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Author: gbump

Big Ten Reverses Course and Will Bring Football Back in Late October

WSJ

As late as Tuesday morning, University of Wisconsin-Madison chancellor Rebecca Blank said that uncertainty over cardiac complications had driven the August decision to nix fall football, and could still lead the Big Ten to sit out.

“Until we have answers to that, we’re going to keep our season postponed,” she testified before the U.S. Senate’s health committee.

Gov. Tony Evers Defends UW System’s Handling Of COVID-19 Pandemic

Wisconsin Public Radio

Gov. Tony Evers said Tuesday the University of Wisconsin System has done a good job managing the COVID-19 pandemic so far this academic year. His comment comes as campuses across the state have recently announced clusters of virus cases, temporary shutdowns of in-person classes and dorm quarantines.

Evers ‘looking at every possible avenue’ to extend mask requirement

Wisconsin Examiner

While infections have surged in the youngest adult age group, Wisconsin has not yet seen any deaths in people under 20, Westergaard said. Hospitalization rates have been low as well: At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he said, with more than 1,500 positive COVID-19 tests, the number of people hospitalized has been in the low single digits.

Big Ten football, pandemic and politics collide as UW’s Blank testifies before Congress

Wisconsin Examiner

University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank testified before a Senate committee Tuesday as speculation swirled all the way up to the Oval Office about the fate of the Big Ten’s football season. President Donald Trump has tried to pressure the conference — the home of several key Midwestern battleground states in the November election — to reschedule the football season this fall.

‘We’re Not Running Sports to Primarily Make Money’: NIL Hearing to Put Collegiate Revenues in Spotlight

Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated obtained the 1,700-word testimony that Blank submitted ahead of a hearing Tuesday on name, image and likeness before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. While she agrees that NIL reform is needed, Blank plans to tell senators that an unchecked athlete-compensation model could adversely impact Olympic sports and that athletes are already given a “generous package” of benefits that includes thousands of dollars in education, unlimited meals, state-of-the-art medical care and other on-campus resources—many of which normal students do not receive, she notes in the testimony. According to her written testimony, a full scholarship package at Wisconsin is nearly $87,000 for out-of-state students and more than $59,000 for those in state.

Student debt is fueling the Black-white wealth gap — and pursuing a college degree has become ‘racialized,’ this professor says

MarketWatch

That’s thanks in part to Fenaba Addo, an associate professor of consumer science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies debt and its role in racial wealth inequality. Addo’s research has shown, among other things, that the gap in student debt held by Black and white borrowers grows by 6.8% each year. As a result, Black young adults hold 10.4% less wealth on average than their white counterparts due to student debt.

Florence Howe, Feminist Press founder and women’s studies champion, dies at 91

The Washington Post

At 16, she entered the college itself, graduating in 1950 with a bachelor’s degree in English. A professor there told her that women writers were “not important enough to study,” Ms. Howe later recalled, but also urged her on to graduate school. She received a master’s degree from Smith College the next year and studied for a PhD at the University of Wisconsin before dropping out at the insistence of her second husband.

Florence Howe, ‘Mother of Women’s Studies,’ Dies at 91

The New York Times

Her activist spirit was also ignited as a Hunter undergraduate. She formed an interracial and interfaith sorority with friends and was elected student body president. She studied English with the intention of teaching in the public school system, but was encouraged by a professor and Hunter’s president to pursue a master’s degree, which she earned at Smith College. In 1951 she went on to study for a doctorate in English at the University of Wisconsin.

College Kids Are Freaking Out About Their Infected Campuses

The New York Times

At least eight schools have canceled in-person classes because of virus outbreaks, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; the University of Wisconsin, Madison; and Notre Dame. Others seem to be trying to power through the pandemic. The University of Alabama and the University of Georgia have continued to hold in-person classes despite more than a thousand positive cases of coronavirus at each school.

DHS, UHS emphasize importance of flu shots

The Daily Cardinal

University Health Services and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services are stressing the importance of getting flu shots, especially this year. DHS announced a new community outreach program Tuesday to increase education on the importance of being vaccinated against the flu.

Wisconsin Braces for a Critical Court Ruling on Its Election

The New York Times

“The backers of Jill Stein were young and disaffected from the political system,” said Barry C. Burden, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Typically, minor-party voters are looking for somebody that’s different from what the major parties are offering.” (The Libertarian candidate in 2016, Gary Johnson, received more than 106,000 votes in Wisconsin.)

COVID-19: Scientists decry White House meddling in CDC publication

USA Today

It is not unusual for communications people within the CDC to be involved in an MMWR report before publication, said Dr. Patrick Remington, a member of the journal’s editorial board and a former CDC staffer.

That involvement, however, was previously restricted to officials within the agency who let political leaders know what was coming so they could be prepared with a communications strategy, said Remington, now associate dean for public health at the School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Reports: Big Ten Chancellors and Presidents will meet Sunday for possible return to play

NBC-15

As the ACC and Big 12 kickoff their 2020 college football season on Saturday, the Big Ten’s Return to Competition Task Force “presented a safe resumption of sports competition” to eight university presidents and chancellors that reportedly ended successfully, and will lead to a vote on a return to play in the next 72 hours, per Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports.

Kelley, John “Joe”

Wisconsin State Journal

After a brief stint as Administrator of the Madison Agrigenetics Research Laboratory, he returned to the U.W. to administer the newly formed Biotechnology Center and then the Institute for Enzyme Research until his retirement in June 1992.

Hohneke, Donna King Thacker

Wisconsin State Journal

Donna was employed by the Records and Registration Office at the University of Wisconsin where she thoroughly enjoyed her time at the University.

Cardinal View: What did you expect?

The Daily Cardinal

As we have all experienced over these six months, the COVID-19 crisis has upended normalcy. From remote working to virtual learning, the loss of healthcare to the loss of loved ones, the coronavirus has forced us all to operate under a new, frightening reality. At the same time, it has brought into crisp focus our society’s greatest inequities and our leaders’ misplaced priorities.