It’s a busy week for free events over at the UW School of Music.
UW School of Music takes center stage
Capital Times
Author: jnweaver
9/11 hero to speak at UW
Capital Times
A World Trade Center maintenance worker who helped more than a dozen victims escape from the building’s north tower before it collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001, is speaking on the UW campus Saturday.
William Rodriguez, of New Jersey, is believed to have been the last man to get out of the World Trade Center alive. He is scheduled to talk at 7 p.m. in Room 3650 of the Humanities Building.
….Rodriguez will be introduced by local 9/11 conspiracy theorist Kevin Barrett, who believes the U.S. government was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks and is author of “Truth Jihad: My Epic Struggle Against the 9/11 Big Lie.”
Mysterious Bambaataa brings hip-hop to UW tonight
Capital Times
Afrika Bambaataa is famous across the world, a pioneer of hip-hop and one of its greatest missionaries both home and abroad. And yet, despite over 30 years in the public eye, his real name is not known, and his age is a mystery.
Bambaataa, or Bam for short, has grown into his own mythos as easily as the rest of the world has adapted to his prophecy: hip-hop as a universal language.
Film fest touts record crowd, satisfied fans
Capital Times
The ninth annual Wisconsin Film Festival drew in a record attendance of 28,700, according to final ticket tallies released Thursday.
The four-day festival exceeded last year’s tally of 26,000, taking over 10 theaters in downtown Madison last weekend with a mix of independent, foreign and classic films.
Festival director Meg Hamel said she doesn’t consider the raw attendance figures to necessarily be a benchmark for the festival’s success. She said she puts more weight on the quality of the audience’s experience at the festival.
Fabled campus tree to get new life
Capital Times
Perhaps half a larch is better than no larch at all.
The famous Goff geotropic larch tree on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus is getting a second and possible third life, both in its original location in the Allen Centennial Gardens and as custom furniture made from the half broken off during the area’s last major snowstorm on April 11.
Old School (Sports Illustrated)
CNN.com
While draft hype consumes NFL nation, Wisconsin’s Joe Thomas is chilling in Madison, hitting the books and the brats and waiting for life to get even better.
UW to host NCAA volleyball regional
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Wisconsin will serve as host for one of four regionals during the 2007 women’s tournament, the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Committee announced Wednesday.
UW-La Crosse, others evacuate over threats
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A note alluding to a bomb threat prompted the evacuation of a residence hall on the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse campus Wednesday afternoon.
Editorial: Too cozy a relationship?
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The UW System doesn’t have a monopoly on these dubious relationships. Such ties also exist at the Milwaukee Area Technical College and the Medical College of Wisconsin. No, these ties don’t mean that the lenders weren’t chosen on the basis of cost and service to students, which MATC and other campuses say is the case. But rules should bar even the appearance of collusion.
Lawmakers must examine whether a roster of preferred lenders invites abuse. Are there other ways to steer students to the best deals? At MATC, it was disclosed, some lenders donate money for scholarships. Lawmakers should explore if there are any downsides to those arrangements.
Tragedy scars UW coach Nuttycombe’s alma mater
Capital Times
Ed Nuttycombe’s idyllic memories of his alma mater, Virginia Tech, nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, were shattered forever this week.
The longtime University of Wisconsin-Madison track-and-field coach is still in shock and disbelief over the Monday massacre that left 33 people, including the gunman, dead at the Blacksburg, Va., university.
UW to host NCAA volleyball regional
Capital Times
The UW Field House has been known for a long time as one of the country’s best college volleyball venues. It will get a chance to show off on a big stage when the University of Wisconsin serves as host for one of four regionals during this year’s NCAA women’s volleyball tournament.
The regional is scheduled to be played on Dec. 7-8.
Norris Hall could have been Bascom Hall
Capital Times
Friday will be orange-and-maroon day on the University of Wisconsin campus, and a red-and-white flag signed by dozens of UW-Madison students and staff will soon be flying over Virginia Tech.
But Wednesday evening at Bascom Hall, school colors didn’t matter, as 200 people attending a memorial service for those killed at the university in Virginia were carried together by a wave of emotion.
War protesters leave Sen. Kohl’s office here after threat of arrest
Capital Times
After spending a night in Sen. Herb Kohl’s downtown office, most members of the University of Wisconsin’s Campus Anti-War Network decided to end their occupation today and peacefully leave after Madison police threatened to arrest them.
At about 9:30 a.m., police told about 35 protesters in the office to leave and later arrested a lone member of the group who refused the request.
Backlash feared here: UW’s Korean students wary, retreat from public life
Capital Times
Fearing a backlash in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, Korean students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are retreating from their normal campus lives.
Some Korean freshmen in student housing here have, for example, taken down their name tags from their dormitory doors out of fear of racially charged retaliation, according to Chai Sun Chang, president of UW-Madison’s Korean-American Student Association.
Dylan Abraham: Badger men provided relief in a crazy world
Capital Times
Dear Editor: With all the troubles we as a country are struggling with, including us in Madison, it was a diversion from all our worries following the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team this past year.
Their never-say-die attitude and all of their accomplishments this year were a welcome relief from all the troubles we have in our world….
Crazylegs Classic: Bielema to run, surgically-repaired knees and all
Capital Times
Despite undergoing seven knee surgeries, Bret Bielema has tackled training for his first-ever Crazylegs Classic run with a vengeance.
The second-year head coach with the University of Wisconsin football team will also serve as grand marshal for the 8-kilometer run and two-mile walk that will take place on April 28.
Verveer elected city council president
Capital Times
The Madison City Council has elected its second most senior member, downtown Ald. Mike Verveer, as its president. Verveer, who is in his sixth term, is taking his second turn at the role.
The longest serving member of the City Council, Ald. Tim Bruer, was elected pro-tem, the second in command. Bruer is serving his 13th term representing the city’s south side.
UW tuition policy disputed; affects waivers for grad students
Capital Times
A coalition of UW-Madison faculty, staff, labor groups, graduate students and others is fighting a new policy for research and project assistants that moves the burden of $8,000 annual tuition waivers to research grants or department funds.
UW men’s basketball: Big Ten going to 18-game schedule
Capital Times
You’ll be watching a new-look University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team playing a new-look schedule next season.
The Badgers’ schedule will include nonconference road trips to powerhouse programs Duke and Texas. It also will include a Big Ten Conference slate that is growing from 16 to 18 games, a shift that will add significance to the regular-season title and lessen the financial strain of scheduling nonconference opponents.
UW police say they are prepared
Capital Times
University of Wisconsin police say they are as prepared as they can be for a tragedy like the one that occurred Monday on the Virginia Tech campus, where more than 30 people were killed in a shooting rampage.
And UW-Madison Dean of Students Lori Berquam stressed that officials are responding to concerned students and reaching out to students who come from Virginia to help them deal with the frightening reality.
“The other component is to make sure our crisis plans are intact and up-to-date. They are pretty comprehensive. It indeed could happen here,” Berquam said.
UW panel speaks out loud about sex ed
Capital Times
“Sex Out Loud,” a UW-Madison student group promoting open discussion of sex and sexuality, gave credence to its name by hosting a candid discussion of public sex education on the UW-Madison campus Monday night.
“One of Sex Out Loud’s’ main goals is to promote healthy sexuality through a variety of different methods,” said Emily Shor, UW-Madison senior and “Sex Out Loud” outreach coordinator. “We are basically trying to provide sex education to make sure people know how to be safe and happy at the same time.”
Horror in Virginia shakes students here
Capital Times
Watching the horror of the Virginia Tech shootings unfold on television and the Internet, many University of Wisconsin students said what worries them is that it could happen in Madison, too.
“I’m scared it could happen here. They are a big campus just like we are,” said Ian Behm, a junior studying economics and agriculture business management. “I’ll be sitting in class tomorrow thinking it could happen right now.”
Virginia Tech says gunman in nation’s deadliest shooting was student from S. Korea (AP)
Capital Times
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — The gunman suspected of carrying out the Virginia Tech massacre that left 33 people dead was identified Tuesday as a senior English major from South Korea. But police and university officials offered no clue to his motive.
“He was a loner, and we’re having difficulty finding information about him,” school spokesman Larry Hincker said, a day after the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history.
B-boys, b-girls battle it out to hip-hop beat
Capital Times
Late into the a.m. before a packed house of cheering spectators at the UW Memorial Union, break dancers from across the globe are breaking the laws of physics to the eternal sounds of the funky drummer.
As the DJ samples the James Brown beat, teams compete for the reaction of the crowd, which is piled up everywhere outside the dancers’ expanse of hardwood.
The event, now in its fourth year, is called “Breakin’ the Law,” and its size and scope demonstrate what an organizing force hip-hop has become for this generation. The show is just one part of “Hip-Hop Week,” which the UW Multicultural Student Coalition has been filling campus venues with this week.
Editorial: American tragedy
Capital Times
There will be plenty of “rapid responses” to the gun rampage on the Virginia Tech campus, which has claimed the lives of as many as 33 people — making it the deadliest school shooting incident in the history of the United States.
Do not doubt that the National Rifle Association is preparing its “this had nothing to do with guns” press release. The group has no compunctions about living up to its reputation for being beyond shame — or education — when it comes to peddling its spin on days when it would be better to simply remain silent.
Wisconsin Union Theater sets season with broad appeal
Capital Times
The strategy that Ralph Russo has for increasing attendance and visibility at the Wisconsin Union Theater takes many forms.
Stellmacher going in different direction
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Each spring, a handful of draft-eligible players inform National Football League teams that their careers are over. Wisconsin’s Joe Stellmacher is one of them this year.
“That is correct,” Stellmacher said. “People have called me crazy and criticized me, but I’m not going to have any regrets. I just thought I had my time, had my fun and I was ready to move on in my life.
Badgers will face Duke in Challenge
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Coming off one of the more successful seasons in the history of the men’s basketball program, the University of Wisconsin has been rewarded with a marquee non-conference matchup next season: A meeting with Duke in the Big Ten / Atlantic Coast Conference Challenge.
Editorial: Loosen the shackles
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Adult stem cell research has produced some dividends, but since many researchers still think embryonic cells offer far more potential, why continue to shackle and shortchange U.S. researchers?
Loan revenue-sharing found at UW-Oshkosh
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A student loan company called Education Finance Partners paid the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh nearly $10,000 this year in exchange for being placed on the university’s list of preferred lenders, the Journal Sentinel found.
Officials say gunman was a student (AP)
Associated Press
Virginia Tech’s president said Tuesday that a student was the gunman in at least the second of the two campus attacks that claimed 33 lives to become the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history.
UW-Madison monitoring details, may review safety procedures
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Safety officials at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will keep a close eye on details that emerge on the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech to determine if the university needs modify any of its own preparedness plans for such an event.
Twice a year university police receive training on how to respond to “active shooter” situations, a process that is constantly being tested and re-evaluated, UW police Sgt. Mike Newton said.
The artful shopper: Famed larch in dire straits
Capital Times
“A stricken tree, a living thing, so beautiful, so dignified, so admirable in its potential longevity, is next to man, perhaps the most touching of wounded objects.”
Edna Ferber perfectly captured the feelings of many of us when we heard that Wednesday’s snowstorm mortally wounded the venerable Goff Larch on the UW-Madison campus. The 108-year-old larch, the centerpiece of the Allen Centennial Garden, is the kind of tree you fall in love with the first time you see it.
From director’s chair, film fest’s a success
Capital Times
The equipment is still being packed and the tickets still being counted, but Wisconsin Film Festival director Meg Hamel is confident that festival attendance hit record levels this past weekend.
Hamel, in her first full year as permanent festival director, seemed ecstatic with how things went at the ninth annual festival, which brought 182 foreign, classic and independent films to 10 downtown and campus venues. Last year, a record 26,000 advance tickets were sold.
Editorial: UW’s right to investigate apparel allegations
Capital Times
University of Wisconsin T-shirts and other Badger-logo products should be made in Wisconsin.
Unfortunately, the university has a long history of going out of state and overseas for merchandise….
As a result, there are ongoing concerns about whether T-shirts, hats and other items with Badger logos are being made in sweatshops.
Century-old UW tree may survive
Capital Times
There might be some life left in the larch after all.
The famous Goff larch tree in the Allen Centennial Gardens on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus will most likely be partially salvaged, Dennis Stimart, chairman of the UW Horticulture Department, said Friday.
The century-old tree came down during the snowstorm Wednesday when its V-shaped trunk was split by the weight of the heavy, wet snow.
April storm too much for historic tree on UW campus
The famous geotropic Goff larch tree on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus could be the biggest casualty of the heavy snowstorm that hit Madison on Wednesday.
The famous European conifer, one of the most historic trees on the campus, was severely damaged during the freak April storm….it’s unknown at this time if the tree, which is at least 108 years old, will be able to survive.
(Photo accompanies this 4/13/07 Capital Times story)
Feminism & art: Artist and women’s studies coordinator previews Pyle Center show
Capital Times
These are not your typical potholders. They show, in embroidered images, major moments in the history of the war in Iraq, like the tragically premature “Mission Accomplished” statement by President Bush.
So where has feminist art gone during the past 30 years or so? And where is it going in the future?
Such questions are meant come to mind when you look at a new show, “Intersectionalities: The Feminist in Art,” that’s running at the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon St., through April 21.
Study: High-tech jobs grow here
Capital Times
A report meant to shine the spotlight on Dane County’s high-tech economy shows that technology jobs increased in the Madison area by 5.5 percent from 2005 to 2006.
The 2007 Greater Madison Wisconsin Area Directory of High-Tech Companies, released this week, lists about 500 technology firms with combined revenues of $5.5 billion.
Reporter: News future is tied to the Web
Capital Times
“The way people consume news has fundamentally changed” with the advent of the Web, creating a new media landscape that will be dominated by niche Web sites rather than general interest newspapers.
That prediction came Thursday from Jim VandeHei, a former high-profile political reporter for the Washington Post, who caused a minor sensation in the journalism world several months ago when he announced he’d be leaving the venerable paper to build an online news site from the ground up. He was in Madison through the University of Wisconsin’s writer-in-residence program and spoke to local journalists at Capital Newspapers.
Ninth annual festival’s off to a roaring start
Capital Times
Wouldn’t it be great if fans dressed up for the indie and foreign films at the Wisconsin Film Festival the way the way “Star Wars” fans dressed up?
Guys with shaved heads and long robes would wait in line for the austere monk documentary “Into Great Silence,” or wear dirty hip waders for the clam diggers comedy-drama “Diggers,” or soccer uniforms for “Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait.”
It won’t happen, most likely, and the only people to come out in costume at this year’s festival were, of course, “Star Wars” fans. There was a Darth Vader and about a half-dozen Stormtroopers in the audience Thursday night at the Wisconsin Union Theater for “Heart of an Empire,” a moving documentary about some big-hearted fans.
Religions must learn to co-exist, expert says
Capital Times
Martin Marty, one of the world’s pre-eminent historians of religion, opened a national conference on religious pluralism here Thursday night by invoking the words of Voltaire, the satirical and anti-Christian French writer of the 18th century.
“If there were only one religion in England, there would be danger of tyranny,” Voltaire wrote. “If there were two, they would cut each other’s throats; but there are 30, and they live happily together in peace.”
….The conference is being put on by the Lubar Institute for the Study of Abrahamic Religions, which is part of the College of Letters and Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Cooper reinstated by Bielema
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Defensive end Jamal Cooper is back with the University of Wisconsin football team – for now.
Bucky Badger pride: U-DUB wears UW school spirit everywhere
Capital Times
Like many of her peers, recent UW-Madison graduate Melissa Sandgren wears her Badger pride on her sleeve, literally.
She’s written the word “Bucky” in bleach pen on a red top and painted pawprints on a T-shirt with “Property of Bucky” scrawled across it. She’s cut off collars, ripped and re-tied Wisconsin shirts in creative ways to give her school spirit an ’80s flare. On football game days, she’s never had a problem creating a unique Badger look.
It was this extreme school spirit that inspired the 22-year-old journalism and marketing graduate to start her own business, U-DUB.
Scuttle the shuttle? City’s parking ramp buses a failure so far
Capital Times
Apparently, up to $80 a month is not enough to get Capitol Square or University of Wisconsin-area parkers to get up 15 minutes early and walk an extra three blocks every weekday.
Even after every downtown state and city employee with computer access received a direct e-mail explaining that they could save that much by shifting to a nearby ramp, only nine people took the shuttle during the month of February, according to a report this week.
Donation will fund UWM finance lab
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee business students soon will have the chance to work with the same sort of high-tech equipment used by professional traders, analysts and portfolio managers.
Thanks to a $2.5 million gift from David O. Nicholas, president and chief investment officer of Nicholas Co. Inc., the university will create a lab fitted with professional databases, streaming financial news, financial software and dual-monitor computers.
Patent ruling isn’t a blow to UW’s research leadership
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Concern apparently has been voiced across the state that the recent U.S. Patent Office decisions rejecting three patents held by the patenting and licensing arm of the University of Wisconsin could be a devastating blow to the state’s acknowledged leadership in stem cell research.
As one of the parties who lodged the thus-far successful challenge against the overreaching patents on human embryonic stem cells held by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, let me reassure you that is simply not the case. And despite what WARF officials say, that’s not at all because appeals will be successful. A column by John Simpson.
Lender to stop giving perks to college staff
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The nations largest student loan provider will stop offering perks to college employees as part of a settlement announced Wednesday in a widening investigation of the student loan industry.
Film proves punk’s alive and well
Capital Times
….”It’s been called dead since the ’70s,” filmmaker Susan Dynner says. “And clearly it’s not. There’s still kids getting into it, there are still kids that have a lot to say. These bands have been touring for 30 years, and there are still audiences who want to go see them.”
While there have been great documentaries made about 1970s punk icons like the Ramones, the Clash and the Sex Pistols, those that came after have been underrepresented on the big screen. Dynner, a 1988 UW graduate, aims to change that with her new documentary, “Punk’s Not Dead,” which will play as part of the Wisconsin Film Festival at 10 p.m. Saturday at the Bartell Theatre.
Power line delayed as ATC mulls options
Capital Times
Local officials are applauding the decision by American Transmission Co. to delay construction of a controversial 345-kilovolt transmission line across Dane County, but energy conservation activist Nino Amato said it’s just a tactical move by the company to “reposition” itself in trying to justify need for the line.
Mark Williamson, vice president of major projects for ATC, said today the company needs more time to take a hard look at power usage forecasts and the potential to bury a part of the new line in sensitive areas, such as along the Beltline near the Arboretum.
Reviews mixed for UW’s administrative “hub” idea
Capital Times
“Why don’t I trust this? I’ve been here 22 years, and I’m not trusting that classified staff counts in this university,” said Jean Dussault.
Her wary statement about a plan being developed to centralize some administrative support units or functions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison drew loud applause from more than 100 civil service employees at a recent Memorial Union forum about the proposal.
UW to check Salvadoran factories
Capital Times
A representative of the UW-Madison is traveling to El Salvador to investigate workers’ rights at factories that make the university’s athletic apparel, including alleged workers’ rights abuses at a former Adidas Group subcontractor.
The University of Wisconsin contracts with Adidas to provide athletic uniforms and shoes, and the company can sell apparel with the UW logo. Adidas agreed to a code of conduct that stipulated its responsibilities in dealing with workers, factories and suppliers.
….Chancellor John Wiley did not agree to end the contract, but said Adidas should do more to help workers if they were unfairly treated by the subcontractor. Now he is sending Dawn Crim to investigate the situation.
4 days, 10 theaters, 182 movies: Organizers are ready for action
Capital Times
All over downtown Madison, projector bulbs are being replaced, sound systems are being tweaked and new high-end equipment is being installed as volunteers get ready for this year’s Wisconsin Film Festival to kick off Thursday.
Doug Moe: UW prof beaten by Pakistan elite police
Capital Times
AMNA BUTTAR, the University of Wisconsin Medical School associate professor who brought Pakistani human rights hero Mukhtar Mai to Madison in 2005, was attacked and injured by members of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s secret police at a rally last week in Islamabad.
“I was horrified and feared for my life,” Buttar said in a telephone interview Tuesday night from Pakistan.
The right decision
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The odor of scandal has been emanating of late from Student Loan Xpress, which lends money to pay for college. So Jane Hogan-Clark, who directs financial aid for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is appropriately stepping down from the firm’s advisory council.
Creating a buzz
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: Phil Pellitteri, an entomologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
UWM official quits loan board
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Jane Hojan-Clark, the director of financial aid at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, resigned Tuesday from the advisory board of a private loan company, saying she was “shocked” by recent disclosures of the company’s financial ties with other board members.
A non-nostalgic history of mass-consumption TV
Philadelphia Inquirer
In “Same Time, Same Station,” James L. Baughman, a professor of journalism and mass communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, explains the evolution of network television. Baughman tells a familiar story – commerce crushes cultural aspiration – but he adds fresh and fascinating details from behind the scenes at the television networks. And he avoids nostalgia for a “golden age” of television that never was.
UW ruling on wages is disputed
Capital Times
Two Student Wage Committee members are challenging a decision by University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor John Wiley that the living wage concept does not apply to student hourly employees because they are primarily engaged in pursuing an education, not supporting a family.
New school named for Hmong leader
Capital Times
Retiring Madison School Board member Shwaw Vang’s eloquent speech to honor a revered Hmong leader and ally of American forces during the Vietnam War clinched a unanimous decision by board members to name Madison’s newest school General Vang Pao Elementary.
“Your vote will honor the Hmong people who were loyal allies of the United States during Vietnam and will give Hmong students and their families a sense of belonging,” Vang explained in English and in Hmong to an enthusiastic audience that included 75 to 80 members of the local Hmong community.
….Five years ago an effort to name a local park for Pao was shelved because of the controversy surrounding allegations by a University of Wisconsin professor (Alfred McCoy) and others that Pao was involved with the heroin trade during his years of work with the CIA.