Concrete canoe? Is this a joke? Concrete doesn’t float.

Yes it does, and it doesn’t just float because it’s in the shape of a canoe. Engineering students here at Marquette University and 13 other schools in the Midwest build canoes out of special concrete and race them as part of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Great Lakes Conference, an annual civil engineering student competition.

The concrete canoe team consists of about 20 civil engineering students who work throughout the school year in order to complete a canoe to enter in the competition. The team members are all part of the ASCE. ASCE oversees the competition by providing guidelines, some funding and the final judging. The competition rotates between host schools each year; this year Notre Dame was the host.
Work began long before the team was cruising through the water in their green canoe.

As early as September the team was already preparing for the April competition. The team started with the basics. They had to build a stand to hold the mold for the canoe, the mold which is made out of large Styrofoam blocks and a plastic tent to control the humidity when putting the concrete into the mold.

While the majority of the team went to work building these necessary pieces, Steven Graziano, a senior civil engineering student, began designing the concrete mix. White portland cement, fly ash, slag and silica fumes make up the cement portion of the mixture. The aggregate of the canoe is mostly composed of glass beads and recycled concrete. The mix also contained water and shreds of fiberglass as reinforcement as well as chemical admixtures, powders and fluids that help control the workability of the concrete.

“It’s one of the most exotic mixes I’ve ever seen,” said David Newman, laboratory manager for civil and environmental engineering and technical advisor to the team. “That’s just not done; you don’t make buildings or roads out of that stuff. That’s strictly for this and there aren’t really any guidelines written on how to design that.”

The only guideline for the mix was that it had to contain at least 25 percent recycled materials. This year’s team decided to adopt the motto “It’s not easy being green,” and used 100 percent recycled materials for their mix. The rest of the mix was open-ended and was devised with technical ability and creativity.

“The technical ability that students leave here with is essentially a given,” said Dr. James Crovetti, ASCE faculty advisor for the team. “It’s really what can they do to work with other people and get outside their box of comfort, and to be able to look at a problem from different perspectives, then find a solution and not get frustrated by the challenges in front of them.”

While Graziano did most of the technical heavy lifting, he did not do it alone. “There were a lot of times where I would go to Dave and we’d run into some sort of road block and together… we would put our heads together and figure out something.”

In the beginning of February, the team poured the canoe. While Graziano and a group of students finished measuring all of the components of the mix in the lab, project manager Patrick Carruthers a senior civil engineering student and another group of students were waiting in a room in the basement of Cramer Hall with the mold. The first bucket of concrete made its way over and the team started putting concrete in the mold inside the hot steamy plastic tent while the smell of concrete and sweat filled the air.

The tent kept the level of humidity high, which gave the team more working time with the concrete. Hours and a few buckets of concrete later the canoe sat in the mold, complete with fiberglass reinforcement between two layers of concrete. But it was nowhere near finished.

The canoe still needed to cure for several weeks, before the next steps could take place, which included water-grinding the inside and outside of the canoe to make it smooth as well as sealing it to keep it from absorbing more water.

After four weeks, disaster struck. When the team attempted to remove the canoe from the mold, it cracked in half. The canoe had bonded to the mold and was not able to shrink while it cured. The reinforcement also had ripped.

“It was like getting punched in the stomach,” said Graziano. With the competition less than four weeks away, the team had suffered a big blow but remained committed.
“We were going with or without something,” said Patricia Fleming, a junior civil engineering student and ASCE Marquette Chapter president.

The team knew what they had to do. “We sat there, talked about how it sucked, and then we were like: What do we have to do to get a new one?” said Carruthers. Fortunately, a few dedicated members: Adrianna Stanley, a senior civil engineering student, Ryan Chapman, a junior civil engineering student and Graziano were able to repair and put the mold back together over spring break so the team could pour a new canoe when everyone returned.

“All-in-all, it was something that needed to be done and we accepted that,” said Chapman.

With less than two weeks until the competition the team poured their second canoe, giving them only a week for it to cure and a few days to finish the water grinding and sealing. Four days before heading to Notre Dame the canoe slipped right out of the mold without cracking. This time the team had switched reinforcements as well as lined the mold with plastic wrap to prevent any bonding issues.

With the final coat of sealer still drying, the team loaded the canoe into a trailer on a Thursday afternoon and departed for Notre Dame. Every bump the trailer went over on the three and a half hour drive could have caused the canoe to crack, but it made it in one piece.

Early next morning the team headed to St. Mary’s Lake on the Notre Dame campus. The sun wasn’t quite up yet; it was cold and clouds were looming overhead. The team unloaded the canoe and placed it on its stand while the other teams started to trickle in and do the same.

With temperatures in the mid-30s and gusts of wind blowing across the lake, the team carried the canoe into the water for the first time. It floated.

The team started filling the canoe with water as part of their first test. The first test is the swamp test, where the canoe must be fully submerged and then float to the surface. The team took their hands off the canoe and it started to float. The team cheered, emptied the water out of the canoe, hauled it out and tried to stay warm until their first race.

After all the teams had gone through the swamp test and had their canoes judged for specifications, the races began. The first race was the women’s slalom/endurance race. In this time-trial race the participants had to weave through a set of buoys and then paddle around a far buoy and cross the finish line. The Marquette team helped Fleming, Stanley and Kaleianuene Akaka, a senior civil engineering student into the canoe. The team was excited to see the canoe move on the water for the first time. Ready and in position, the girls raised their paddles and were through the finish line in five minutes and eight seconds placing fourth. At the end of the day, the Marquette team took seventh overall in the races. However, the competition did not end there. The races were worth only a small portion in the overall canoe competition, which included a design report, a presentation as well as the canoe itself.

The conference also includes other competitions such as manila folder bridge, concrete golf, wastewater treatment, a mystery competition, technical paper report and a steel bridge competition.
On Saturday morning and afternoon, the team participated in manila folder bridge as well the wastewater treatment, technical paper and mystery competitions. Carruthers and Graziano also gave their presentation on the canoe. The judges were impressed with the fact that the team was able to use 100 percent recycled materials as well the fact that they were able to come together as a team to construct a new canoe in such a short amount of time.

Saturday was the final banquet when all the teams gathered for dinner. As the final results and awards were announced, everyone on the team was taken by surprise. The Marquette team had placed third in the concrete canoe competition, less than 5 points away from University of Wisconsin-Madison, who has dominated the competition in the past, and often competes in nationals.

“It was an insane feeling. Being there at the banquet and hearing our name called for third place, all of us were in shock,” said Fleming. The team took fourth overall as well as first in concrete golf and second for Stanley’s technical paper.

Popularity: 12% [?]

At first it may seem inconsistent to pair signature Jesuit values of social justice and selflessness with finance, an industry explicitly based on amassing wealth.
The students and faculty of Marquette’s Applied Investment Management Program would disagree.

“If there’s a public perception that finance is corrupt, then that’s a false perception,” AIM program director Dr. David Krause said.

As Wall Street continues to grapple with the global economic recession and public outrage over AIG executive bonuses and the Bernie Madoff scandal, Marquette’s Applied Investment Management (AIM) program is expanding the scope of Jesuit education and service beyond traditional social justice campaigns and food drives.

The AIM program is bringing Jesuit values to the forefront of finance through an innovative investment research curriculum designed to give students real investment experience and a solid foundation in the Jesuit tradition.

The Applied Investment Management (AIM) program was founded in 2004 and gives a select number of finance majors the opportunity to manage $1 million of the University’s endowment while receiving hands-on training in managing small capitalization equity and fixed income  funds.

The International Applied Investment Management (IAIM) program was established in 2007 and expanded the portfolio to include global equity funds. As one of the nation’s top investment programs, the AIM program was the first undergraduate business program in the world selected as a program partner by the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute.

Jesuit infused ethics guide the program as AIM students are some of the first in the nation required to take courses focused on socially responsible investment management standards.
“As far as we know, we’re the first school anywhere to offer investment ethics. We feel pretty good that we’re at the forefront addressing these problems. Because of our Jesuit values, we were addressing ethics before there was ever a need for it, before the big explosion,” Department of Finance chair Dr. Sarah Peck said.  “We take a lot of pride in the fact that not only are our students going to be extremely knowledgeable, but also become the type of people you want to see on Wall Street.”

In addition to the ethics course, a new course on risk management will be offered because of the link between the current economic crisis and the high frequency of risk leverage.
“We could really see that this was becoming an issue so we’re going to offer a course on it,” said Peck.

Disclosure to clients, trading, conflicts of interest, compensation and corporate governance issues are among the many ethical concerns addressed in AIM courses, Peck said.
The AIM program also prepares students to take the Chartered Financial Analyst exam, in which ethics is heavily covered. According to the AIM Web site, the program’s partnership with the CFA Institute is dependent upon the program covering at least 70 percent of the CFA Candidate Body of Knowledge.

Marquette graduate and AIM program alumnus Steven Briggs, who will be starting at Bank of America in New York as an analyst in Mergers and Acquisitions in July said ethics was always a huge part of his classroom experience in the AIM program.

“Ethics is a huge portion of the CFA exam and was talked about in every class we took for the AIM program,” Briggs said. “We had to write papers on ethics and current events dealing with ethics was always discussed.”

The Jesuit ethics taught at Marquette have also stayed with alumnus Dan Williams, Senior Vice President and Private Client Advisor for U.S. Trust Bank of America in New York.
“I think there’s a fundamental difference between people who’ve been Jesuit educated and those who have not,” Williams said. “It broadens your view of ethics, provides a moral, ethical training and makes it easy to tell when something is wrong, and say no right away.”

Although market volatility has gone down in recent months, the finance industry still faces hardship and uncertainty. Despite industry conditions, Dr. Krause said the AIM program has not suffered significant losses, and is also attracting a record number of applicants.

“The program hasn’t changed investing strategies, and is doing well in up and down markets,” Krause said. “There have been some alterations in type of companies, but we’ve stayed invested long term.”
Applicant numbers may be on the rise, but the implications of last fall’s financial crash has affected some students’ outlook on the future of finance.
AIM program junior Sarah Finneran said upheaval in the financial industry compelled her to initially question joining the program.

“As I was applying to the program, the financial industry was in turmoil, and so I initially thought “why would I want to do this?” but then I realized that with the backdrop of Jesuit values taught and applied through AIM, this is what there is a need for [in the industry],” Finneran said.

“There is a need for a moral compass in the business world, and that’s exactly why I wanted to be a part of the program, so that what happened doesn’t happen again.”

Popularity: 10% [?]

With only a few short weeks in office under their belt, Henry Thomas and Stephanie Stopka found time in their busy schedule to sit down with The Warrior to discuss the year ahead of them. Looking to gauge the potential of this pair, platform promises and communication were the important issues that were discussed. Thomas and Stopka think that MUSG is a very healthy organization and they are eager to work within it to do great things.

While the previous administration failed in many of their campaign promises, (incomplete Wells Street median, no computers in the AMU nor any electric LIMOs zipping about campus). Thomas and Stopka hope to get some of this done.

“We are not going to forget the projects in place. I am going to make… sure this will happen… Some of the things [Redlingshafer and Blaney] promised are on their way and it is our duty to continue that in transition,” Thomas said.

Another problem unearthed with the last presidency was the lack of communication between MUSG and the general student population, especially with regard to MUSG’s Web site. The last update on the president’s page was dated 1/22/09 with Redlingshafer addressing the new semester.

“It is something we realize is a problem, but we are making it a priority in the future,” Stopka said.

They hope this will be accomplished through their newly appointed Communications Vice President and through student talent.

During the meeting, it was clear that communication is something that Thomas and Stopka want to work on through the MUSG Web site and other avenues. One of the most important things that they want to communicate more effectively on is the MUSG budget and how they are planning to spend it. Currently, only 32 percent of the Student Organization Allocation goes to events that happen on campus. The rest is used to fund organizations’ requests to go to events off campus.

Thomas and Stopka said this is the case because more organizations request money for off-campus projects than for on-campus events.
“We found it disheartening that organizations had no idea that they could apply for money,” Stopka said.

“It is our responsibility to get that information to student organizations. We can target a lot through going out in committee individually,” Thomas said.

Another budget issue Thomas and Stopka want to communicate more effectively is how students’ activity fees are being spent. Through the increase in the activity fee students will see next year, MUSG hopes to increase funding for club sports and new events.

Addressing those students that dislike the activity fee and are unhappy with the way it is spent, Thomas said, “If they knew how much of their money was actually getting back to them, they would have a different opinion.”

Whether or not that is the case, this increased fee will give MUSG more spending power than ever.
One topic that Stopka was clearly passionate about was the safety on campus.

She said, “We have a safe campus but it can always be safer. We need to actively voice student concerns about places that are safe.”

In addition to the safety on campus and other platform promises, Thomas and Stopka are looking to the recent past for ideas to better represent the students at Marquette.
“We will take a lot of ideas from our competitors because they represented a large constituency… we do not want to ignore the other students; there are a lot of good ideas out there,” Stopka said.
Thomas was also adamant about the legacy he would like to leave on campus. “We want to be more along the lines of people you can come up to and see at various campus events… being involved and available,” he said.

Stopka, too, has a vision for her work at Marquette. She wants to get all they promised on their campaign platform completed:
“If we can do this, then that would be a great legacy.”

Popularity: 10% [?]

Ray Redlingshafer and his administration in Marquette University’s Student Government did not achieve anything great this past year.  There is not much debate about that. Take a look around, is anything different? Are there computers in the AMU? No.  Is the project to get a median on Wells Street completed? No.

As such, it used to seem to me that MUSG was fairly unnecessary on campus. MUSG cannot do large projects, such as increase the amount of bandwidth that the University has. For large projects, such as this one, it is up to administrators to use their best judgment and make changes.  In my time as an MUSG senator, I did discover that MUSG does many things (even if they are small), and I was incorrect for condemning all of their practices.

When it comes to allocating the Student Activity Fee, we have clearly seen that MUSG is incompetent at doing that.  We know that MUSG is not good at communicating with the people that it claims to represent. This became more apparent when former President Redlingshafer, (in connection with the Communications Department,) tried to prevent Senators (who they have no realistic or constitutional control over) from speaking to the press. Luckily President Thomas (while wearing a baseball cap to the first Senate meeting) repealed this policy, and encouraged people to communicate.

There are some things that MUSG does that are very positive to the Marquette community.  One of the greatest assets of MUSG is the Programs Department.  The programs that are put on have a great impact on  Marquette students.  They offer opportunities for students to use the activity fee money they paid into MUSG.

The other option for the activity fee money is to go through the Student Allocations process, which many times ends in sending few students on exotic adventures around the country or world. The new Programs Vice President, Erin Shawgo, has promised to have more activities that will be in Milwaukee, and easily accessible to all Marquette students. If we are going to have a Student Activity Fee, which seems unavoidable, it might as well be used in a manner that many students can use. This takes place mainly through the Programs board.

There are also many senators that do strive to respond to the needs of the people at Marquette that they represent, and they do work to meet those needs.  Some of the best senators in MUSG do not make their work known all the time in the form of legislation, but there are people that go and meet with administrators to get things done.

These people within MUSG work with administrators, rather than thinking that MUSG needs to work against administrators. The communication by these senators is crucial, and  senators do it out of their sense of duty for the peopletheir constituents. To these few senators, I commend you.

Granted, there are still those senators who do things to simply get their name on legislation. Senators Billy Doerrer and Joey Ciccone were recently able to childishly pass an amendment with the intention of eliminating certain students’ right to run for MUSG in their last year at Marquette.

While MUSG and the Senate still like to do foolish unnecessary things, there are good things that are being done at a lower volume, and it is because of these things that we must forgive many of the idiotic things that some people do within MUSG.

Finally, with all the negative attention that the communication’s department gets, much of it rightfully so, they have done some good in this past year.  Have they been updating the website on a continual basis? No. They have, however, entered the 21st century and began to Twitter. The Twitter updates from the communications department have been timely and very informative.  For that, former Communications Vice President Katy Klinnert, we as a student body should thank you, as we can now stay more informed.

There are many things MUSG does that are entirely unnecessary and a waste of time. And let us not forget the large amounts of money MUSG loves to waste. The Student Government at Marquette does, however, in many ways provide services to the students that are represented. These are sometimes seen through programs, and sometimes they are not seen, when it is behind the scenes work with administrators.  We can only hope that after the summer months MUSG works towards more of the positive things, and leaves behind much of the childish egocentric behavior.

Popularity: 10% [?]

On Tuesday April 14, President Barack Obama delivered an economic and general policy speech in Georgetown University’s Gaston Hall.

Although the President’s economic policy is controversial, to those familiar with Gaston Hall, something else seemed slightly off. In a move that came as more or less (depending on how much you know about Georgetown University) of a shock, Georgetown University officials decided to comply with the White House request to cover up the gold IHS symbol and cross adorning the stage where the President gave his speech.

IHS, simply translated, is the first three letters of Jesus’ name in Greek. It has also been associated with Iesus Hominum Salvator, or Jesus savior of humanity, and with the Jesuits in the United States.

In what seems to be their official stance on the issue, Georgetown Associate Vice President Julie Green Bataille responded to multiple news agencies by saying “the White House wanted a simple backdrop of flags and pipe and drape for the speech, consistent with what they’ve done for other policy speeches. Frankly, the pipe and drape wasn’t high enough by itself to fully cover the IHS and cross above the GU seal and it seemed most respectful to have them covered so as not to be seen out of context.”
The University covered the IHS and cross symbol with a triangular piece of ply board painted black.

The Washington Times’ Belief Blog published a response from Catholic University of America spokesperson Viktor Nakas.

Nakas said, “I can’t imagine, as the bishops’ university and the national university of the Catholic Church, that we would ever cover up our religious art or signage for any reason. Our Catholic faith is integral to our identity as an institution of higher education.”

Patrick Reilly, President of the Cardinal Newman Society, a large national Catholic organization, said, “It is such a sad commentary that Catholic universities are willingly hiding the most visible signs of their Catholic identity when hosting secular leaders.”

Georgetown University did not cover the dozens of other religious images present in Gaston Hall, just the two directly behind the President. The black ply board remained covering the name of Jesus for over a day after the event ended.

It is yet to be seen whether or not President Obama will wear the official graduation garb at the University of Notre Dame when he receives his honorary degree. The gown has references to Mary, as well as prayers and crosses on it.

Popularity: 2% [?]

There has been a lot of talk in the news lately about these so called “tea parties” around the country. A few of them even took place right here in Wisconsin. I had the opportunity to attend the rally in Madison, and since most Marquette students did not get the chance to attend I thought I would relay the basic message back to the campus. After all, we wouldn’t want people to think that Marquette is a community that is sheltered from the happenings of the state of Wisconsin…

First, some history: The original Boston Tea Party took place on December 16, 1773 and was the result of a number of issues. The first of such issues was the notion of taxation without representation; the Tea Act of 1773 was the main issue of dispute between the colonists and the legislature.

The colonial resistance to the Tea Act had little to do with high prices or taxes; in fact the price of legally imported tea was decreased by the Tea Act. It had much more to do with the notion of taxation without representation. Colonists were not willing to pay taxes levied on them by representatives not of their sovereignty. It was for this reason that the Tea Act was opposed, and why the colonists refused to accept the tea and ultimately destroyed it.

The call for a taxpayer “tea party” rally became nationally recognized when Rick Santelli, commentator for CNBC, promoted the idea of a “Chicago Tea Party” on the floor of the CME Group in Chicago. He said that the government was “promoting bad behavior” and made several other comments critical of the Obama administration. Support ensued from all around the country, and tea parties began popping up nationwide.

Wisconsin had several tea parties within the state: Racine, Appleton, Eau Claire, Fond du Lac, etc. The largest one, however, was in our state capital. Over 8,000 people gathered to protest the high levels of government spending that has been taking place. The event had a great line up of speakers: Congressman Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Americans for Prosperity Director Mark Block, radio talk show personality Vicki McKenna, Pastor David King of the Milwaukee God Squad and many more.

Immediately following the event, all members were asked to visit their local representatives’ offices and take one tea bag to each of their elected officials: one for their state assemblyperson, one for their state senator and one for the governor.

Regardless of your political position, I think we can agree that 8,200 people is an impressive display. Perhaps our elected officials should pay closer attention to what their constituents are saying…

Popularity: 2% [?]

As the end of April draws near, the city finally unthaws and spring truly arrives. Yet for students who drive, the melting snow merely reveals the heavy toll that Wisconsin’s harsh winters take on the city’s streets.

Over the winter, snow and rain accumulate in a street’s existing cracks. When this precipitation freezes it expands; when the temperature rises, the water melts and washes away, leaving a weakened road. As traffic continues on these roads, the weakened area eventually collapses, creating many potholes throughout the city.

These potholes are not a problem unique to Wisconsin; they can occur anywhere this freeze-thaw cycle exists. An estimated 350 million potholes mar the country’s roads, making driving both unsafe and uncomfortable.

Last month, drivers in Louisville, KY got some welcome relief to this problem, when the Louisville-based company Kentucky Friend Chicken paid to fill the city’s numerous potholes.  The repair project was part of an effort to generate publicity for the company’s “Fresh Tastes Best” campaign. The “Fresh Tastes Best” campaign is meant to highlight the company’s dedication to providing fresh, high-quality products to their customers.

To emphasize their absolute dedication to freshness, the Colonel and his crew paid to re-“fresh” Louisville’s roadways by repairing it’s pothole-ridden streets. All that the Colonel asked in return was for the city’s re-“fresh”ed potholes to be branded in non-permanent street chalk with an advertisement declaring them “Refreshed by KFC.” While the white chalk logo against the new black asphalt was certainly striking, the company assured the city that it was not permanent and would wash away with the rain.

Louisville’s Mayor Jerry Abramson seemed to have no problem with the compromise.  He stated, “Budgets are tight for cities across the country, and finding funding for needed road repairs is a continuing challenge.” As he accepted KFC’s offer, he praised the company’s dedication to the city.

While few Marquette students are affected by Louisville’s repaved roadways, the company’s most recent offer concerns every Milwaukee resident. On March 25, Roger Eaton, president of KFC, issued an open offer to mayors around the nation, asking them to nominate their city for the company’s program.  The company will choose four major American cities and pay for each city’s potholes to be repaved.

“What? That’s awesome,” Andy Merkel, a Junior at Marquette, said upon hearing about this offer. Merkel, as a native of Southeastern Wisconsin knows how bad the roads have become. “Milwaukee definitely needs to look into that.”

There are numerous reasons why Milwaukee is the perfect candidate for KFC’s “Fresh Tastes Best” campaign. The city is responsible for the maintenance, repair and resurfacing of approximately 900 miles of Milwaukee’s streets. These repairs are funded mainly through the city’s Resurfacing Reconstruction program.

A 2006 report from the Milwaukee Department of Public Works (the most recent data available) shows the substantial time and money that the city spends repairing and maintaining the streets. In that year alone, the city paid to have over 400,000 square yards of cracked pavement filled in. An additional 9,800 tons of asphalt was required by street maintenance crews to repair small asphalt cracks and potholes.

Milwaukee’s potholes are not just an annoyance for drivers. Repairing the damaged roads puts a big strain on the city’s budget, and takes away potential funding for other important initiatives.
The winter’s effect on the roads will take a bigger toll on the city’s budget this year than ever before. According to city’s 2009 budget, beginning this year there will be no federal or state-level contributions towards the Resurfacing Reconstruction program. Instead, the program’s $10.3 million dollar budget will be funded exclusively by the city of Milwaukee.

The streets of Milwaukee are clearly riddled with potholes, and thus with potential advertising for KFC. But allowing KFC to temporarily advertise along the streets in order to free up over ten million dollars in funds seems like a minor compromise.

Asked if he would mind having the KFC logo on the roads, Merkel responded: “not at all, in fact, I would go to KFC more often if they fixed the roads.”
Perhaps of even more concern to Marquette students with cars on campus, are some of the strategies that the city has used in an attempt to balance its budget.  Wisconsin state law requires that the city present a balanced budget, so the city was forced to find ways to fund their additional $3.8 million contribution to the Resurfacing Reconstruction Program. One of the ways they did so was by factoring in a $1.4 million increase in their revenues from Parking Operations, which draws it’s revenue from things like meters, towing, sale of permits and parking citations.
Allowing KFC to help Milwaukee out and fill the city’s potholes would help ease the burden of funding the Resurfacing and Reconstruction Program solely on city funds. It would take away some of the need for expected increases in parking citation revenue.

For those students who perhaps do not commute or keep a car on campus, there are still incredibly compelling reasons to support a KFC “Fresh Tastes Best” initiative in Milwaukee. The millions of dollars spent by the city on repairing and repaving the streets could be spent on a number of meaningful city projects.

So, what can you do to make sure that Milwaukee is nominated for KFC “Fresh Tastes Best” initiative? According to the letter issued by the company, the request must come from the city’s mayor.  Milwaukee residents can contact Mayor Tom Barrett at (414) 286-2200, or by email at mayor@milwaukee.gov to voice their support for allowing the Colonel and his crew to repair the city’s potholes. In the meantime, report Milwaukee potholes by calling (414) 286-2489 or filling out an online form at http://www.mpw.net/Pages/Infrastructure/potholeMaintenance.html

Popularity: 3% [?]

Since 2002, Timothy M. Dolan has led the Milwaukee Archdiocese as Archbishop. His tenure included dealing with a wide array of priest abuse scandals, a petition by local priests to make clerical celibacy optional and the collateral damage left behind by former Archbishop Rembert Weakland. By all accounts, if Dolan were to get a report card at the end of every year, it would certainly include straight A’s.

On Monday, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Archbishop Timothy Dolan as the new Archbishop of New York. This private Vatican information was first reported by well-connected Italian journalist Paolo Rodari, who writes for the Vatican Watch periodical Il Reformista.

For those not in the loop, New York is the United States’ most important Archdiocese, according to the Catholic News Agency.
With regards to political hierarchy, New York, along with the Bishopric of Washington D.C., holds the most influence on Capitol Hill. This move reassertes the importance of the United States Catholic Bishops in a time of constant change throughout both the political and economic realms of the country.

Critics of the move state that Dolan is not one to take a hard line and stand up against the anti-Catholic, anti-conservative sentiment given off by the current presidential administration and others such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Well known for his dislike of Archbishop Dolan, Marquette Theology professor Dan Maguire has been quick to criticize the appointment. Maguire, who is banned from speaking in all parishes in the Milwaukee Archdiocese, was quoted in the New York Times on Tuesday,
criticizing the Church’s failure to listen to Theologians.

However, those who back the appointment of Archbishop Dolan say that he would bring the “soft touch” of a “pastoral leader,” according to the Catholic News Agency. Dolan’s attention to detail and hard line conservative stances are viewed as great counter-culture counters to the anti-Catholic policies of the current administration.

According to Rodari, Archbishop Henry Mansell of Hartford, Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta, Archbishop John Myers of Newark and Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves of San Juan, Puerto Rico, were all being considered for the appointment.
Whatever happens, Archbishop Dolan’s great legacy in Milwaukee, both as pastoral leader and man of the people, will never be forgotten. His contributions to the Archdioceses of Milwaukee and St. Louis have prepared him well for New York, and his down-to-earth style make him a great candidate for any Bishopric.

Popularity: 6% [?]

During the Senate meeting held on February 19, 2009, a very unimportant issue took up the most meeting time – that of Recommendation 6. Recommendation 6 was introduced to the Senate by Senators John Kristan, Mike Parreno, Liz Judy and Ellie Hastings. It reads, “Let it be recommended that the Office of the Provost begin to encourage professors to accept double-sided printed papers.” Aside from its silliness, which I will get to later, this recommendation that doesn’t really do anything has taken up so much of the Senate’s time compared to issues that matter so much more.

At the same meeting, the Senate passed an important election reform amendment that allows those students running for office to contact constituents with their consent. It reads, “Let … the MUSG Election Rules be amended to state: ‘The following activities are prohibited… Solicitation of votes by direct or indirect mailings (electronic or otherwise) or phone calls of any kind, unless the recipients individually and expressly request to receive such solicitations.”

This legislation, introduced by Senators Bill Doerrer and Tip McGuire, profoundly impacts the way campaigns will be run in the future.

It only took about five minutes for the Senators to make an amendment to the MUSG constitution, but it took them 22 minutes to determine whether or not to make a recommendation to the Provost.

Let me give you a brief history of this recommendation. During the Senate meeting held on Feb. 5, Senators Kristan, Parreno, Judy and Hastings introduced a recommendation that asked for the defaults on Printwise printers to be changed from single-sided to double-sided. The rationale for this switch was that it would save both the university and students money. Currently, printing two pages costs 14 cents whereas printing one sheet double-sided costs 10 cents for students.
During questioning, many Senators were concerned that the committee introducing the recommendation didn’t speak with faculty to see if double-sided documents would be accepted in class. It was also pointed out that it is a fairly easy process to switch from single-sided to double-sided on the print options menu, therefore making this recommendation unnecessary.
Finally, the dissent noted that it would be in bad to taste to tell the faculty what to do should an amendment to the recommendation be made about the acceptance of double-sided documents. After a painfully long discussion, it was suggested that it be tabled for two weeks.

Recommendation 6, which was discussed on Feb. 19, was a version of the original recommendation. At 8:02 p.m. CST , (yes, this time I decided to time how much of my time they found acceptable to waste) questioning opened for the new recommendation and several of the same sentiments were raised on the part of the dissent. The faculty again had not been consulted, nor had the students.

When asked if he spoke to any constituents about the proposed recommendation, Senator Kristan answered, “I haven’t talked to any constituents, but we were elected to make decisions.”
Really?

Come on, Senator, you were elected to represent students. How are you to do that if you don’t know where they stand on issues?
During questioning, it also came out that the Renewal Task Force was working on something similar, making the passing of this recommendation basically pointless. Kristan noted that they would like to hear how the students feel. However, he shouldn’t talk about students’ feelings because he admitted to not actually knowing them.
Another new concern was directed towards the persuasive power of the Provost. Senators wanted to know if all professors would have to adopt the practice or if it would remain a judgment call by the professors after the Provost encourages professors to accept double-sided documents.

For all of the hemming and hawing certain members of the Senate did during the period questioning, the recommendation passed with only two votes against it. The whole ordeal was finally over with at 8:24 p.m. The Senate spent 22 minutes arguing about something they had no intention of rejecting and something that won’t actually do anything. Anything! In my humble opinion, it was a giant waste of time.

I was upset as a constituent and as an observer of the meeting. When only one person was against this recommendation despite the intense amount of scrutiny it got, I was flabbergasted. Their time would have been much better spent looking into items that held much more weight.

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It’s the age old question: where do I put my money? I want it somewhere it’ll be safe, but I still want it to grow. But I don’t want to lose any of it. And I don’t have time to manage it. And I want it available when I need it. Which is now.
Historically, we’ve turned to banks for this sort of thing; a nice safe checking account or a money market. Yep, that’s where I’ll go – the local money depository. I know my money will be safe there, and for the safety I’m getting I can’t expect any better return…right?

Maybe not. One often overlooked establishment in the financial sector is the credit union. Credit unions often times have better rates than banks on loans, checking and savings accounts.
But for those of us who are unfamiliar with the concept, let’s run through the basic differences. First of all, who owns it? A bank is owned by shareholders of the bank – investors. The bank, in turn, does what any good corporate citizen does: it tries to make the investors happy.

A credit union, on the other hand, is owned by the members of the credit union, very similar to a mutual company. If you are a member of the credit union, you own part of the credit union. So, in theory, instead of trying to please investors, the credit union is trying to please you.

Since we’re talking about mutual companies vs. stock companies, where do the profits go? In a stock company (the bank), the profits go back to the investors in the form of higher stock prices. In a mutual company (credit unions), the profits go back to the members of the credit union, in the form of lower loan interest rates and higher dividends.
A common misconception is that credit unions are not FDIC insured, and so people are often weary to invest. However, all federal credit unions must be FDIC insured.

Let’s take a look at some local banks here in Milwaukee: US Bank and Wells Fargo. The average interest rate on a savings account is 0.1 percent at US Bank, and 0.05 percent at Wells Fargo. If you wanted to open up a money market at US Bank, their best rate is 1.20 percent; and you need to have $100,000 or more in that account to get that rate (the lowest bracket is 0.25 percent). With Wells Fargo, you can get a 0.15 percent rate, but only if you link that account with another account at Wells Fargo.

Now let’s look at some local credit unions. Landmark Credit Union has a premier checking account with a 7.25 percent rate. Their money market has a 0.3 percent rate; still not great, but better than US Bank and Wells Fargo. Prime Financial Credit Union has a checking account with no minimum balance and a 3.01 percent interest rate. Their lowest money market has a rate of 0.5 percent , the best of any we’ve looked at.

As a disclaimer, please do not accept these rates as set in stone, as rates tend to fluctuate over time. Do not take a copy of the Warrior into the local credit union and expect them to give you these rates. Check with your local financial advisor before making any changes in your portfolio. What you can do, however, is call some banks, call some credit unions and get some quotes. The more information you have, the more intelligent a decision you can make.

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