Another semester has come to pass, and with it another installment of The Badger Herald’s editorial page. These have been an eventful several months for those of us at the Herald, marked by significant changes – the most important of which is a pivot to an online-first publishing model, coming… Read more »

Late night food carts and brick-and-mortar restaurants on Broom Street have been embroiled in something of a turf war since late February. However, it appears our long municipal nightmare has finished. Last night, the city’s Vending Oversight Committee approved a compromise that appears to satiate everyone involved. The compromise, which… Read more »

This week, North Korea continued its aggressive posturing, moving several medium-range missiles to their east coast. This week has been saturated by a seemingly unending stream of stories about Kim Jung Un claiming his country is closer and closer to attacking the U.S. or its allies — possibly with nuclear… Read more »

This week, Madison officials announced that the Meet and Eat food cart program will be expanding to serve more of the city’s neighborhoods. The program, which brings food carts to vacant lots in residential neighborhoods, became very popular last summer. Beginning in July, it will expand to host food carts… Read more »

Loser of the Week: Gov. Scott Walker To be honest, we never planned on writing a Scott Walker-inspired “Loser of the Week.” But let’s face it, the governor has had some sub-par past seven days. Recent assessments of the Wisconsin economy are the source of Walker’s troubles. Last week, the Legislative… Read more »

The announcement of Revelry’s lineup Thursday was greeted with mixed reactions. The most notable omission from the lineup was a big-name headliner with broad appeal. However, digging a little deeper, there is an all-around solid group of musical acts performing. Even if not everyone is excited about Revelry, it’s succeeded… Read more »

On Wednesday night, the Associated Students of Madison announced their new constitution had been approved by a margin of 1,875 votes. For all the ridicule ASM elections receive (see our loser of the week), this is a step in the right direction by our student government and our student body… Read more »

Loser of the Week: Democracy The results of Associated Students of Madison’s Spring 2013 Election are in, and the numbers are, well, less than impressive. Of 40,723 enrolled students at the University of Wisconsin, a mere 6,077 cast votes in the election, which comes out to just less than 15 percent.… Read more »

On Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., took the Senate floor at 11:47 a.m. He didn’t yield it until 12.39 a.m. Thursday. Paul’s filibuster, one of the longest traditional filibusters in recent memory, gained immediate traction on social media. Paul was filibustering the confirmation of John Brennan as director of the… Read more »

I seem to remember an old saying that goes something like: “If you’re going to lose your job, you might as well make a complete ass of yourself in the process.” Maybe I’m mistaken — maybe that’s not an old saying. Regardless, it seems to be the philosophy of Democratic Party spokesperson… Read more »

Last Friday the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office announced the end of the lengthy and contentious John Doe investigation of Gov. Scott Walker’s Milwaukee County Executive office.The close of the John Doe investigation marks the end of three years that Milwaukee County officials spent sifting through emails, searching houses and… Read more »

Considering the devastating impact of the Great Recession in 2008 and the subsequent years of slow but steady recovery, one would think Congressional lawmakers would do anything and everything in their power to protect the fragile U.S. economy. In light of recent elections dominated by economic considerations, one would expect… Read more »

On Thursday, the Associated Press added the following entry to their style guide: “Regardless of sexual orientation, husband or wife is acceptable in all references to individuals in any legally recognized marriage. Spouse or partner may be used if requested.” Before this, the AP had never published specific guidelines… Read more »

This week’s loser: the National Rifle Association. Even after a wave of mass shootings rocked the U.S. over the course of the past year and prompted renewed pressure for gun control legislation, the NRA is sticking to its guns. In the wake of such shootings as the mass murders in… Read more »

During his rebuttal to President Obama’s State of the Union address, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., made a now-infamous grab for his off-screen bottle of water. Rubio’s watergate moment drew nearly as much attention (and perhaps more) than his speech itself. While unfortunate for Rubio, there was a clear beneficiary in… Read more »

While President Barack Obama handily defeated former Gov. Mitt Romney last fall, election season gave Americans an opportunity to reflect on his first four years in office. The election raised questions as to whether or not Obama followed through on the campaign promises he ran on in 2008, and his performance… Read more »

Winner of the Week: BeyoncéHer reputation was temporarily tarnished when she confessed to lip-syncing the national anthem at Obama’s second inauguration. According to Time, when asked about the lip-synced performance, she responded, “Due to the weather, due to the delay, due to no proper sound check … I did not feel comfortable… Read more »

With news Wisconsin is looking at a budget surplus of $419 million, there has been much debate over what to do actually do with the money. Most of the discussion at the Capitol has revolved around giving it back to taxpayers in the form of a tax cut. We thought that… Read more »

Throughout the last 24 hours, I have received several inquiries about the use of the term “undocumented” — in place of “illegal” — to describe a subgroup of immigrants in the U.S. in a story about a visit earlier this week from immigration activist and journalist Jose Antonio Vargas. Concerns… Read more »

It’s easy to conceptualize the opinion section as just a place for others’ opinions, a place where students express points of view that you would survive just fine without reading. I mean, why not just read the news section and be done with the paper? The answer is twofold. First, a… Read more »

Last year, as news of Gov. Scott Walker’s initiatives inundated headlines, hundreds of students joined in the protests at the Capitol. Some students’ opinions were strengthened, others changed and others were formed for the first time. It was one of the most historical events this state has seen in years.One… Read more »

A researcher recently contacted The Badger Herald about a project assessing threats to college newspapers. I ran him through the typical information researchers want to know: Yes, we are entirely independent. No, the university cannot censor us. Yes, there is another daily student paper on campus. No, we do not… Read more »

The journalism world has undergone a monumental change for the last several years. But you already know this. The Badger Herald’s history as a student newspaper consistently defies conventional media wisdom. We are accustomed to shifts in the media world. Not only does our staff switch over on a semesterly… Read more »

An anonymous user on The Badger Herald’s website posted a comment threatening the safety of “those in power and and those with perceived power” Tuesday morning. Although we have no means of verifying if there was real intent behind their words, I would like to remind our readers that the… Read more »

The opinion section of a paper exists for a reason: It goes beyond the facts of a story to interpret it. The section helps readers think about the headlines on a deeper level. Yes, an opinion is an inherently biased piece of writing. However, in taking a side, it forces… Read more »

Welcome back to the pages of The Badger Herald. Between recalls, budget cuts and the fight for a new Associated Students of Madison constitution, it is shaping up to be a heavy semester for the Madison media. To continue to provide University of Wisconsin students with the best possible coverage,… Read more »

Something interesting happened on the Badger Herald Editorial Board this semester. After a suggestion from our editor-at-large, we opened our meetings to community leaders to spend a week thinking, debating and editing alongside our regular board members. As a result, we found ourselves tackling topics we might not have otherwise… Read more »

Dear readers, At The Badger Herald, we work to provide relevant, timely and local coverage on the Opinion page. This means discussing in-depth issues at the city, campus and state levels. However, national and international issues are also important, both to page readers and writers. While we want to focus… Read more »

Dear student organizations, You may have noticed recently that Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment wrote guest columns that appeared on Oct. 3, 12 and 17 to promote Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This is part of an ongoing effort by the Opinion section to incorporate the voice of student organizations on the… Read more »

Page 4 of Wednesday’s Badger Herald featured an advertisement from Facts and Logic About the Middle East, an organization that runs inflammatory ads that are often repugnant attacks on Arab Muslims. Wednesday’s ad featured false charges that all Arab Muslims are anti-Semitic. The Herald does not publish ads that are… Read more »

The Associated Press Style guide is no longer king at The Badger Herald when it comes to writing about diversity. Effective today, our editors now rely on the News Watch Diversity Style Guide. The guide outlines rules on everything from how to refer to a person with a disability to… Read more »

As a part of our ongoing commitment to experimentation, The Badger Herald is shifting the composition of our editorial board. Along with our normal student contributors, members of the community are now invited to sit on the board for one-week stints. A full description is included below. We look forward… Read more »

Fall Semester 2011. It could be good, it could be bad and at times, it will most certainly be ugly. That’s where we come in. Welcome, or welcome back, to the Opinion page — the place where we put all of the above in perspective. Protests the likes of which… Read more »

As you read this, you are one step closer to joining the prestigious community known as the University of Wisconsin. Holding this paper, you’ve been introduced to an essential voice on campus for the last 42 years. With this paper in hand, you’re…one step farther from summer. Fret not! While… Read more »

Welcome back to the often coherent, occasionally irreverent and always relevant opinion section. If you’re reading this, you are returning to the most talked about page of the Herald. On this page, arguments, some eloquent and others brazen, are put forth in columns. On this page, editorials break down current… Read more »

Dear Opinion Readers, Well, we’d say it’s been a hell of a semester, but nothing truly exciting or particularly inspiring happened, at least that we can recall. Yes, the mid-term elections came and went, dashing our hippie liberal dreams. Yes, we were forced to accept that Wisconsinites are not “about… Read more »

Hello, and welcome to the hallowed columns of the opinion page of The Badger Herald. In this section you will find rants, raves, in-your-face opinions and the occasional compelling argument courtesy of our writers. It is here we take what you hear in the news, tear it open and pick… Read more »

Welcome back. Your dreams may have been your ticket out of Madison for a month, but like all dreams, this too was quickly crushed by real world responsibilities such as school, jobs and parole-mandated AA meetings. Like the good-souled politicians our page covers on a daily basis, Hannah and… Read more »

You have until Wednesday to vote online (at asm.wisc.edu) for representatives to the Student Services Finance Committee, which allocates millions of your segregated-fee dollars. (For you freshmen, there are also elections for four open seats on the Associated Students of Madison Student Council). Did you know that? Do you care?… Read more »

Yes, the shout-outs are in the back. But before you dive into those anonymous rants on the merits of Coasties, take note of the seven pages of content that precede them. That’s the Opinion section, and it’s one of which we, Eric Schmidt and Sean Kittridge, are extremely proud.… Read more »

When we became editors at the start of our respective semesters, we didn’t really know what we were getting ourselves into. We knew there was some constitution thing going on, I knew we were getting a new Union South, and I knew we were paying for it. I knew… Read more »

In Opinion, we don’t like easy decisions. As a section that thrives on the thrill of argument, intuitively obvious choices are diametrically opposed to our love of debate. Thus, the opinion desk is unrepentantly disappointed by the District 8 race for Madison’s Common Council. With Bryon Eagon so obviously… Read more »

Where the ego of Capitol Neighborhoods Inc. is concerned, it seems what you say matters much less than how you say it. In Thursday’s paper, University of Wisconsin professor Richard L. Brown lambasted the Editorial Board for its “snide commentary” on CNI’s inability to attract any participation beyond Associated Students… Read more »

Welcome back everyone. If you’re reading this, that probably means you are already tired. Having soldiered through nearly half of this semiannual tome to even reach the shores of our fair section, we owe you some pretty stimulating content. Not only do we think we have delivered today, but… Read more »

Buckle up — we’re in for an interesting ride during the year ahead. We’re in the midst of watching Barack Obama move into the White House, we have a financial system facing a potential full-out disaster in the months ahead, we still have troops fighting battles in Afghanistan and… Read more »

While University of Wisconsin Chancellor Biddy Martin certainly has zeroed in on a comprehensive, all-hands-on-deck strategy for coping with the impending budget deficit, her official appointment of Dawn Crim as special assistant of community relations is an unnecessary maintenance of the status quo. And considering the way Crim has… Read more »

It must be tough promoting change we can believe in. Especially when the methods of bringing about “change” are suspiciously similar to those used to preserve the status quo. However, this is a game the University of Wisconsin-Madison College Democrats are choosing to play, and shame on us for trying… Read more »

Welcome to the opinion page of The Badger Herald. Opinion tries to be the forum for the campus intellectual dialogue. Liberals, conservatives, socialists — and maybe even the odd prohibitionist — find a home for their arguments on the editorial page five days a week. Our writers enter the political… Read more »

Welcome, new students! In keeping with a long line of generic introductory columns from the editors of the opinion page, we are writing this, another generic introductory column. It didn’t begin like this. We sincerely struggled to appeal to your sense of idealistic, untainted activism using our sense of original,… Read more »

This is a tale of enduring passion and undying love. It is as true as the sky is blue; it is as self-indulged as the weekly columns of its authors: Once upon a time there were two would-be editors. They first met on a delivery run as Ed’s Express employees… Read more »

Tonight, The Badger Herald will be bringing the public forum directly to the student body, as we host a debate between the College Democrats and the College Republicans. With the presidential campaign slowly moving its focus toward Wisconsin, this university has the perfect opportunity to seriously debate the issues of… Read more »

This week, we finish our three-part series "Exploring the Issues: Race, Religion and Sexuality" with topics relating to sexuality and gender. Without question, sexuality is the most prevalent in the public discourse of the three issues we have addressed, yet for this very reason it must be addressed in an… Read more »

Beginning today, and continuing through the first week in December, the Opinion section will embark on a new and challenging endeavor with our three-week series titled "Exploring the Issues: Race, Religion and Sexuality."In each of these series, our columnists will tackle a different issue and avenue under a broader umbrella… Read more »