Issue 2- October 2011 Looking at the History of the Sword & Shield, Part 2 Feature Article by Will Xiang Congratulations to Homecoming King and In this second installment the recently-retired English teacher Queen Jamar Morris Student Government... page 2 of our exploration of the history of Tom Jones was an outspoken sup- and Gretchen Bauer. Making a Difference...page 3 the Sword and Shield, we’ll take porter of the article, commending a look at a rocky time period that the blunt facts behind the message Sports... page 4 saw the paper suppressed into a and praising the courage of the Entryway Redesign...page 5 school-censored newsletter. writer to publish it. Like Pie?...page 5 Although a single article Nevertheless, the an- Horoscope... page 6 was the main trigger for the cen- nouncement that the paper would Chilvary... page 7 sorship of the school newspaper, be censored angered the Sword and the Sword and Shield already had Shield staff due to the infringement Homecoming Pep Rally... page 8 an infamous history of printing on the students’ freedom of speech. controversial articles. Subject mat- There were strong implications ter in the year the paper fell under that following year, as almost the school control alone included entire group departed to establish strong anti-Gulf War sentiments, their own paper, the Independent. pro-abortion views, and a true While it is difficult to know for Sword & Shield Staff account by a gay student afraid to sure, the fact that the first issues of Editors-in-chief “come out of the closet” due to the the Independent came out one year Kevin Chen & casual discrimination that not only after Principal Taylor started “pre- Abhi Sandireddy students but also staff members viewing” the Sword and Shield and displayed against gays. Ultimately, a note made in the “new” Sword Features & Managing Editor though, a harsh article criticizing and Shield describing the entirely Will Xiang the status of the GPAs of African revamped staff strongly supports Americans on the front page of this theory. The first issue of the Arts & Entertainment Editor the March 22, 1991 issue was too Independent also emphasizes the Jessi Ford much to pass unnoticed by the AB98 Student Rights Bill insuring school staff. The racial implica- freedom of speech, and heavily News Editor tions made by the article spurred criticizes former Principal Taylor Mark Park then-principal Carolyn Taylor into for her decisions. action, condemning the “exploi- Ultimately, though, all of Opinions Editor tation of racial tensions” in the this controversy died down, and Marco de la Cruz school. Immediately after the pa- the Sword and Shield was no lon- per was released, it was announced ger censored, all of the self-gov- Photography Editor that Principal Taylor would “pre- erning newspapers slowly faded Arcadia Katzenberger view” all future issues before they away, save for the Independent, were released. Understandably, of course. But we at the Sword Sports Editor this set off a flurry of debates and Shield would like to make it Chris Morgan within the school concerning clear that the school paper is not whether or not the article should reviewed by the school adminis- Student Life Editor have been printed in the first place. tration, and that it preserves the Julia Kroll There were, however, some sup- integrity of the views of the student porters of the piece. For example, body. Student Contributors Erin Edinger-Turoff Drug-Sniffing Dogs: Coming Soon Johannah Hansen to Madison Schools Julia Kroll Priya Kalluri By Student Life Editor, Julia Kroll Chris Morgan On September 26, the Mad- ing searches. The cost, which could some students bring drugs to David Morel ison Board of Education officially be tens of thousands of dollars per school, or that this increasing Beaw Nellis approved the use of drug-sniffing year, will be covered by the Madi- drug presence increases violence Ben Rifkin dogs in middle and high schools. son Police Department, not the as well. The problem lies in pos- Aabhas Singh In August, the board president said school district. sible discrimination. If wealthier Michael Turng that they were evenly split on the Madison schools are adopt- students were caught possessing Madeline Vogel issue, and the vote was delayed to ing this policy much later than drugs, they could afford to pay the Nathan Wang receive more input from the com- other Dane County schools. Mid- fine or hire a lawyer. However, William Xiang munity. However, the board passed dleton, Verona, Monona Grove, lower-income and often minority the decision with a vote of 5 to Sun Prairie, Stoughton, and Mc- students may not be able to afford Layout & Editing Asst. 1, showing strong support for the Farland high schools have already those expenses, and could instead Monika Ford measure. been using drug-sniffing dogs as end up in juvenile detention or Peggy Hsu School principals now have a deterrent for years, though they prison. the power to randomly request a have found little to no evidence of Students and teachers will Advisor visit from the Madison Police De- drugs. experience the changes brought Teri Parris Ford partment's K9 unit if they suspect School officials supporting by the drug-sniffing dogs over the drugs on school property. These the security measures have pointed coming months searches will only occur about one to the fact that the number of drug and years. to three times per semester, but use violations in Madison schools Hopefully these students will not be notified about has jumped 60% over the past six changes will them beforehand. The dogs, which years. However, this statistic is make schools are trained to recognize marijuana, misleading, as it includes alcohol safer for every- cocaine, and heroin, will only sniff violations as well (which dogs are one but not at when students are in class or when not trained to identify). Exclud- the expense of school is not in session. They are ing alcohol, drug violations are up students' trust only permitted to search common 50% over the past six years, which and equality. areas, such as hallways, lock- is still a tremendous increase. ers, and possibly even the student However, since last year, drug vio- parking lot. Individuals cannot be lations are actually down 4%. searched, and students will never Even opponents of drug- come in contact with the dogs dur- sniffing dogs do not deny that Photos by Ben Rifkin On September 9th, back- yard reps spent half the day getting trained to lead backyards. Back- yard reps are JMM student govern- ment lead by class officers, they meet every Friday in Fox during first lunch and in the Wisconsin during second lunch. Right; Leadership led by Class Presidents; Marco de la Cruz, Meg Hamele, and Monika Ford) Left; Inclusionary Activities in the field house were led by Vice Presidents Chris Morgan, Shuruthy Yogarajah, and Jeremy Gottlieb. Right; Paul, Liesl and Joey enjoy- ing the conference. Class Secretaries; Moniecha Washington, Daniel Li, Ra- chel Taber led a session on communication (not pictured) Pep Band Hello Memorial Staff, Par- and Class Treasurers; David Morel, Kelly Shen, Chrys- ents, and Students telle Cayton led a session diversity (also not shown). Pep Band performs at 2 Girls' If you would like to apply for a Basketball Games, 2 Boys' Basket- grant for "any creative or innova- ball Games and two hockey games. tive project which is not currently All games are at home and are on funded within the core school Thursday nights. Come show your budget," the time is now. Memo- school spirit and be a member of rial staff, students, and parents are this Spartan legacy! eligible to apply for a grant. This We rehearse 5 Thursdays after year Memorial's Endowment Grant school starting November 3rd. Fund income is $2,095, and it can 4 out of 5 rehearsals and 4 out of be used for one or more grants. Ap- 6 games required to earn school plications for Memorial's Endow- letter. ment Grant are now available and Band and Orchestra students are are due by Friday, October 14. welcome. See Mr. Jaeger for ex- ceptions to that rule (electric guitar, Information and applications are electric bass). available in the Main Office (it's Sign up in the band room if inter- all in one document, with the appli- ested. cation at the end). This document will also be posted on our website on the homepage with the link "JMM Endowment Grant " No poster - yet, but here is the info for the coming JMM Fall Play... "The Matchmakers" (a wacky romantic comedy) MOCK TRIAL CLUB - BEGINS MID-OCTOBER. Students may Oct. 13, 14, 15, 20, 21 & 22 stop in room 856 / Ms. Burda for 7:30pm Theatre 300 $5.00 per seat an application and calendar. Tickets go on sale Oct 3, 2011 in cafeteria 2 Spartans Making a Difference – every day in every way! Looking for an opportunity can definitely find an activity that tan Youth Service is a thriving club school—which we learned was an to make a difference in your com- appeals to your interests. SYS is consisting of over 200 students astonishing number of about 100. munity, make some new friends, most known for its project “Ser- annually. We're currently kicking To sweeten the deal, Spartan Youth or just feel good about yourself? vice Begins at Home” done at the off the new school year with Penny Service will match any amount You can do all of these by joining elementary schools, and many of Wars, formally known as Koin- of money donated. We are a club Spartan Youth Service.