As should be plainly obvious to anybody glancing at today's opinion page, this past Tuesday Madison's Alcohol License Review Committee rejected a proposal by District 8 Ald. Bryon Eagon to create a permanent student position on the ALRC. The proposal had previously been approved by the Common Council Organizational Committee, a body akin to the Committee on Rules in the state Legislature.
The Daily Cardinal and The Badger Herald often offer strongly opposing viewpoints on campus or city issues. But after Wednesday's meeting of the city's Alcohol License Review Committee, the main organization in Madison that decides alcohol policies citywide, we have agreed with the Herald's editorial board that a combined call to action is needed.
My name is Marsh Shapiro. I have owned and operated the Nitty Gritty restaurant and bar at the corner of Frances and Johnson for 41 years. I am a Madison native and U.W. grad.
""We... want... more... BEER!"" This infamous chant heard at every Badger football game sums up Wisconsin weekends pretty well. But are already cash-strapped college students going to want to chant for more foamy beverages if the price for our gameday ""water"" is significantly higher than the current rates?
Last year, The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board wrote that it is best for tenants to know their rights when renting so landlords do not continue to rent properties without oversight. As we said, ""The onus is on the landlords to heed the concerns of students who are paying sizable amounts of money for a safe place to live."" Every year, rental companies in Madison get thousands of new tenants, many of whom have never seen a lease before, and landlords frequently take advantage of this.
The beauty of a humanities education lies in how many times you're forced to think about current events based on something you've been taught.
Undoubtedly you voted in the ASM elections sometime in the last three days, right? No?! I nearly forgot myself. Had I not coincidentally used MyUW, I would not have noticed the small ""Vote now"" box encouraging students to vote for their own student government. At least they ran glorious full-page ads in The Daily Cardinal featuring ""Uncle ASM."" Good thing I was approached by text, not human beings lobbying students to exercise their civic duty.
This Tuesday the state Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill proposed by Sen. Alan Lasee that would ban all drivers from texting behind the wheel. The bill, particularly as a more stringent, all-ages ban, would significantly increase safety for Wisconsin drivers.
Alcohol policy in Madison is rarely simple, straightforward or one-size-fits all. Any proposed policy must be thoroughly vetted in terms of its impact on students, bar owners, police and the general community. This is a city that demands public participation in such decisions and should not be one that unfairly singles out a particular constituency for inappropriate burdens on personal rights.
The last time I paid to watch a sporting event was last summer to watch the Brewers play. One of the best things about Miller Park, despite the inflated prices, is the stadium always allowed fans to carry in whatever snacks they might have brought from home to enhance the experience. Fans' bags were inspected on arrival, and upon entrance attendants observing that Mr. and Mrs. Baseball-Fan had nothing more than peanuts and sunflower seeds in their bags, they were allowed in.
In his column On Oct. 1, sports columnist Ben Breiner blamed the empty student section on apathetic students. ""Wisconsin's student fan culture does not give a crap about the football game,"" he wrote. I disagree. It's not that the students don't care about the game, they are late because they care about beer more.
One of the easiest things to do is to understand the basic idea of ASM. Any politician in a finely tailored suit would catch the essence of it: a student government. So like any other political entities, it suffers a great problem of public outreach. To most students on campus, ASM is no more than some confusing headlines. The organization has always been working hard to make changes. But their overtly political approaches rarely attract new fans.
In May 2009, Union Council decided to discontinue the design committee in preparation for the end of the design phase and the beginning of construction of the New South Campus Union (NSCU). Dan Cornelius, former vice president for project management, was a voting member on Council when this decision was made. I became vice president for project management on May 7 after the May Union Council meeting. Dan Cornelius left office knowing there would be no permanent iteration of the design committee for the remainder of the NSCU building project, and that the next year of the project was entering a new phase because construction had begun.
If State Rep. Marlin Schneider's, D-Wisconsin Rapids, top priority is grabbing the spotlight, he certainly has accomplished this. Earlier, the Democrat proposed property tax exemptions for newspapers. Now he has a plan to limit public access to circuit court records online. Like his previous ideas, this is still a well-intended but impractical suggestion.
The Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize committee's October 9 announcement that Barack Obama won the 2009 Peace Prize came as a shock to most.
As a 2008 alumnus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and as a former College Programs Coordinator for Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin, I am writing in response to Jamie Stark's October 7th column: Rejection of Chicago unjustified.
As any veteran of a Madison Halloween will attest, the most commonly seen costume among female college students is some variation on a ""sexy profession"" theme. Though the costumes themselves are largely a non-issue, the judgment that many young women receive, especially by their fellow females, reflects a society fraught with fear of the expression of female sexuality.
Last week, Common Council members requested several amendments on Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's capital budget including hangups for two of the largest price tags. First, they challenged the tax incremental finance contributions to the Edgewater Hotel remodeling project, which could total up to $16 million in funding. Second, it was requested that the central library project, totaling $37 million, be put to a public vote. Underlying both referendum proposals is not only the possibility of political power plays, but also an unnecessary demand to put major spending decisions on the shoulders of the average citizen.
Today's Student Organization Neighborhood guest editorial comes courtesy of Your Cause This Week. The Student Organization Neighborhood is a biweekly column dedicated to giving a voice to student groups across campus.
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