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University of Wisconsin-Madison
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VISIT ‘ADVENTURELAND’ FOR AMUSEMENT
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“Superbad” creator strikes gold again with new teen comedy
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Weekend, April 3-5, 2009
Audit finds mishandling of federal funds at UW By Megan Orear THE DAILY CARDINAL
Although state agencies allocate most federal funds properly, an audit conducted recently by the Legislative Audit Bureau revealed state agencies mishandled federal grants in a few significant areas during the 2007-’08 fiscal year. Mishaps occurred at a few UW campuses in disbursing federal funds, creating a total of $142,169 in disputed use of federal money. “Given the amount of federal funding that we manage, this is a very, very small fraction,” UW System spokesperson David Giroux said. “Nonetheless, we take these findings very seriously.” According to the report, UWMadison, UW-Milwaukee and UWOshkosh did not request federal reimbursement for student financial aid in a timely manner, costing a loss of $183,500 to the state in interest. All three campuses reimbursed the remaining balances and pledged to work toward more timely transactions. The audit found issues at many of the campuses concerning moni-
toring the enrollment statuses of students. Because of a technical error, four UW-Parkside students whose enrollment statuses rendered them ineligible for aid received financial aid, costing the federal government $28,982. UW-Parkside has made necessary changes to assure this mistake does not happen again. “In each of these cases, our campuses have specifically responded to these findings, and have in most cases already taken the corrective action,” Giroux said. Gov. Jim Doyle created the new Office of Recovery and Reinvestment to monitor stimulus funds. The LAB will play a role in monitoring those funds as well. LAB Financial Audit Director Carolyn Stittleburg said allocating the incoming federal stimulus dollars will be a big job, but she is hopeful that agencies have the proper systems in place to make sure they are spent according to federal regulations. “I would say generally overall the agencies do have good controls in place, and hopefully they’ll be able to spend these funds in an efficient manner,” Stittleburg said.
Remembering Brittany
Part four of four Campus safety continues to improve after Zimmermann’s tragic death
DANNY MARCHEWKA/THE DAILY CARDINAL
By Abby Sears THE DAILY CARDINAL
DANNY MARCHEWKA/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO
Last year’s All-Campus Party included a battle of the bands.
WASB to host OK Go for 2009 All-Campus Party By Melanie Teachout THE DAILY CARDINAL
UW-Madison students and faculty will have the chance to watch OK Go, the infamous treadmill dancers and singers, at the Wisconsin Alumni Student Board’s tenth annual All-Campus Party. The band will wrap up the week’s events, which are set to begin April 18. “All-Campus Party is the nation’s largest alcohol-free party at a college. It’s a week full of free events put on by WASB for students from students,” Mike Jurken of WASB said. According to WASB member Lisa Kibiloski, events for students
include Breakfast with Bucky, Bucky’s State Fair, All-Campus Idol, Club Bucky, Wear Red, Get Fed Pizza Lunch, Kickball Kickoff and the Spring Football Game. The winner of All-Campus Idol will get the chance to perform during the concert April 24 and will attend the American Idol Finale event in Los Angeles, Calif. Along with the 2009 All-Campus Idol Winner, performers Friday night will include We The Living, the Nod, and the main band, OK Go. Artists such as Talib Kweli, Ben Kweller, Common, Better than Ezra
Tears flowed and bells chimed on the UW-Madison campus Thursday as family, friends and members of the university community gathered to remember slain student Brittany Zimmermann on the one-year anniversary of her death. Mourners gathered at the base of the Carillon Tower as the bells tolled 21 times, one for each year of her life, at 12:20 p.m., the time Zimmermann was killed in her off-campus apartment April 2 of last year. The homicide ignited an urgent sense of personal safety awareness across campus at the time of Zimmermann’s death, and though the university has taken great strides in expanding security, improvements are still being made one year later.
Crisis response on campus When word of Zimmermann’s homicide reached university officials, University Communications spokesperson John Lucas said the campus’ crisis response mode instantly kicked into gear. “The police have a plan that’s the same, whether it’s a Virginia Tech-style shooting or if Van Vleck floods and they have to cancel classes,” Lucas said. “There’s a very set way the university is prepared to respond no matter what kind of situation.” For campus officials, the first priority is to assess the situation at hand and determine if there is any immediate danger to students, faculty and staff. Lucas said relaying information and keeping the campus community informed is then of the utmost importance.
The university developed a more efficient way to do this last May with the debut of the WiscAlerts text message system. University officials also launched the “Safety 24/7” campaign and website in August, urging students returning to campus for the fall semester to always be conscious of their personal safety. Improving the 911 center With a collaboration of university and city officials simultaneously dealing with the Zimmermann case, the importance of communication extended far beyond campus borders. Zimmermann’s mishandled call to the Dane County 911 Center stirred controversy, but the call also instigated several changes at the center within zimmermann page 3
DISTRICT 8 THROWDOWN A preview to the April 7 election
If you could only fulfill one of your campaign promises while in office, what would it be? Bryon Eagon: “To improve campus and downtown safety and that is why I have unveiled a detailed safety plan. I want to look at short-term action and long-term solutions to make public safety a viable goal.” Mark Woulf: “I promise to commit myself to making our campus area a safer place. I will strive to make our streets safer by accomplishing goals of funding for street lighting and neighborhood watch programs, combined with a long-term goal of changing the way we look at crime as a city as a whole.”
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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.”