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March 11, 2025

Top Stories

Feds warn UW of “potential enforcement actions” over alleged antisemitism at campus protest

Madison 365

The federal Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights is investigating the University of Wisconsin-Madison for antisemitism, according to a press release issued Monday.

UW is one of 60 institutions that received letters “warning them of potential enforcement actions if they do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus, including uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities,” according to the release.

Research

Cuts to Medicaid would affect wide range of Wisconsin residents, researcher says

Wisconsin Public Radio

Donna Friedsam is a researcher emerita who has been studying health care policy and reform for decades at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Friedsam told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that changes at the federal level could have significant ripple effects at home.

“Many people who are on Medicare, who are low-income, also duly rely on Medicaid to cover things that Medicare does not cover,” Friedsam said. “So, Medicaid is actually quite a wide-ranging program and reaches over a million Wisconsin residents who rely on it.”

COVID-19’s fifth anniversary: 5 areas where life changed in U.S.

Deseret News

As the Journal Sentinel reported, quoting Sedona Chinn, an assistant professor and researcher in the Department of Life Sciences Communication at University of Wisconsin-Madison, folks who were frustrated started doing their own research, but it also “led to more misinformation and more anti-expert bias, making it all the much harder for solid science to break through.”

Higher Education/System

UW-Madison at risk of losing federal funding over discrimination investigations

WTMJ

Wisconsin’s largest public university is at risk of losing a portion of their federal funding if they fail to protect Jewish students.

UW-Madison has been warned of potential enforcement actions if they do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus, according to a letter sent from the U.S. Department of Education Monday.

The UW System is required to support tenured faculty they laid off. Faculty say they haven’t done enough

The Daily Cardinal

Many faculty members spend their academic careers in pursuit of academic tenure, a lifelong guarantee of job security and a shield for academic freedom. But recently, the promise of tenure has proved tenuous for University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s College of General Studies (CGS) professors, 35 of whom were laid off in August.

Gov. Evers seeks $4 billion for state building projects, including UW science facilities and new juvenile prison

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers wants to spend about $4 billion on state building upgrades across Wisconsin under a plan released Monday.

If approved, about $1.6 billion would go to the University of Wisconsin System for brick-and-mortar building projects. Other big-ticket items include $634 million for the Department of Corrections, $137 million for upgrades to veteran homes and $40 million to restore the state Capitol building.

Campus life

Who is Bucky Badger?

Madison Magazine

Each April, the University of Wisconsin–Madison holds tryouts to test which hopefuls are up to the task, both physically and creatively. In a role-playing station, candidates don Bucky’s 35-pound head and respond to various scenarios. In a second station, they improvise a minute-long performance using props.

State news

Arts & Humanities

Business/Technology

Tariffs are ‘lose-lose’ for U.S. jobs and industry, economist says: ‘There are no winners here’

CNBC

While tariffs’ protection may “relieve” struggling U.S. industries, it comes with a cost, Lydia Cox, an assistant economics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and international trade expert, wrote in a 2022 paper.

Tariffs create higher input costs for other industries, making them “vulnerable” to foreign competition, Cox wrote.