pent-up energy opens in the center of the room.

It’s sweaty, it’s loud, it’s high energy and there’s a mural of a giraffe on the wall next to a basketball hoop. It’s Arthurfest, Machado’s second annual charity concert and second annual birthday show.

Last year’s show, the inaugural Arthurfest, was held at the Nottingham Co-op, a venue in which Machado regularly books shows. That, too, was a charity show, and all the proceeds went toward Nottingham.

“We ended up raising a little under $1,400, which they used to spend to buy a mixing board and speakers,” Machado said.

“That’s the equipment that they’ve been using to this day.”

This year, Arthurfest migrated to Neighborhood House, a 106-year-old community center that began as a spot for Italian and Jewish immigrant women to learn spoken and written English. Today, it hosts programs for local children and has a food pantry for the community.

Arthurfest more than tripled their profits this year to raise

just under $5,000 for the center.

By the time the fourth set began, there was a palpable temperature change when you entered the performance area.

Sweaty Arthurfest-goers lingered in the stairwell and hallways, desperate for a breath of fresh air. If you dragged a finger across the wall, it would come away wet with condensation and sweat.

The DIY devotees, however, stayed in their mosh pits, where bursts of fresh energy punctuated the stale air.

“It’s so hot and humid because a bunch of people are jumping around and having a good time,” said Elias Dorsi, a member of local band Bug Moment. Dorsi’s band played the second set against its rival for the night, another band named Kule. “That’s really all you can ask for.”

He’s telling the truth. Some attendees were first-timers who likely saw the posters plastered around campus and social media, but many were veterans of Madison’s DIY music scene. Earplugs stuffed ears all around the hall, vibrant foamy accents that foretold the volume Arthurfest bands would aim for.

“It’s going to be loud,” UW-Madison senior Camila Trimberger-Ruiz said before the show. “I hope you brought

ear protection, they’re trying for the loudest show ever.”

Many of the aforementioned veterans were there just for Arthur, a renowned show booker beloved by many members of the Wisconsin DIY scene.

“People throw around the term microcelebrity a lot, but I think he genuinely is one,” Trimberger-Ruiz said. “I’ve traveled across the country and met people from other states that know who he is.”

Dorsi agreed.

“Arthur’s one of the most well-respected people in Madison’s music scene, and as far as I’m concerned, if he asked us to do something, we’re almost always going to do it,” Dorsi said. “He believes in us, so obviously we believe in anything that he does.”

As the final set of the night began — a faceoff between Madison-based Excuse Me, Who Are You? and crosstown rival for the night, Endswell — Kyle Kinney, who is part of both bands, grabbed the mic. They led the room in singing “Happy Birthday” to Machado and then recalled a time when a band member of theirs was electrocuted by their equipment.

“I don’t think I want to play anymore,” they joked.

“But I’d rather die here than anywhere else.”

SREEJITA PATRA/THE DAILY CARDINAL

The energetic rhythms and peppy vocals that characterize gypsy swing jazz filled the vaulted ceilings of Garver Feed Mill on Jan. 27, showcasing the variety of talent available in Madison and internationally.

The performance was one of many as the Midwest Gypsy Swing Fest makes its way through the United States, providing audiences with an intimate and lively chance to connect with gypsy jazz. The music genre blends local American music forms with international twists, altogether creating an atmosphere of community.

The exhibition at Garver Feed Mill, located on Madison’s east side, featured three gypsy swing jazz groups, each with a distinct sound that fit neatly in the pocket of gypsy swing jazz’s guitarbased, folksy rhythms. Of the three groups, only Harmonious Wail, made up of vocalist Maggie Delaney-Potthoff, mandolin player Sims Delaney-Potthoff and bassist Pete Olig, were local. The other artists, Leïla Duclos and Robin Nolan, hail from France and the Netherlands, respectively.

The unique combination of international and local takes on gypsy swing jazz illustrated the beauty of the music style. It also exhibited the emphasis gypsy swing jazz places on improvisation or different styles to create refreshing takes on classic hits.

Harmonious Wail kicked off the evening with their plucky, upbeat sound, reminiscent of Tom Sawyer strolling through sun-kissed fields of wheat, barefoot near a lively creek, filled with the clear, crisp vocals of Maggie Delaney-Potthoff.

Their performance stood out for its syncopation and movement stemming from a grounding bass line and bright mandolin melodies. Their rendition of gypsy swing dance fed off the crowd’s energy, growing in intensity and excitement.

While Delaney-Potthoff ’s vocals made audience members lean into every word, the next performer, Robin Nolan, was more subdued and demanded their deep focus.

His guitar’s melodies still con-

tained the youthful, classic sound of gypsy swing jazz but felt more seductive. He didn’t sing, instead letting his guitar speak for itself.

During his set, Nolan said the Beatles were a big influence on his career, which was felt in his jazz-injected interpretations of Beatles classics and through his other stylistic choices.

Nolan’s syncopation was not as intense as other jazz artists and was more like classic rock. Still, he took a specific theme on the guitar and carried it through to the end.

Even though he was playing with a new house band, his versatility made the overall performance feel like these musicians had been playing together since the start of their careers. They were able to feed off each other’s musical energy and change the pace or vibe of a song with a single head nod or chord progression.

Later in the night, Garver Feed Mill’s incandescent lighting transitioned into the streetlights of Paris as Leïla Duclos charmed the audience with her youthful voice. A Paris native, her musicality was energetic and bubbly, a reflection of her personality. With original songs inspired by art and her family, she provided a good contrast to Nolan’s contemplative interpretation of gypsy swing jazz.

Her scatting — a common vocal improvisation in all forms of jazz — grabbed the audience’s attention and held it. Her songs flowed into one another while still offering something unique.

To close out the night, the Midwest Gypsy Swing Fest combined all three artists and illustrated the value of cooperation within music. While all three performers had different styles, they came together to create a cohesive ending with the same rhythms, patterns and iconic sounds of gypsy swing jazz.

Such a feat proved music’s community-building possibilities, as all three styles simply co-existed to create something special.

The Midwest Gypsy Swing Fest may be leaving Madison, but its artists’ positive energy and inspiring performance will continue to echo throughout the city as it patiently anticipates their return.

PHOTO COURTESY OF GIAN COMPUESTO

science UW-Madison commits to 100% renewable electricity by 2030 8

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By Mary Bosch & Britta Wellenstein PHOTO EDITOR & STAFF WRITER

Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin announced updated University of Wisconsin-Madison sustainability goals Friday, including a commitment to 100% renewable electricity on campus by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2048.

The updated framework, unveiled at a UW Board of Regents meeting in Madison, features five main goals to guide the university’s sustainability initiatives.

Alongside the renewable energy commitment, the university aims to be a zero-waste campus by 2040, ensure access to sustainable education for all students by 2030 and provide resources for sustainability research through the Sustainability Research Hub. The university also strives to achieve STARS Gold by 2025. STARS is an assessment tool used by colleges and universities to measure sustainability performance.

“This is what we owe to our neighbors, as settlers of native land as beneficiaries of public funds and as educators preparing our students to make a real difference in the world,” Mnookin said.

The plan comes after months of deliberations involving the Office of Sustainability, The Nelson Institute, the Chancellor’s Office, Associated Students of Madison (ASM) Sustainability and the Student Subcommittee of the Sustainability Advisory Council (SSSAC).

Christina Treacy, ASM Sustainability chair and SSSAC member, said the announcement is a “big step” for the university, especially in Wisconsin’s fraught political climate.

“We’re excited that the university is actually taking institutional action on sustainability,” Treacy said. “The fact that we have goals in the first place is progress.”

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How does UW-Madison’s green footprint compare to other universities?

UW-Madison falls behind many of its peers in sustainability and renewable energy measures.

The university currently has a silver rating for STARS. Other Big Ten schools, like the University of Minnesota, the University of Michigan and The Ohio State, are gold rated.

UW-Madison’s updated goals strive to achieve a gold rating by 2025, despite setting a goal to achieve this by 2024 in a 2021 presentation.

UW-Madison has lagged behind other colleges in renewable energy usage. The EPA ranks their top 30 college and university partners’s annual green power usage, and UW-Madison ranks 25th in the list. It falls behind the University of Michigan, the University of Iowa and the University of California, among others. According to UW-Madison, only 16% of campus’ electricity use was generated from renewable sources.

Becoming a net-zero emissions campus requires tackling scope two emissions, which are indirect carbon emissions from electricity purchase. UW-Madison does not produce all of its own electricity and purchases a portion from Madison Gas and Electric (MGE). MGE aims to have net-zero carbon electricity by 2050 and reduce emissions by 80% in 2030.

“One of the big concerns was about what accountability MGE has to the university, because a lot hinges on that,” said Winston Thompson, ASM Sustainability logistics coordinator and SSSAC member.

SSSAC and ASM Sustainability are pushing for student involvement in plan implementation and hope to expand on concerns raised in previous meetings.

“There were things that we brought up, including a more specific description of waste streams and also making sustainability and academics a requirement.

Those were not addressed as much as we would have liked them to be,” Treacy said.

The university’s goals remain unchanged from a draft presentation in November despite student feedback,

according to Treacy.

“It’s a little bit discouraging to see that our further feedback was not necessarily implemented,” Treacy said.

For now, Treacy said SSSAC and ASM Sustainability Committee are looking forward to more conversations with the administration to progress the plan.

“What is next?” Treacy said. “We need to figure out the specifics and move it along.”

LIAM BERAN/THE DAILY CARDINAL

WiscWind breezes through first stage of national competition

By Lauren Fieweger STAFF WRITER

A team of University of WisconsinMadison students, WiscWind, will travel to Minneapolis during the CLEANPOWER conference in early May to defend their wind turbine design project against 12 other universities from across the country.

WiscWind was originally one of 32 teams selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to represent its respective university in the first phase of the

2024 Collegiate Wind Competition, which they breezed through with ease.

Renewable energy comes in many innovative forms, but wind takes center stage at the annual competition.

Each student team is tasked with designing, building and testing a small-scale prototype wind turbine.

They must also develop a detailed plan for a hypothetical large-scale wind farm while conducting outreach to the surrounding Madison community and wind industry.

COURTESY OF CLAIRE LESNJAK/WISCWIND

According to members, tensions run high as competitors face constraints to the mechanical aspects of the turbine and the location of the hypothetical wind farm.

“It’s kind of surreal,” WiscWind Project Development Lead Claire Lesnjak said.

“Representing UW-Madison is exciting. I love this school, so I want us to do the best that we can.”

However, WiscWind’s success so far this year hasn’t come without challenges. With so many pieces being worked on simultaneously, WiscWind divides itself into several sub-teams: electrical, mechanical, project development and outreach.

The electrical and mechanical subteams focus on creating and testing the wind turbine prototype, while the project development sub-team researches and creates the plan for the large-scale offshore wind farm.

Lesnjak notes this helps WiscWind efficiently conquer the required tasks and allows a diverse array of students to participate.

“There can be a lot of people from a lot of different backgrounds and majors all part of this big team,” Lesnjak said.

The outreach team meets with local industry professionals and promotes the use of wind energy in the community.

“Increasing education and excitement around wind and sustainable energy is one of the main goals of

WiscWind,” said Maggie Kraft, WiscWind co-connection creation lead. “I’m looking forward to the community outreach opportunities we have planned for this semester, including KidWind where we work with youth to design turbines.”

Last year’s WiscWind cohort also advanced to the second phase of the competition but fell just short of placing within the top three, with their project development sub-team placing fourth overall.

This year, they have their sights on winning the competition.

“As a team lead, I want my team to do as well as we can and learn from last year’s mistakes,” Lesnjak said. “I truly think we can [win]. We have some really good designs with our turbine.”

Wind energy is already the largest source of renewable energy in the United States and is only expected to grow in the coming years.

According to federal data, the U.S. sourced 6 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity from wind in 2000. By 2021, that number jumped to 380 billion kWh, nearly 64 times the 2000 source levels.

WiscWind encourages students to get involved in the energy field, whether it’s via wind or another renewable energy source.

“I think it’s really important to get involved because it’s the future of our energy,” Lesnjak said. “We can’t keep using fossil fuels forever.”