An advertisement appeared on campus over the past week promoting the Associated Students of Madison’s
In an effort to promote the program, the ads were displayed around campus and appeared in campus newspapers, including The Badger Herald. They feature a hastily-created map that includes colored lines to represent roads and labels representing an array of sites throughout the downtown area, while pushing students to “Get to know Madison like an insider.”
Now, maybe we’re still “outsiders,” but we noticed a few funny things with this map. For instance, our interpretation of the map puts the Memorial Union Terrace on top of Bascom Hill, the Farmer’s Market in the middle of campus fraternities and sororities and Monona Terrace somewhere near the Badger Bus Depot.
It appears a couple miles of land lies between West Washington Avenue and Lake Monona at Brittingham Park, when the thoroughfare actually runs next to the water between Regent and Park streets. The Alliant Energy Center is placed a couple blocks south of Vilas Zoo instead of the couple miles that actually separate them.
If students are looking to be part of the Grateful Red fan base at the Kohl Center, the map directs them to Meriter Hospital. And perhaps best of all, some road goes right through the middle of the state Capitol.
Putting slapdash cartography aside, the map also includes several classifications to represent several campus neighborhoods. In addition to “Sconnie” and “Hippie Christmas” (perhaps we’re out of touch, but we thought that was an event, not a place), the map includes the term “coastie.”
Despite the fact that “coastie” on the map represents the portion of Langdon Street near Library Mall, it’s clear ASM’s intent was to use the moniker to label the largely Greek residential area. We are bothered that a map supposedly representing everything Madison has to offer would include this term. At a time when ASM is trying to promote its legitimacy and bring students together, the inclusion of such labels only further divides the campus community.
ASM Chair Brittany Wiegand told the Herald that a representative from ASM StudentPrint created the map, which was later approved by “other students” and student bus pass advisor Margaret Bergamini. We are disappointed that these individuals allowed the ad to print.
Regardless of how the term coastie is interpreted, it is derogatory and offensive to portions of the student population. While ASM claims to represent the entire student body, carelessness such as this only cements a division between us.
