Opinion - The Daily Cardinal

OPINION

No rush to make housing decisions

By The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board and Jonah Beleckis | Dec. 1, 2009

We are now entering the home stretch in the cycle of rental panic within the student population. The rumors are just going to keep getting more urgent and less informative until winter break, and after that, the roar about renting will quiet to a whisper. Right now is the perfect time for landlords and rental companies to hype up that they are running out of choice units in an attempt to get inexperienced students to go out and take those rentals at whatever cost. Every year, it seems most students have secured their living situations and all the good properties are gone by Thanksgiving break, which is true if your choice of living space happens to be in a property belonging to a company like Tallard or Steve Brown.

OPINION

Watching our language

By By Todd Stevens | Dec. 1, 2009

Racist. There has been a bit of a stir on the Daily Cardinal opinion page recently regarding that word, as well as its relation to a column written by Andrew Carpenter. I won't address the merits of Carpenter's argument, I'm sure he can explain himself a lot better than I can. But there was one aspect of the criticism his article received that continued an all-too-common trend I've seen on campus. It seemed that the natural, gut response from most readers was to call Carpenter a racist.

OPINION

End ties with Nike

By The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board | Nov. 29, 2009

Recently, the UW Labor Licensing Policy Committee voted 7-2 to suggest Chancellor Biddy Martin take written action against Nike for their violation of UW labor codes. Disregard for labor policies from big corporations is nothing new, particularly with apparel contracts here at UW. In the past, Martin and the LLPC have made their attitudes toward this disregard for human rights known, and it has led to the termination of several UW apparel contracts. This incident with Nike is no exception to previous policies and decisions, and the administration needs to act accordingly. Rather than just sending a scathing letter to Nike, we must take the steps necessary to terminate our contracts with the company.

OPINION

Communication needed between student groups

By Qi Gu and By Sarah Olson | Nov. 29, 2009

Everybody knows diversity matters. For college students, an important way for us to explore the idea is through various student groups on campus. That's probably why UW-Madison now hosts a dazzling number of student organizations. While ""diversity by numbers"" is without doubt a convenient criterion to measure our progress, student participation should be the ultimate standard to gauge the quality of UW's diversity. However, the current lack of communication between student organizations has become a major obstacle deterring students from fully appreciating campus diversity.

OPINION

Time for diversity debate is now

By The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board | Nov. 24, 2009

On Nov. 17, 2009, The Daily Cardinal published the opinion column ""Race deserves no place in university admissions."" Over the past several days we have witnessed a significant reaction to the article by students on campus, and it is obvious the article sparked a dialogue regarding issues of diversity at UW-Madison.

OPINION

Complexities of diversity require campus dialogue

By By the MultiCultural Student Coalition | Nov. 24, 2009

As the MultiCultural Student Coalition, we felt compelled to respond to Andrew Carpenter's piece ""Race Deserves No Place in University Admissions."" Carpenter states in his article, ""by focusing on the color of their skin rather than just their achievements, the University administration implants the idea that there might be something different about minority students: they might not be as smart.""

OPINION

Letter to the Editor: Students must do their part to end racism

By Joe Lynch and Maxwell Love | Nov. 22, 2009

After I read the article ""Race deserves no place in university admissions"" in Tuesday's issue of The Daily Cardinal, I struggled with how to explain the intent of the author. I was caught wholly off-guard by the call for an end to affirmative action.

OPINION

Professors must engage students to be effective

By Molly Reppen and Qi Gu | Nov. 22, 2009

What is the true measure of quality for an undergraduate education? High faculty-student ratio, smaller classes or more spots in popular lectures? It seems that all of these characteristics could contribute to a single page called ""quality by numbers."" When evaluations of our education are reduced to a lengthy spreadsheet, a crucial qualitative aspect is neglected: What about teaching methods?

OPINION

No room for slackers in UW science curriculum

By Anthony Cefali | Nov. 20, 2009

Yesterday I was embarrassingly duped, and it felt worse than getting Rick- rolled. Outside of Walgreens on State Street someone handed me a copy of Darwin's ""On the Origin of Species."" The initial act took me completely by surprise, since normally people are pedaling miniature bibles rather than books on scientifically verifiable theories of how the world actually came to be.

OPINION

Column does disservice to campus community

By Letter to the Editor | Nov. 20, 2009

As a teaching assistant on campus here who daily observes the way that racism functions within the UW academic community, I wanted to write to express my extraordinary dismay at your willingness to publish Andrew Carpenter's opinion column. I am all for diversity of opinion and First Amendment rights, but one would presume that some editorial discretion would have been warranted in this particular case. To allow those opinions to be disseminated campuswide to an almost lily-white student body is, at best, counterproductive to the university's project of minority recruitment and, at worst, completely alienates minority students and grants legitimacy to divisive racist sentiments to which Madison is certainly no stranger.

OPINION

'Colorblind' opinion cause for concern

By Letter to the Editor | Nov. 19, 2009

Andrew Carpenter's Tuesday column, ""Race deserves no place in university admissions,"" is a poorly-argued embarrassment to the students of the UW campus. The entire piece is uncorroborated conjecture. From his opening claim that ""there are almost no students who pay any attention to race"" to his belief that ""it makes sense to expect minority students to drop out at higher rates than white students,"" Mr. Carpenter's journalistic atrocity is representative of nothing more substantive than his own speculation.

OPINION

With Barrett in, Dems can go full speed ahead

By Jamie Stark | Nov. 18, 2009

Until last Sunday, one man save Brett Favre was the most talked-about person in the state. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett kept his mouth shut about his campaign until relatively late in the 2010 gubernatorial race, yet has received more free press than either Republican candidate.

OPINION

Recent state budget offers no assistance to taxpayers

By Jon Derenne | Nov. 18, 2009

Raindrops slowly streak down the beautiful stained glass windows of a century-old Wisconsin church like tears down the cheek of a grieving widow. A funeral procession begins its slow measured march out of the church and into the nearby cemetery. A coffin is slowly lowered into a dark grave. The simple granite headstone reads: ATLAS 1848-2009.

OPINION

Race deserves no place in university admissions

By Andrew Carpenter | Nov. 17, 2009

Diversity is a recurring theme at UW-Madison and, as always, the discussion turns to race. Administrators who focus on the color of students' skin continue to find a lack of diversity, which is a nice way of saying we are too white. Responding to this crisis of superficial uniformity has been a favorite task of chancellors, committees, and columnists for decades. While the overwhelming sea of good intentions is aimed at increasing diversity, I would argue that there are almost no students who pay any attention to race.

OPINION

The Nitty Gritty boycott revisited

By The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board | Nov. 17, 2009

Following The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board's recent meeting with Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, budgetary issues tended to push other topics to the back burner. One subject that we made sure to address however was the recent compromise Cieslewicz brokered with the Common Council regarding a student serving on the Alcohol License Review Committee. After convincing Ald. Bryon Eagon, Dist. 8, to remove language making the student voting member a permanent position, Cieslewicz vowed to nominate a student to the seat once two new voting members were added to the ALRC.

OPINION

Humanities Building due for destruction

By Collin Wisniewski | Nov. 17, 2009

Oh, the Humanities Building. You are a massive block of concrete that houses the studies for which you are appropriately named. Since your completed construction in 1969, you have been a cold, lonely home to the studies of music, art, English, and history; all of which seem strangely out of place beneath your sunken temple walls (perhaps with the exclusion of history). Ever since the announcement of your imminent destruction, I have been absolutely enthralled. The Humanities Building at one time may have been a ground-breaking, conversational piece, but in today's current architectural climate it is a blotch upon our beautiful campus.

OPINION

Student governments must be accessible

By Qi Gu | Nov. 15, 2009

Can students access their student government's full records? You would say ""sure"" without the blink of an eye. But when reporters at UW-Milwaukee's student newspaper, The UWM Post, wanted the same information, they were only given heavily redacted materials from the university. Last week, the Post brought the matter to court after 10 months of fruitless negotiation. By resorting to legal action, its student journalists have taken a courageous step to defend their peers' rights.

OPINION

Race to the Top has potential to turn education system around

By Sam Garigliano and Abrianna Barca and Travis Serebin | Nov. 13, 2009

The United States used to be one of the world standards for good education, but we are currently ranked 17 out of 30 for the world's richest countries in science and 24 out of 30 in mathematics by the Program for International Student Assessment. Wisconsin has the largest achievement gap in the nation in terms of disparity in the educational performances of minority and low-income students in comparison to their white, middle-class peers. This may not be the cause of widespread concern among students on this campus, yet this continued decline in educational performance will seriously hinder the United States' ability to stay on the cutting edge of technological advancement.

OPINION

Meeting the mayor

By The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board | Nov. 13, 2009

With the recent vote on the capital budget, numerous city projects weighed heavily on the mind of Mayor Dave Cieslewicz. In light of the flurry of civic activity, The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board sat down with Cieslewicz and discussed some of the more pressing issues facing Madison.

OPINION

Health care a basic right

By Jamie Stark | Nov. 13, 2009

Late Saturday night, by a narrow vote of 220-215, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the most significant health insurance legislation since the creation of Medicare. The bill still requires Senate approval—less likely to occur—and President Obama's signature to become law.