University University of of Wisconsin-Madison Wisconsin-Madison
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Why is crunchy food so addictive? +SCIENCE, page 4
Weekend, Monday,January September 26-29, 11, 2017 2017
PUMPED UP CAMPUS +ARTS, page 5
UW business, engineering anticipate Foxconn needs
+SPORTS, page 8
By Maggie Chandler COLLEGE NEWS EDITOR
It’s no secret that engineering has been touted as one of the most in-demand fields. Now, engineering schools throughout the UW System have another reason to expand their programs—Foxconn. In July, it was announced that Foxconn, a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer, would invest $10 billion into Wisconsin’s economy to build a new plant in the southeastern part of the state. Company officials said it could create up to 13,000 jobs. After the announcement, several institutions began making pitches to Foxconn for funding in exchange for curriculum designed to produce engineers for the company. One of them was UW-Madison. Dean Ian Robertson of the College of Engineering said industry partners and recruiters want engineers with business
skills. At other university programs, business and engineering students take a set of common courses together, he said. As part of the program, students usually participate in a full-year senior design project, allowing for better communication skills. “The results from programs at other institutions [are] very positive, more job offers for both groups of students, higher starting salaries, and faster promotion,” Robertson said in an email. “This is the type of course I would like to see us develop at UW-Madison.” Currently, the UW-Madison School of Business offers programs for non-business majors, but Robertson said he thinks there could be more offered for engineering students. While he said business school Dean Anne Massey is also interested in forging stronger ties with engineering, the
two still have to meet. But for Paul Jadin, president of the Madison Regional Economic Development, an economic development agency for the Madison area, educators should also take other companies’ needs into account outside of just Foxconn. “I would not suggest that UW-Madison needs to retool its engineering program just to be more competitive for projects like Foxconn,” Jadin said. “My point is, don’t just assume Foxconn is the only attraction effort the state’s had and everything else has to be driven based on the reasons that they came here because everyone is very, very different.” Still, with the extra funding universities could receive from Foxconn, UW System schools are looking to make some changes; UW-Platteville, known for its engineering program,
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Trice and Ford: Bradenton Brothers
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Senior Selina Armenta co-founded Dreamers of UW-Madison to provide support to undocumented students.
Wisconsin Dreamer calls for advocacy, education following DACA announcement By Lawrence Andrea CAMPUS NEWS EDITOR
ILLUSTRATION BY LAURA MAHONEY/THE DAILY CARDINAL
The School of Engineering and the Wisconsin School of Business are looking to collaborate after the announcement Foxconn, a Taiwanesse electronics manufacturer, will open factwories in Wisconsin.
Trump’s education secretary vows to ax Obama-era campus sexual assault rules By Lilly Price STATE NEWS EDITOR
Universities across the country may have to rewrite their policies on how to handle investigations of sexual assault on campus, U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced Thursday, although it does not appear UW-Madison will be affected. In a speech at George Mason University, DeVos said guidelines added by the Obama administration to the nation’s current sex discrimina-
tion laws ignore due process and have failed students. Obama-era guidelines on Title IX enforcement will be replaced with a new policy that ensures those students accused of sexual assault have the same rights as victims, Devos said. Although federal guidelines may change, universities would not necessarily be compelled to alter existing rules. The way sexual assault cases are handled at UW-Madison is not expected to change, according to Chancellor
Rebecca Blank. “We have worked hard to develop a set of policies and practices that serve our students well and we do not plan to change them,” Blank said in a statement. Blank went on to say she believes UW-Madison is fair, impartial and ensures victims and the accused have a fair process. DeVos, however, disagreed that the guidelines nationwide were fair.
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Selina Armenta was just three years old when she traveled from Mexico to the U.S. with family friends over 18 years ago. After President Donald Trump’s announcement last week to repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, enacted under the Obama Administration to block the deportation of young people who immigrated to the United States without proper documentation as children, Armenta is worried not only for her future, but also for her family. Given the political climate of the past year, as well as what Armenta called UW-Madison’s “lack of action” in helping Madison’s undocumented population, Armenta co-founded a student organization, Dreamers of UW-Madison, last year. The organization aims to provide support for the self-described dreamers who “are dreaming for a better future and for better opportunities here in the U.S..” “We thought there was a need for some sort of support group or
some place to go for resources on our campus and in Madison, and there wasn’t a whole lot being done by the university itself,” Armenta said. “[UW-Madison was] very careful about what they said and could and couldn’t do. We decided to take the initiative and bring the organization to campus.” Aside from providing emotional support and guidance to undocumented immigrants, Armenta’s organization, which was founded last year, also encourages people to talk to their congressmen and legislators to pass the DREAM Act, which has already received support from representatives such as U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis.. Armenta—who has lived in Madison ever since traveling to the U.S. to meet her still-undocumented parents who arrived here a year before her— was not surprised when she heard the president’s decision to repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. But she says the lack of clarity about the program’s fate has
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“…the “…the great great state state University University of of Wisconsin Wisconsin should should ever ever encourage encourage that that continual continual and and fearless fearless sifting sifting and and winnowing winnowing by by which which alone alone the the truth truth can can be be found.” found.”