Students at UW-Madison are attending a mix of virtual and in-person classes this semester, and Wednesday is the first day the school’s health and safety protocols will be put to the test.
UW-Madison students head back to school Wednesday
WKOW-TV 27
September 3, 2020
Top Stories
Research
Parents’ business highlights kids’ books with Black characters
The Washington Post
The University of Wisconsin’s Cooperative Children’s Book Center analyzed about 3,100 children’s books published in 2018 and found that White characters were featured in half of the books. Books with animal characters were the second-most common, clocking in at 27 percent, and books featuring Black protagonists came in third at 10 percent of the total. Works with Latinx, Asian American and Indigenous characters trailed even further behind, the study said, with American Indians making up 1 percent of characters.
UW researchers work to develop faster saliva test for COVID-19
Badger Herald
University Health Services also opens testing sites in preparation for the upcoming semester.
UW to start stage III clinical trial of COVID-19 vaccine
Badger Herald
’It’s an honor for UW now to be able to contribute to the effort to find a vaccine, to do our part in helping bring the world back to normal,’ associate professor of anesthesiology says
Higher Education/System
UW-Whitewater chancellor placed on leave pending investigation into unspecified complaint
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Chancellor Dwight Watson was placed on paid administrative leave Thursday pending the outcome of an investigation into an unspecified complaint.
News 3 Now’s Chris Stanford sits down with UW System Interim President, former governor Tommy Thompson
WISC-TV 3
While Thompson has shared plans for how the UW System will handle students’ health and safety in the midst of a pandemic, he has yet to share insights on what would prompt UW schools to close down.
UW will have $10 million budget cuts, redistribute money to students
Badger Herald
The University of Wisconsin System announced Aug. 11 an untold number of employees would be laid off over the next two years resulting in a total of $10 million in budget cuts. Interim System President Tommy Thomson announced these cuts will reach across UW System Administration only.
Campus life
Graduate student workers worry about requirements to teach in person.
The Washington Post
Graduate students at other schools, including Marquette and Boston universities and the University of Wisconsin, have lodged similar complaints about feeling pressured or being required to teach in person.
UW-Madison experiences partial online outage on first day of classes
WKOW-TV 27
Mary Evansen, a spokesperson for the university’s Division of Information Technology, said a vendor, Kaltura, was experiencing “intermittent outages and issues.”
New UW dining hall restrictions raise food accessibility concerns for off-campus students
Wisconsin State Journal
While all dining facilities will remain open, the university’s Smart Restart plan limits access to only housing residents and housing staff through a key-card system. During peak meal times, students can order from the dining halls on the GrubHub app and pick it up outside.
Families, off-campus students deal with financial impact of COVID-19
Badger Herald
Utility moratorium shut-offs, mayor requests extension, UW support may help students navigate financial setbacks of pandemic.
Health
COVID-19 at colleges: Fauci urges schools to keep students on campus as outbreaks spread
NBC News
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has set aside such housing for sick students to keep them in Madison. “The concern about sending all these college kids back home is that we potentially increase transmission in many communities,” said Dr. Jeff Pothof, an emergency medicine physician who is the university’s chief quality officer.
UW Health vaccinates first participants in COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial Wednesday
WISC-TV 3
UW Health and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health is starting to vaccinate the first participants in the AstraZeneca COVID-19 clinical trial Wednesday.
First study participants to receive COVID-19 vaccine at UW Health
WKOW-TV 27
First study participants to receive COVID-19 vaccine today at UW Health.
UW Health’s Dr. Jeff Pothof first to receive COVID-19 vaccine in clinical trial
NBC-15
Over the next eight weeks, 1,600 people will take part in the study at University Hospital.
COVID-19 in College: Students recovered from COVID-19 share experiences as year begins
Badger Herald
UW senior Courtney Degen said she was frustrated by the loss of those senses. Degen experienced a consistent sore throat, headaches and congestion, and reported feeling sick to the point she couldn’t get out of bed and needed frequent naps for a few days.
Athletics
‘Weird first day’ of Badgers men’s hockey practice: coaches in masks, smaller groups, patience with schedule
Wisconsin State Journal
Things were unusual Wednesday for the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team, and not just in that its coaches were wearing face coverings while leading the first day of on-ice practice.
Opinion
Sarah Anne Carter: Let’s apply the home science approach when the pandemic ends
The Capital Times
Column by Sarah Anne Carter, visiting executive director of the Center for Design and Material Culture in the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
UW Experts in the News
Digital vote suppression efforts are targeting marginalized groups, report warns
NBC News
“It’s really hard to persuade people … to convert or convince the disinterested, but it’s easy to suppress turnout if you target people who are marginalized, like non-whites and female and younger voters,” said Young Mie Kim, a journalism professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has studied misinformation networks on social media. “All you need to do is make sure they don’t turn out to vote.”
Commission charts narrow path for editing human embryos
Science Magazine
“I welcome the commission’s report, which continues to add depth to the ongoing global conversation about the science of germline editing,” says Alta Charo, a bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who is part of a committee organized by WHO that is examining how to best govern this controversial arena.
UW-Madison Related
Florida Dem Rep Shalala Admits Squad Sometimes Pisses Her Off, Lets Loose on ‘Idiotic’ Trump
Newsweek
Despite her rookie status in Congress, Shalala is an experienced Washington hand, having served as secretary of Health and Human Services under President Bill Clinton. Among the other positions on her long resume: chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, president of the University of Miami and president of the Clinton Foundation.