Dispatches
Staying Out, Staying Safe
A series of campus attacks gives cause for caution — but not panic.
Karissa Cerroni x’07 never walks home alone from the library, where she often wraps up study sessions well after midnight in her quest to go to medical school.
Calling herself “one of the more paranoid people here,” she is always careful to stick with friends when out on weekends. And when she leaves the library at night, she either takes the bus or dials up one of the campus programs that offers escorted transportation after dark.
But despite a recent wave of campus-area assaults, Cerroni and many other students aren’t going so far as to alter their routines. “You can’t change,” she says. “I’m not going to not go to the library and study or go have fun just because of it.”
Since the end of the spring semester, more than a half-dozen assaults or robberies have taken place in the campus area, a high number for a university that has traditionally experienced little street crime. The late-night attacks were notable for their violent nature and the fact that many of the victims were intoxicated young men who were walking alone, says Madison Police spokesman Mike Hanson.
As students returned to campus for the fall semester, university officials and police took some extra steps to remind students about precautions, such as walking in groups, locking their residence doors, and not propping open secured entrances to buildings. They also have encouraged students to use UW’s SAFE Nighttime Services, which includes escorted walks, free cab rides, and bus service. But they also acknowledge that many students still have academic or social lives that require them to be out around campus late at night.
For bookworms and barflies alike, college is a twenty-four-hour-a-day lifestyle. And that makes campus security a twenty-four-hour-a-day challenge.
Karissa Cerroni x’07 never walks home alone from the library, where she often wraps up study sessions well after midnight in her quest to go to medical school.
Calling herself “one of the more paranoid people here,” she is always careful to stick with friends when out on weekends. And when she leaves the library at night, she either takes the bus or dials up one of the campus programs that offers escorted transportation after dark.
But despite a recent wave of campus-area assaults, Cerroni and many other students aren’t going so far as to alter their routines. “You can’t change,” she says. “I’m not going to not go to the library and study or go have fun just because of it.”
Since the end of the spring semester, more than a half-dozen assaults or robberies have taken place in the campus area, a high number for a university that has traditionally experienced little street crime. The late-night attacks were notable for their violent nature and the fact that many of the victims were intoxicated young men who were walking alone, says Madison Police spokesman Mike Hanson.
As students returned to campus for the fall semester, university officials and police took some extra steps to remind students about precautions, such as walking in groups, locking their residence doors, and not propping open secured entrances to buildings. They also have encouraged students to use UW’s SAFE Nighttime Services, which includes escorted walks, free cab rides, and bus service. But they also acknowledge that many students still have academic or social lives that require them to be out around campus late at night.
For bookworms and barflies alike, college is a twenty-four-hour-a-day lifestyle. And that makes campus security a twenty-four-hour-a-day challenge.
“There are students who need to go about their business in the wee hours of the morning,” says Hanson, adding that some of the recent assault victims were students “simply walking alone from their chemistry lab.”
Taylor Hughes x’07, for example, edits the Badger Herald, often putting the paper to bed around the same time that the bars close on State Street. “The late nights and our production schedule in general are just an integral part of this whole experience,” he says. “If we got out at 10 p.m. every night, it wouldn’t be the same.”
However, Hughes says he has never been worried about walking home, because many of the victims have been “drunk guys.”
The fact that many of the recent victims were inebriated is one reason authorities have avoided raising too much alarm about after-dark safety. “We haven’t put out a generic, ‘Oh, my god, the sky is falling.’ We’ve been pretty specific [about] what seems to be the problem,” says UW Police Chief Sue Riseling.
She adds that the UW campus has had a remarkably low street crime rate for many years. “It’s boggled my mind you can have this many people in one place and have only a couple robberies in a year,” she says. “It’s almost too good to be true.”
But an uptick in crime is a disturbing reminder that despite its reputation as a safe place, Madison is not immune to violence — a message that sometimes can be overlooked by students. “Some people may be moving here from a really large city, and they may think they’re moving to Hicksville in the Midwest and everyone keeps their doors unlocked,” says Lori Berquam, interim dean of students.
Berquam says the conundrum is how to make students feel comfortable enough so that they don’t miss out on a vibrant campus life, but not so comfortable that they become reckless.
Taylor Hughes x’07, for example, edits the Badger Herald, often putting the paper to bed around the same time that the bars close on State Street. “The late nights and our production schedule in general are just an integral part of this whole experience,” he says. “If we got out at 10 p.m. every night, it wouldn’t be the same.”
However, Hughes says he has never been worried about walking home, because many of the victims have been “drunk guys.”
The fact that many of the recent victims were inebriated is one reason authorities have avoided raising too much alarm about after-dark safety. “We haven’t put out a generic, ‘Oh, my god, the sky is falling.’ We’ve been pretty specific [about] what seems to be the problem,” says UW Police Chief Sue Riseling.
She adds that the UW campus has had a remarkably low street crime rate for many years. “It’s boggled my mind you can have this many people in one place and have only a couple robberies in a year,” she says. “It’s almost too good to be true.”
But an uptick in crime is a disturbing reminder that despite its reputation as a safe place, Madison is not immune to violence — a message that sometimes can be overlooked by students. “Some people may be moving here from a really large city, and they may think they’re moving to Hicksville in the Midwest and everyone keeps their doors unlocked,” says Lori Berquam, interim dean of students.
Berquam says the conundrum is how to make students feel comfortable enough so that they don’t miss out on a vibrant campus life, but not so comfortable that they become reckless.
“We really do create a pretty tight campus community, and we like to say we make this big, huge place smaller,” she says. “In doing that, we almost build this false sense of security. That’s what we need to combat again.”
— Jenny Price ’96
— Jenny Price ’96
STUDENT WATCH: Sconnies and Coasties
When they sing “On, Wisconsin,” UW-Madison’s students may seem united. But at least one spirited rivalry exists among undergraduates: the longstanding divide between native Wisconsinites — Sconnies — and students from out of state, often called Coasties because of the large number of students from New York and California.
Sconnies outnumber Coasties about three to one, and they say they can spot the non-natives based on what they wear. “Sometimes they get all dressed up for classes and stuff like that, and I just get [angry] at that because I’m a sweatpants person,” says Ashley Foss, a junior from Wisconsin. And there are digs about behavior, too. While Sconnies deride Coasties as snotty and condescending, Coasties retort that students from the Midwest are judgmental and closed-minded.
“My first impression was that people from the Midwest could be really nice,” says Melissa Cabrera, a sophomore from New York. “Then in my [women’s studies] class, we had a discussion, and they started bashing people from the coast, and I was shocked.”
Mostly, it’s all in fun, but there are a few deeper issues. Coasties, for instance, often live in off-campus private residence halls, which some students say creates a kind of geographic segregation that makes it difficult for students to get to know one another. But Coasties and Sconnies do have one thing in common: they’re all Badgers. “Football games definitely bring us together, because we’re all rooting for the same team regardless of where we’re from,” says Cabrera.
— Elli Thompson x’08
Sconnies outnumber Coasties about three to one, and they say they can spot the non-natives based on what they wear. “Sometimes they get all dressed up for classes and stuff like that, and I just get [angry] at that because I’m a sweatpants person,” says Ashley Foss, a junior from Wisconsin. And there are digs about behavior, too. While Sconnies deride Coasties as snotty and condescending, Coasties retort that students from the Midwest are judgmental and closed-minded.
“My first impression was that people from the Midwest could be really nice,” says Melissa Cabrera, a sophomore from New York. “Then in my [women’s studies] class, we had a discussion, and they started bashing people from the coast, and I was shocked.”
Mostly, it’s all in fun, but there are a few deeper issues. Coasties, for instance, often live in off-campus private residence halls, which some students say creates a kind of geographic segregation that makes it difficult for students to get to know one another. But Coasties and Sconnies do have one thing in common: they’re all Badgers. “Football games definitely bring us together, because we’re all rooting for the same team regardless of where we’re from,” says Cabrera.
— Elli Thompson x’08
Q AND A: Dan Okoli
It’s been little more than a year since UW-Madison revealed its master plan to redevelop many areas of campus. Dan Okoli, university architect since April 2005, has been in the frontlines of the redevelopment process during the most extensive building period on campus since the 1960s.
Q: How do you envision the campus
looking in ten years?
A: We want to be able to create a strong sense of arrival. If you’re driving from the west coming into campus, at some point you begin to see buildings that suggest campus, but you never come quite to a place where you say, “Wow, this is it.” It’s a university within a city, but I still want us to be able to say, “I have crossed the boundary of the academy.” The other important thing we ought to be able to do is have architectural coherence or visual consistency with what we do. I’d like a situation where, when you drive through, [the buildings] feel like they all fit together.
Q: Do you have a favorite building on campus?
A: Well, I think there are a number of buildings that I would consider iconic on campus, but it’s not entirely because of the architecture, even though the architecture is good. It’s because of what it represents together with the architecture. Bascom Hall is one such building, because when you talk about this campus, that’s the thing that jumps out at you. The Red Gym, as well.
Q: What about a least favorite building?
A: I believe that design of a building should be inviting and make people feel comfortable around it. To design a building that people don’t really feel comfortable around is a failed design in my mind. There are quite a few buildings like that on campus, and [the] McArdle [Cancer Research Building] is one of them.
Q: Where would be the perfect place on campus to construct your “dream building”?
A: One of the places that I have found most soothing is where some of the lakeshore dorms are. I’m telling you ... if I could roll the clock back and come here as a student, I’d love to live in one of those.
looking in ten years?
A: We want to be able to create a strong sense of arrival. If you’re driving from the west coming into campus, at some point you begin to see buildings that suggest campus, but you never come quite to a place where you say, “Wow, this is it.” It’s a university within a city, but I still want us to be able to say, “I have crossed the boundary of the academy.” The other important thing we ought to be able to do is have architectural coherence or visual consistency with what we do. I’d like a situation where, when you drive through, [the buildings] feel like they all fit together.
Q: Do you have a favorite building on campus?
A: Well, I think there are a number of buildings that I would consider iconic on campus, but it’s not entirely because of the architecture, even though the architecture is good. It’s because of what it represents together with the architecture. Bascom Hall is one such building, because when you talk about this campus, that’s the thing that jumps out at you. The Red Gym, as well.
Q: What about a least favorite building?
A: I believe that design of a building should be inviting and make people feel comfortable around it. To design a building that people don’t really feel comfortable around is a failed design in my mind. There are quite a few buildings like that on campus, and [the] McArdle [Cancer Research Building] is one of them.
Q: Where would be the perfect place on campus to construct your “dream building”?
A: One of the places that I have found most soothing is where some of the lakeshore dorms are. I’m telling you ... if I could roll the clock back and come here as a student, I’d love to live in one of those.
Exercising the Stock Option
The UW System tries to put financial pressure on Sudan.
Charles Pruitt knows there isn’t much he can do to stop the widespread killing in Sudan. But that doesn’t mean he won’t try. And as chair of the board of regents finance committee, he has one tool at his disposal: divestment. Through a carefully planned stock dump, he hopes to communicate that the UW System wants nothing to do with the slaughter going on in East Africa.
In August, Pruitt instigated a move to divest the UW System of all holdings in companies that do business in Sudan. “We felt this was the right decision on humanitarian grounds,” he says, noting that not only the finance committee, but also the regents as a whole, supported the decision unanimously. “Sudan is involved in state-sponsored genocide, and that’s something a university shouldn’t be involved in even in a tangential way.”
Finance and humanitarianism may seem like an odd mix, but for several decades, the UW System has occasionally used divestment to express its displeasure with countries or companies that violate its political or moral principles. In 1978, the System divested itself of stocks in companies that did business with South Africa in protest over that nation’s apartheid system of racial segregation. It didn’t lift the ban until 1994, when apartheid came to an end. In late 2003, the System turned to divestment again, dropping some $201,000 in stock in Tyson Foods, in objection to that company’s labor practices.
Charles Pruitt knows there isn’t much he can do to stop the widespread killing in Sudan. But that doesn’t mean he won’t try. And as chair of the board of regents finance committee, he has one tool at his disposal: divestment. Through a carefully planned stock dump, he hopes to communicate that the UW System wants nothing to do with the slaughter going on in East Africa.
In August, Pruitt instigated a move to divest the UW System of all holdings in companies that do business in Sudan. “We felt this was the right decision on humanitarian grounds,” he says, noting that not only the finance committee, but also the regents as a whole, supported the decision unanimously. “Sudan is involved in state-sponsored genocide, and that’s something a university shouldn’t be involved in even in a tangential way.”
Finance and humanitarianism may seem like an odd mix, but for several decades, the UW System has occasionally used divestment to express its displeasure with countries or companies that violate its political or moral principles. In 1978, the System divested itself of stocks in companies that did business with South Africa in protest over that nation’s apartheid system of racial segregation. It didn’t lift the ban until 1994, when apartheid came to an end. In late 2003, the System turned to divestment again, dropping some $201,000 in stock in Tyson Foods, in objection to that company’s labor practices.
Pruitt, who has been a member of the finance committee since 2003, says that each year there are several calls for new divestment programs. Recently, groups have asked the regents to divest from Wal-Mart and from Israel, though neither request has been granted. While the financial committee is willing to consider ethics as part of the UW System’s investment planning, it must also balance its moral stands with its mission of profitably managing the university’s bank accounts.
“Divestment isn’t a tool we use often,” Pruitt says. “We have a fiduciary responsibility to manage the investments well so that the UW System has the money it needs to operate.”
Still, Pruitt Acknowledges that divestment is an indirect and limited tool for change, and he doesn’t expect any immediate practical effect in Sudan. While the System has some $370 million in trust funds, only about $1 million are invested in mutual funds that include companies with ties to Sudan.
“We hope it will send a clear message,” he says. “We want to bring responsibility to the university’s investments and set a standard for others.”
— John Allen
“Divestment isn’t a tool we use often,” Pruitt says. “We have a fiduciary responsibility to manage the investments well so that the UW System has the money it needs to operate.”
Still, Pruitt Acknowledges that divestment is an indirect and limited tool for change, and he doesn’t expect any immediate practical effect in Sudan. While the System has some $370 million in trust funds, only about $1 million are invested in mutual funds that include companies with ties to Sudan.
“We hope it will send a clear message,” he says. “We want to bring responsibility to the university’s investments and set a standard for others.”
— John Allen
Helping Kids Get a Jump on Jobs
What kind of work does an auditor do? Are there jobs for people who like to be around animals?
These are the kinds of questions kids ask when they start thinking about the things people do for a living. Now, a new workbook offers answers — and a guide to help students begin thinking about which jobs might suit them.
Titled Prepare … For Your Future, the workbook is published by Wisconsin Careers, a program in UW-Madison’s Center on Education and Work. Featuring self-assessments and interactive guides, it’s designed as a tool for teachers and school counselors to stimulate discussion about occupations and lifestyles among middle-school students. It also links to career-related curricula such as WISCareers and CareerLocker, two online resources for older students. For more information about the project, visit http://wiscareers.wisc.edu.
— Staff
These are the kinds of questions kids ask when they start thinking about the things people do for a living. Now, a new workbook offers answers — and a guide to help students begin thinking about which jobs might suit them.
Titled Prepare … For Your Future, the workbook is published by Wisconsin Careers, a program in UW-Madison’s Center on Education and Work. Featuring self-assessments and interactive guides, it’s designed as a tool for teachers and school counselors to stimulate discussion about occupations and lifestyles among middle-school students. It also links to career-related curricula such as WISCareers and CareerLocker, two online resources for older students. For more information about the project, visit http://wiscareers.wisc.edu.
— Staff
Catching Up
UW-Madison has reached an agreement with the Internet company Google to join its ambitious effort to create a worldwide online library. The university will digitize hundreds of thousands of historical texts and documents from UW-Madison and Wisconsin Historical Society collections. The texts will be available through Google Book Search, which allows users to download complete copies of millions of public-domain works and summaries of copyrighted books. UW-Madison is the eighth library system to participate in the massive digitization effort, joining institutions such as Harvard, Oxford, and the New York Public Library.
With a September dedication ceremony, the Social Science Building officially changed its name to honor the late William H. Sewell, a former professor of sociology who held a number of leadership positions on campus. A prominent sociologist renowned for his survey research, Sewell served as UW-Madison chancellor from October 1967 to June 1968, during the height of campus unrest over the war in Vietnam.
A new identity for the UW Comprehensive Cancer Center recognizes two pioneers in cancer research and treatment. The center now bears the name of Paul Carbone, who led the center for more than two decades and was responsible for numerous innovations in treatment and patient care. The center’s research tower also has a new name, honoring Harold Rusch, who founded the center and preceded Carbone as director.
With a September dedication ceremony, the Social Science Building officially changed its name to honor the late William H. Sewell, a former professor of sociology who held a number of leadership positions on campus. A prominent sociologist renowned for his survey research, Sewell served as UW-Madison chancellor from October 1967 to June 1968, during the height of campus unrest over the war in Vietnam.
A new identity for the UW Comprehensive Cancer Center recognizes two pioneers in cancer research and treatment. The center now bears the name of Paul Carbone, who led the center for more than two decades and was responsible for numerous innovations in treatment and patient care. The center’s research tower also has a new name, honoring Harold Rusch, who founded the center and preceded Carbone as director.
