Opinion - The Daily Cardinal

OPINION

You can't beat the (environmental) system

By Anthony Cefali | Dec. 10, 2009

Climate change discussion began this week in Copenhagen, and as most expected, our global climate outlook is becoming exponentially worse. Environmental statistics get tossed around regularly when a dialogue begins on climate change, and they have a tendency to approach hyperbolic proportions. I have this sense of foreboding because of the things I'm hearing about cycles of droughts due to substantially less rainfall, which will lead to irreparable agrarian damage, cause untold extinctions and hinder our global food supply in the near future.

OPINION

Refrain from ""Going Rogue

By Jamie Stark | Dec. 9, 2009

As a card-carrying Liberal, I needed to get my hands on a copy of former Alaska governor, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's new book ""Going Rogue"" to decipher how it could sell 700,000 copies within one week. For comparison, actual President Bill Clinton, who legitimately accomplished things, sold 900,000 copies of his biography in its first week.

OPINION

Students should staff WISPIRG

By The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board | Dec. 9, 2009

Last month, Chancellor Biddy Martin approved contract status for the Wisconsin Students Public Interest Research Group, a UW student advocacy organization, allowing the group to receive student segregated fees to pay four non-student, full-time, professional staff members. WISPIRG is now the only UW-Madison student organization to receive contract status, which also allows the group to use segregated fees to pay dues to the national PIRG organization.

OPINION

Turkey's actions can no longer be ignored

By Jeff Butters | Dec. 9, 2009

Today's Student Organization Neighborhood guest editorial comes courtesy of the Wisconsin Union Directorate Society and Politics Committee. The Student Organization Neighborhood is a biweekly column dedicated to giving a voice to student groups across campus.

OPINION

New statute needed to curb racial profiling

By Whitney Newman and The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board | Dec. 9, 2009

The sad reality is that all to often, racial profiling occurs, with little recourse for the victim. It is time to look into this problem so that it may be deal with according to our highest values of equality before the law.

OPINION

No need to bulldoze Gordon Commons yet

By Qi Gu | Dec. 7, 2009

Most students here are familiar with Gordon Commons. Regardless of your love-hate relationship with University Housing, you have to admit it's a homey place to relax during free time. Well, fun at Pop's Club and Ed's Express will soon come to an end, as UW plans to tear down the building this upcoming summer. Even if you look at the upcoming project glazed with rosy assumptions, the $34 million project is probably unnecessary.

OPINION

True diversity requires actively learning from one another

By Amy Stein | Dec. 7, 2009

To improve campus climate and truly benefit from the wide range of cultures and ethnicities that are represented in our student body, we must create cross-cultural connections.

OPINION

Letter to the Editor: ""Coastie"" insults fester with anti-Semitism

By Perla H. Bernstein | Dec. 7, 2009

At my language table, we discussed ""what is a Coastie?"" Recently, thanks to the MySpace musical sensation ""What's a Coastie?,"" this question has once again become the heated topic of a campus-wide conversation. Participating in this debate, a soon-to-be PhD student at the table offered up his definition of a Coastie. He proceeded to describe the BlackBerry toting, Ugg boot donning, North Face fleece sporting, Starbucks drinking girl we have all come to love to make fun of. Oh, and he was sure to include that she had to be a Jewish woman from New York. As a Jewish woman from New York City, I felt that this last inclusion was a bit unfair, but I generally agreed with his description of the Coastie on campus, so I ignored this last comment. Plus, even I enjoy poking fun at the Coastie type. Uninterrupted, the student delivered his punch line—he had created a scheme in which he would create yellow stars of David with the word COASTIE inscribed inside it. He would pass them out (free of charge!) to every Coastie he saw so that they could wear it on their chest...just like in Europe during World War II. I was—I am—in total shock and remain completely appalled.

OPINION

Smoking ban infringes on personal freedoms

By By Andrew Carpenter | Dec. 7, 2009

Around the nation universities are taking antismoking policies to the next level by banning smoking everywhere on campus. While no Wisconsin schools have extended smoking bans beyond 25 feet from public buildings, yet UW- Plattville has begun talks to institute a schoolwide smoking ban. With its traditionally harsh stance on smoking it seems inevitable that Madison will follow suit. For students and residents, now is the time to take a stance against these bans. If we wait to voice our support for freedom of choice, our school will soon be faced with the same initiatives currently being considered at Purdue University and being enacted in 2011 at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

OPINION

Foster connections for campus diversity

By The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board and Hayley Jacobs | Dec. 7, 2009

Debates over UW-Madison's holistic admissions policy often boil down to one issue: Are efforts to increase diversity a means to some altruistic end—such as offsetting socioeconomic disadvantages—or a desirable end in themselves by exposing students to as many ideas and cultures as possible?

OPINION

Republicans don't need Palin's image

By By Ben Turpin | Dec. 7, 2009

Recently, Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker has expressed an interest in having former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin endorse him. As a viable candidate with a record of solid results in fiscal policy (the area Wisconsin needs the most help with by far) in particular, this is a major step in the wrong direction for him.

OPINION

Charity needed this holiday season

By Molly Reppen and James Meincke | Dec. 4, 2009

The United Nations Development Program estimated it would cost $20 to $30 billion to provide clean water and sanitation universally to the entire world. Contrast that with this number: On average, Americans spend $450 billion every year on Christmas. With 5,000 children dying every day because of water-related diseases, spending $450 billion on Christmas almost seems like a crime.

OPINION

Nontraditional students key to campus diversity

By Kathy Dittrich and Cate McCraw | Dec. 4, 2009

Diversity issues extend beyond race and nationality. I would argue we are a product of our experiences, and though skin color and nationality play a significant role in influencing our experiences, encouraging a diversity of experiences on campus cannot be measured by admittance data alone. UW-Madison cannot hope to achieve true diversity simply through programs aimed at aiding minority students. A truly diverse campus would embrace students from all walks of life, whose experiences are as vast as they are different and who are united by a common goal: to educate and better themselves.

OPINION

Collegiate activism needed

By Melissa Grau and Will Hoverman | Dec. 4, 2009

The Green Room is a new series from The Daily Cardinal dedicated to focusing on issues relating to the environment and energy. For its inagural article we have a contribution from the Wisconsin Students Public Interest Research Group (WISPIRG), one of UW-Madison's foremost organizations in the field of environmental advocay. If you are interested in writing for The Green Room, contact us at opinion@dailycardinal.com.

OPINION

Action in Sudan puts focus on culture rather than tragedy

By Jacob Kushner | Dec. 3, 2009

Today's Student Organization Neighborhood guest editorial comes courtesy of Action in Sudan. The Student Organization Neighborhood is a biweekly column dedicated to giving a voice to student groups across campus.

OPINION

Reconsider Edgewater vote

By The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board | Dec. 3, 2009

If the economic recession of the past year has taught anything to policy makers, it is that any recovery is likely to be slow and halting. One might think the top priority of local and state officials would be job creation in such an anemic environment, with families going hungry statewide because one or both parents are out of work.

OPINION

True religious diversity requires open dialogue

By By Jamie Stark | Dec. 3, 2009

The word ""diversity"" often conjures up thoughts of ethnicity, particularly on a college campus buzzing with conversation sparked by an article this paper published.

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.