After months of debate between the United States and other members of the U.N. Security Council, students found their spring break interrupted by the beginning of the war with Iraq. Pre-dawn missile attacks on \targets of military importance"" in Iraq began March 20.
From the beginning of the war, there was debate if Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was alive. Hours after the first air raids began, Hussein appeared on Iraqi television to denounce the United States and gather his people.
The search for Hussein and other Iraqi officials continued throughout the course of the war as troops pushed toward Baghdad. After fighting off the Iraqi Republican Guard and securing Baghdad's international airport, 12 miles outside of the capital, U.S. Army troops entered the south end of Baghdad April 5. By April 9, U.S. forces had seized control of the capital, including Hussein's presidential palace, despite looting within the city and protests from Iraqi people.
The war strained U.S. relations with many European countries who opposed military action in Iraq, leaving many UW-Madison students studying abroad questioning their own beliefs.
By April 15, the Pentagon declared an end to ""major combat"" in Iraq and began withdrawing troops. The hunt for top military officials continues in Iraq.
On the local front, more than 400 members of the Wisconsin National Guard were called up, including 50 UW-Madison students. The first wave of about 50 Wisconsin troops who were sent over returned home May 1 as President Bush declared the end of major fighting in Iraq.
On campus, students continued the tradition of activism that highlighted the Vietnam War era. Antiwar protests developed early on with more than 200 people demonstrating on Library Mall in October. Crowds swelled into the thousands by February and March as war became increasingly imminent.
Meanwhile, the Books Not Bombs demonstration March 5 marked one of the more significant Bascom Hill rallies since the Vietnam War era. Protesters made demands of UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley and Gov. Jim Doyle to denounce the war with Iraq, but both declined to take a stance on the issue.
While most protest activities remained peaceful, antiwar protesters and police clashed March 28 in University Square. Two protesters were arrested and oleoresin capsicum, a form of pepper spray, was used on a crowd outside a U.S. Army Recruiting Station after one protester burned Army promotional pamphlets as a form of war protest.
Already becoming an infamous day in Madison's history, this year's State Street Halloween celebration erupted into riots beginning in the early hours of Nov. 3, 2002. The riots turned ugly when Madison police officers were deployed in riot gear and began using tear gas and pepper spray to calm the crowd.
The traditional day for the State Street celebration is the Saturday before Halloween. But with Halloween falling on Thursday this year, police officers planned for protection on the Friday and Saturday before and the Thursday, Friday and Saturday after. This planning resulted in a unusually low number of police officers manning the streets on the night of the riots.
Witnesses said the riots began when a group of women began flashing the revelers on the street below. Police officers said once the women stopped, on-lookers began throwing bottles at the apartment window.
UW-Madison senior Lars Russell was struck on the head with one of the bottles. According to police, when officers tried to move in to tend to Russell, the crowd began attacking the police.
""As is typical with large groups where alcohol is a factor in behavior, there was an escalation of violent behavior where there would be a bottle thrown here, a window broken there, a fight break out,"" Madison Police Department Lt. Cameron McLay said.
The scene that disrupted and continued throughout the night included the burglarizing and looting of various businesses on State Street, bonfires and the deployment of chemical munitions.
At least eight people were injured during the incident, three significantly. Eight officers also sustained minor injuries.
Crowd estimates peaked at approximately 65,000, although officers speculated actual numbers to be higher. Damage and supply costs for the five nights of police vigilance ran more than $75,000, while business along the 500 block sustained $23,743 worth of damage and Badger Liquor, 402 State St., lost $7,300 worth of merchandise.
A proposal to drastically alter the way student groups are funded at UW-Madison failed in April amid much controversy.
The proposal would have created an opt-out segregated fee system giving students the option not to pay the portion of their segregated fees that go toward supporting 23 organizations funded through the Student Services Finance Committee.
Proponents of the measure suggested it would give students power and force student organizations to be accountable. They collected 4,085 signatures to put the opt-out system on the spring Associated Students of Madison ballot.
Ultimately, however, the proposal faced much opposition through challenges in the ASM Student Judiciary questioning the validity of the signatures. Furthermore, a group calling themselves Student Fee Defenders petitioned against the measure, saying the opt-out system would be detrimental to student organizations that provide valuable services to all UW-Madison students.
Meanwhile, UW System President Katharine Lyall said she thought the proposed opt-out system violated previous federal court decisions regarding the segregated fee allocation process in the UW System and Lyall said ""we won't let them do that.""
Proponents of the measure were steadfast, however, saying they had consulted legal counsel and would take the matter to court if it were voted in by students, but consequently blocked by the administration.
The proposal is credited with eliciting record turnout in the April 8 ASM election with 17 percent of UW-Madison students voting. Nonetheless, the opt-out proposal failed by a vote of 3,955 against to 2,191 in favor.
Numerous run-ins with the law and accusations of cheating plagued the UW football team this year.
A number of football players were arrested over the course of the year with incidents ranging from underage drinking to punching a bouncer and kicking in the window of a police car.
A group of players was also accused of cheating on a take home final exam shortly before the team played in the Alamo Bowl, but were allowed to play in the game. After conducting an investigation, UW-Madison officials determined there was evidence the players cheated, but did not make any definite conclusions. Nonetheless, they determined the players were eligible under National Collegiate Athletics Association rules since cheating was not facilitated by anyone at the university.
Head Football Coach Barry Alvarez, who is slated to become athletics director next year, said he talks to his team about their behavior but, ""I don't know what else we can do right now. I can't give you answers. I don't think anybody can.""
Under the recommendation of UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley, Alvarez is in the preliminary stages of formulating a comprehensive plan to address issues of academic and non-academic misconduct, which would create a uniform policy for regulating conduct and outline disciplinary action for all athletes.
Wisconsin's budget deficit swelled to massive proportions this year, making cuts to the UW System and other state agencies mandatory. The state faces a projected budget deficit of $452 million for this fiscal year ending June 30 and a void of $3.2 billion for the following budget cycle. To make up for this shortage, Gov. Jim Doyle proposed a budget plan Feb. 18 that included cutting 2,900 state jobs, gleaning $237 million from American Indian gaming compacts and cutting $250 million from the UW System.
Doyle's proposal capped possible tuition increases at $350 per semester for UW-Madison, and many members of the UW System Board of Regents have expressed support for raising tuition to the maximum amount allowed. In-state tuition would likely go up 15.8 percent next year, to $2,561.50 per semester, if Doyle's proposal passes. This would put UW-Madison in the middle price range of Big Ten schools.
The Legislature's Joint Finance Committee is currently reviewing and amending Doyle's budget proposal before it moves on to the full Legislature. They have yet to take up the UW System's portion of next year's cuts.
Wisconsin elected its first Democratic governor in 16 years Nov. 6, 2002, when former state Attorney General Jim Doyle beat out incumbent Gov. Scott McCallum with 45 percent of the vote.
Doyle defeated Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk and former U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, D-Milwaukee, in a three-way primary. The general election took a more negative tone, as both candidates fired at each other with attack ads and together spent $13.2 million, the highest amount on a gubernatorial campaign in state history.
After the election, Doyle hit the ground running with the slogan ""It's a new day for Wisconsin,"" promising to clean up Wisconsin politics following the Legislative caucus scandal. He also vowed to balance the state's $3.2 billion budget deficit without raising taxes. Critics doubted whether he could do this, saying increases in fees and licenses still count as taxes.
""The real challenge has to be the ugly budget picture,"" said former U.S. Rep. Scott Klug, R-Madison. ""You have two choices, cut spending or raise taxes. If you look at Jim Doyle's promises, I don't know if he can't raise taxes.
Six months later, political pressure continues to build on the governor as the Republican-led Joint Finance Committee and the state Legislature still have not approved his 2003-'05 budget proposal. However, Doyle did win a political victory in March when the state Legislature failed to override his veto on a Republican-sponsored bill that would take away some of his power to negotiate American Indian gaming compacts.
Much like Sept. 11, 2001, the Columbia Shuttle disaster drew students to their television sets early in the morning of Feb. 1. They watched news accounts and footage of the shuttle's break-up upon re-entry over Texas shortly after 9 a.m. All seven astronauts aboard died.
The crew consisted of six Americans: Rick Husband, Kalpana Chawla, William McCool, Michael Anderson, David Brown and UW-Madison alumna Laurel Clark, as well as the first Israeli ever to go into space, Ilan Ramon.
Human remains and pieces of the shuttle were found across Texas when the shuttle disintegrated 40 miles above the earth. The shuttle was scheduled to land 15 minutes later at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Shuttle program manager Ron Dittemore said the first indication of trouble was the loss of temperature sensors on the left wing. Shortly after the left wing developed a variety of problems the orbiter broke up 40 miles over Texas, killing the crew of seven.
Since then, space experts have been trying to explain what caused the piece of the left wing to break away from Columbia during its first full day in orbit. Some have speculated that a meteor or a piece of space junk could have hit the shuttle.
U.S. Air Force ground-based observations along with NASA data, including sensor readings and shuttle activities that day, are being used to look into the theory.
As a sold-out crowd watched one of the most dramatic games in the short history of the Kohl Center, and as senior guard Kirk Penney played his last game in Madison, sophomore guard Devin Harris calmly stepped to the free throw line and hit the game-winning free throw to clinch UW's second straight Big Ten title. Harris' game-winning shot came with 0.4 seconds remaining and Wisconsin won its first outright Big Ten title since 1947.
Within seconds of the final buzzer, the Kohl Center floor was engulfed with hundreds of Badger fans who stormed the court to celebrate with the back-to-back Big Ten champions. The victory capped off a regular season during which the Badgers posted a 12-4 record in the Big Ten (24-8 overall), set a school record for victories and improved their record in Big Ten play at the Kohl Center to 16-0 under Head Coach Bo Ryan.
The 60-59 victory over nationally ranked Illinois marked the second straight Big Ten title for the Badgers and propelled them toward a No. 5 seed and an appearance in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
""Every one of us has enjoyed the journey, whether it's been the highs or lows and the challenges and adversaries, but here we are and we're enjoying it,"" Penney said.
These past two seasons have marked the dawn of a new era in Wisconsin basketball. With the arrival of Ryan and a handful of youthful talent, the anticipation is high for next season with a chance for a third straight conference title and a more successful run in the NCAA tournament. '?
Friday and Saturday nights got a lot more expensive for downtown drinkers Sept. 13, 2002 when more than 20 bars agreed to a Tavern League recommendation to nix weekend drink specials after 8 p.m. in order to avoid a full-scale City Council drink special ban.
The city's Alcohol License Review Commission had forwarded a report to the City Council the previous May recommending a total ban on drink specials downtown after 8 p.m., but the council shelved the report following the Tavern League's voluntary gesture.
Proponents of the voluntary ban objected because it still allowed for ""Thirsty Thursdays,"" but speculated it would result in less alcohol-related violence; opponents said it would drive college kids into unregulated and unsafe house parties.
Eight months later, the jury is still out on whether the action has hit anything but students' wallets. Meanwhile, the issue simmered in the background during the recent mayoral and City Council elections, when virtually all of the candidates told students they would not support a ban on drink specials.
The city will evaluate the effects of the ban after one year, but until then penny-pinching students around campus will have to move farther out into the city or else abuse their livers during the week.
The campaign season started out with six candidates competing for the Madison mayoral seat-former Mayor Sue Bauman, Dave Cieslewicz, Davy Mayer, Paul Soglin, Will Sandstrom and Bert Zipperer. The Feb. 18 primary turned into an upset when Cieslewicz beat out former Madison mayor Soglin, and those two candidates moved on to the general election.
As Cieslewicz and Soglin knocked out incumbent Bauman in the primary, it was the first time in Madison history that an incumbent did not make it to the general election.
""I want to thank all the citizens of Madison who gave me the privilege of serving as mayor of Madison,"" Bauman said in her concession speech after the primary election. ""Madison is the greatest city there ever was.""
Cieslewicz went on to beat Soglin by two percentage points in the general election April 1 after a campaign that critics said did not distinguish the two candidates from one another.
""I promise both [Soglin and Bauman] I will leave the city in better condition than I found it,"" Cieslewicz said in his victory speech two hours after the polls closed. ""Tonight it is a new era.""
Soglin blamed his defeat on himself, saying he could have been a better candidate in the primary.
Cieslewicz passed his first test as mayor in planning the May 3 Mifflin Street Block Party, which went smoothly and provided partying residents with ample police protection.
