Enrollment at most University of Wisconsin campuses dropped again from last school year, a reflection of both the declining number of traditional high school students for colleges to recruit and the pandemic’s effect on college students.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison plans to continue its hybrid learning model next semester with a drastically increased COVID-19 testing capacity, expecting more than 50,000 tests available weekly.
University of Wisconsin-Madison officials plan to expand COVID-19 testing for students and staff in the spring semester as they prepare for another semester of hybrid instruction amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
UW will partner with Shield T3, a subsidiary of the University of Illinois System, to provide more frequent and regular testing for all students and employees on campus.
In a long-awaited and altogether tense meeting Wednesday night, the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) Coalition has reached an agreement to meet with Chancellor Rebecca Blank at least twice a semester, with expectations to consult with other university administrators in between these meetings, in order to make progress on their demands.
’We would like for our executive board members to be paid for their work and time,’ The Black Voice representative says.
The UW has partnered with Shield T3, a research initiative at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, aimed to advance COVID-19 testing efforts by developing a saliva-based PCR diagnostic test. This saliva-based test is estimated to provide an additional 10,000 tests per day as needed.
At least 13 residences near the UW-Madison campus are under investigation for violating public health guidelines over Halloween weekend as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise in Wisconsin.
“Our numbers in Wisconsin are really pretty out of control,” said Dr. Jeff Pothof, Chief Quality Officer at UW-Health. “We have a significant number of COVID patients here at UW Hospital.”
While not subject to the county’s order because it’s considered state property, UW-Madison is also letting “many” employees work from home, according to spokesperson Meredith McGlone. She was not immediately able to provide a percentage but said the university has “also modified some office layouts to promote physical distancing for those employees who have to work on campus.”
A party host who faces the possibility of thousands in fines for allegedly violating Dane County’s public health order limiting gathering size is an assistant with the outbreak-stricken UW football program.
As students look forward to remainder of fall semester, student unions, residence facilities should remain open, barring health concerns.
“So the trick in getting an accurate poll is getting a representative sample that’s the whole thing you’re trying to do is make sure the sample of people you have in your survey is representative of the population,” Prof. David Canon, of UW-Madison’s Political Science Dept. said.
David Canon, chair of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s political science department, said allegations of fraud are a “complete fabrication”. He said he expects little, if anything, to come from the Trump campaign’s attempts at litigation across the country.
Song Gao, a geography professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been aggregating cell phone data showing how far Wisconsinites are traveling each day.
“According to our tracking dashboard, overall mobility is already back to normal,” Gao said Thursday. “Also, the close contact (physical distancing) index has dramatically increased in September and October, which indicates more gatherings in the state.”
While Hantz Farms didn’t dispossess anyone’s land, the threat is real, said Monica White, author of “Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement.”
“There has been a historical dispossession of land from Black farmers, and redlining is a part of that history,” said White, an associate professor of environmental justice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“The current legal maneuvering is mainly a way for the Trump campaign to try to extend the ball game in the long-shot hope that some serious anomaly will emerge,” said Robert Yablon, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School. “As of now, we haven’t seen any indication of systematic irregularities in the vote count.”
President Trump’s campaign said it has filed lawsuits to stop counting ballots in Michigan and Pennsylvania to increase access to observe the tallying process. Franciska Coleman, assistant professor of constitutional law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, says stopping ballot counts is an ‘extraordinary’ remedy. She joins ‘Closing Bell’ to discuss.
