University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Thursday, October 17, 2024
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THE LIONS TAME THE BADGERS
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Residence hall proposed to alleviate housing shortage By Wanwa Omot STAFF WRITER
With high prices and landlords pressuring University of Wisconsin-Madison students to sign off-campus housing leases as soon as possible, many freshmen decide to hedge their bets and enter the lottery system to return to live with University Housing. But, with UW-Madison setting records for freshmen enrollment — 8,516 freshmen for the 2024-25 school year, its second-largest freshman class — many students, including incoming freshmen, are unable to return to the residence halls. The university is looking to change that. One of UW-Madison’s priorities in the next few years is to build a new residence hall to house the growing student population, Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin told The Daily Cardinal in September. The initiative, which the university included in its 2025-27 biennial budget request to the UW System, would need approval from the Republican-controlled state Legislature before any construction can begin. “We want to house those that want to live with us,” University Housing Director Jeff Novak
told the Cardinal. “You can’t expand enrollment without at least being able to find first-year students a space to live.” Novak told the Cardinal University Housing typically has between 2,000 and 2,400 students who want to return to the residence halls in a given year, though they only have space for about 1,000 returning. “We [reach] out to a good number of them, and then many actually say no,” Novak said. But for students that do wish to return to the residence halls, many are confused why the university can’t house them. “Why am I being almost forced out of the dorms?” a now third-year student who wasn’t able to return told the Cardinal. “Because you didn’t plan this out accordingly, and you no longer have the space for us?” The student, who wished to remain anonymous because they work for the university, said the time between receiving a University Housing email informing residence halls were capped and signing their lease “was probably the worst period in their life.” “I’m freshly 19 years old on a college campus, I don’t know anything about the housing market
in Madison, I can’t do this,” they recalled of their forced entry into the Madison housing market. A history of housing shortages UW-Madison’s 20 residence halls are designed to house just over 7,700 students. In recent years, the university turned double rooms into triple rooms, converted lounges into housing and used campus buildings such as the Lowell Center to house larger numbers of students. A shortage of student housing has been a consistent issue at UW-Madison and served as the driving force behind the opening of Dejope Residence Hall in 2012 and Leopold Residence Hall in 2013. Before construction finished for Dejope, UW-Madison was the only school in the Big Ten conference that could not house all freshmen who wanted to live on campus. The opening of the Lakeshore residence hall addressed this issue by providing housing for 408 students, now 589 students. First-year students living in residence halls are more likely to perform better academically, and the odds are even better for those who
stay for a second year or more, according to University Housing. Mnookin told the Cardinal UW-Madison generally wasn’t a place “where most people want to [live] on campus for years and years” but said the university wanted a “little bit more breathing room.” Funding for the new residence hall, which UW System’s Program Revenue Supported Borrowing estimated would cost $300 million, would not come from Wisconsin taxpayers, Mnookin said. The third-year student wishes UW-Madison could do more to educate incoming students on the student housing crisis. “It would be nice if there were resources given at SOAR as well, like, ‘Here’s what you should start doing so that you’re not blindsided by October,’” they said. SOAR did not respond to a request for comment. Being prepared to navigate the ferocity of the student housing crisis is something they wished they had known before coming to UW-Madison. “It literally feels like [the] Hunger Games,” the student said of the housing process. “You got to be quick, or you’re going to be lost.”
Northern lights illuminate Madison sky By Eiman Mir STAFF WRITER
ELIJAH PINES/THE DAILY CARDINAL
‘Every day is an Indigenous day’ By Elijah Pines STAFF WRITER
Small children ran around, old friends greeted each other warmly and young people registered to vote. Dancers adorned in bells and intricate embroidery twirled clockwise around drummers while newcomers were welcomed. Approximately 150 students and community members from all cultural backgrounds converged at Dejope Residence Hall to unite around the Native community on campus and participate in traditional Indigenous dances and music at Indigenous student organization Wunk Sheek’s Powwow Monday night. “It’s important just to represent Indigenous people on campus to show that we’re still here and still practicing our culture in so many different ways,” said Minan White, Wunk Sheek President and Ho-Chunk Nation and Lac Courte Oreilles (LCO) Ojibwe member. “I think community is most important in Indigenous culture so this is just a really beautiful showcase of it.” Kalist Cadotte, Wunk Sheek social activism chair and LCO Ojibwe member, said the Powwow was the largest turnout since she has been in college. Attendees ate sandwich boxes and received
commemorative T-shirts from Wunk Sheek. Oneida member Artley Skenadore emceed the Powwow, whose even tone often gave way to quick wit, with live music from Ho-Chunk Station, a four-member band who did more with a single drum than some individuals do with a whole set. “You feel everyone bringing in that good energy for a good powwow. You can really feel that good energy,” said Micahel Gilpin, one of the regalia dancers and a member of the Nebraska Ponca Tribe. The dances began at 6:30 p.m. with a grand entry in which dancers dressed in their traditional regalia trotted around the central floor. After the grand entry, dancers and the Ho-Chunk Station honored veterans with the veteran song. Then, the regalia dancers were given the floor to themselves to show off their skill. Much of the regalia was covered in bells jingling in rhythm with the drums. “If you don’t applaud, we’ll charge you $5,” Skenadore told the crowd. Unfortunately for Skenadore and Wunk Sheek’s pockets, the audience was energized the whole night. Though the regalia dancers were the stars of the Powwow, the night mostly held dances
for guests. During the plain clothes dance, a competition between attendees to see who danced the best, a poncho-wearing individual with electric spins won the loudest applause from the audience and $200. At the potato dance, partners were tasked with keeping a potato pinned to their foreheads while being ordered to spin by the emcee. The couple Ivan and Costanza were one of the last contestants before their potato slipped from their forehead’s grasp and fell to the ground. “Because I am from Peru, I reconnect this part with my heritage, and that was very beautiful,” Ivan said. Another form of community building at the Powwow was a table set up by Wisconsin Native Vote. Guests registered to vote or checked their registration. Anne Egan-Waukau, the table’s worker and a member of the Menominee Nation, told the crowd about the time she was almost turned away from a polling station because the worker falsely believed that Native Americans couldn’t vote. The night ended with a traveling song, a way to wish everyone safe travels on their way back home and a message from Skenadore to “remember, every day is an Indigenous day.”
Madison witnessed a sightseeing northern light show on Oct. 9 and 10. The northern lights, or aurora borealis, are typically only visible near the polar regions. However, extreme solar activity can extend the viewing range south. While it is typical for only northern Wisconsin to see the lights, this year, the Madison area received a glimpse of the show as well. This year brings more solar activity since this year marks a time of peak activity in the sun’s 11-year cycle, bringing increases in electromagnetic activity. This can lead to solar flares, which NASA defines as an “intense burst of radiation coming from the release of magnetic energy associated with sunspots.” An increase in sunspots can lead to more coronal mass ejections, which are large eruptions of magnetized solar plasma. When directed toward the Earth’s surface, the interaction between these energized particles and atmospheric gasses leads to the aurora borealis. Different gasses produce different colors. Last week, the northern lights were best seen on Thursday and Friday. Crowds gathered around Memorial Union, Observatory Hill and other spots on campus to capture photos of the view. Seeing the northern lights is difficult with the naked eye, but cameras are able to better capture the colors. Photos with a longer exposure time will be able to pick up the colors best. Opportunities to view aurora borealis are expected to come up throughout the 2024-25 winter season. The Space Weather Prediction Center updates their aurora borealis viewing prediction tool daily.
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”