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dailycardinal.com
Weekend, March 6-8, 2009
UW SYSTEM NEWS
Regents discuss budget impacts By Erin Banco and Kelsey Gunderson THE DAILY CARDINAL
LORENZO ZEMELLA/THE DAILY CARDINAL
Author, columnist and founder of the Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education Star Parker spoke at Grainger Hall Thursday night. The UW-Madison College Republicans hosted the event.
Author advocates education, not welfare, in fighting U.S. poverty By Beth Pickhard THE DAILY CARDINAL
The UW-Madison College Republicans hosted author and columnist Star Parker Thursday to speak to students about the ethics of welfare in the United States. Parker, the founder of a nonprofit organization titled the Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education, said poverty in the United States should not be combated through welfare. Parker, who has personally endured poverty, said she should not have “cheated the system.” “Living off the heavy hand of the government doesn’t work ... The first step out of poverty is to self-govern,” she said. Parker stressed the importance of education as a tool to combat poverty. She said children who grow up in poor communities do not see commitment around them and do not commit to their studies. “People don’t just step out of poverty. First you get it together and get yourself together and then
you start to work and you need to get a little more education,” Parker said. “Their children need more framework built within them.” According to Star, women are handed resources instead of consequences. She said she saw women in her community waiting as long as possible before aborting so they could receive a welfare check. “Living off the heavy hand of the government doesn’t work ... The first step out of poverty is to self-govern.” Star Parker founder Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education
“We are convinced as a society that there are no implications to abortion,” Star said. “There’s no medical challenge, there’s no moral challenge, there’s no mental challenge, so why wouldn’t everybody use abortion rather than birth control?”
Star said in society, welfare recipients are viewed as people who do not have the knowledge to invest. She said investments can give people liberation from the welfare system. “When we think about freedom and we think of the opportunities in our society to break free, [investing] is an area that we see a social adjustment,” she said. Sara Mikolajczak, president of the College Republicans, said she wants people to work their way out of poverty and live the American dream. “[Star’s] message is a great story and it really shows no matter what your circumstances are, you can always pull out of it and do better,” she said. Kristen Wall, vice chair of the College Republicans, said she was pleased with student turnout. “We had a lot of different [people], not just members of the College Republicans,” Wall said. “There were some members of the College Democrats and members of the university community.”
Board of Regents members discussed distribution plans for UW System funds as well as a strategy for a more inclusive approach to increasing campus diversity at their meeting Thursday. The UW System Board of Regents met Thursday to approve the 2009-’10 distribution of general-purpose revenue funds among campuses. The allocation of funds comes after Governor Doyle’s 2009-’11 budget proposal for Wisconsin. The budget requires a $174 million cut for the system, a 1-percent decrease across the board. From the 1-percent cut, UW-Madison would see a $3,311,763 reduction. Chancellor Biddy Martin commented on the impact of Doyle’s budget proposal, citing a possible decrease in degrees offered in the College of Letters and Science.
Martin said departments that could restrict the number of students who major include economics, biology, chemistry and spanish. She said there could also be a reduction in undergraduate admissions in certain schools like nursing, where there would need to be an immediate 15student reduction. “I think the value of a Madison degree over a lifetime is much too important to have significant damage … Let us not undermine a UW system degree,” she said. Martin also cited a possible $20 million drop in annual research scholar money obtained by the university. According to Martin, each faculty member involved in research on campus makes over $200,000 a year. Tom Andrews of the Business, Finance and Audit Committee presented the report of the state budget and possible reductions in certain areas regents page 3
UW group speaks out against changes to misconduct code By Megan Orear THE DAILY CARDINAL
The United Council of UW Students is opposing proposed changes to the UW System code of conduct that could crucially change how the university disciplines students. According to Michael Moscicke, university affairs director for the council, the organization is concerned with the possible hazard to students’ rights in proposed revisions to Chapter 17 of the administrative code, which deals with conduct of UW students. One objection involves the chance that the university could punish stu-
dents for off-campus offenses. “It really increases the university’s abilities to punish students for things that don’t necessarily affect the university,” Moscicke said. However, UW System Spokesperson David Giroux said offcampus offenses must be very serious misconduct that poses a threat to or impairs the university. Some example offenses are sexual assault and stalking. Giroux said only students “trying very hard to behave badly” would be affected by these changes. hearing page 3
All jazzed up
New discovery reduces chances of cancer in stem cells By Charles Brace THE DAILY CARDINAL
Scientists around the world announced a major stem-cell breakthrough recently, with implications for research at UWMadison and for the ethics of the research itself. Researchers at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto and the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, discovered a way to create stem cells from human skin cells,
similar to discoveries made on campus in 2007, but did so without using viruses, according to an upcoming issue of Nature magazine. “This is the next big step,” UWMadison Assistant Professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences David Gamm said. “What we see from here on out will be a refinement.” Gamm said at least in theory these findings greatly increase the safety of the technology and bring it much closer to full medical use.
Clinical trials on humans with this new technique could begin in three to five years, according to Gamm. He said previously, some stem cells created from a virus would develop cancers and tumors. The new technique uses highvoltage electricity to open holes in the cell, which allows DNA to be inserted and to activate dormant stem cell genes. stem cells page 3
JAMIE FLYNN/THE DAILY CARDINAL
UW Jazz Band students perform at Rennebohm Auditorium Thursday.
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”