The UW-Madison College Democrats welcomed state Rep. Terese Berceau, D-Madison, Tuesday night for a question-and-answer session where she showcased issues pertaining to Madison.
Brian Shactman, UW-junior and chair of the College Democrats, said there was no one better to represent the groups' values and views.
[She] has become a real leader on student issues,\ he said.
Berceau said she is working for student and consumer issues, maintaining verifiable science in classrooms, stem cell research and women's reproductive rights. Berceau said many Wisconsin Republicans have shifted even further to the right, making an already divided legislature even more polarized. She said many of her fellow Democrats have shied away from pivotal Democratic issues, such as abortion, adding to increasing partisanship difficulties.
""I feel like I'm carrying a torch,"" Berceau said.
Berceau cited birth control, access to emergency contraceptives on the UW-Madison campus and a statute criminalizing abortion as pertinent topics she is fighting for.
According to Berceau, the percent of pregnancies since the UW-Madison began giving out contraceptives has decreased by half. She said in Wisconsin a sperm and an egg constitute an unborn child, and for this reason contraceptives and stem cell research are seen as immoral by many Republicans.
""But there is value to born life,"" Berceau said. ""And individuals have the right to protect their own life as well.""
Also a strong advocate of evolution's dominance in the classroom, Berceau said she is working on a bill to encourage verifiable science and discourage intelligent design as an alternative to evolution. ""You can't prove the supernatural,"" Berceau said, ""and science is about proving natural processes.""
Berceau said even though a majority of people believe intelligent design ""should be taught along with evolution as an alternative theory,"" she said it may create a problem of students not knowing what science really is.
UW-Madison freshman and Berceau intern, Oliver Kiefer, said his political involvement stems from a desire to reach out to the public.
""[I'm] trying to make my community, my town and my college a little bit better,"" Kiefer said.
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