8
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.” University of Wisconsin-Madison Complete campus coverage since 1892 dailycardinal.com Tuesday, November 19, 2013 l UW System launches Flex Degree Option UW forum highlights insurance options under Affordable Care Act John Lehman announces run for Lt. governor By Alex Bernell THE DAILY CARDINAL Jason Furman, President Barack Obama’s chief economic adviser, delivered a speech at the University of Wisconsin- Madison Monday, in which he discussed his three goals for achieving successful American fiscal policy. These goals include returning the economy to its full potential, expanding its competency more quickly and reducing the gap between the government’s spend- ing and total revenue. Furman said his first order of business is bringing down the unemployment rate, which he noted is currently improving. The success of the economy growing more rapidly depends on economic inequality, Furman said. Inequality influences a slower productivity rate in the economy. He added the percent- age of income wealthy United States citizens hold is the larg- est percentage share of income since 1928. Furman also said the nation- al debt will stabilize over the next 75 years if the difference between government spending and its total revenue is 1.7 per- cent of the gross domestic prod- uct. Attaining this percentage is more manageable than many people assume, according to Furman. He said there is a huge amount of uncertainty about this percentage, but regardless the outlook, it looks better than it has in the past. According to Furman, Obama’s policies are a good framework for reducing the fiscal gap. Furman said programs like the Affordable Care Act will help decrease the deficit. “The Recovery Act is a fis- cal policy that helped make sure that the United States did not go into a second depression,” Furman said. Furman said the biggest challenge is not figuring out fis- cal policies to help the United States economy, but actually getting them through Congress and Washington. However, Fanny Moffette, a Ph.D. candidate in UW-Madison’s Agriculture and Applied Economics Program, said she “expected much more Wisconsin Sen. John Lehman, D-Racine, announced Monday he plans to run for lieutenant governor in the November 2014 election. Lehman said in a statement he is well-prepared to serve as lieutenant governor because of his more than 20 years of public leadership. He cited his extensive public service as a state represen- tative and his two former chair positions in the state Senate. In the statement, Lehman also highlighted his progressive voting record, citing education as his most important issue. He also called himself an “environ- mental and pro-worker activist.” The senator called Gov. Scott Walker’s approach to governing “extreme,” and said he was con- fident in his campaign’s ability to expose the “glaring failures of Walker-Kleefisch.” “I know, as well as anyone, the need to defeat [Walker,]” Lehman said in the statement. According to the state- ment, Lehman is both excited by Mary Burke’s candidacy but recognizes there could be other Democratic challengers to declare for governor. The University of Wisconsin System began accepting appli- cations Monday for the Flexible Option Degree Program, a ser- vice that will help adult stu- dents receive college credit in nontraditional ways. The program was announced in June 2012 to help individuals learn new skills needed for the current job market by breaking down the traditional barriers of obtaining a UW college degree. Its self-paced, competency- based format will allow adults to obtain an online degree while still balancing work and family sched- ules, Ray Cross, the chancellor of UW Colleges and UW Extension said at a press conference Monday. Cross also explained the ongo- ing need for college degrees in the current workforce, noting only 30 percent of Wisconsin residents currently have college degrees, and by 2025, it is expected 60 per- cent of jobs will require them. According to Cross, although there are no direct relationships between students and profes- sors, the Flexible Option Degree Program will be just as rigorous as a typical UW course. “Essentially, if you know it, and you can do it, and you can prove it, then you can earn a UW degree,” Cross said. The program will address skills that are lacking in the Wisconsin workforce, accord- ing to Barb Daley, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee College Nursing professor and Dean for Academic Affairs. She said Information Technology, Business and Health Care are a few degrees the program will focus on. University of Wisconsin- Madison employee Aaron Apel submitted his application at the press conference, distin- guishing himself as the first official applicant. — Jackie Bannon By Adelina Yankova THE DAILY CARDINAL The University of Wisconsin- Madison hosted a statewide, multi- campus forum Monday discussing insurance options for young peo- ple under the Affordable Care Act. The event was broadcast to 22 different college campuses across Wisconsin and attract- ed approximately 500 viewers around the state, representatives said at the forum. Among the speakers were health services executives, insur- ance specialists and outreach offi- cers. Additionally, Kathleen Falk, Region Five director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, was available on confer- ence call to discuss the importance of insurance for young people. JESSIE GALLIMORE/THE DAILY CARDINAL Campus community members watch the live broadcast forum Monday at Union South. JESSIE GALLIMORE/THE DAILY CARDINAL speech page 3 forum page 3 Interviews with band members of Tennis and Building on Buildings A trip down birthday lane +PAGE TWO Parties, pizza and pinatas +ARTS, page 5 Communion: Round two Obama’s economic adviser discusses US fiscal policy James Furman, chief economic adviser to President Barack Obama, spoke to UW-Madison students on campus Monday.

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Page 1: The Daily Cardinal - Tuesday, November 19, 2013

“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”

University of Wisconsin-Madison Complete campus coverage since 1892 dailycardinal.com Tuesday, November 19, 2013l

UW System launches Flex Degree Option

UW forum highlights insurance options under Affordable Care Act

John Lehman announces run for Lt. governor

By Alex BernellThe Daily CarDinal

Jason Furman, President Barack Obama’s chief economic adviser, delivered a speech at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Monday, in which he discussed his three goals for achieving successful American fiscal policy.

These goals include returning the economy to its full potential, expanding its competency more quickly and reducing the gap between the government’s spend-ing and total revenue.

Furman said his first order of business is bringing down the unemployment rate, which he noted is currently improving.

The success of the economy growing more rapidly depends on economic inequality, Furman said. Inequality influences a slower productivity rate in the economy. He added the percent-age of income wealthy United States citizens hold is the larg-est percentage share of income since 1928.

Furman also said the nation-al debt will stabilize over the next 75 years if the difference between government spending

and its total revenue is 1.7 per-cent of the gross domestic prod-uct. Attaining this percentage is more manageable than many people assume, according to Furman. He said there is a huge amount of uncertainty about this percentage, but regardless the outlook, it looks better than it has in the past.

According to Furman, Obama’s policies are a good framework for reducing the fiscal gap. Furman said programs like the Affordable Care Act will help decrease the deficit.

“The Recovery Act is a fis-cal policy that helped make sure that the United States did not go into a second depression,” Furman said.

Furman said the biggest challenge is not figuring out fis-cal policies to help the United States economy, but actually getting them through Congress and Washington.

However, Fanny Moffette, a Ph.D. candidate in UW-Madison’s Agriculture and Applied Economics Program, said she “expected much more

Wisconsin Sen. John Lehman, D-Racine, announced Monday he plans to run for lieutenant governor in the November 2014 election.

Lehman said in a statement he is well-prepared to serve as lieutenant governor because of his more than 20 years of public leadership. He cited his extensive public service as a state represen-tative and his two former chair positions in the state Senate.

In the statement, Lehman also highlighted his progressive voting record, citing education as his most important issue. He also called himself an “environ-mental and pro-worker activist.”

The senator called Gov. Scott Walker’s approach to governing “extreme,” and said he was con-fident in his campaign’s ability to expose the “glaring failures of Walker-Kleefisch.”

“I know, as well as anyone, the need to defeat [Walker,]” Lehman said in the statement.

According to the state-ment, Lehman is both excited by Mary Burke’s candidacy but recognizes there could be other Democratic challengers to declare for governor.

The University of Wisconsin System began accepting appli-cations Monday for the Flexible Option Degree Program, a ser-vice that will help adult stu-dents receive college credit in nontraditional ways.

The program was announced in June 2012 to help individuals learn new skills needed for the current job market by breaking down the traditional barriers of obtaining a UW college degree.

Its self-paced, competency-based format will allow adults to obtain an online degree while still balancing work and family sched-ules, Ray Cross, the chancellor of UW Colleges and UW Extension said at a press conference Monday.

Cross also explained the ongo-ing need for college degrees in the current workforce, noting only 30 percent of Wisconsin residents currently have college degrees, and by 2025, it is expected 60 per-cent of jobs will require them.

According to Cross, although there are no direct relationships between students and profes-sors, the Flexible Option Degree Program will be just as rigorous as a typical UW course.

“Essentially, if you know it, and you can do it, and you can prove it, then you can earn a UW degree,” Cross said.

The program will address skills that are lacking in the Wisconsin workforce, accord-ing to Barb Daley, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee College Nursing professor and Dean for Academic Affairs. She said Information Technology, Business and Health Care are a few degrees the program will focus on.

University of Wisconsin-Madison employee Aaron Apel submitted his application at the press conference, distin-guishing himself as the first official applicant.

— Jackie Bannon

By Adelina YankovaThe Daily CarDinal

The University of Wisconsin-Madison hosted a statewide, multi-campus forum Monday discussing insurance options for young peo-ple under the Affordable Care Act.

The event was broadcast to

22 different college campuses across Wisconsin and attract-ed approximately 500 viewers around the state, representatives said at the forum.

Among the speakers were health services executives, insur-ance specialists and outreach offi-

cers. Additionally, Kathleen Falk, Region Five director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, was available on confer-ence call to discuss the importance of insurance for young people.

JeSSie gALLiMOre/The Daily CarDinal

Campus community members watch the live broadcast forum Monday at Union South.

JeSSie gALLiMOre/The Daily CarDinal

speech page 3

forum page 3

Interviews with band members of Tennis and Building on Buildings

A trip down birthday lane

+PAGE TWOParties, pizza and pinatas +ARTS, page 5

Communion: round two

Obama’s economic adviser discusses US fiscal policy

James Furman, chief economic adviser to President Barack Obama, spoke to UW-Madison students on campus Monday.

Page 2: The Daily Cardinal - Tuesday, November 19, 2013

page twowednesdAY:

rainhi 43º / lo 36º

tOdAY:sunny

hi 46º / lo 39º

An independent student newspaper, serving the University of Wisconsin-Madison

community since 1892

Volume 123, Issue 532142 Vilas Communication Hall

821 University AvenueMadison, Wis., 53706-1497

(608) 262-8000 • fax (608) 262-8100

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news team

news Manager Sam CusickCampus editor Megan StoebigCollege editor Tamar MyersCity editor Melissa Howison

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Business and [email protected]

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The Daily Cardinal is a nonprofit organization run by its staff members and elected editors. It receives no funds from the university. Operating revenue is generated from advertising and subscription sales.

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© 2013, The Daily Cardinal Media Corporation

ISSN 0011-5398

Board of directorsHerman Baumann, PresidentAbigail Becker • Mara Jezior

Jennifer Sereno • Stephen DiTullio Erin Aubrey • Dan Shanahan Jacob Sattler • Janet LarsonDon Miner • Chris DrosnerJason Stein • Nancy Sandy

Tina Zavoral

editor-in-ChiefAbigail Becker

Managing editorMara Jezior

editorial BoardHaleigh Amant • Abigail Becker

Riley Beggin • Anna DuffinMara Jezior • Cheyenne Langkamp

Tyler Nickerson • Michael PennNikki Stout

l2 Tuesday, November 19, 2013 dailycardinal.com

Corrections or clarifications? Call The Daily Cardinal office at 608-262-8000 or send an email to [email protected].

For the record

The hard truths about attending a big school

Recalling b-day parties past

T his Tuesday, I’m joining the big kids and turning 21. While I have a pretty

good idea of what I’m going to do to mark the milestone, it’s proven surprisingly complicated to coordi-nate a night out on a Tuesday in the midst of a pre-Thanksgiving exam onslaught. My experience figuring out my plans got me thinking about birthdays past. A few highlights from my own parties as well as my friends’ came to mind. So, I’ve made a list of some memories I wanted to share this week. Alright, let’s get this party started!

Craziest party: Rachel’s fifthFor my fifth, my mom packed

family, friends and a whole lot of five-year-olds into our house for what proved to be an event-ful afternoon. Think cut-throat musical chairs, a glitter-confetti explosion and a fiercely competi-tive scavenger hunt that resulted in many tears. During the height of chaos, one kindergarten classmate accidentally locked herself in the bathroom—where she stayed, sob-bing until my mom rescued her.

Because I was so young, I remember the party in flash-backs, with the most vivid being one of my dad beating open the stubborn pinata with a chair leg.

Needless to say, we scaled it back for my sixth.

The standby: slumber partyAround age eight, anyone

who was anyone on the third-

grade scene brought down the house by inviting over a posse of 10 friends for a good-old-fash-ioned slumber party.

The term “slumber” could be pretty misleading, though, because a night typically involved setting up sleep-ing bags then running around wreaking havoc all over the host’s basement until the pizza-soda-cake rush finally wore off. At that point, we’d settle down with that one kid who seemed to conk out before nine at every sleepover and watch 15 min-utes of a Mary Kate and Ashley movie before passing out our-selves. Just as the night finally quieted down, homesickness would strike, prompting the

party guests to wake the belea-guered parents to send someone home early.

Most unfun party theme: manners and etiquette

For a friend’s seventh birth-day, her family rented out a dimly lit room at our YMCA to throw a party where we cel-ebrated our friend by learning how to behave at other parties. Imagine everything that’s enjoy-able at a kid’s birthday—platters of junk food, semi-competitive games, a general sense of care-free fun—and replace it with a lesson in manners and eti-quette. Activities included an informative session on the use of the phrase “excuse me” and a

scarring encounter in which the birthday’s emcee/schoolmarm accused me of eating too many M&Ms. SORRY I CAME TO PARTY, BRO.

Coolest/most genius activity: trampoline party

What do kids love to do more than anything? Expel energy until they reach exhaustion then eat a bunch of sugary snacks to recharge. What was on the itin-erary for this particular party? Just that. While the rest of us were still lobbying our parents for sleepovers, my friend, who was a gymnast, had her 11th at the gym. Instead of spend-ing the night running in circles around her living room, we got to bounce off the walls (almost literally) and then call it a day. Her parents let us do exactly what we wanted without having to house a bunch of rowdy kids for a sleepover. Genius.

Tastiest menu: grandpa’s retirement home

What kind of food? All-you-can-eat brunch. That’s right. The most delicious meal possible.

Before my grandpa moved down to Florida, he lived just a few miles away from me in a swanky retirement home that offered a killer Sunday brunch buffet. Thus, during my teen years, on the Sunday closest to my birthday, the family headed over to Bedford Court senior liv-ing community for create-your-own omelets and endless waffles.

How would you fare in a game of cut-throat musical chairs? Tell Rachel about it over some endless waffles with Grandpa or email [email protected].

W hen I first came to UW-Madison, I kind of had the habit

of bragging to my friends who attend smaller schools about the benefits of going to a big school.

“Dude, in a school of 40,000 kids, I could streak, join the jug-gling club and bring a rancid garlic-onion-chicken medley to the library all in one day without ruining my reputation as a nor-mal human being,” I would tell them. “If something goes wrong with my current group of college friends, I can discard them and find a batch of new ones. And what if I have an awkward hook-up over the weekend? No wor-ries, I’ll never see them again! Did I mention the 47 student orga-nizations I’ll be joining, and the thousands of friends I’ll be saying hi to on the street each day?”

This, of course, was before I discovered a series of hard truths about big schools; one of which was my hidden tal-ent, a phenomenon I like to call “supreme facial recognition.” It’s a blessing and a curse. A blessing because, although I may

not remember your name, I will remember meeting you for those three drunken seconds at a foot-ball pregame and will give you a friendly greeting if I ever see you again. It’s a curse because chances are, you don’t remember me and I’m going to be the one doing the awkward half hand raise and, “Hey what’s u—” to a person looking straight past me. Sadly, in the latter situation most of the time the person probably remembers me but just chooses not to acknowledge this.

I also experienced some struggles when it came to cam-pus involvement. Let’s assess the whole “I’m gonna join every club and become an active mem-ber of the college community” fantasy. It ended the second I walked into the Kohl Center for the student-org fair. I’ve never experienced such sen-

sory overload in my entire life. One moment I’m signing up for some obscure charity club like “Help Stop Animal Hoarding in Nepal,” and two seconds later I’m being tug-of-warred between two different Jewish orgs trying to get me to go on birthright. After two hours, I’d signed up for 31 clubs, including the Cheese Club, which works out really well with my lac-tose intolerance. After sorting through billions of emails over the next week, I decided to give two clubs a chance: WUD Film and Hoofers.

At the WUD Film meeting, I felt, metaphorically speaking, like the one person who shows up to the Halloween party without a costume. Or, to be more literal, the only one who hadn’t seen the weird-ass Jeff Goldblum cult film from the ’80s. I was not eccentric or cul-tured enough, so I parted ways.

Disclaimer: Make sure that if you join Hoofers outdoors club you’re not doing it solely to make friends; you actually have to enjoy doing outdoorsy ath-letic things. And you shouldn’t sign up for indoor rock climb-ing like I did. I ended up almost killing a very nice med school resident that I was belaying and left with a cable burn a Mt. Everest climber couldn’t beat.

Oh, and that whole thing about never having to see an awkward hookup again? I needed to bite my tongue on that one. Surprisingly, on occa-sion my interactions with guys go beyond asking them what the homework is. One instance resulted in me feeling the need to avoid this person probably for as long as humanly pos-sible. After never having seen him in the daylight before (was I sure he wasn’t a vampire?), the next day I saw him twice within a five-hour period on the same street. I guess this school has turned my life into a sitcom.

When it comes to my clos-est friends, they’re really awe-some, but I think the only rea-son we’re still friends is that we live together so they physi-cally can’t get rid of me. After some of the embarrassing shit I’ve done in front of them, the idea of finding people to start fresh with so I can discard my shame has absolutely crossed my mind. Obviously, I am too lazy to do this, so I’ll just wade in my pool of shame for now.

Go Big Ten!Do you also experience

supreme facial recognition? Tell Daniella about it at [email protected]. ...Unless she’s avoiding you.

Daniella eManueldaniella distresses

After two hours, I’d

signed up for 31 clubs, including the Cheese Club, which works out really well

with my lactose intolerance.

RaChel sChulzeschulzey says

gRaphiC by ChRysTel paulson

Page 3: The Daily Cardinal - Tuesday, November 19, 2013

newsdailycardinal.com Tuesday,November19,20133l

Department of Justice settles multistate Google Internet case

By Patricia JohnsonThedailycardiNal

Sustainable Madison Committee members met Monday to discuss plans to implement a reimburse-ment program for city employees who bike, walk or use other forms of noncarbon-emitting transportation.

The committee develops plans to augment Madison’s environmental-ly friendly policies, including its plan to reduce carbon emissions from city transit. The reimbursement pro-gram aims to reduce emissions and promote healthy lifestyles among city employees while also saving them money on parking costs.

Committee member Rajan Shukla, who presented the plan, said employees would be rewarded ten cents per mile, which should keep the city’s budget for the pro-gram under $1,000 per year.

Ideally, the committee would

like to develop a successful well-ness program like ones in Oregon or Washington that reward employees $30 a month for walk-ing or biking to work.

“In the work that I do, which is behavior change based around climate change,” Shukla said, “the single most important thing to do is not just provide a financial incen-tive, it’s to create a social norm.”

Additional plans the commit-tee discussed included adding more bicycle racks in the city and making showers more accessible to employees. The committee also suggested having a “Bike User Group” to incorporate social sup-port for educating and familiariz-ing employees with bicycle safety.

The committee also dis-cussed ways of encouraging the use of public transit among city employees. Statistics show only

27 percent of city workers obtain their free bus passes from Metro Transit and approximately 15 percent actually use them.

One significant issue the com-mittee evaluated was the “five-mile barrier,” which is the idea that the likelihood of employees biking to work from beyond five miles drops significantly. Childcare and unexpected weath-er issues could also cause prob-lems for commuters.

Although the committee has not finalized a solution, it is focused on implementing small changes and tracking the prog-ress employees make to further expand the wellness program.

Committee member Arthur Ross said, “This is where we want to go and we’ll start rationing our trajectory in line with where we want to be in the future.”

A former Student Council chair filed a complaint Monday about a proposed budget amend-ment that would transfer money out of the Varsity Day fund.

Former Chair Andrew Bulovsky’s 2012-’13 student coun-cil session passed Varsity Day in this year’s internal budget. The day is intended to be devoted to spir-it-promoting activities such as a speaker and campus pride events.

In a complaint to Associated Students of Madison Student Judiciary, Bulovsky said the Varsity Day line item came with clear guide-lines about dispensing the funds.

“It’s a slippery slope if you start changing the entire budget,” Bulovsky said.

He asked the judiciary to prohib-it the removal of Varsity Day funds and outline a precedent where cur-rent sessions should defer to the previous session’s budget decision.

The amendment, set for discus-sion at a Wednesday ASM meet-ing, would transfer $6,800 from the $60,000 Varsity Day fund to two sources: ASM office supplies and Registered Student Organization printing and supply grants.

The amendment states the full $60,000 is no longer needed because the Chancellor’s Office has agreed to dedicate funds to Varsity Day, but Bulovsky said the money could still be useful.

Current Chair David Gardner declined to comment.

On Monday, the judiciary ruled that the Student Services Finance Committee did not com-mit violations in their decision to deny the MultiCultural Student Coalition funding eligibility.

MCSC had claimed SSFC vio-lated due process and viewpoint neutrality guidelines, but the judiciary ruled in SSFC’s favor.

However, the judiciary instruct-ed SSFC to remedy issues with hearing recordings and discrepan-cies about the appeals process, two issues highlighted by MCSC.

—Tamar Myers

The Associated Students of Madison Student Services Finance Committee approved the Greater University Tutoring Service’s 2014-’15 budget in a unanimous decision Monday.

According to its website, GUTS is a student organiza-tion that provides free tutors to help students with academic work, study skills and inter-cultural communication.

“I am pretty comfortable with most of this budget,” Representative Devon Maier said. “They thought it through quite a bit.”

SSFC approved the $148,762.06 budget 8-0 with one abstention.

SSFC heard a funding request

from Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán. MEChA is an organization that believes political involvement and edu-cation is the way to change the Chicano society, according to the MEChA website. The group sponsors many events such as La Bienvenida, a welcome event for students, organizations and staff at the beginning of the year.

Numerous MEChA facilita-tors and coordinators present-ed a budget of $95,219, which is $64,000 less than last year.

MEChA members faced many issues, such as relocation and ren-ovations within their new location due to asbestos. SSFC members were concerned that these issues

could impact the functionality of programs. According to MEChA presenters, the programs are still running smoothly.

SSFC will decide on MEChA’s final budget Thursday.

SSFC members also passed the Campus Services Process Legislation, which will provide a student-directed, professional staff-supported organization that “helps students address problems facing our society,” according to the legislation. SSFC Chair David Vines will appoint a procurement board compiled of ASM representa-tives that will evaluate the next steps for the request.

—Maija Inveiss

Transcending perspectiveson camPus

uW-madison professor Finn Enke speaks about transgen-der issues monday at the LGBT campus center as part of the Trans Visibility Week series. + Photo by Nick Monfeli

Attorney General J. B. Van Hollen announced Wednesday that Wisconsin, along with 36 other states, has entered into a $17 million settlement with Google in a lawsuit over the company’s tracking of Internet consumers.

States alleged Google misled users of Apple’s web browser Safari, by recommending they install a plug-in that Google prom-ised would block all cookies, which store and send users’ browsing information. Google later used the plug-in to track users.

Google halted this pro-cess in February 2012 after it was made public, according to the release from the state Department of Justice.

“Consumers using the Internet are entitled to accurate information about the privacy of their Internet browsing, includ-ing the tracking of their activity through the placement of cookies or otherwise,” Van Hollen said in the statement.

Google has agreed to pay Wisconsin approximately $336,000 of the $17 million. The money is set to be used for attor-ney’s fees and consumer protec-tion initiatives.

amy GrunTnEr/ThedailycardiNal

“I worry about the 200,000 young people in Wisconsin between the ages of 19 and 35 who have no insurance at all,” Falk said.

Caroline Gomez, a health care outreach specialist with Covering Kids and Families, said ACA strives to insure young adults to combat this statistic.

Current health care options

for students include remaining insured under their parents’ plans until age 26, seeking cov-erage through BadgerCare Plus or Medicaid and buying indi-vidual insurance plans.

Director of Covering Kids and Families Molly Bandt said it is important young people are protected under the ACA because they are statistically more likely to visit the emer-gency room due to injury-relat-

ed causes. She said having an insurance plan casts a safety net for these kind of situations.

Bandt encourages students to become more knowledge-able about health care options because they may not be as expensive as many imagine.

“This is a really dynamic peri-od in health insurance nationally and in Wisconsin and I just think it’s really important for every-body to pay attention,” she said.

forum frompage1

from the lecture.”“The inequality issue [in the

United States] is more than a matter of productivity, it is a matter of creating less poor peo-ple and a bigger middle class,” Moffette said.

speechfrompage1

J.B. Van Hollenattorneygeneral

Wisconsin

“consumers using the Internet are entitled to accurate information

about the privacy of their Internet browsing.”

Former ASM chair disputes Varsity Day fund change

committee considers bike commuter reimbursement

student services Finance committee approves Greater university Tutoring service’s 2014-’15 budget

andrewMangham,co-directoroftheGreaterUniversityTutoringService,speaksMondayinopenforumandexplainscertainpartsofits2014-’15budget.Thebudgetwasapproved8-0.

Page 4: The Daily Cardinal - Tuesday, November 19, 2013

arts 4 Tuesday, November 19, 2013 dailycardinal.com l

Demystifying the stigmatic ‘gamer’ tag

L et’s play a game. Imagine I walk up to you, a typi-cal 20-year-old college

student, and introduce myself. Moving past the niceties of introductions you inquire what my interests are. “I’m a gamer,” I reply casually. How do you respond? Do you think of me as childish? The word “gamer” has acquired a vile connotation in most people’s vernacular nowadays. I hate being embar-rassed to associate myself with my passion.

I recognize my depiction of gamers in this article is not even close to indicative of the majority of players out there. It’s mainly in response to the annoyingly inappropriate per-ception portrayed in main-stream media.

I shout gamer ironically

when a video game ad comes on television. Last week Ubisoft used Drake’s “Started from the Bottom” in their “Assassin’s Creed IV” trailer. Video game advertisements are so ridiculously dumb. Why must they keep feeding this garbage that perpetuates the childish stereotypes asso-ciated with the medium?

The worst part is that gam-ing is arguably the most con-nected medium in the world. The industry has never had a more diverse fanbase. Its very foundation is built on making connections and creating com-petition. It’s about taking four Xboxes to a “Halo” LAN party

and realizing you forgot the eth-ernet. It’s about stuffing your mouth with Mountain Dewritos and sometimes being okay with that. Then I remember every joke lambasting Mountain Dew Game Fuel online. When did drinking soda and eating chips become social suicide?

I probably care too much about my public persona. I try to dress up most days, but when I see someone wearing some mainstream video game shirt, I cringe. You keep that stuff hid-den away! Then I realize I want to compliment them on their “Portal” shirt and invite them over to play the co-op campaign for the fifth time. My anxiety is only perpetuating the problem.

I go to great lengths to hide my passion from people. I try to only get “tasteful” game posters or shirts that hide their subject so well people may not under-stand they’re about a video game. It just feels safer that way. They ask what my shirt’s about and I tell them it’s “‘Star Fox’ with real animals.” “Oh,” they

reply. Video games.Gaming is so ubiquitous at

this point, when saying I write about video games, I know I relate to the majority of the peo-ple. They ask if I played the new “Nazi Zombies” maps yet and I calmly reply, “No,” while groan-ing in my head. Even among other gamers I shun the idea of appealing to anything asso-ciated with the manufactured “gamer” persona.

When people ask me my favorite game I’ve played this year, I would probably say “MirrorMoon EP,” a game where you casually discover new planets while soaking in the gorgeous col-lage of colors assaulting your eyes. My most anticipated game wasn’t “Grand Theft Auto V,” it’s some-thing called “Burrito Galaxy.”

I guess it’s mainly sobering to realize I hit a point where I can feel embarrassed by my passion. It’s like having your parents show baby pictures to all your friends, except it happens liter-ally every time I tell someone what I write about for a living.

I remember when I could innocently crawl up to my room over winter break to play “Halo” for hours on end. Now I have to think about the glut of annoy-ing voices casually throwing racist remarks around online. I get to see the most vile com-ment boards on the Internet. I hear every indie developer complaining about the tiring infighting that happens far too often. I liked when I could just drink hot chocolate and play “Viewtiful Joe.”

The stigma behind “gamer” will hopefully change. Right now it’s more a matter of under-standing the different degrees of the word. I could chat your ear off about obscure video game analysis; it’s one of the few things I legitimately enjoy debating. I probably won’t though. If you need me, I’ll be the gamer in the back, hiding my profession behind a skinny tie and dress socks.

Want to know the true essence of a “gamer?” Email Adam at [email protected].

ADAm PArisSEGA WHAT!?!

More concert venues need to allow all-ages audiences

L ate last week, Sullivan Hall, a venue in New York City’s Greenwich Village, closed

unexpectedly after a 17 year run.While never my favorite

venue, I visited the sans-frills joint numerous times due to its loca-tion—namely its proximity to my favorite pizza place—and consis-tent booking. Furthermore, they had one feature that set them apart in my book, which is they let in 18-year-olds.

The venue was exactly what you look for when it comes to national touring acts and big-ish local bands. Upon walking in, you were met with a bar on the left, a merchandise table to the right and a stage at the front. That’s it.

The real issue with Sullivan Hall closing is the dearth of all-ages venues, or at least venues that will let in minors.

New York City has hundreds of venues, with each catering to a par-ticular niche by and large. Some, like Madison Square Garden and the Barclays Center, are giant are-nas. Those, by virtue of generating their revenue from ticket sales and food, do not rely on solely alcohol sales to turn a profit on a show.

To continue further down the chain, with the closure of the Roseland Ballroom—which I hated, and thus, does not get it’s own column for closing down—leaves just Terminal 5 and Radio City Music Hall in terms of large-capacity theaters.

Terminal 5, with the closure of the Roseland, finds itself with the undisputed crown of “Worst Venue in New York.” Scratch that, the world. I clear-ly have not been to every venue in the world; however, it really does not get much worse than trekking to 56th street and vir-

tually the Hudson River to not be able to see, move or breathe.

Without running through every venue in New York City, one hits a certain point, at about 500 to 600 people, where ticket sales alone will not allow a venue to turn a profit.

The 250-capacity Mercury Lounge, which books some of the best bands around—includ-ing a number of bands who should be playing venues two or three times larger—is 21 and up.

The Bell House, which is booked by Todd Abramson, the person who used to book Maxwell’s, the legendary club in

Hoboken, also finds the major-ity of their shows 21 and up.

My personal favorite venue in New York City, the Brooklyn Bowl, is 21 and up save for the rarest of occasions.

But what happened to the great all ages venues of yesteryear?

The Brooklyn Bowl is current-ly owned and operated by Pete Shapiro, a man who is as much responsible for the jam music scene as anyone, used to own the legendary Wetlands Preserve.

What separated the Wetlands from its counterparts was putting the music first, last and every-where in between. Nearly all of

my favorite bands, from Phish to Pearl Jam to Rage Against the Machine played the 500-capacity venue (although likely hundreds more poured in for a number of shows). The best part of the venue—it was all ages.

The club unfortunately closed in 2001, with its final show com-ing right on the heels of 9/11; how-ever, it left an infallible reputation as arguably the most important venue for a giant number of bands.

The venue also left a stark impression on a number of kids (kids meaning anyone under 21 for this definition), as they were able to see a band at a reasonable price

and before they made it “big”—with “big” being a relative term for a number of the bands that played the Wetlands.

As someone who considers himself to be somewhat of a con-cert junkie, my 21st birthday can-not come soon enough for a world of musical options to become available to me. Additionally, I’ve been told that once you turn 21, you don’t want drunken minors ruining your musical experience.

But with that being said, I’ll think back to the time when I was 17 and all I wanted to do was see Soulive play any of their 10 shows at the Brooklyn Bowl but being shut out of each and every one. I’ll think back to when The National played the Mercury Lounge the day before they played the 60-times-larger Barclays Center.

To wrap this up, why one goes to a concert is different for everyone. For some, it’s the music. For others, it’s the party. But at the end of the day, while from a dollars and sense per-spective, I understand why a venue wouldn’t want to let in minors. However, I just wish more places would let kids go see live music.

Madison has the benefit of the Majestic, which in recent years has brought in great national touring acts while let-ting in those under 21. If only every city was so progressive to have this kind of mid-size venue let in minors.

Want to start an all-ages venue with Brian? Start the planning process by emailing him at [email protected].

The stigma behind “gamer” will hopefully change. right now it’s

more a matter of under-standing the different degrees of the word.

BriAn WeiDyweid-ing out the noise

madison has the benefit of the majestic, which in recent years has brought in great national touring

acts while letting in those under 21.

GrAPhic By chrysTel PAulson

Page 5: The Daily Cardinal - Tuesday, November 19, 2013

artsdailycardinal.com Tuesday,November19,20135 l

Communion bounces back to Madison with headliner Tennis By Jonny ShapiroThedailycardiNal

One month is up, and Communion is back for its sec-ond installment in Madison. With it comes Tennis, the nos-talgic, pop-rock duo from Colorado. Although their home is in the mountains, the married couple’s first album was con-ceived on a trip that helped give the band national attention: an eight-month sailing trip down the eastern seaboard. I spoke with lead singer Alaina Moore about the trip, as well as their newest release, Small Sound.

Tennis is as much a love story as a rock band. Moore and hus-band Patrick Riley met each other in college and decided to make music together. Not long after this, they ditched the every day for a fairy tale journey on the sea to pen love songs. No, this is not a Garry Marshall flick. It’s not a Hans Christian Andersen story. It’s simply the life we all dream about.

“We had led the most normal, unimaginative lives,” Moore said. “After finishing college, Patrick and I felt like all of our life had just been read about in books and not manifested in any way. It was something Patrick had wanted to do his whole life, so we started sailing together. We just decided to connect through it even though it’s a little absurd, because we were obviously land locked in Colorado.

I had actually never been to the ocean before. I told every-one that I knew that in six months we were selling every-thing and moving away. The more people we told, the more committed we were. I couldn’t back out of it because I would look like a huge dick. We just made it real. We sold all of our possessions as soon as we grad-uated, bought one way tickets to Florida and left.”

Upon their return, the dream continued. The personal songs they wrote at sea turned into Cape Dory, their 2011 debut album, which gained positive reviews and a feature on NPR.

“It was a really transforma-tive time. It felt magical. The lives we were leading had been so isolated, and the fact that something we did connected with a lot of people was really weird,” Moore said. “The was the number one compelling rea-son to start pursuing a career in music. We ended up sharing what would be universal emo-tions even though our experi-ence was so unique. Once you have that, it’s kind of like a drug. You don’t want to give it up.”

The band enlisted The Black Keys’ drummer Patrick Carney to produce their 2012 album, Young & Old. Tennis doesn’t rock the same hard-nosed grun-ge sound as The Black Keys, but Moore insisted that the pairing could not have been better.

“The learning curve was real-ly high, almost painfully so. We didn’t know a lot about mak-ing a record, but Carney was a lot more experienced with it.

We were huge Black Keys fans; that kind of gritty rock ‘n’ roll edge is something that we really like,”Moore said. “Even though our music came out differently, we consider ourselves born out of the lo-fi movement. Wavves’ first album changed my life, just pure distortion. Even though it seemed like an unusual pairing, to us it made a lot of sense. He seemed like the only person we could bring on board to get the sound we wanted.”

Tennis spent time in Nashville this summer working on their EP Small Sound. The first single, “Mean Streets,” was released a few weeks ago, and it sounds like the band picked up a cool groove down south.

“I wish I could tell you what our new album will sound like. Our taste keeps evolving. The more we play live, the wider net I want to cast. I lose interest if I do the same thing night after night,” Moore said. “After we play a show, I want to write a song that’s more and more different from anything I’ve ever played before. I’m not sure where we’ll land by the time we finish a full length record, but I hope it will push us in the furthest reaches of pop music.”

Joining Tennis at Communion this month will be University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire prod-uct Building on Buildings. The four-piece band, which formed in early 2013, goes in a few genre directions with their self-titled three-song EP, or as they like to call it, a “3P.”

“Connie, Shawn and I were all in a band called Thieves on Holiday, but hadn’t done anything musically for a while,” lead singer Erin Fuller explained. “I took a lot of time off of playing music to be a mom and sort out some bigger life stuff. Once I moved back to Madison, the clouds kind of lifted and I started song-writing again. To light a fire under our ass, Connie and I decided to book a small tour, a winter respite, to points south as a duo in late March. The collective started practicing in February, went on tour in late March and released our little ‘3P’ just before our first full band show at the High Noon this past June.”

With just three songs on the EP, the band certainly shows their chops. Fuller can break your heart with her voice and put it back together with mag-netic melodies and lyrics. You can hear in it the indie folk shades of Florence + the Machine and fellow Eau Claire musician Justin Vernon, along with the lo-fi rock sounds of Pavement and Wilco. If you look at their Facebook page, they list them-selves as mercurial rock.

“Our sound is a confluence of our individual influences, which overlap and diverge. Whoever is writing any given song usu-ally takes the lead,” Fuller said. “We’re all music junkies with broad collections spanning decades of great music, so we

like to sprinkle in a bit of any and everything that trips our trigger. Indie, but not too precious.”

Fuller and the rest of the band just finished recording in Eau Claire for their first LP, which will be released in February or March 2014.

“We had a fantastic experi-ence recording with the brilliant Jaime Hansen at April Base! Just got the first pass at rough mixes and it sounds amazing,” Fuller said. “Since we all have stupid busy lives, this was really the first time since inception that we’ve been in one place to just concentrate on music. It was like band camp.”

It isn’t easy for Fuller to juggle the senior designer position at Planet Propaganda, a Madison-based design and advertising

agency, with being a single par-ent to a busy 5-year-old boy. Still, she’s happy to squeeze music into her hectic schedule.

“An idle mind is not my friend. I started out as a flute major in school, but discovered I didn’t want to be locked in a practice room for most of my college career,” Fuller said. “So, I fell into the design field and pur-sued musical endeavors outside of school. Music always played a huge part in my life. It’s my therapy, my constant, my moti-vation. Music is my boyfriend.”

Tennis and Building on Buildings will take the stage at The Frequency for Communion Nov. 20 at 8 p.m. You can also catch Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats, On and On, Savoir Adore and Brandon Beebe.

Madison-areabandBuildingonBuildingswillplaythesecondcommunionatTheFrequencyalongwithTennisandOnanOn.

Some things we really, really like this week:

1. Emo Revival Music:It’s the point of the semes-

ter when everything is piling up and you need a release. Check out Small

Leaks Sink Ships or Pianos Become the Teeth

if you’re feeling sunk.

2. “Roundabout” by Yes:Though it can be hard to swallow due to its length,

if you can get through this proggy opus, you will

be in a Yes mood.

3. The movies of Wes Anderson:

One of the quirkiest directors of all time,

Anderson and his films offer a comedic release from what’s supposed to be the happiest time of the year. “The Royal Tenenbaums” is a per-

sonal favorite.

4. “Myra Breckinridge” by Gore Vidal:

One of the most clever writ-ers, “Breckinridge” is his

quintessential novel.

5. “Let Her Go” by The Passenger:

The melody is emotional and easy to listen to. For repeated listens, check

out the bass line.

6. The music of Counting Crows:

Because come on. They’re the Counting Crows.

What’s not to like?

7. “The Breakfast Club”:This John Hughes classic will warm your heart and make you wonder what-ever happened to Molly

Ringwald. Don’t you for-get about it.

alBuM arT CourTeSy of Building on BuildingS

Page 6: The Daily Cardinal - Tuesday, November 19, 2013

comics Stay off the street. Trypophobia is the fear of clusters of small holes.

6 • Tuesday, November 19, 2013 dailycardinal.com

Sick of tragedy

ACROSS 1 Medieval fight club? 5 Role in Bizet’s “The

Pearl Fishers” 10 Complain about

trifles 14 State categorically 15 Home storage area,

often 16 Part of BTU 17 Specialized

legislative body 20 Jazz great Vaughan 21 Ballroom dance

similar to the rumba 22 Lugosi of “Son of

Frankenstein” 25 Mountain nymph of

Greek myth 26 Dance or dip 30 Strive 33 Get ready for a

dubbing 34 Couple 35 Body shop? 38 Bond, for one 42 It’s in the spring 43 “Go back” computer

command 44 Arm of the sea 45 Kin of “blasted” or

“confounded” 47 Molecule makers 48 Source for a movie,

sometimes 51 Give a Bronx cheer to

53 Bad reception? 56 Stratosphere

substance 60 Decision in a duel 64 Steering station 65 Beauty pageant

headpiece 66 Solo at the Met 67 Big Band and

gaslight 68 Kills, as a dragon 69 Gentleman’s date

DOWN 1 Certain parents 2 Fifth and Sixth, in

NYC 3 Drink mentioned in

“Lola” 4 Attractive pitcher 5 Tool used in shop

class 6 Abbr. that saves time

and space 7 Judge who tried O.J. 8 Life partner? 9 Highest point 10 Tomorrow, e.g. 11 Correct knotted laces 12 Florence neighbor 13 Transport for the

fairytale prince 18 Scheming factions 19 Grandpa Munster’s

pet 23 Bill of ___ (shipping

document) 24 Into separate pieces

26 Glance over 27 Tutor in “The King

and I” 28 Tax 29 “Monkey ___, monkey

do” 31 Temple with an

upcurved roof 32 Words spoken in

front of witnesses 35 Cylindrical storage

tower 36 Literary composition 37 Short six-footers? 39 Large cask for wine 40 Onetime Mets

catcher Mike 41 Detonation maker 45 Gap fillers? 46 Tina’s “30 Rock” boss 48 Specialized market

segment 49 Pigment of iron oxide 50 Small, stringed

instrument 52 Larval crabs 54 They’re designed in

Hollywood 55 Where the worm

turns? 57 Gem from Australia 58 Asta’s lady 59 Wife of Geraint, in

Arthurian lore 61 Air traffic control

agcy. 62 Smacking of irony 63 Put into words

Answer key available at www.dailycardinal.com

Today’s Crossword Puzzle

Need Inspiration© Puzzles by Pappocom

Solution, tips and computer program available at www.sudoku.com

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.

Today’s Sudoku

# 33

EASY # 33

3 5 6 25 8

1 8 9 68 9 1 3

8 46 8 9 7

2 8 3 97 3

5 3 1 4

3 4 5 1 8 6 9 7 26 2 9 4 3 7 5 8 11 8 7 9 5 2 3 4 68 9 1 7 2 3 4 6 57 5 6 8 9 4 2 1 34 3 2 6 1 5 8 9 72 1 4 5 6 8 7 3 99 7 3 2 4 1 6 5 85 6 8 3 7 9 1 2 4

# 34

EASY # 34

6 4 25 8 1 3

2 4 94 2

3 6 14 3

7 1 23 6 7 95 9 7

7 6 8 1 3 9 4 2 55 9 4 6 8 2 1 3 73 1 2 5 4 7 9 6 84 7 3 2 5 8 6 9 19 8 5 3 6 1 7 4 26 2 1 7 9 4 5 8 38 4 7 9 1 3 2 5 62 3 6 4 7 5 8 1 91 5 9 8 2 6 3 7 4

# 35

EASY # 35

6 5 8 4 2 18 1 9 7

73 9 5 7

1 55 4 7 8

45 6 2 1

2 7 3 8 4 9

6 7 5 8 3 4 2 9 14 8 3 1 2 9 6 7 51 2 9 5 7 6 3 8 43 4 8 9 6 5 1 2 77 9 1 2 8 3 5 4 65 6 2 4 1 7 9 3 89 3 6 7 4 1 8 5 28 5 4 6 9 2 7 1 32 1 7 3 5 8 4 6 9

# 36

EASY # 36

4 97 8 3

3 7 6 2 87 4 9

1 2 3 77 5 8

5 6 3 2 14 5 8

1 5

5 8 4 3 2 1 9 6 76 2 7 5 8 9 1 4 31 3 9 7 6 4 2 8 53 6 8 2 1 7 4 5 99 1 2 6 4 5 3 7 87 4 5 8 9 3 6 2 18 5 6 9 3 2 7 1 44 7 3 1 5 6 8 9 22 9 1 4 7 8 5 3 6

Page 9 of 25www.sudoku.com 24 Jul 05

Evil Bird Classic By Caitlin Kirihara [email protected]

Dumpy Doodles By Dillard M.F. Egan [email protected]

Classic By Melanie Shibley [email protected]

Crustaches Classic By Patrick Remington [email protected]

Evil Bird Classic By Caitlin Kirihara [email protected]

Caved In By Nick Kryshak [email protected]

Page 7: The Daily Cardinal - Tuesday, November 19, 2013

opinion

l

Spencer lindSayopinion columnist

House should not impeach eric Holder

R euters reports that House Republicans are planning to intro-

duce articles of impeachment against Attorney General Eric Holder. While this plan is politically unfeasible, given that the Democrats control the Senate and Republicans don’t have anywhere near the two-thirds majority required to actually pass the articles in the House, it does speak volumes about our political discourse and the recent paralysis of the Legislative Branch. While the grounds of impeachment are not entirely unfounded, they blow a minor administrative mishap way out of proportion and are based more on poli-tics than any serious misdeeds. People in Congress are not stu-pid; they know these measures will not pass. They are not doing this to realistically pur-sue justice and the protection of our democracy, but rather to publicly shame a political rival. This illustrates how divided and ineffective our legislature

is. Rather than dealing with serious issues that require their attention, they are spending their time on ideological mea-sures to say mean things about their opponents. If we want an effective government we have to stop our the men and women in Congress from doing things like this.

The first article of impeach-ment is actually based on wrongdoing, and something the attorney general should be held accountable for. It is based on ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ in which the Justice Department sold guns to Mexican drug cartels with the intention of tracking the guns and catching high-up violent criminals in the cartel. In actu-ality the U.S. just sold 2,000

guns to low-level traffickers. This policy initiative was a massive failure, and Holder should bear some responsi-bility for it. Holder is accused of trying to cover up the pro-gram’s failures by refusing to give Congress documents they subpoenaed. While this may be illegal, it does not warrant impeachment. In the late ’80s, President Ronald Reagan con-tinued to support Nicaraguan Contras in secret after Congress had passed legislation ordering him to stop doing so. While this was clearly illegal, Reagan did not face impeachment for it. While both programs were illegal, they were massive pol-icy blunders that should never have happened. They were administrative errors rather than intentional invocations of harm upon the nation. There should be measures taken to prevent anything like this from ever happening again, but that doesn’t mean we should impeach someone over it.

Subsequent articles of impeachment are ideologically driven and clearly based more on politics than any breach of the law. One takes aim at

Holders choice not to enforce same sex marriage laws that have since been ruled uncon-stitutional. As a member of the Executive Branch he has the right to prioritize certain cases, and choosing not to prioritize same sex marriage cases is well within his right. I find it admi-rable that he chose to stand up for the rights of same-sex cou-ples rather than continue to dis-criminate against them. Holder was acting within the law by not enforcing laws that clearly vio-lated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The Supreme Court agreed with his objection.

Another article takes aim at his decision to not enforce man-datory minimums for prison sentences on non-violent drug offenses. This is another case in which he has the right to prioritize and deprioritize the enforcement of certain laws. Non-violent drug offenders do not deserve to go to jail for making mistakes in their per-sonal lives, and I commend the attorney general for recognizing this. Mandatory minimums also carry racial undertones and are partly responsible for why drug

laws disproportionately affect minorities. Like the article same-sex marriage laws this is clearly based on House Republican’s disagreement with his policy rather than any misdeeds.

One other article focuses on his decision not to prosecute an IRS administrator who decided to over-scrutinize a conserva-tive political activist. This may require further investigation, but given what we know about the situation right now, it is not grounds for impeachment as Holder is not implicated in the controversy whatsoever.

While Eric Holder has made some mistakes, these mistakes do not warrant impeachment. If House Speaker John Boehner knows what’s good for him and for the party he will not allow the articles to be introduced, and even if he does, they stand virtually no chance of passing. It is clear House Republicans are using these articles as an act of public humiliation. Frankly, the House has better things to do than whine about how much they don’t like someone.

Do you think Holder should be impeached? Please send feedback to [email protected].

dailycardinal.com Tuesday, November 19, 2013 7

Millennials are not socially stunted by social media usage

it is clear House republicans are using

these articles as an act of public humiliation.

alex SwanSonopinion columnist

I constantly hear that my gen-eration is going to be socially stunted because of our inces-

sant use of social media. I feel as though I am frequently listening to people tell me that we won’t be able to pick up on social cues or react in real world situations because we have become social-ized in a cyber-world. However, I’m not convinced that social media and this new age of tech-nology are wholly detrimental to social development. As with any-thing, there are obvious positives and negatives.

There is a huge issue with cyberbullying. It’s much easier to sit back behind a computer screen and type a derogatory comment than it is to bully in person. However, the effects of the cyber-bullying are just as detrimental as any type of bullying to the victim.

In a similar vein, at the end of almost every online article, I’m appalled by how vicious the com-ments are. Oftentimes, the com-ments not only attack the content of the article, but also the writing of the author or other commenta-tors. I believe a lot of that will-ingness to comment so strongly comes from the ability to write behind a username as well as a computer screen. Of course that’s not always the case, but I think it contributes to it.

Additionally, social media sites obviously open up our lives to the public and to the hundreds of people that we allow to be our friends. This often creates an obsessive desire within us to have our lives look as cool and as fun

as possible by picking the right profile picture, uploading the right pictures or making an appearance on others’ pages. Social media has caused us to become more self-conscious.

Similarly, we are also much too open on social media sites. My biggest problem with Facebook right now is that I don’t care about the majority of posted status updates. Users are posting useless information that would most likely seem irrelevant if they were telling a group of hun-dreds of people in person rather than over the Internet.

Undoubtedly, social media is a time-waster for many of its users. I know plenty of individu-als who delete their Facebook or Twitter accounts during finals week, just to ensure that they don’t end up spending hours sucked into a site they can’t afford to spend time on.

However, with all those negatives aside, there are some enormous benefits to social media use. For example, and most importantly, communica-tion is becoming much easier for my generation.

Although I attend a different university than most of my high school friends, it’s incredibly easy to check up on them, to see their posts on my newsfeed, to write on their Facebook wall or to send them a chat. I understand that many people are worried about kids’ ability to interact face-to-face and pick up on different social cues. However, I think that the way we communicate through this new-found technology and social media can absolutely relay our personalities; it’s simply in a different manner. We are talented at deciphering the writing styles

of our friends. It’s easy for us to tell when a friend is upset over Facebook or text simply by the way they use punctuation or by their word choice. We post vid-eos, pictures and statuses that we think our friends will like. It’s very personal communication; it’s just not face to face.

The role of news on social media is critical. The most impor-tant news stories are inescapable to most social media users simply because the information will be tweeted or shared multiple times. With social media’s huge audi-ence, it’s easy to keep up with the most popular current events.

Social media is also ideal for organization. Students use Facebook groups for class proj-ects, for extracurricular activities and as an entire class resource site. Organizations use social media to post important infor-mation about their service or product. Artists are constantly using social media to publicize their work and gain support.

Finally, I think there is a way to handle this technological age while becoming perfectly socially adept. The vast majority of peo-ple still prefer in-person contact to technological contact, and of course kids are still learning important social cues by being together in person. However, social media allows us to keep in contact with friends and family who we can’t see face-to-face. I think the technological age has major advantages, and of course some issues that need to be worked through. But, I can’t agree with those who think the world is undoubtedly moving to become too technologically based.

Please send all feedback to [email protected].

influence people.

Want to be an opinion columnist

next semester for The Daily Cardinal?

Come to our Opinion Writers’

Meeting this Thursday, Nov. 21

at 7:00P.M. in 2142 Vilas Hall to

meet the opinion editors and tell

them your ideas!

Page 8: The Daily Cardinal - Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Sports DAILYCARDINAL.COMTUESDAY NOVEMBER 19, 2013

Press Conference

Seasons finishing and beginning for UWBy Claire LancasterTHE DAILY CARDINAL

FootballWisconsin’s (5-1 Big Ten,

8-2 overall) blowout against Indiana last weekend elongated its now five-game win streak. Head coach Gary Andersen, however, didn’t celebrate long before directing his atten-tion to this week’s battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe against Minnesota (4-2, 8-2).

The border battle rivalry will continue this Saturday in the Land of Lakes, while Wisconsin looks to extend its nine-game win streak over the Gophers.

Andersen thinks the matchup between the teams, who have the same overall record, will come down to staying level and manag-ing turnovers.

“Turnovers are going to be a huge factor, just like they are every single week. You saw what a couple of early turnovers could do in the game last week,” Andersen said. “We’ve played very well on offense. I think that will be a key.”

Andersen thinks Minnesota’s

strengths are its sound scheme and respected coaching. Unlike many of the teams the Badgers have recently played, Minnesota won’t go for the fast break, but their fly sweep-oriented offense will be able to run the ball in a similar way to Wisconsin.

“Down those lines, we’re very much the same team when it comes to a theory or, I guess, an identity,” Andersen said.

Men’s BasketballWisconsin (3-0) anticipates a

demanding three-game week at home. After three previous tri-umphs against solid teams, the players have proven their potential.

“The only thing we know for certain is that we’re 3-0, and what we’ve taken from it remains to be seen,” head coach Bo Ryan said. “They’ve answered the bell. Each of the teams we played definitely had the potential to put us on the right hand side.”

Ryan was pleasantly surprised with the playing of his freshmen, especially forward Nigel Hayes and guard Bronson Koenig.

“[Koenig] has got a lot of bas-ketball skill, a lot of moxy, just

knows how to play, can get things done, and he’s learning how to play defense the way we need him to,” Ryan said.

Though Ryan expressed that he would like to have more than a day to prepare for games, the way the schedule was made means Wisconsin will have to recover quickly from its games against North Dakota, Bowling Green and Oral Roberts this week.

“Three different opponents in five and a half days, it bet-ter be about what you’re trying to get done, more so than what your opponent brings,” Ryan said. “Even though we do like days to prepare.”

Women’s VolleyballThe Badgers (9-7 Big Ten,

20-8) closed out the last of their home games this season with a loss to No. 2 Penn State and a victory over Ohio State. They will conclude the regular season with four games on the road.

Head coach Kelly Sheffield said he expects to be a seeded team after the Badgers complete next week’s road trip to Michigan and Michigan State.

Despite their loss against Penn State, Sheffield was happy with how his team played.

“[The] two times we played Penn State, I think we held them to their two lowest hitting per-centages of the year in confer-ence,” Sheffield said. “We just haven’t been able to generate enough offense.”

Sheffield says the next two games will be a battle to win, improve and be a seeded team, which he believes is attainable with the improvement of junior outside hitter Ellen Chapman and junior outside hitter Deme Morales.

“Chapman is getting a lot better out there,” Sheffield said “Deme’s ball control is getting a lot better. Our connection with our middles is getting a lot better.”

Women’s BasketballWisconsin looks to continue

its undefeated season against

Alabama this Thursday and extend their first 3-0 start since 2009. Head coach Bobbie Kelsey admitted they still have a long way to go, even after the early-season success.

“I know the last two years we struggled in the beginning, but we finally have some pieces there that we need to compete on the level that we are expect-ing ourselves to compete on,” Kelsey said.

Kelsey is also anticipating the chemistry between sisters red-shirt junior forward Michala Johnson and freshman forward Malayna Johnson to be explosive once Malayna has more practice under her belt.

In contrast to last year when the team led the Big Ten in turn-overs, according to Kelsey, the Badgers are handling the ball well with the help of sophomore guard Dakota Whyte.

“I think we really made a con-certed effort to not make plays that just aren’t there,” Kelsey said. “I think some of our turn-overs last year was just trying to force things. Some of it was just we were tired. We didn’t have a sub last year.”

Men’s SoccerFor the first time since

1995, Wisconsin (4-2-0, 13-4-2) qualified for the NCAA tour-nament. They will play their first game at the McClimon Soccer Complex this Thursday against Milwaukee (5-2 Horizon League, 15-2-2), and hope to add to their perfect home season. Though not surprised, head coach John Trask expressed his excitement for his team’s suc-cess, and for them to be put to the test.

“I think we’re right about where we were hoping to be,” Trask said. “I know our guys are really looking forward to playing at least one more game in Madison.”

Trask said he expects Milwaukee to be a tough chal-lenge, and that at this point in the season his ultimate goal is to advance. He also asserted that the team’s best playing has yet to be seen.

“There’s always a little bit of worry on our end as coaches to make sure that we’re locked in, we’re dialed in for what’s next,” Trask said. “I think there’s more in this team.”

Wisconsin is the fifth best football team in the country.

At least they are in the num-bers of Jeff Sagarin, creator of one of the six BCS computer polls.

According to Sagarin’s preferred rating system, only four teams lie ahead of the Badgers and that’s counting the “loss” to Arizona State, who are sixth in these rankings.

But when Sagarin submits his rankings to the BCS, he will register the Badgers as the 20th best team in the country. This is because Sagarin is forced by a BCS restriction to not use margin of victory in his rank-ings, even if it makes the rankings less accurate (and he admits this, on the masthead of his rankings).

Yes, you read that correctly. The BCS decreed that stop-

ping teams like Wisconsin from destroying the UMass’s of the world was more important than accurately ranking teams.

This is just one step in a long tradition of the BCS altering its computer polls for political reasons. A quality win bonus was installed after Miami missed out on the national championship despite a wealth of perceived quality wins.

The edict to eliminate margin of victory in computer polls came in 2002 after Nebraska reached the national championship thanks to beating down inferior teams. After the 2003 split-champion-ship fiasco, the BCS was reorga-nized and the computer rankings lost much of their weight, since they were the ones who locked out USC from the title game.

In all of these incidents, the computers were deemed incorrect and altered to fit the human polls idea of how teams should be eval-uated. That is really, really stupid.

Any student who has ever paid attention in a chemistry or statistics class knows that you do not change your procedures to get the data you want.

That flies in the face of the entire reason you do experiments and calculations in the first place.

Altering the computers to match human opinion complete-ly defeats their purpose.

This is all just another rea-son why no tears will be shed when the BCS finally gives way to the badly named, but better con-structed College Football Playoff next season.

The BCS deemed political cor-rectness and similarities to human polls as more important than sup-posed objective accuracy, because accuracy might be divergent from what they expected.

Also, it’s not like teams really cared much about political correct-ness. Ohio State beat a team 76-0 earlier this season. Guys, maybe

teams just like destroying things.Because of this fear of diver-

gent accuracy, the polls we use to objectively rank teams and elimi-nate bias now have built in bias, because they have been altered to be like the very thing they were supposed to oppose.

Maybe the BCS should have just stopped using computer polls. Anytime the computer polls did what they were added to the BCS to do, offer an opinion that opposed the human polls, the BCS just altered the computer polls to make sure that it would never happen again.

If they were afraid of some-thing doing what it was supposed to do, why did they keep that thing around?

Will you miss the BCS sys-tem? How long have you been looking forward to the College Football Playoff? Let Jack know what you think by emailing [email protected].

The BCS’s major flaw is adding human biases to computers

JACK BAERbaer necessities

The Wisconsin men’s soccer team made the NCAA tourna-ment for the first time since 1995. Coincidentally, the Badgers won the championship that season.

In the NCAA Selection Show yesterday, the team and fans alike were informed that in-state rival Milwaukee (5-2 Hori-zon League, 15-2-2 overall) would be coming to Madison for their first round showdown Thursday at 7 p.m.

Wisconsin travelled to play the Panthers Oct. 23 and the game ended in a 1-1 (2OT) tie.

The McClimon Soccer Com-plex has given the Badgers a true home field advantage this sea-son. They are a perfect 9-0-0 at home this season.

The winner of this game will travel to play the No. 3 overall seed Notre Dame.

JONAH BELECKIS

Men’s soccer in NCAA tourney

WIL GIBB/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO

Bo Ryan is impressed with Nigel Hayes’ play early this season.

WIL GIBB/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO

Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year junior AJ Cochran and the Badgers will host Milwaukee in the NCAA tournament Thursday.