Over the past two weeks, Wisconsin universities have revealed more information about their plans for COVID-19 testing.
Here’s what we know and what we don’t about Wisconsin universities’ COVID-19 testing plans for fall
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
August 14, 2020
Higher Education/System
Evers has about $300 million more in federal aid he can spend to fight COVID-19
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Noted: University of Wisconsin System: $32 million. Evers recently allocated these funds for additional testing and protective equipment so UW campuses can conduct some classes in person.
Wisconsin colleges’ fall plans hinge on testing thousands of students for COVID-19. Will it be enough to keep campuses open?
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Colleges and universities across Wisconsin have developed a patchwork of plans to prepare for what at its core is an unknown: How to reopen campuses safely during a pandemic.
Quoted: Testing students every week or two will provide a gauge of whether the virus is taking hold on campuses. Many physicians stress this so-called surveillance testing is the only way to identify students and staff who are infected but don’t have symptoms.
“I don’t see how one can not do it,” said Nasia Safdar, an infectious disease physician at UW Health.
Campus life
How Wisconsin got the nickname ‘Badgers’
NCAA
There’s only one “Badgers” nickname in NCAA Division I college athletics, and it belongs to the University of Wisconsin. The name has deep ties to the state, dating back roughly 200 years.
Here’s everything we know about Wisconsin’s mascot and nickname.
State news
Senator Tammy Baldwin, former Israel Prime Minister Golda Meir among influential women on Wisconsin list
USA Today
Noted: Vel Phillips was a civil rights activist who smashed racial and gender barriers as the first Black woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin law school, the first woman to be elected to Milwaukee Common Council, the first appointed female judge in Milwaukee County and the first Black person ever elected to statewide office in Wisconsin.
Born in Keshena, Wisconsin, in 1935, Ada Deer grew up in a log cabin on a Menominee Indian Reservation. She was the first Menominee to earn an undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin and the first Native American to receive a master’s in social work from Columbia University. Deer also was the first woman to chair the Menominee Tribe in Wisconsin.
Health
Why You Should Start A Journal Right Now (And How To Stick With It)
MSN
Quoted: “Experiencing symptoms of hypervigilance, stress or distress are signals to discontinue your journaling exercise,” University of Wisconsin psychologist Shilagh A. Mirgain told UW Health.
Athletics
College Football During COVID-19 Is No Time For Fun And Games
Forbes
Noted: One justification which does not fly in terms of putting student-athletes’ health first may be that athletic departments face historic revenue shortfalls without football. University of Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez has said a season without the sport could leave his program alone with a hit of more than $100-million. That kind of deficit would require university financial assistance at a time when most institutions are dealing with massive budget issues just to keep educational operations going.
No fall sports slows but doesn’t stop Wisconsin athletes’ $2M fund request for Black students
Fox Sports
It’s been one month since the University of Wisconsin agreed with a request from some of its student-athletes to put a patch with the university crest logo with a black W on its uniforms for upcoming seasons.
UW football seniors face uncertain future
WKOW-TV 27
Just a few days ago, the Badger football team was on the field preparing for a fall season. Now, they are preparing to head home for a three-week break before the start of school as the Big Ten postponed the fall sports season.
NCAA doctors dubious fall sports — already shut down by the Big Ten — can be played safely
Wisconsin State Journal
Three members of the NCAA’s COVID-19 advisory panel expressed skepticism Thursday that sports can be played safely on college campuses this fall.
UW Experts in the News
Barnes misses with claim linking cut in polling places with ‘racist disenfranchisement’
PolitiFact
Quoted: Kenneth Mayer, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told PolitiFact Wisconsin voting policies in Wisconsin over the past decade — when Republicans have generally controlled state government — have had “a disproportionate impact on communities of color, as well as other vulnerable voting groups.”
But Mayer added he does “not see evidence that the (election officials) had the goal of disenfranchising Black voters” when reducing the number of Milwaukee polling places from 180 to five.
Thailand protests: Risking it all to challenge the monarchy
BBC
Quoted: “The genie is out of the bottle,” says Professor Thongchai Winichakul, a historian at the University of Wisconsin and another survivor of the 1976 massacre.
“Society won’t stop, change won’t stop. The only thing we can do is to take care that the change takes place with as little bloodshed as possible. Thais have been gossiping about the monarchy in private for years, then teaching their children to praise it lavishly in public, to be hypocrites. All these young protesters have done is bring that gossip out into the open.”
Storm Isaias’s Most Damaging Winds Were on Its Right
The Wall Street Journal
Quoted: “If a storm is moving northwards at 10 miles per hour, and the wind’s rotational speed is 90 miles per hour, then to the east, the wind speed will be 100 miles per hour, and to the west, it will be 80 miles per hour,” said Steve Ackerman, director of the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
Education experts hope Wisconsin parents can work together to make virtual learning successful for all kids, not just their kids
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: Parents are making choices within an unequal system, says Erica Turner, who studies race and inequity at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Education Studies.
“You can’t undo that individually,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean that you can’t do anything.”
Obituaries
UNLV’s Longest-Serving Faculty Member Passes Away
UNLV
Noted: That was the year the doctoral student from the University of Wisconsin-Madison packed her bags and headed west for an unknown school, then called the Southern Regional Division of the University of Nevada. “I wanted to do something different for a year,” Campbell said, explaining how she got here.
UW-Madison Related
UW-Madison still waiting on Foxconn’s $100 million pledge 2 years later
Wisconsin State Journal
Foxconn Technology Group gave no money to UW-Madison over the past year, renewing questions about the company’s commitment to its $100 million pledge to the university nearly two years ago.