Thursday, November 19, 2020 - The Daily Cardinal

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University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Thursday, November 19, 2020

+ARTS, page 5

Studying the game tape

Nicole Kidman undone

+ALMANAC, page 6

City decriminalizes cannabis in Madison By Kate Van Dyke SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The Madison City Council unanimously passed ordinances to decriminalize the public use of cannabis under 28 grams at its Tuesday meeting. The ordinance permits individuals 18 years or older to consume and possess up to 28 grams of cannabis or cannabis derivatives on private or public property with consent from the landlord or owner. The mandate also prohibits consumption of cannabis by individuals under 18 and when operating a vehicle. Another ordinance proposal passed at Tuesday’s meeting created an exception for the crime of possession of drug paraphernalia for cannabis and cannabis derivatives use. Before the ordinances passed, first-time offenders for possession of marijuana faced a misdemeanor violation punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and potential imprisonment up to 6 months. A second offense, categorized as a Class I felony in compliance with Wisconsin’s state marijuana laws, resulted in a punishment by a fine of up to $10,000 and/or imprisonment for up to 3.5 years. Now, these convictions no longer exist in Madison. People found to violate the marijuana

possession laws will face a bail deposit amounting to $1. In Tuesday’s meeting, Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, spoke about the data he retrieved from the Madison Police department, citing the racial background of marijuana possession related offenses on the overall community. “The reality based on a 20 year study on a casual possession of marijuana ordinance citations issued by the Madison Police Department, approximately 51% of those citations were issued to whites and over 43% were issued to Blacks,” Verveer said. “There are undeniable racial disparities here.” While more white-identifying residents committed more marijuana possession related offenses, the overall demographic makeup of Madison ultimately resulted in a disproportionate number of Black community members receiving violations. As the city council achieved consensus on the issue, other public figures disapproved of the new measures. Acting Police Chief Vic Wahl offered his own trepidations toward the proposed ordinances in a prior interview with the Cap Times. Wahl would prefer if city ordinances remained consistent with the state law in regards to marijuana.

“I’m concerned that the city is putting forth a policy allowing 18-year-olds to smoke marijuana, but not drink alcohol,” Wahl said in an email. “I also am concerned that these ordinances don’t do enough to keep marijuana out of the school environment.” Wahl hoped the council would raise the bail deposit for possession on school property and buses, prohibit consumption on park property, raise the permitted age to 21 and prohibit any consumption in a motor vehicle. Ald. Max Prestigiacomo of District 8, a co-sponsor of the legislation, said prior ordinances related to marijuana criminalized poverty and homelessness and that previous laws epitomized “‘upper class progressivism, leaving our most marginalized communities behind.” “The necessity of this ordinance amendment surpasses the reasoning that marijuana just ‘isn’t a dangerous substance’,” Prestigiacomo said. “Compounding and successive fees coupled with restricting where

consumption is allowed are direct causes of this injustice.” Prestigacomo said the order’s

would go into effect as early as Friday, when Madison Mayor Satya RhodesConway usually signs legislation. GRAPHIC BY ZOE BENDOFF

ASM proposes renewable energy, telecommuting reciprocation By Gina Musso COLLEGE NEWS EDITOR

The Associated Students of Madison (ASM) met Tuesday to propose new legislation calling for renewable energy at UW-Madison, continue payment for employees telecommuting during the pandemic and recap a Big-Ten-Wide push towards a pass/fail option for the Fall 2020 semester. The first Special Order discussed in the meeting was the UW Divestment Coalition, which is a united effort of 10 student groups from different UW-System campuses who demand that the UW System campuses withdraw funds from unethical sources. They focused on the divestment of fossil fuel stocks and bonds and the detriments that the UW System faces by investing in fossil fuels. “Last March and over the summer we did a lot of research and something that keeps coming up is that renewable energy

has shown better returns in the past six years,” UW Lacrosse student and member of the UW Divestment Coalition Andrew Ericson said. “Oil and gas companies are not performing well, so even from a financial standpoint it makes sense to divest.” The goals of the UW Divestment Coalition include urging the UW-Board of Regents to vote to gain transparency within the UW System about all endowment investments, divest from all fossil fuel companies within three to five years and reinvest in companies who promote the idea of a sustainable and equitable future. Another student group committed to fighting climate change, the Campus Leaders for Energy Action Now (CLEAN), presented the second Special Order at the meeting. CLEAN is a UW-Madison student coalition with the goal of gaining Chancellor Rebecca Blank’s

signature on an agreement guaranteeing 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030 and 100 percent total renewable energy by 2035 at UW-Madison. “When it comes to climate change a lot of people talk about adaptation and resilience as a solution to the threats of climate change, but in the long run it’s not a satisfactory solution,” CLEAN representative Maya Barwick said. “The only genuine solution in the long run is to reverse the accumulation of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere and that is through the prevention of emissions of fossil fuels such as coal.” Barwick and fellow members referenced UW-Madison’s Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating Systems 2019 report where the University earned a score of 0.06/4.00 for Clean and Renewable Energy, with 1.61 percent of total energy consumption sourced from

clean and renewable energy sources on campus. CLEAN teamed up with the ASM Sustainability Committee to sponsor the “Resolution Calling for a Renewable Energy Commitment,” which asks UW-Madison for its commitment to CLEAN’s goals for 100 percent renewable electricity and energy by 2030 and 2035, respectively. This resolution passed unanimously, signifying more pressure on the University to take action. Another resolution was proposed, calling for UW-Madison to continuously pay faculty, staff, postdocs and graduate students who are telecommuting undiscriminate of where they reside. This report will be discussed and voted on during future student council meetings, with the next meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 1. After the Special Reports and resolutions, Chair Matthew

Mitnick recapped the letter he, along with the Student body presidents of the 13 other Big Ten schools, signed calling for their respective universities to implement leniency in terms of grading with a system similar to pass/fail for the Fall 2020 semester. “In this letter we are asking for a comprehensive policy that is essentially doing what happened last semester,” Mitnick said. “The issues this semester are not mitigated from what we saw last semester and in many of my classes there have been students who have got COVID-19 due to potentially attending the in-person class and then they can’t attend class which creates even more barriers to even getting the instruction.” Mitnick passed the letter onto members of the UW-Madison administration. ASM leaders made no motion against the proposition, further endorsing the letter.

“…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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