Hundreds gathered in negative windchill in solidarity with the city of Minneapolis and rallied for no Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence on UW’s campus at Library Mall, Jan. 27.
Madison Students for a Democratic Society held the rally in response to the presence of ICE operations across the U.S. and ICE agents killing two Minneapolis residents, according to their Instagram.
Wisconsin Republican lawmakers want to limit the University of Wisconsin System’s academic and research collaboration with six countries amid concerns over national security and foreign influence in education.
The bill, which passed the Assembly on Jan. 22, prohibits study abroad, dual degree programs and research collaborations with China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and Qatar. While there are currently no UW-Madison programs in four of the targeted countries, the university has three study abroad programs in China and one flagship program in Russia.
In October, Harvard indicated it would significantly reduce the number of new PhD students it admitted. Yale, Columbia, Brown, the University of Southern California, Boston University, and the University of Pennsylvania are examples of schools that also scaled back, rescinded, paused or stopped new admissions. Large public universities — such as the University of Wisconsin, Michigan State University and the University of Washington— took similar steps.
UW-Madison is going ahead with plans to demolish a small building on the west side of campus to create more faculty parking and green space, opening up space for future development.
The UW Board of Regents on Wednesday approved the university’s request to raze the vacant building at 1800 University Ave. to make way for the additional parking spots, about a block west of Breese Terrace.
When Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin took over at the University of Wisconsin-Madison four years ago, she entered an unwinnable situation.
Republican legislators immediately criticized her as an out-of-touch coastal elite, and she was forced to handle many of the issues that would plague her term as chancellor — debates over anti-semitism and how campuses could support free speech while upholding an environment inclusive of all students.
Tarah Connolly, a PhD student at UW-Madison, looks at a quilt from the 1870’s that is on display at the “Find Your Quilt” exhibit in the Ruth Davis Design Gallery in Nancy Nicholas Hall at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wis. Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026.
American Red Cross is hosting “Bucky’s Blood Drive” this week amid a severe blood shortage.
The drive is happening Wednesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Nicholas Recreation Center on University of Wisconsin-Madison’s campus.
Local activist groups and faculty members are calling out the University of Wisconsin Police Department and technology company Flock Safety over eight security cameras they say bring privacy and security concerns to campus.
UWPD — who has access to the data through a contract with Flock Safety — said the cameras aid law enforcement in solving crimes and are not used for “surveillance” of the community like some suspect.
“In certain neighborhoods, perhaps in Atlanta or Philadelphia or Chicago, maybe you’re reaching a much higher market saturation point,” said Kurt Paulsen, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who studies urban planning. “I’ve not seen any evidence of any even modest market penetration of that product in Dane County and Madison.”
Botulism spores are common in the environment and can be found in most foods at very low levels, said Kristin Schill, a botulism expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Healthy adults consume Clostridium botulinum spores every day without becoming sick. But babies have immature guts that may not be able to prevent the spores from germinating and growing. Once they do, the spores produce a toxin that can cause paralysis and death.
Spores can be found everywhere, including in milk, though typically at low levels, Schill said. Pasteurization doesn’t kill the germs. They can be present in the processing environment, too.
Professor Laura Albert, a Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of industrial and systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, has studied EMS deployment and logistics for decades. She said many departments are being asked to stretch limited resources further than ever before.
“So often these public service agencies like EMS departments are asked to do more and more with less,” Albert said. “You can do that up to a point, but this is kind of hitting a crisis point.”
“Miracle on Ice” remains a lingering light over any American triumph in the winter games. A Netflix documentary called “Miracle: The Boys of ’80” debuts Jan. 30 to again stir up the emotions of that incredible victory for the USA men’s hockey team over the Soviet Union in the medal round of the 1980 games.
It’s a triumph that almost certainly doesn’t happen without major contributions from Wisconsin.
“Cracks can happen at anything below the freezing temperature, so 32 degrees Fahrenheit or zero degrees Celsius,” said Scott Bowe, a professor and wood products specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Bowe clarified that the noises, known as frost cracks, are not caused by expanding sap.
“Some people have explained it as the sap is expanding like ice and causing the crack that actually is not what’s happening. It’s actually the drying of the wood that causes the crack to happen,” said Bowe.
UW-Madison Athletic Director Chris McIntosh discusses opportunities for college athletes to get paid through Name, Image and Likeness contracts and fan concerns over the transparency of NCAA policies.
