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Evers backs bill shielding NIL contracts, boosting UW Athletics funding By Clara Strecker STATE NEWS EDITOR
Gov. Tony Evers plans to sign a bill that would shield University of Wisconsin System name, image and likeness contracts from the state’s public records law and give UW Athletics $14 million annually to maintain facilities. The legislation has faced controversy from Republican senators, citing the use of taxpayer money to fund athletics, and open government advocates like the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, because of the bill’s language exempting NIL deals from public records law. The legislation passed the senate Tuesday in a 17-16 vote, ultimately needing support from five Democrats to pass. Britt Cudaback, the governor’s spokesperson, said Evers “supports” the bill in an email to The Daily Cardinal Tuesday.
“Wisconsin Republicans have done little to economically help families and small businesses, but our GOP leaders fought to force taxpayers to begin subsidizing million-dollar payments for UW athletes and further enrich tribal casino operators,” Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, said in a statement. “Simply disgusting.” The bill became controversial among the Senate GOP caucus after Sen. Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, and three other Republican senators voted against it in multiple committee hearings last week. With a slim 18-15 majority in the chamber, Republicans can only afford to lose two votes to push legislation through. Kapenga told WisPolitics Monday Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, could possibly lose his lead-
ership position if this legislation, and a second bill to legalize online sports betting, made it to the floor Tuesday. LeMahieu is the primary cosponsor for the NIL bill. Kapenga pointed to the “rule of 17,” an informal rule that Senate leadership does not bring legislation to a floor vote without the support of at least 17 Republican senators, which would allow the measure to pass regardless of Democratic support. “Precedent has always been you’ve got to have the rule of 17, if it’s Republican or Democrat votes,” Kapenga told WisPolitics. The bill passed the Assembly with bipartisan support in a 95-1 vote on Feb. 19. Dan Knodl, R-Germantown, was the lone no vote, alongside three Democrats who abstained from voting. UW-Madison Athletic Director Chris
McIntosh supports the legislation, saying it would ensure the university can “preserve excellence” supporting their athletic teams and NIL pursuits financially and legislatively. McIntosh has recently championed the importance of the bill, especially encouraging the Senate to pass it and telling the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel without these safe guards “everything is on the table.” Athletics has committed to boosting funding and evolving in the NIL-era of college athletics amid disappointing Badger football seasons. The university argues the bill is necessary to protect the competitiveness of NIL contracts and codifies existing standards for disclosing NIL contracts, while open government advocates have questioned the bill’s language.
UW disability center sees spike in learning accommodations, mirroring national trend By Maria Knaack STAFF WRITER
The University of WisconsinMadison’s McBurney Disability Resource Center has seen an almost 250% increase in the number of students receiving accommodations over the past 10 years, according to their director Mari Magler. Nearly one in 10 UW-Madison students was affiliated with the McBurney Center between summer 2024 and spring 2025, with 5,791 students connected to the center and a fall 2024 enrollment of 51,791. Just 10 years ago, during the 201516 academic year, the total student affiliation was 1,660. This trend is not unique to UW-Madison. The number of students reporting disabilities has risen more than 50% over the last decade at institutions across the nation, according to a New York Times analysis of government data. A rise in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder diagnoses plays a large role in this increase, with nearly 30%, 1,790, of the registered McBurney students reporting having ADHD. A study by the National Health Interview Survey estimated the prevalence of ADHD in children aged 4 to 17 years to be around 6% in the 1990s, but that figure climbed to approximately 10% by 2016. The percentage rose to 11.4% in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The process for reporting a disability and getting accommodations, including awareness of the resources available and reduced stigma surrounding it, may also lead to rising numbers, according to Magler. Liv Abegglen, a junior at
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UW-Madison who experiences severe, acute migraines and has registered with the McBurney Center, said registering with McBurney was easy. “I decided to get accommodations after I had a migraine a day before an exam and, luckily, my professor just believed me and let me skip, but I knew I shouldn’t bank on that in the future,” she told The Daily Cardinal. The accommodation application process begins with an online application through McBurney Connect. Students are then assigned to an access consultant, who contacts them and schedules an initial meeting to discuss their condition and requests. Finally, students submit documentation of their disability. For Abegglen, the process was simple, and she was able to receive
the accommodations she needed, but not all students have had the same experience. Lana Fabish, a junior at UW-Madison who experiences chronic illness but has not been diagnosed despite significant testing, told the Cardinal she experiences symptoms including severe abdominal pain, extreme muscle weakness and stomach issues, and that these have led to fatigue and an inability to eat. She said she avoided going to the McBurney Center for her first two years at UW-Madison because her friends, with similar chronic conditions, had bad experiences. However, Fabish eventually felt as though she had no choice because she no longer felt she could manage her classes without accommodations. While she found the process
itself to be simple, she had concerns with the response she received. She said the McBurney Center “kept trying to quantify my condition in a way that is not possible. I have a dynamic disability, which means that I am able to do certain things sometimes, and other times I need accommodations in order to do them.” Fabish said she was asked to give a set number of absences needed per semester, noting that this was “impossible” to quantify because she experiences flare-ups which vary in frequency, symptoms and severity year-to-year. She said she could not continue the process of getting accommodations without providing a number, even when she explained that it did not seem to make sense to do so. “The way McBurney works
seems to be just minimally complying with [the Americans with Disabilities Act] standards in order to not get sued by students. They do not particularly seem to care about disabled students’ feedback, and brush it off,” Fabish said. Kyle Charters, the associate director of student services at the McBurney Center, highlighted that the ADA says “accommodations must focus on equal access to learning rather than on modifying coursework” and “cannot fundamentally alter the course.” He said the flexibility team at the McBurney Center designed a questionnaire asking about course design and how much flexibility can be allowed without jeopardizing course progress to determine offered accommodations. According to Charters, the questionnaire “allows for consistent, effective and efficient implementation” to help address chronic health conditions that have unpredictable or episodic symptoms. He emphasized that while students with chronic illnesses may struggle with attending classes, the attendance flexibility for the students must ensure that they still meet the course requirements and that accommodations must be “reasonable.” Fabish also noted concern with the control instructors have on accommodations in the classroom. “Essentially, each of your professors gets to decide on which accommodations they will allow you to have in their class,” Fabish said. “[Professors] are not properly aware of what sorts of accommodations disabled students actually need.” Continue reading @dailycardinal.com
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”