University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Thursday, September 19, 2024
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Dare channels ‘brat’ summer
Bama beats Badgers
The Dare’s new album brings a continued ‘brat’ summer with its sleezey club music.
Badger football loses against Alabama in the most anticipateed game of the season.
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UW-Madison receives $75 million for new engineering building By Ellie Huber STAFF WRITER
University of Wisconsin-Madison alumni Marv and Jeff Levy announced on Sept. 11 a $75 million donation to fund a new engineering building on campus, the largest gift the university has received for a single project. Set to open in 2028, the new building will be named in honor of the Levys’ brother, Phil, who passed away in 2021. Construction will begin in May 2026. “Our family deeply appreciates the vital role engineering plays in driving innovations that advance our society and contribute to people’s quality and enjoyment of life,” said Marv at a Bascom Hill event announcing the donation. “Through this gift, we can ensure the College of Engineering will remain on the leading edge and
educate an ever-expanding number of talented engineers for generations to come.” In May, the Legislature’s Republicancontrolled budget-writing committee slashed $197 million in funding for a UW-Madison engineering building approved by Gov. Tony Evers in the state’s 2023-24 capital budget. This left a gap of $75 million in the total $347 million cost, which has now been funded. The project stalled for two years after Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, indicated construction of the building was contingent upon reaching an agreement to cut diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. UW-Madison had donors lined up, offering millions to pay for the building, but they eventually pulled out due to the GOP-controlled legis-
lature not holding up their end of the deal. The Levys’ lead gift may not have been necessary had the money from the state come in sooner. In December 2023, the UW System Board of Regents approved a deal to cap hiring for DEI positions for three years and restructure one-third of the system’s 130 DEI positions into general student success positions. In return, the UW System would receive pay raises and new buildings. The engineering college can accept fewer than 20% of its applicants. The new building can grow undergraduate enrollment to 5,500 students and graduate student enrollment to 2,000 students. “Virtually everything in our world today has benefitted from an engineer,” Grainger Dean of the College of Engineering Ian Robertson
told The Daily Cardinal. “Companies across the globe need engineers to continue to be innovative and competitive and the need for very well educated engineering leaders, like our Badger engineers, is growing.” Max Heirigs, a mechanical engineering major at UW-Madison, told the Cardinal he is fine with a new building as long as the increase in enrollments comes with an increase in faculty capacity. In Heirigs’ experience, professors are already pretty overwhelmed, especially in introductionlevel classes. “The new building isn’t going to increase students’ quality of education as [much as investing in] new research tools to help improve professors’ research and students’ involvement in that,” he said.
UW-Madison SJP protests student disciplinary hearing, criticizes new expressive policy By Amari Mbongwo & Elijah Pines OUTREACH DIRECTOR & STAFF WRITER
Approximately 40 students, staff, faculty and community members from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) protested outside Gordon dining hall on Sept. 11 during a disciplinary hearing for a student involved in the May 2024 pro-Palestine encampment. The student was appealing UW-Madison’s recommended academic sanction, according to protest organizers. Approximately 30 to 40 students have faced non-academic misconduct investigations by the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards (OSCCS) for their role in the encampment, according to an August statement from John Lucas, UW-Madison spokesperson. Four students were recommended disciplinary probation for a year, a status that shows up on official transcripts and could affect access to study abroad, employment and scholarship opportunities. Eleven students were recommended a less severe written reprimand. One student was found not responsible, and one outcome is unknown, according to a statement from 17 students and faculty who were under OSCCS investigation. They said UW-Madison attempted to “silence students and staff who have stood in solidarity with Palestine” in their statement. “We just want to show the university that we’re not going to take this lying down,” said Shafiq, who did not share his last name for fear of retribution. “We’re still fighting against genocide. We’re still fighting for divestment.” Shafiq, an organizer of the protest and SJP board member, told The Daily Cardinal many pro-Palestinian protestors from last year faced disciplinary actions with “minimal evidence.”
NICHOLAS DUDA/THE DAILY CARDINAL
“We call on students to call the chancellor and tell them that you are outraged about how this is proceeding, how they are trying to silence students, how they’re trying to shut down pro-Palestinian organizing on campus, how they’re placing sanctions on students for absolutely ridiculous reasons,” Shafiq said. Shafiq, who said he was out-ofstate during last spring’s pro-Palestine encampment, faced disciplinary proceedings by the university. Shafiq said he and three other Palestinian American students on the SJP board were put on disciplinary probation. He plans to appeal his recommended sanction since he was not on campus during the encampment. Shafiq said other students were reprimanded for writing an op-ed to the Cardinal, speaking with media or appearing in photos protesting. He called the disciplinary proceedings “ridiculous” and said they disfavored pro-Palestine and Palestinian
American protesters. In response to allegations that Palestinian American protesters faced stronger repercussions than non-Palestinian Americans, Lucas said “all student misconduct hearings are judged impartially according to our process.” Lucas also said he could not detail specifics of misconduct cases because the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act prevents disclosure of academic records, including disciplinary proceedings. Demonstrators gathered on the lawn outside Gordon dining hall at 8:30 a.m. and chanted pro-Palestinian slogans through a megaphone. At 9 a.m. the group moved to the tables outside Gordon dining hall and watched the live-streamed hearing on their phones. For the next hour and a half, demonstrators quietly sat at the tables until the hearing concluded. Outside Gordon’s on East Campus Mall, two marked and two unmarked
police cars parked nearby. Across Johnson Street, another group of police officers set up a table advertising “coffee with a cop”. Passersby were offered free coffee, pizza cutters, toy cop cars and an opportunity to socialize with wit local police. At 9:30 a.m., a police officer brought his dog to play on the Gordon lawn, and repeatedly brought him near the sitting demonstrators over the next half hour. Lucas said the university would take the ending of the May encampment as mitigating circumstances for students associated with SJP, as stated in the agreement between SJP and UW-Madison to end the encampment. Demonstrators criticize updated university expressive policies According to Shafiq, before the protest even began, Associate Dean of Students Kathy Kruse approached Shafiq to remind him of the new “expressive activity” and
protest policies. The new policies include restrictions on “expressive activity” with 25-feet of university building entrances, restrictions on sign size, specific noise restrictions, allow for usage of small bluetooth speakers and prevent obstruction of university buildings. An ACLU of Wisconsin lawyer, and free speech expert Howard Schweber questioned the constitutionality of the rule that prevents “expressive activity” within 25 feet of university facilities. Barret Elward, president of the UW-Madison faculty union, United Faculty and Academic Staff (UFAS), told the Cardinal the university made their decision without consulting faculty, staff and students through shared governance — the system in which student and staff groups, including the Associated Students of Madison and the Faculty Senate, advise and participate in university decision making and policy development. “The way the policy can be implemented, they don’t actually need to involve shared governance,” Elward said. Elwardalsosaidtheadoptionofthepolicydiscredits“thewholeideaofsharedgovernance that it is strictly an advisory body.” “There’s no actual decision making authority with shared governance,” Elward said. Lucas said the updated policies were reviewed with the University Committee and with ASM chair Dominic Zappia. “The university is committed to protecting and promoting free expression, with reasonable time, place and manner restrictions in place to ensure the university can continue to fulfill its responsibilities to teaching, research and service.” Lucas said. Continue reading online at 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.”