Although the number of female faculty on University of Wisconsin campuses still hangs below the national average, their presence has been on the rise over the past several years, according to this year’s UW System Fact Book.
According to the data, the percentage of women in UW System faculty has increased from 36.4 percent in the 2007-2008 academic year to 38.7 percent for the 2011-2012 academic year. The data also shows in 2011, the percentage of women represented in faculty as well as non-instructional staff, classified staff, graduate students and other administrators was at just more than 50 percent.
UW System spokesperson David Giroux said although the longstanding history of inequality in higher education has not been completely solved, he believes the UW System has opened many doors for opportunity that are headed in the right direction.
Giroux said as a father of three daughters, he is “encouraged” women are pursuing higher education.
Teresa O’Halloran, an assistant to the chancellor for affi rmative
action at UW-Eau Claire, said UW-Eau Claire has a staff comprised 39.7 percent of women.
However, she said this figure is still below the national average, which according to Catalyst, a nonprofit advocating for women in the workplace, is 45.5 percent at bachelor’s degree institutions.
O’Halloran said UW-Eau Claire has a traditionally worse retention of female faculty over a period of 10 years in comparison with male faculty.
Regarding the trend of poor female staff retention, O’Halloran said a campus climate survey on UW-Eau Claire’s website aiming to gauge opinions on the school’s atmosphere showed 18 percent of employees with children felt as though they were perceived as being less committed to their careers.
O’Halloran said one of the missions of the survey is to explore whether the UW System is able to “serve the needs of women, minority, disadvantaged, disabled and non-traditional students and seek racial and ethnic diversifi cation of the student body and the professional faculty and staff.”
THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1969
www.badgerherald.com Thursday, October 25, 2012 Volume XLIV, Issue 35
INSIDE
Burke fi nds home in Madison
SPORTS | 10
Women’s hockey writer Caroline Sage profi les stand-out freshman defender and her traveling youth
Abstract city art fi nds home at UW
ARTS | 5
UW MFA Candidate Galen Gibson-Cornell explores European scenes through mixed media in Union South
Soglin sends the homeless packing
OPINION | 4
A recently proposed and highly controversial travel fund would provide one-way bus tickets for homeless people
EVENTStoday
4:30-6:30 p.m.Design Summit IIH.F. DeLuca ForumWisconsin Institutes for Discovery
6:30-8:30 p.m.Homecoming Trivia NightGreat HallMemorial Union
Students spar in debateCollege Democrats Chair Chris Hoffman addresses the crowd and his opponents in a debate with College Republicans and others Wednesday night. The event drew a crowd of about 70.
Kelsey Fenton The Badger Herald
Senate race attack ads focus on 9/11Thompson says Baldwin voted against bill honoring victims; Baldwin calls ad “disgrace”
The Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks have become a new point of contention in Wisconsin’s heated U.S. Senate race, with both campaigns claiming in media advertisements their opponent does not care about those most impacted by the attack.
Former Gov. Tommy Thompson’s campaign drew first blood Tuesday by attacking opponent Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, for voting against a 2006 bill to honor Sept. 11 victims.
Baldwin’s campaign responded Wednesday with an attack ad of its own that calls Thompson’s ad a “disgrace.” The ad goes on to say Baldwin voted in support of Sept. 11 victims multiple times and accuses Thompson of profiting $3 million from a federal bill to provide health care to first responders from the attack.
The Thompson campaign released a statement touting the Milwaukee Professional Firefighters Association’s support for him.
“Tommy’s record as a governor speaks for itself,” MPFFA President Dave Seager said in the statement. “Tommy has always been consistent in his support for us during his tenure as governor and Health and Human Services Secretary, and I know he will be in the future as a U.S. Senator.”
Thompson “would have
been the fi rst in line” to sign the legislation in question if he had been presented it, Seager said.
In the statement, Thompson said he was “honored” to have their endorsement and said he would always be a “vocal advocate” for public safety workers and ensure they have the proper resources.
According to FactCheck.org, Baldwin did vote against the 2006 bill commemorating the attacks’s fifth anniversary, along with Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, and 21 other Democrats in Congress. The site says both ads fail to note the GOP-drafted bill also “politicized” the anniversary by supporting the Patriot Act and anti-immigration legislation that many Democrats opposed.
University of Wisconsin political science professor David Canon agreed with FactCheck.org’s description of Thompson’s ad as “false and vicious.” Canon said Baldwin was faced with a “Catch-22” when she voted against the 2006 bill.
Cannon said the ad was completely inappropriate because it distorted why Baldwin voted against the bill.
“It’s really a classic no-win situation when something is structured that way,” Canon said. “You have to be in the position of voting for something that you’re against when you combine things like that in a bill.”
Groups of University of Wisconsin student Democrats and Republicans clashed over several topics relating to the upcoming presidential election Wednesday night.
Hosted by the Bipartisan Issues Group and the Alexander Hamilton Society, students were treated to pizza and politics as four representatives from each opposing organization argued for their respective presidential candidates.
Moderated by UW political science professor Donald Downs, the debate allowed each side two minutes to explain its position on a set of topics,
followed by time for discussion across tables.
Each side then answered related questions the audience tweeted at them during the event. College Republicans Chair Jeff Snow began the debate by questioning President Barack Obama’s leadership abilities and emphasizing the importance of the November election.
“This election will say a lot about the country we are and the country we want to become,” Snow said shortly before endorsing former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass.
Chair of College Democrats Chris Hoffman highlighted the progress Obama has made in his first term in his
introduction and said the president’s focus on directly influencing the middle class will help boost the economy.
When a member of College Democrats criticized Romney for focusing on helping the top 10 percent of U.S. earners, College Republican Treasurer Dan Shanahan argued that cutting taxes on those earners would promote job growth.
Shanahan said the middle class needs to first gain jobs before it can gain money to spend in the economy.
The debate soon moved onto education, a hot-button issue in this election cycle. College Democrats of Wisconsin Second Vice
Chair Zach Wood strongly opposed Romney’s promise to cut funding to education.
“If you’re legitimately concerned about our children’s future, cutting education is the last thing to do,” Wood said.
Both sides were able to voice their opinions on other topics, including health care, foreign policy, the deficit and the economy. Many points and discussion questions spurred factual disputes between the groups, often resulting in laughter from the audience of about 70.
The chairs of both groups ended the debate by reiterating the importance of voting but remained
Noah GoetzelHerald Contributor
7:30 p.m.Fall Film Series on Colombia206 Ingraham Hall
9:30-11:30 p.m.WUD Film Presents: “Water for Elephants”The MarqueeUnion South
Female-male split in faculty eveningDespite being below U.S. average, data shows increase in UW System women
Tim HadickReporter
Alice CoyneHerald Contributor
9/11 ADS, page 2DEBATE, page 2
FEMALE FACULTY, page 2
University Affairs Committee to establish new safety forum
The Associated Students of Madison University Affairs Committee unveiled its plans to establish a regular forum to discuss students’ concerns about safety on campus at a meeting Wednesday night.
An ASM statement said the body will begin holding formal meetings with campus police, the university, the press and student leaders to address campus safety.
Madison Ald. Scott Resnick, District 8, and Ald. Mike Verveer,
District 4, reached out to student government about involving student leaders in campus safety discussions following a campus safety forum in September.
According to the statement, Resnick and Verveer both felt there should be an increase in regular discussions concerning campus safety in a manner similar to those held at the Campus Safety Forum.
“Resnick and Verveer have reached out to make a partnership with ASM to ensure that campus safety will continuously be discussed,” ASM University Affairs Chair Becca Buell said.
Buell said she met with Resnick Tuesday to discuss increasing communication between students on campus and city officials. She said they talked
about creating a shared governance group that would include both Resnick and Verveer, University of Wisconsin police, city police and “specific” representatives from student organizations.
ASM Press Office Director David Gardner said after the campus safety forum, some stakeholders expressed concerns students were not always a part of the decisions made by campus safety offi cials.
Gardner said as discussions of campus safety moved forward, people were also concerned the actions being taken regarding campus safety were very reactive. He said students worried actions were often being taken in reaction to something that had already happened.
Kelsey Fenton The Badger HeraldAs Halloween weekend approaches, students carve pumpkins on campus Wednesday afternoon.
FFFFall Fun
SAFETY FORUM, page 2
ASM body unveils plans for formal meetings with UW, students, universityDana BossenReporter
In an email to The Badger Herald, Baldwin spokesperson John Kraus said members of New York’s Congressional delegation support Baldwin’s votes.
In a statement, Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said Baldwin has an outstanding record of leadership in standing up for 9/11 first responders and survivors, and anyone who says differently is disregarding facts.
Canon said Thompson received an $11 million contract from the government in 2008 as head of Logistics Health. He said the contract was for the company to provide health care to first responders and that there was criticism about how that money was spent.
However, Canon said from what he has read, the claim Thompson made $3 million from the contract may be misleading, as he made it from selling his interest in the company, not from directly taking federal funds.
The Associated Students of Madison voted to revisit the possibility of creating a sustainability grassroots committee within the student government in a meeting Wednesday.
ASM will reconsider the committee in a Student Council meeting next week, and it will have to pass with a vote of two-thirds’ majority.
Last week, Student Council voted against the creation of this committee within ASM by a vote of 12 against and nine in favor. In order to pass last week, the proposal would have required a vote of two-thirds’ majority.
ASM Chair Andrew Bulovsky said because many representatives showed
interest, it was expected ASM would revisit the idea of a sustainability grassroots committee.
Bulovsky said voting next week will include new ASM freshmen representatives, who will be sworn into the student government at the upcoming meeting. He said it will be interesting to see if the addition of these voters will affect the results.
Bulovsky said approving the committee could be a two-week process. He said if the proposal passes next week, Student Council will then take a vote to approve the committee at the following ASM meeting.
If the proposal is voted down next week, Bulovsky
said they will not be able to revisit the possibility of a sustainability grassroots committee again because the student government is only allowed to motion to reconsider something once.
As to whether or not a sustainability grassroots committee will benefi t ASM, Bulovsky said it is almost impossible to say if it will be good or bad. However, he said the addition of this committee could draw attention to more issues on campus.
Bulovsky said generally, committees like this are almost never added to ASM. He said the four primary existing grassroots committees, including University Affairs, Legislative Affairs, Shared Governance and Diversity Committee, are
much older.University of Wisconsin
student Trager Metge attended the meeting and spoke in open forum from the position of a concerned student in favor of the creation of a sustainability grassroots committee within ASM. He said he was there to represent other students who do not necessarily have a voice but need one.
“As ASM it’s your responsibility to represent what students are thinking about and what students are caring about,” Metge said. “These days it’s sustainability, it’s the way the world is turning and what more focus is turning to.”
UW student and member of F.H. King Girard Gorelick said in open forum he supports the idea of a
sustainability grassroots committee within ASM as a tremendous opportunity for the student government and body.
Gorelick said because the UW Office of Sustainability wants to work with students, the creation of this committee would serve as a tremendous opportunity to have a direct voice from the student body to the university at such a high scale.
Gorelick said students want a voice to tackle sustainability issues in an institutional level beyond just an academic one.
“I think it would be a big step forward to create this committee, but I also think it would be a huge step backward not to,” Gorelick said.
The Badger Herald | News | Thursday, October 25, 20122
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firmly divided on many issues.
Snow blamed Obama for Washington, D.C., having “never been so broken,” while Hoffman affirmed “President Obama knows what it takes to move [the U.S.] forward.”
BIG President Alex Holland said even though there was still a clear
divide between the groups, allowing both sides to voice their opinions helps promote understanding.
“We need to have these discussions and listen to the other side if we’re going to create bipartisanship,” Holland said. “I thought [the debate] was really successful considering there were a few communications glitches, but the overall debate ran smoothly.”
The Alexander Hamilton Society UW Chapter President Anthony Lee agreed debates help open discussion. Lee said he thinks it is still good for people to come out and listen to what the other side has to say.
“Nowadays especially, it’s a lot easier to live in your own little bubble and not really hear anything from the other side,” Lee said.
9/11 ADS, from 1
DEBATE, from 1
found 28 percent of employees felt they had to work harder than their colleagues in order to be perceived as legitimate.
O’Halloran said an increased presence of female students on campuses is a trend that will hopefully catch on with the staff. She said the faculty has yet to catch up with students.
With the inclusion and retention of more female
employees, O’Halloran said the potential for students to gain new and different perspectives increases.
Leader-Telegram Editor Don Huebscher, who researched and wrote on the UW System data, said each year, the female versus male presence on campuses has become more and more congruent with female figures steadily increasing percentage-wise.
Huebscher said the
number of female professors is moving in a direction that reflects the growing opportunities for females. He said although UW campuses are still below the national statistical average of female presence, the numbers continue in an upward trend.
“I’ve been out of college for more than 53 years, and I’m sure I had more male professors than female,” he said.
This inspired discussions as to how UW students can be more involved in campus safety decisions, Gardner said.
“The discussion that happened after the meeting was about how we can make a process in which students are a part of those decisions that campus safety marshals make,” Gardner said. “So that it is not just something that we hear about and then react to but rather that students, as a part of
the shared governance process, are active in the decisions being made.”
He said ideally, when campus safety initiatives are enacted, students are aware of what is going on and why it is happening.
Gardner also said it is important that the press, aldermen, police and the university are a part of these discussions too, as they also represent the voice of the student body.
Buell said she hopes the shared governance style format for the forums will be established very soon.
Until the formal group
starts meeting, Buell said the University Affairs Committee would be looking for opportunities to hold more forums and conversations concerning safety on campus.
“I’m really excited about this partnership,” Gardner said. “We would like to have regular meetings where we can post agendas and get people there to bring their concerns forward and also hear about what the police are considering so that we can be a part of that decision before that decision is made.”
SAFETY FORUM, from 1
FEMALE FACULTY, from 1
ASM to retackle sustainability committeeAfter voting possibility for new grassroots committee down last week, Student Council will reconsider next week
Julia SkulstadCampus Life Editor
Now that the presidential debates are over, the two campaigns have a little less than two weeks to make their final cases to voters throughout the country with the help of campus branches.
Monday’s foreign policy debate was the last chance for President Barack Obama and his challenger, former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney, to face off and explain to student voters why they are the better candidate.
University of Wisconsin journalism professor Michael Wagner said the debates themselves might not have had much of an impact in
swaying swing state votes from one candidate to the other.
“I think the debates affected people’s perception of the race more than the race itself,” Wagner said. “I don’t think either campaign will have much success at getting people in the other party to cross party lines on Election Day. ... What we are seeing now would likely have happened with or without the debates.”
Wagner said a win in Wisconsin would represent a significant advantage, especially for Obama.
“If Obama can win Wisconsin and Ohio, he really doesn’t need another swing state to win the
Campus groups gear up for electionJulia Van SusterenHerald Contributor
election,” Wagner said. “If he loses Wisconsin, he needs to get Nevada and New Hampshire at minimum to make up for the loss.”
UW College Republicans Chair Jeff Snow said his group has been working hard to get Romney and former Wis. Gov. Tommy Thompson elected.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., came to campus on Tuesday and the group has recently put on events with two of Romney’s sons.
Snow said his group would continue to push for a large turnout from UW students, noting they have a “Commit to Mitt” event on Friday where they will take 30 students to vote early. He said he and various other students would also be going to the Victory Center, a Romney campaign office, throughout the week to make calls and convince people to vote early.
“This is more of a liberal campus, but we have done our part to show that there is a conservative infl uence on campus and that there’s a lot of support for Mitt Romney and Tommy Thompson,” Snow said.
Chris Hoffman, UW
College Democrats chair, said there will be a rally at the Red Gym at 4:30 on Sunday that will include Thompson’s opponent, Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison. Those at the rally will then march up State Street to the municipal clerk office to vote early.
He said his group has been working hard to ensure students vote for Obama and Baldwin and emphasized that those who want to early vote should do so before the Nov. 2 deadline and if somebody wants to volunteer, they should go to a local Obama campaign offi ce.
Students for Obama, which has been coordinating with Hoffman’s group, has also been pushing for students to vote early and has registered many students, the group’s chair Peter Anich said.
“We’ve registered many thousands of voters on campus, and to do that, we’ve had a legion of volunteers that are just coming out to help us because they know what a Romney presidency would mean for them,” Anich said.
The Badger Herald | News | Thursday, October 25, 2012 3
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Your OpinionYour Opinion · Send your letters to the editor and guest columns to [email protected]. Publication is based on space and takes into account relevance and quality. Letters should be sent exclusively to the Herald. Unsigned letters will not be published. All submissions may be edited by the Herald for length and style. Reader feedback on all articles and columns can be posted at badgerherald.com, where all print content is archived.
The Badger Herald | Opinion | Thursday, October 25, 20124
Homelessness in Madison? Not in Soglin’s backyardHerald Editorial
We are not satisfi ed with Mayor Paul Soglin’s proposition that the city of Madison should put $25,000 toward a program called Helping Hands Homeward, which would serve as a travel fund for the city’s homeless population. Not only does this idea contradict previous statements in which Soglin has said permanent housing is the solution to Madison’s homelessness problem, it also oversimplifi es the
problem to the point of being incredibly naïve.
The program would pay for one-way bus tickets to reunite homeless individuals currently living in Madison with family members and friends living elsewhere in the U.S. While we understand people are more successful when they are surrounded by caring support networks of friends or family, and that providing transportation to bring the homeless to homes is
one way get them back on track, we do not feel paying for bus tickets will address any of the root causes of homelessness in this city.
People become homeless for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to unemployment, family rifts, mental illness and drug addiction. We question that a homeless person would often fi nd the answer to these problems or a better quality of life at his or her destination. He or she would
end up in a different city, possibly living with family or friends, but facing the same set of underlying problems as before.
If things do not work out with these family or friends, the homeless individuals who accept Soglin’s bus fare will most likely need to seek out support from social programs in an unfamiliar city. These programs may be better or worse than those in Madison, but either way the city will no
longer be involved — this is exactly the problem. We are concerned the net effect of the Helping Hands Homeward program will be to sweep homeless people off the streets of Madison, with no follow-up in regard to their well-being.
Spending $25,000 in this way is a shortsighted and superfi cial fi x to a long-term and deep-rooted problem. If the city is truly interested in permanent solutions, it would be better off investing
an additional $25,000 in affordable housing and social programs for homeless individuals here in Madison.
This travel fund is not a solution to homelessness in Madison. The city’s priority ought to be investing in programs that supply immediate and long-term help to those who need it right here and now, instead of sending them away via a one-way ticket to the unknown.
Editorial Board opinions are crafted independently of news coverage.
If Congress fails to pass Farm Bill, America loses
On Sept. 30, 2012 the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008, also known as the Farm Bill, was left to expire under the indecisive eyes of Congress.
As the son of dairy farmers, I consider this action an insult to the agriculturists who work tirelessly 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide this nation with its most basic necessities. I’m also frustrated by the fact that this great failure on the part of
Congress was overshadowed and eclipsed in the media by what I deem one of the most exhausting and boring presidential campaigns since William Jennings Bryan ran against William Howard Taft in 1908.
Now many of you may be wondering, “Hey Jared, the fact that America’s farmers have been left to dry out on the fence is terrible and all. But I have no ties to agriculture, so why should I care?” Well, let me enlighten you. As a human being you need food to live and you also need money to buy that food.
The Farm Bill provides subsidies to agricultural producers so that they can make a living. In turn, these subsidies make America’s agricultural goods competitive on the world
market. So in short, no Farm Bill means higher food prices for everyone.
And I’m not just talking about the vegetables that you buy at the Dane County Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning. I am talking about everything that you will be putting in your mouth, from milk you will putting on your corn-based morning cereal to beverages you may or may not imbibe late at night, which may or may not be distilled from the fi nest hops, barley and wheat.
The Farm Bill also supports progress in the areas of energy, conservation, nutrition and rural development. So beyond those of us who eat and drink, anyone who is interested in renewable energy sources, saving trees, leading a
healthy lifestyle or fi xing up rural infrastructure has a something at stake in this piece of legislation.
Congress failed to pass the Farm Bill for the same reason it has failed on so many other fronts — super partisan legislators were unwilling to compromise on anything. A version of the Farm Bill was passed by the Senate in June. However, it failed to meet the standards of House Republicans.
The House Republicans were angered over the amount of money that was being put into food stamps. Nothing says “we want to get America off of food stamps” more than refusing to pass a bill which keeps the price of food down and fi nancially supports the 22 million Americans with jobs in
agriculture.However, according to the
Hill, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio says that the House will deal with the Farm Bill in the lame duck session of Congress. And as we all know, a president usually does his best work when he has just been fi red from his job, but can stick around long enough to be a thorn in everyone’s side and not care about the consequences of his actions.
As I say this, I’m reminded of a Seinfeld episode in which George Castanza is trying to get fi red from the Yankees by dragging the Commissioner’s Trophy behind his car in the Yankee stadium parking lot, yelling through a megaphone, “I fear no reprisal!”
The Farm Bill is essential for agricultural production in America. If this bill isn’t
passed swiftly and effi ciently, food prices will continue to rise at an astonishing rate. You will have to pay more for your food or eat things that are more fi lling — I think that both those statements will be true. So unless more than 90 percent of your diet consists of Taco Bell burritos, you will be paying more.
America was built on a foundation of agriculture, and as long as every single product and consumer good continues to have its roots in the ground, we need to lend a helping hand to the people responsible for producing these goods.
Jared Mehre ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in political science and sociology with a certifi cate in criminal justice.
Crackdown on protesters infringes on fundamental rights
The most notable building on the Madison skyline sits like an egg atop a nest of surrounding buildings. By night, it acts as a beacon of light for the weary and otherwise disoriented. This building, of course, is the Wisconsin State Capitol.
The Capitol is the tallest building in the city of Madison, and rightfully so, because politics are important to this city and the state it calls home.
Wisconsin has been recognized by the president as a key state in deciding the outcome of this presidential election.
Accordingly, a political spotlight is being placed over the city of Madison, not unlike the spotlights that illuminate the Capitol in a bright white light at night. As a result of the increased focus on politics in Madison, the Capitol has become a soundstage for protesters to shout from and be heard. Whether it is with creative chants, posters or a guy on a Segway, these protesters want to voice their opinions by any means necessary in the hope of getting through to political leaders and other voters.
Thanks to a combination of the stubborn natures
of both protesters and the newly appointed Capitol Police Chief, David Erwin, 50 citations were given to Capitol protesters in September. When compared to the 40 citations issued between January and August, the number of citations seen in the past month alone is pretty outrageous. Although I realize we are moving ever closer to the presidential election and tensions among opposing parties are high, I think an increase from an average of fi ve citations per month to 50 citations in one month is excessive. Do the math — that is a 1,000 percent increase in the monthly rate of citations.
As a citizen of the U.S., I am troubled to discover people are being discouraged from exercising
their constitutional right to freedom of speech.
I know some of the citations were based on safety issues and disorderly conduct toward law enforcement. What is alarming is the number of people who were cited for “unlawful display of sign,” which totaled 11 out of the 50 that received citations. This is a direct infringement on the rights of American citizens, as it prevents people from speaking their minds, and is thus a form of political censorship … a censorship eerily similar to the kind found in Soviet Russia. Where’s McCarthy when you need him?
Recently, eight people were arrested for “unlawful display of sign” at the Capitol. One man named
Jason Huberty was displaying a Gandhi quote that was eventually taken by police. So he wrote a new quote on a different sign. The police proceeded to confi scate the new sign and ticketed Huberty. After this fi nal exchange, the police told Huberty if he ever wanted to display a sign at the Capitol again, he would need a permit, and failure to do so would result in a charge of disorderly conduct.
This is ridiculous in all senses of the word. From these arrests, I gather Erwin believes that because someone’s opinions are offensive or do not agree with another person’s worldview, it is illegal to display these opinions. No, Erwin is wrong. That is life. Just look at our history. The
history of mankind is based in war, and wars throughout our history have been the result of differences in belief systems, which ultimately stem from differences in opinions.
It is human to be unique and it is human to think for yourself, with your own opinionated assumptions. I will not go as far as to say these Capitol crackdowns are denying a protesters the right to be human, but I do believe they are unjust under our Constitution and contradict what the United States of America has grown to stand for as a symbol of democracy for the rest of the world.
Hayes Cascia ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in marketing.
Hayes CasciaStaff Writer
Charles GodfreyEditorial Content Editor
Ryan RaineyEditor-in-Chief
Adelaide BlanchardEditorial Board Chairman
Pam SelmanEditor-at-Large
Taylor NyeManaging Editor
Meher AhmadEditorial Board Member
Sarah WitmanEditorial Board Member
Reginald YoungEditorial Page Editor
Jared Mehre Columnist
Tommy Thompson will work for Wisconsin in WashingtonLETTER TO THE EDITOR
In 1994, former Gov. Tommy Thompson won 71 of 72 counties in Wisconsin — including Dane — and was reelected as governor. It was clear then he was the right choice for Wisconsin, and I believe he still is today. Even more important, I believe he’s the right choice for our generation, and as a senior stepping into the job market in a couple of months, I believe he’s also the right choice to get the economy back on track.
Thompson’s record on health care, education and the economy show he has the right ideas, recognizes our problems and will confront
these problems head on. While Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., talks a good game on the issues that matter to Wisconsin, there is little to indicate she would be a leader in the Senate. Thompson has the record to back up his rhetoric and will fi ght for Wisconsin in Washington.
Thompson opposes Obamacare, and for good reason. The revenue-raising aspects of Obamacare will raise taxes and premiums on middle-class families. The law places new taxes on high-cost plans in the belief the insurance companies will take much of the hit. However, the cost of these
taxes will be passed on to all consumers in the form of higher premiums. In fact, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average American family will pay an extra $1,200 toward its premium under the president’s health care law. Thompson wants to stop the rise in premiums and taxes on middle-class families by allowing consumers to buy insurance across state lines, enact medical liability reform and encourage personal responsibility to reduce costs associated with preventable illness.
With regard to Medicare, contrary to Baldwin’s claims,
Thompson does not want to end the program — he wants to preserve it. According to a 2012 report from the Medicare trustees, Medicare will be insolvent in 2024, and restoring it to solvency will require an 84 percent hike in the payroll tax. If nothing changes, we will be hit with an 84 percent rise in payroll taxes during our prime earning years in order to fund a program that may not even exist when we retire. Thompson wants to save Medicare by tying hospital payments to health care outcomes and turning Medicare into a premium support system to encourage
competition and lower prices. This approach will keep Medicare solvent and ensure it is there for future retirees.
When it comes to education and the economy, the choice is even clearer. During his time as governor, Thompson helped create 740,000 new jobs in Wisconsin. Accounting for infl ation, median household income rose by $3,500 in his 14 years as governor. Thompson cut taxes 91 times so that Wisconsinites could keep more of their hard-earned money, and he more than doubled funding for the University of Wisconsin System, adjusting for
infl ation. He did this all while balancing the budget.
Thompson knows to grow the economy, you have to work across party lines and make tough choices. He knows education is essential to our future prosperity and isn’t something that can be cut to balance the budget. His record, and not just his rhetoric, indicates Thompson is the right choice for Wisconsin and will work for Wisconsin in the Senate.
Travis Schwartz ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in political science. He is the vice chair of Students for Thompson.
The Badger Herald | Arts | Thursday, October 25, 20125
Survival-horror franchise lives on in 6th installmentThe survival-horror
genre of video games has been around since the dawn of modern video games, and the “Resident Evil” franchise is a big part of what started it all.
Today there are many games of the genre, but “Resident Evil” is still a name above all others. Always including intense horror, zombie attacks and huge amounts of action, Capcom’s next chapter in the franchise, “Resident Evil 6,” continues the legacy. I got my hands on a copy for the Playstation 3 a day after its release to fi nd the familiarity of the old “Resident Evil” in an overly action-fi lled package.
In this latest addition to the “Resident Evil” family, “Resident Evil 6” has added a unique spin to the typical story. The plot is divided into three different story lines the player chooses before gameplay. Familiar faces are paired with new characters in the choices — Leon and Helena, Jake
and Sherry, and Chris and Piers. All three story lines are playable immediately, so a player can fi ll in the story from the perspective of any of the teams.
Because it includes characters from past games, there is a good amount of reference to the previous titles. “Resident Evil 6” doesn’t rely too heavily on backstory in the franchise, however, so newer players shouldn’t be deterred from playing.
The stories often intertwine with one another, which allows for a great amount of backstory to cover what is happening in the game’s world. Even with this overlapping story, each individual plot has enough context to stand alone. I have completed Leon and Helena’s story and am partially through Jake and Sherry’s story, and I enjoyed Leon and Helena’s story even without the other stories’ information. Each story line takes about six hours to complete, adding up to around 20 hours of gameplay.
The stories are fairly linear — chasing one bad guy at a time, getting from point A to point B. It sounds very run-of-the-mill, but there is so much action that it’s hard to notice any shortcomings. It is almost impossible to spend more than fi ve minutes without seeing something explode, getting randomly attacked by a zombie or witnessing a simple conversation erupt into an intense stand-off.
The amount of action will keep you on your toes easily enough, but the horror the “Resident Evil” franchise is known for is almost nonexistent. In this installment, there is so much action that by the time something freaky appears, the player is already too jaded from sensory overload to be legitimately scared.
The over-the-shoulder shooter style from the past two main titles shows itself once again in “Resident Evil 6.” While playing, it is hard to notice any changes in the actual combat style zombie grappling, melee
and basic shooting; the real changes lie in its tutorial system, something the game actually lacks.
Its lack of a tutorial system is one of its major drawbacks. If a player wants to fi gure out how the controls actually function, a bit of button-mashing is required. Since there are no control tutorials, players must resort only to the occasional button prompts that appear on the bottom of the screen.
For those of you anticipating playing the game, I’m going to save you 20 minutes of frustrating tutorial here.
Climbing: Imagine the L1 and R1 buttons are the
character’s hands. If you let go of the rope because your hands aren’t holding it, you will fall. Hold down both buttons at fi rst; from there alternate which button you press while holding down the other. Let go of the L1 Button while still holding the R1 Button, then switch. There, I just saved you the most frustrating quick time event pain that I suffered.
Along with the lack of a tutorial system, there is almost no direction given during the story as to where to go and what to do. To compensate, the game designers threw in a futuristic smart phone that shows an arrow of where the player should go, activated by holding the L2 Button. This is extremely helpful when wandering around in graveyards or caves in the game. A downside, however, is you cannot attack, since your character is now staring at a phone looking for directions. Often, the phone sends the arrow far ahead of you, indicating where to go, but that can be a pain when there is a
horde of zombies between the character and the arrow. While a good idea in theory, the smart phone feature is easy to overlook without any tutorial.
“Resident Evil 6” does have one incredibly nice feature: immediate multiplayer capability. From the very beginning, two players can play with split screen — no need to deal with the CPU and the typically unreliable AI. Compared to other “Resident Evil” games, the multiplayer is more about playing together than completely separate puzzle-solving.
“Resident Evil 6” is a good addition to the “Resident Evil” franchise with its action, interlaced story lines and familiar characters. The lack of a tutorial system and lack of horror really hurt the game’s standing in the survival horror genre, but the game is still rather fun and enjoyable.
Christian Moberg is a junior studying Japanese and computer science.
Christian MobergHerald Arcade Columnist
In Madison, Bingham brings ‘em passion, wit, rock ‘n’ roll
“You know, everywhere we go we like to turn places into little road houses,” Ryan Bingham said during the first of a two-night stand at the Majestic Theatre. He lived up to his promise.
Bingham, of west Texas, is known for mixing classic country with folk, as evidenced by his Grammy-winning contribution to the “Crazy Heart” soundtrack, but his Madison stint was more about rock ‘n’ roll than anything else.
The band wasted no time
transforming the theater into a backwoods honky tonk, kicking off with “Dollar a Day,” a fast-paced rocker with roots going as deep as Johnny Paycheck’s “Take This Job and Shove It.” It was a song that set the mood, launching into the night with hoots, hollers and handclaps.
Tracks like “Guess Who’s Knocking” mixed in Bonham-esque drumming with hard-driving slide guitar, highlighting a Zeppelin influence to Bingham’s style. Still, the blues stomp of “Direction of the Wind” was supported by effortless, understated bass grooves that kept the songs grounded as the guitars rocked away.
In fact, Bingham and his band (not The Dead Horses, which he is usually associated with) played eight straight rockers
before slowing it down for “Western Shore,” a song Bingham said was partly inspired by his youth, and partly by interacting with homeless children in tour stop towns. A pair of low-key songs came with the transition to the mellow “Hard Times,” calmly accented by well-placed guitar solos and “I Heard ‘em Say,” a tribute of sorts to the late James Byrd.
During the performance, a disgruntled fan decided it was a fi ne time to launch a beer cup at Bingham’s head, which he expertly dodged without missing a beat.
“This ain’t my first time at the rodeo,” Bingham said with a laugh after the song. “If that’s my worst problem today, I’m in pretty good shape.”
The night continued on as the beer thrower was escorted out of the crowd.
Bingham’s performance was slightly undercut by the songs themselves as they bordered on the generic, like in the John
Mellencamp sound-alike “Heart Full of Rhythm” or the cliché-laced “Ever Wonder Why.” But even in those songs, you can criticize the text, but you can’t deny the sincerity. And that is truly what makes Bingham a fi rst-rate performer. He wasn’t the
only one rocking, however.Singer/songwriter Jake
Smith, a giant of a man in all black, with long hair on his head and face, took the stage fi rst. Better known by his stage name, “The White Buffalo,” Smith played as a sort of biker-balladeer, crossing genres from his latest release, Once Upon a Time in the West, to the march/waltz of “Damned” off Hogtied Revisited, a song well-known for being featured on “Sons of Anarchy.”
The lyrical styling of The White Buffalo echoed Hank Williams Jr. on “Bar and the Beer,” a tune Smith actually covered by request, complete with a bit of yodeling at the end. He also channeled the late Townes Van Zandt on “Into the Sun,” as he sang darkly over subtle, fi nger-picked guitar.
The highlight of
Smith’s set came with his performance of “Wish It Was True,” a folksy song that starts off unremarkably about a man apologizing for his life, then cleverly blindsides the audience as a heartbreaking protest song: “Country/ I was a soldier for you/ I did what you asked me to/ It was wrong and you knew/. ... Throw me away when you’re through,” Smith sang, delivering a set of lyrics that eclipsed any other words of the night.
The choice of The White Buffalo as a supporting act was a perfect match to help fulfi ll Bingham’s vision of turning theaters into roadhouses, as both men brought devotion, charm and an excitable love of their art to share with an eager and appreciative audience.
Texas-bred country rocker’s serenades unphased by fan’s beer-throwing fi tPhilip BalistriereArtsEtc. Writer
Finding beauty in messy city life
There is garbage on the walls of the gallery. A series of card table-sized prints are screwed along the walls of Union South’s “Gallery 1308.” Desaturated and achromatic, they bring to mind old newspapers matted in a gutter with fall leaves steeping in their orange tea.
Galen Gibson-Cornell, a second year MFA candidate at the University of Wisconsin, developed them by adding and subtracting layers of photographs and street advertisements. His working materials and manipulation of elements elicit a spectrum of emotions, from the foreboding coldness of a concrete society to an organically ephemeral anonymity, rubbed out with bleach and chemicals.
Each layered element is manipulated with color and collage elements. Out of this, he creates an abstract experience of city life, including bus stops, imposing statues and the homeless. His pieces recall the passing of time and forgotten elements of what was — they are a record of nature’s effect on what society feels is disposable material. On another level,
a series of pieces hide elements of bright and pastel color, mostly boxes, in these otherwise bleak landscapes — like hidden beauty in an otherwise harsh depressing world. The exhibit, titled “Ruin Pub,” directly and indirectly calls to mind signage boards choked with advertisement of past and upcoming events — something we here in Madison are very familiar with.
His pieces are primarily collected and developed with materials from Europe and Scandinavia, where the articles of these foreign languages dance the line between being completely legible and totally obscured. The organization within each piece suggests they are all portraits in a way, regardless of the presence of a directly living subject — they are portraits of the city.
The pieces as a whole seem intentionally messy and bring to mind an era of ’80s grunge — so rebellious and dirty, backed with a Brat Pack sensibility of, “I just don’t care.” In some cases, he exposes more than half a canvas frame or mounts pieces on grid boards that look like they get along better in the trash. In this way, they are so overtly broken and hopeless
Galen Gibson-Cornell’s art incorporates abstract media from urban areas overseas
it borders on cliché. Some allusions, such as money in the mind of business and silencing the needy, are so directly shown and labeled that it lacks a sense of creativity. Although his torn edges and additive elements often fall outside boxed frames, his social and political statements do
not fall outside any box. The subject matter, too, lacks a connectedness in the context of the exhibit as a whole.
The pieces are grouped by threes of similar compositions. From each set, there is no organic flow to the next, leaving a feeling of
unexplored potential in this ineloquently organized gallery. The burden of originality often falls on the head of the artist, and unfortunately in this case, it falls short. That, however, should not suggest this show is a complete bust. Albeit thematically overdone, it’s never a bad
thing to be reminded of the beauty in others and the beauty in the little things. And there are, of course, worse battle cries than the ones opposing corruption and abuse of power.
This Ruin Pub may need repair, but that’s no reason to not stop in for a quick drink.
Trash or treasure? You decide. To see the rest of this artwork and other pieces by Galen Gibson-Cornell, visit his ‘Ruin Pub’ exhibit on display at Union South.
Courtesy of ‘Ruin Pub’ by Galen Gibson-Cornell
Zachary SchwallerArtsEtc. Writer
THE BADGER HERALD PRESENTS “HERALD ARCADE”
The band wasted no time transforming the theater into a backwoods honky tonk. ...
The stories are fairly linear ... It
sounds very run-of-the-mill, but
there is so much action that it’s
hard to notice any shortcomings.
The Badger Herald | News | Thursday, October 25, 20126
Badger heraldthe
The Badger Herald | News | Thursday, October 25, 20127
DIFFICULTY RATING: Oh like you were going to do the Kakuro anyways
DIFFICULTY RATING:Barely worth
the effort
WHAT IS THISSUDOKU
NONSENSE?Complete the grid so that every row, column and 4x4 box contains 0, 1,
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
A, B, C, D, E and F.What? You still don’t get it? It’s not calculus or anything. Honest-ly, if you don’t know how to do a sudoku by now, you’ve prob-ably got more issues than this newspaper.
HOW DO IKAKURO?
I know, I know. Kakuro. Looks crazy, right? This ain’t no time to panic, friend, so keep it cool and I’ll walk you through. Here’s the low down: each clue tells you what the sum of the numbers to the right or down must add up to. Repeating numbers? Not in this part of town. And that’s that, slick.
ClassifiedsClassifiedsTo place an ad in Classifieds:Elise [email protected] ext. 311
The Badger Herald | Classifieds | Thursday, October 25, 20129
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tHe badGerherald
dig it.
pouring outside as we both walked to hu-manities. You really brightened my below average morning andsaved me from being soaked all day. Thank you!! Badgers are the best.
SC to my fi nancial aid check…I’m sorry I fool-ishly spent you all on beer :(
SC to Carrie..I’m sorry things didn’t work be-tween us. Try again?
SC to the blonde-haired girl serving coff ee at Grainger today....WOW!
SC to the cute tour guide who I made eye contact with outside the historical society, youmade my day. DSO to all the future badgers! So jealous of the 4 years you have to come. On Wisconsin!
SC to the MILF I met tailgating before the game. You thought I was just being funny, butseriously, I’m great stepdad material.
SC to the freshman girl I met at the Bite This! dinner. You were a re-ally interesting person and really cute. I wish I would have had the balls to ask for your number. My bad... SO to the factthat you will know
exactly who you are because you and your friend were probably the only freshman there. Props for your initia-tive!
SC to my hot physics TA. Whaddya say we make like an inelastic collision and create somefriction at your next off ice hours?
SC to the guy who works at the Open Book Cafe Tuesday mornings. Your blue eyes make memelt :)
SC to Harrison in my discussion. My god, you are cute.
SC to the guy in the historical society this morning. Your mustache was questionable but your brown eyes were oh so lovely. See you there again?
SC to Brian. I think I may miss you.
SC to the tall blonde girl at the Mayer Hawthorne concert to-night! You were beau-tiful, and I amsorry if you caught me staring... -from the blonde haired guy with the black v-neck.
SC to the guy in US Bank today around noon today who was losing his voice from being sick...you were super cute, can I help you get rid of that cold in any way? They say sweating itout is best...-the brunette in a pink scarf and purple raincoat
SC to the beautiful redheaded TA I have.
SC to the spectacular girl I ‘nuzzled’ with in Embassy on Fri-day night. You were so comfy. We must do that again!
SC to the cutie who checked me out at the Walgreens on state street Monday night. Thanks for helping me save $3 :)
SC to the girl in my marketing class who shared her umbrella with me when it was
Meaghan Duggan and Hilary Knight, and now takes on the star player role. With Burke’s impressive performance early on, it’s a serious possibility she could be at their level in the coming years.
“Hopefully she will grab that torch and run with it,” Johnson said. “I’m excited because she is just touching the surface right now, the rest of her season and the rest of her career is going to be a lot of fun to watch her develop.”
hour after walloping UW’s technical rival, Minnesota, for the 16th time in the last 18 years. “There’s going to be a lot of emotion out there and a [big] sense of urgency.”
Neither of these two teams has won in the other’s stadium since 2002, with the home squad going 7-0 over that time. Wisconsin has won 21 consecutive home games, with 12 straight against Big Ten teams.
Those Spartans will be as bright as jack-o-lanterns if they win at Camp Randall.
Should they do so, it will be back to the talk of “Well, the Badgers will still get to Indianapolis. And all they have to do then is just win one game. They could get lucky.”
Or, the Badgers win and the college football world starts treating them like contenders again.
Elliot is a senior majoring in journalism and philosophy. What do you think a win against Michigan State would mean? Voice your opinions by tweeting @elliothughes12 or emailing [email protected].
BURKE, from 10 HUGHES, from 10
for the third straight year and with his third different doubles partner, Bertha won the doubles championship.
One would think being a part of three separate doubles teams in as many years would come with some breakdowns in chemistry, but not for Bertha, and not for this Badgers team.
“Everyone that plays for us knows how we play doubles so when I played with Alex [last month] we both played pretty well,” Bertha said. “I was serving well the whole
tournament, while Alex was returning the ball real well so we are a natural fit. I think finding the right chemistry between [doubles] teams and just going out there and executing is going to be key to our success this year.”
With half of the team as underclassmen, executing right away will naturally be a challenge due to the lack of experience this Badger team employs.
“We have a lot of potential and that could be seen as a negative,” coach Van Emburgh said. “We have eight good players who can play
anywhere in the lineup for us and we want to use that and make sure it’s used as a plus this year and in the future.
“When push comes to shove, I think that all eight guys will be up for every match whether it be in the fall or in our season in the spring,” Van Emburgh added.
Getting the team “up for every match” is a task perfectly suited for a student-athlete of Bertha’s caliber; one who, as coach Van Emburgh put it, “leads by example, tries to make the right choices, and is the hardest working player on the court.”
Game against Spartans could validate Badgers’ season
There once was a time during the nonconference season when the very idea of the Wisconsin football team playing its Big Ten slate was enough to make one recoil in fear.
After letting one too many wheel routes get past them against Northern Iowa, taking more than 58 minutes to score any points against Oregon State, winning off a missed fi eld goal against Utah State and waiting until mid-fourth quarter to pull away from UTEP, not many people wanted to picture how the Badgers would fare in conference
play.But somehow, the
conference season has been much more sweet than sour.
Three consecutive games with more than 30 points scored. Three consecutive games with no more than 14 points allowed. The only loss to speak of came in one of college football’s most hellish environments — Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium.
Back in September, nobody expected October to go so well.
So after the Badgers forced everyone who pays attention to college football to forget what they thought they knew about them, they have since reassured onlookers they remember how to win games decisively.
And while it’s good Wisconsin demonstrated a distance between itself and the likes of Illinois, Purdue
and Minnesota, none of those teams has even won a conference game yet. Considering that, those wins look less impressive.
Now, with Michigan State (4-4, 1-3) stopping by for some fun, Wisconsin (6-2, 3-1) has the chance to prove it can overpower a team with plenty of talent and motivation.
With a clear path to Indianapolis already paved, a win or loss versus Michigan State will tell us whether Wisconsin is, as has been said for the majority of the season, a team that will need to get lucky in the Big Ten Championship Game, or a team that has a legitimate chance at beating whoever the Legends Division throws at it.
Another way to say it: The Badgers can win back a chunk of street cred Saturday.
(And for the record, the USA Today Coaches Poll,
which now ranks UW at No. 25, isn’t the best source of street cred. This is the same poll that waited six games for it to drop UW from the rankings in the fi rst place, which was absurd.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press Poll appropriately needed three weeks and still hasn’t let the Badgers back in.)
Sure, MSU has been down in the dumps lately, losing four of its last six games.
But two of those games came against ranked schools, and the other
two were decided by a combined score of fi ve points and two overtime periods. You might even argue MSU’s just gotten unlucky a few more times than UW has so far this year.
Unlike the conference bottom-dwellers Wisconsin tossed aside, Michigan State has wins against a conference opponent (Indiana) and a top-25-ranked team (Boise State) to its name.
The Spartans fl aunt a thoroughbred running back (Le’Veon Bell) and the Big Ten’s best defense. It’s the toughest test the Badgers’ newly up-and-running offense will experience this season.
The Spartans are tops in the league in scoring defense (15.2), total defense (277.1), rushing defense (100.2), passing defense (142.3) and fi rst downs allowed per game (15).
Sitting at 4-4, they’ll also walk into Camp Randall Stadium believing what’s coming is a do-or-die moment.
And you know damn well what else they’ll be thinking about.
In 2010, MSU beat UW in the regular season, got caught up in a three-way tie for fi rst-place and watched the Badgers head to Pasadena.
Then, in 2011, Brad Nortman’s Razzie Award-worthy acting performance that scored the pivotal roughing the punter call in the closing minutes of the conference title game victimized the Spartans.
“Michigan State isn’t technically a rivalry for us, but the way it’s been the last couple years, really feels, certainly, is like a rivalry,” UW center Travis Frederick said, about an
Elliot HughesHughes’ Your Daddy?
Freshman defender Courtney Burke has scored one goal and tallied four assists on the season, leading all defenders with fi ve points.Kelsey Fenton The Badger Herald
Burke performing beyond her years
Being on your own for the fi rst time is the stressful task most people take on in their fi rst weeks of college, but for freshman Courtney Burke, that was an adjustment she had to make at the age of 13.
The UW women’s hockey player moved 1,039 miles away from her family in Albany, N.Y. just after entering her teenage years. She jumped at the opportunity to play the sport she loves at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, an elite hockey school in Fairmont, Minn.
“It was hard on my mom and my dad the most because they had to send their 13-year-old away,” Burke said. “It took awhile for me to adjust, about two weeks of being homesick, and after that it was just done. It wasn’t hard adjusting to [college life] at all because I am so used to it.”
Now finding her place among the new faces of her Badger teammates, Burke has focused her attention on hockey, having already learned to deal with the other normal adjustments.
Her early life away from home is proving to be beneficial. The transition from high school to collegiate play is generally a season-long process for freshmen athletes, who are not used to the size, quickness and physical nature of college
play. Yet, Burke has already drawn attention to herself, impressing her new Badger family by competing right alongside the tougher competition.
“She has a bright future, she adapts herself well to college life and hockey and I think she will just continue to grow,” head coach Mark Johnson said. “If people were watching Friday or Sunday night, they noticed her like, ‘Who’s that number 6, she’s pretty good.’”
Burke’s presence on the ice against Bemidji State resembled more of an experienced athlete than a player just seven games into her college career.
Debuting as a Badger in Madison last Friday, Burke and her eight freshmen teammates did so in front of a sold out crowd at LaBahn Arena. No one knew what the new rink’s atmosphere would be like, but for the newcomer, it was a surprise.
“Honestly when they said it was sold out Friday I didn’t think there would be such a buzz in the place,” Burke said.
This past Sunday Burke experienced another first: scoring a goal in a Wisconsin jersey. She admitted she didn’t know her shot from just across the offensive blue line had whisked by the Beavers’ goaltender until her teammates began celebrating and the blare of the new air horn sounded for the second time ever.
With the goal, along with four assists this season, the defensive player is having a major impact on the scoreboard. She leads the Badgers’ defenders in points, tying for fourth on the team with fi ve.
“Traditionally we’ve had people back there that can produce and that is another reason we were excited when she chose to come here, she has that capability,” Johnson said. “She is really just touching the surface here.”
Partnered with senior defenseman Jordan Brickner, the duo quickly bonded both on and off the rink, which was evident in their time on the ice. Both Badgers said they share some unspoken understanding, allowing each other to know just what the other will do.
“I think Courtney and I think similarly on the ice in a defensive way. She is very poised out there,” Brickner said. “I think we back each other up. We know what the play should be before it happens, so we have been working pretty well together so far.”
Beyond her play for UW, Burke has been successful at the international level. As a member of the USA under-18 team she has earned two silver medals in 2010 and 2012 at the U18 World Championships, and in 2011 she helped USA bring home the gold medal.
“It’s been an adventure with USA hockey, playing
such an up-tempo game and I like it a lot,” Burke said. “Stockholm was the best place, winning the gold in Sweden.”
Burke’s success with Team USA and in high school made her an attractive recruit for Wisconsin. After visiting Madison several times, Burke said the appeal of being a Badger grew with each successive trip and decided that UW was where she saw herself, like many Badgers
say, and it just felt like the right place.
Another advantage to Wisconsin’s program was having several Shattuck alumna on the roster, including sophomore Blayre Turnbull, freshman Kim Drake, and senior Brianna Decker.
Decker serves as Burke’s mentor both on and off the ice and the two are roommates on the road. This gives Burke a chance to learn
and observe from one of the best players in the nation.
“When you have Brianna around, I said ‘if you really want to become a great player just watch her’, and not just the things she does on the ice, but off the ice,” Johnson said. “It’s nice to hear Courtney respects her and uses her.”
Decker learned from past Wisconsin greats
Doubles dominator: Billy Bertha
For the third consecutive season, senior Billy Bertha was part of a doubles team that won the Milwaukee Tennis Classic, this time paired up with junior teammate Alex Robles.
UW Athletics
The Wisconsin men’s tennis team is determined to get back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since its 2009-10 campaign, and with the help of its senior captain, Billy Bertha, the Badgers may accomplish their prospective goal.
The son of Sue and Bill Bertha — both Wisconsin alumni — the Whitefish Bay native was a five-star recruit who was ranked No. 29 in the nation (No. 1 in Wisconsin) when he committed to UW.
Rich in experience, Bertha has the skills and knowledge required to lead this Badger squad back to the NCAA Tournament this upcoming spring. During his sophomore season, Bertha was blessed with his doubles partner, Marek Michalicka, who
finished his career with the second-best singles winning percentage (.735) in Wisconsin men’s tennis history.
“Billy knows how to handle different situations because he was on that Sweet 16 team a couple of years ago with Michalicka,” head coach Greg Van Emburgh said. “It was probably one of the best teams we’ve ever had here at Wisconsin, so he knows what it takes to get to that level and he’s trying to get himself and his team back to that level that we were once at.
Bertha and Michalicka went 18-5 (17-5 at No. 1 doubles) during the 2010-11 season, and while it was nice defeating three nationally-ranked doubles opponents that year, Bertha took more than just wins away from his time on and off the court with Michalicka.
“He was really good both
at tennis and in how he conducted himself,” Bertha said. “Whether it was training, tennis or school, I learned from him how to be a better team leader and how to manage myself both on and off the court.”
Bertha’s current doubles partner, junior Alex Robles, said he sees the same type of leadership characteristics in Bertha.
“A lot of kids on our team are from outside the United States so part of being a good leader is guiding them,” Robles said. “He’s been guiding them and showing them what’s expected at practice and making sure that they keep up with their studies so that our team has a good overall GPA.”
Some team captains would shy away from this specific leadership role, with fi ve of the eight players on the roster from countries outside the United States,
but that doesn’t fit with Bertha’s style.
“I think [having many international players] is cool,” Bertha said. “We’re a melting pot and you don’t normally get that at any other schools and as one of only three Americans on the team, I get a different perspective from other people and their culture.
“I’m kind of taking [the international players] under my wing if you will. Telling them how college tennis works here in the U.S. and also with classes, school work and especially in the social realm.”
While noting expectations can only go so far, Bertha and the team have already been getting the positive results so far this season.
Those results started last month at the Milwaukee Tennis Classic, where,
Now counted on as leader, senior working way through third partner in three years
Zack MillerSports Writer
Caroline SageWomen’s Hockey Writer
BURKE, page 9
HUGHES, page 9
BERTHA, page 9
Brad Nortman’s Razzie Award-worthy acting performance that scored the pivotal roughing the punter call ... victimized the Spartans.
