Skip to main content

Author: jnweaver

More students, fewer spaces

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Flash back 25 years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and you’d find admissions standards that are sure to shock aspiring Badgers of today.

The university guaranteed admission to all high school graduates in the top half of their class. It accepted more than 80% of applicants.

“I walked upright,” Dan Conley, a 1981 graduate, said with a chuckle. “That’s how I got in.”

How times have changed.

Ex-Badger guilty of assault

Capital Times

A jury found Booker Stanley, a former running back for the University of Wisconsin football team, guilty of three felonies and three misdemeanors Thursday in the sexual assault of his girlfriend during a Dec. 21 fight.

After five hours of deliberation the jury convicted Stanley of second-degree sexual assault, second-degree reckless endangerment, felony bail jumping and one count of misdemeanor battery. He was acquitted on three additional battery charges.

Illinois, California govs divert funds to stem cell study (AP)

Capital Times

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Thursday announced he was diverting $5 million from the state budget for stem cell research, despite repeated objections from legislators.

The move came a day after President Bush vetoed federal legislation that would have expanded funding for embryonic stem cell research.

Editorial: Bush and the stem cell lie

Capital Times

Predictably, Congress couldn’t overturn President Bush’s veto of legislation that would have expanded federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

That is unfortunate for all of the reasons that have been stated in the long debate over whether the United States will ever get serious about identifying the viable treatments for Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, spinal cord injuries, diabetes, strokes and burns that might well be found on the stem cell frontier.

Stanley guilty of three felonies

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Booker Stanley is facing serious prison time.

After deliberating for more than five hours, a jury of 11 men and one woman found the former University of Wisconsin running back guilty Thursday night on four of the seven counts he faced after an incident with his former girlfriend late last year.

A common tongue: progress

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

As more Wisconsin companies do business around the world, they’re also finding themselves becoming global employers. Some businesses have begun to tap into the pool of Chinese students who come to train as engineers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Lawmakers criticize UW, lecturer

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

State Rep. Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) said Thursday that 61 lawmakers had signed a letter condemning the Sept. 11 theories of University of Wisconsin-Madison instructor Kevin Barrett and criticizing UW’s decision to allow Barrett to teach a course on Islam at the university this fall. (Second item in Regional Briefs)

Doug Moe:

Capital Times

….The controversy surrounding UW-Madison instructor Kevin Barrett and his 9/11 views is making waves far beyond Wisconsin.

JB Bauer: UW’s values passed by Green

Capital Times

Dear Editor: U.S. Rep. Mark Green says he went to school at the University of Wisconsin. Then why hasn’t he heard of “sifting and winnowing”? One method of teaching is to throw out a very controversial statement and let the students try to defend/refute it based on their own backgrounds and assumptions.

Jim Maynard: Green’s comments sully UW alumni

Capital Times

Dear Editor: I am also an alumnus of UW Madison (not, as Rep. Mark Green calls it, an “alum”), and I wish to point out to Green that about 80 percent of the Muslim world outside the U.S. thinks 9/11 was an American setup to provide a pretext for military adventurism. Why do you think that is? Maybe Kevin Barrett will help his students address this notion in light of the facts.

Robert E. Griffin: Green could learn a lot about education from Barrett

Capital Times

Dear Editor: U.S. Rep. Mark Green appears to be making erroneous statements, with poor reasoning regarding Kevin Barrett and the instructor’s views on 9/11.

Green appears to be projecting his own refusal to look at the evidence and draw logical conclusions, preferring instead to parrot the official explanation.

Barrett is acting scholarly. Green could learn much from him.

Engineering a new way

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Amanda Pratt graduated from Arrowhead High School with scholarship offers, a 4.0 grade-point average and acceptance letters from colleges that included the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Northwestern University.

But when she reports to school in the fall, it won’t be to any of those better-known institutions of higher education.

Instead, Pratt’s off to a small, unaccredited college outside of Boston that graduated its first class of students this spring – 66 out of a beginning group of 75 students.

Former Beloit College leader Peterson dies

Capital Times

Martha E. Peterson, a former president of Beloit College and Barnard College in New York City, died in Madison Friday.

(Peterson served as dean of women, assistant to the president, and dean for student affairs at the University of Wisconsin between 1956-67.)

More women playing full-contact sports like football, rugby

Capital Times

Somehow they all stumbled into playing these sports in which they hit other women.

Maria Mouradian watched football games from the sidelines as a cheerleader in fifth grade and told her mother, “I want to play.”

Halie Fry saw her brother play for the under-19 Wisconsin men’s rugby team one summer and decided “it looked like fun.”

Bush vetoes bill expanding federally funded embryonic stem cell research (AP)

Capital Times

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Bush cast the first veto of his 5 1/2-year presidency Wednesday, rejecting legislation to ease limits on federal funding for research on stem cells obtained from embryos.

“This bill would support the taking of innocent human life of the hope of finding medical benefits for others. It crosses a moral boundary that our society needs to respect, so I vetoed it,” Bush said at a White House event where he was surrounded by 18 families who “adopted” frozen embryos that were not used by other couples, and then used those leftover embryos to have children.

Stem cell patents spark suit

Capital Times

A California-based consumer group has filed legal challenges to three stem cell patents owned by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. The foundation owns the patents to discoveries made by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The foundation says WARF’s use of the patents restricts scientific research.

Calhoun testifies in Stanley trial

Capital Times

Former star Badgers running back Brian Calhoun was the leadoff witness for the prosecution today as the sexual assault trial of his former teammate Booker Stanley got under way in Dane County Circuit Court.

Calhoun, who gave up his senior year of eligibility to enter the National Football League draft this spring, testified about going to a party with Stanley in Whitewater the night before Stanley was arrested and charged with sexual assault, battery and endangering safety for a fight with his former girlfriend after returning to Madison.

Halloween bash to be gated event

Capital Times

It will cost $5 to trick-or-treat on State Street this Halloween. And you’ll have to pass through a gate to get in.

Sources close to the mayor’s office confirmed, in advance of Mayor Dave Cieslewicz’s noon news conference today, that the mayor would announce plans to fence off and charge admission to the hugely popular, but sometimes chaotic party scheduled this year for Saturday, Oct. 28.

Rob Zaleski: Arboretum housing battle is just getting warmed up

Capital Times

If you’ve driven through the UW Arboretum lately, you’ve probably seen them: several dozen black and white yard signs, all carrying the same message: “Protect the Arboretum. Stop the Developers.”

The developer in this case, as you may have heard, is Darren Kittleson. And the reason he’s persona non grata with members of the Arboretum Neighborhood Association is because he wants to build houses on two prime wooded lots and enlarge an old stone house on a third lot at the intersection of Arboretum Drive and Arboretum Lane.

In other words, smack dab in the middle of one of the most prized urban parklands and ecological research laboratories in America.

Bush approval rating slips in state

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Overall approval ratings for President Bush in Wisconsin have slipped in recent months, and nearly half of respondents believe he is doing a poor job handling foreign affairs, the economy and problems at home, according to a poll released today.

Bush approval rating slips in state

http://www.jsonline.com/watch/?watch=22&date=7/18/2006&id=8724
Overall approval ratings for President Bush in Wisconsin have slipped in recent months, and nearly half of respondents believe he is doing a poor job handling foreign affairs, the economy and problems at home, according to the Badger Poll released today.

Badger Poll: 45 percent of respondents say Bush is doing poor job (AP)

Duluth News

Nearly half of the respondents in a state poll released Tuesday believe George Bush is doing a poor job as president.

The University of Wisconsin Survey Center found that 5 percent of those polled rated the president’s overall job performance as excellent, 22 percent as good, 27 percent as fair and 45 percent as poor.

Scientists praise stem cell bill

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

John Lough wants to turn embryonic stem cells into beating heart muscle cells that someday might be transplanted into the damaged hearts of people.

Clive Svendsen is working to transform embryonic stem cells into engineered cells that can protect and repair the brain cells of people suffering from the neurological disorders amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson’s disease.

The two Wisconsin scientists and other researchers said that if legislation allowing for expanded federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research is enacted, it likely would be a boon to the promising field as well as their own research efforts.

UW stem cell patents face challenge

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A California-based consumer group and a stem cell scientist took action Tuesday to overturn the landmark patents on human embryonic stem cells held by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, claiming that the patents hinder research, drive scientists overseas and waste taxpayer money.

Brandon M. Zimmerman

Madison.com

RACINE – Brandon M. Zimmerman, age 20, passed away unexpectedly on Saturday, July 15, 2006, at his home in Racine….He was preparing to enter his junior year at UW-Madison.

UW students not in harm’s way

Capital Times

The latest Middle East crisis has led the U.S. to start evacuating some citizens from Lebanon, but officials with University of Wisconsin-Madison student organizations say they’re not aware of any students who have been hurt or who are in danger.

The president of UW’s Arab Student Organization, Karima Berkani, said there are currently no UW programs operating in Lebanon and that the only UW students in the area are Lebanese citizens or students pursuing independent studies.

Green wants to toughen UW hiring

Capital Times

U.S. Rep. Mark Green says he would press the UW Board of Regents to adopt new standards for hiring teachers if he becomes governor.

“I think there should be some basic scholarly standards that we ask of anyone who wishes to teach our young people, especially at taxpayer expense,” Green, R-Green Bay, said during a press conference in Madison on Monday.

Jeff Peterson: Sophomoric attack on UW lecturer lacked quality analysis

Capital Times

Dear Editor: I would like to address Reggie Moody’s sophomoric attack on UW instructor Kevin Barrett (“Barrett crosses line separating teaching from proselytizing,” published in The Capital Times on July 12).

Moody ignores the fact that trying to show “both” sides of an issue, while a noble effort, does not address the inherent bias in his own position.

Editorial: Moving on at UWM

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

We know now that Abbas Ourmazd wasn’t the person to manage the ramp-up in research at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee after his overly public dust-up with his boss last week.

52% of poll respondents back gay marriage ban (AP)

St. Paul Pioneer Press

Slightly more than half of the respondents in a new poll support banning gay marriage and bringing back the death penalty in Wisconsin.

The University of Wisconsin Survey Center found about 52 percent of those surveyed favored an amendment to the state constitution prohibiting gay marriage, while nearly 44 percent opposed it.

Editorial: Loosen stem cell restrictions

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The U.S. Senate is expected to vote today on a bill on embryonic stem cell research of vital economic importance to Wisconsin and of equal importance to millions of people who suffer from a wide range of incurable and debilitating illnesses and conditions. The bill would loosen restrictions on federal dollars for such research, imposed five years ago by President Bush. The research was pioneered at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Backing found for gay marriage ban

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A majority of Wisconsin residents support a proposed state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and any substantially similar legal status, according to a poll released Monday. The poll was conducted by the University of Wisconsin Survey Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

White House blasts stem cell bill

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The developments are being closely followed in Wisconsin, because the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, in the words of officials there, is a “world leader in the field.”

Joel McNally: Government conspiracies actually easy to believe

Capital Times

…we’ve had far too many examples of government cover-ups and outright fabrications to dismiss out of hand as loony anyone who raises questions about the “official” version of events.

And where better to have a free and open discussion of controversial ideas than on a college campus?

Apparently, the biggest mistake made by Kevin Barrett, a part-time instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was appearing on a right-wing radio talk show in Milwaukee.

Ernie Pellegrino, M.D.: Lecturer’s earlier statements ought to raise eyebrows

Capital Times

Dear Editor: Kevin Barrett should be familiar to people who read the Madison papers last February as he made the claim to be an expert on Osama bin Laden and said that bin Laden’s videotape taking credit for 9/11 was a forgery produced by the CIA.

I would like to raise some serious questions about the opinions of Kevin Barrett, who calls himself an Islamologist and Arabist and contends that the recent tape of Osama bin Laden is a fake produced by the CIA and that bin Laden has been dead since 2001 or 2002.

Michael McGrath: Barrett case hinges on fear vs. freedom

Capital Times

Dear Editor: UW Provost Patrick Farrell deserves much praise for defending the integrity of the University of Wisconsin against political grandstanding. But it should be understood that allowing Kevin Barrett to speak of his 9/11 “conspiracy theories” in class is more than an issue of allowing the free exchange of ideas.

The end purpose of schooling is for students to be able to reason through complex “theories,” weigh evidence according to traditional objective methods, and only then evaluate ideas. By standing up to power Farrell is implicitly insisting that basic standards of knowledge and civility in discourse be maintainedÃ? against the smearing and appeals to emotion that so far has dominated discussions of today’s wars….

Soldier tends injured Afghans

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Spc. Megan Papierniak, 20, of Osseo takes the vital signs of a 10-month-old Afghan boy this week at a free clinic for residents near Camp Salerno in Khost, Afghanistan. Papierniak is a UW-Madison sophomore who hopes to become an orthopedic surgeon someday.

State will test birds for avian flu

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Research led by University of Wisconsin-Madison flu expert Yoshihiro Kawaoka has shown that it will be extremely difficult to transmit the H5N1 virus between humans because the virus binds only to cells buried deep in the recesses of the human lower respiratory tract. The virus doesn’t stick in the upper respiratory tract, where human flus are carried.

Life’s transitions

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Ambiguous loss “is the most stressful loss,” writes Pauline Boss, an emertitus professor at the University of Minnesota who developed the concept and coined the term while a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the 1970s.

Showdown set on stem cells

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

An emotion-charged debate opens Monday in the U.S. Senate on whether to unleash more federal dollars to fund research on embryonic stem cells.

Signals mixed on UWM resignation

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was roiling in shock and confusion Thursday to news that its research czar had threatened to resign, with the administration sending mixed messages about whether the resignation was final and the rank and file expressing mixed feelings about leadership of the university.
Advertisement
72140UW-Milwaukee
Quotable

(Santiago) announced that the resignation had been tendered.

– Sally Lundeen,
College of Nursing
Recent Coverage
6/13/06: UWM vice chancellor threatens to resign
5/8/06: UWM touts its big ideas
3/17/06: Region lags in race for funding
3/5/06: Scientist helping take UWM to next level
1/13/06: UWM re-aims its research
Archive Coverage
Section: Education
Weblog: The School Zone

Controversial lecturer was convicted in ’96

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=466935
The University of Wisconsin-Madison lecturer who has taught that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were an inside job was convicted in 1996 of disorderly conduct, but the university determined that should not prevent him from teaching.

Posted in Uncategorized

Patrick Michelson: UW’s hiring of Kevin Barrett a disservice to students, legacy

Capital Times

Many people in Madison will welcome the news that Kevin Barrett has been allowed to teach a course on Islam at the UW. Most will see it as a triumph of academic freedom. Others will rejoice because they believe what Barrett alleges: that the terrorist attack of Sept. 11 was “an inside job” and a “gargantuan, Satanic lie” concocted by the U.S. government to wage an endless war.

I, however, will not be one of those celebrating.

Editorial: UW sifting, winnowing

Capital Times

University of Wisconsin Provost Patrick Farrell was given a virtually thankless task: responding to complaints from politicians who objected to the unpopular views of a UW faculty member.

Farrell handled it as an academic leader, guided by UW values and traditions, as well as his own courage and good sense, rather than political pressures.

At a time when few were willing to stand up for the principles that have made the UW one of this country’s greatest institutions of higher learning, the provost did just that when he rejected calls for the dismissal of controversial lecturer Kevin Barrett.

UW men’s hockey: Pavelski signs with Sharks

Capital Times

All that apparently stands between Joe Pavelski and a spot in the San Jose Sharks’ organization is a phone call.

The University of Wisconsin center has done everything else – received a contract offer, signed it and shipped it back to California – to make the jump to the pro ranks and forgo his final two seasons of college eligibility.

State employee contracts approved (AP)

Capital Times

Nearly 8,200 state employees will receive pay raises under contracts approved Wednesday by the Legislature.

The union-represented workers will see pay increases of at least 2 percent a year under the four contracts passed without debate in both the Assembly and Senate.

Pocan denounces Rep. Nass for stance on UW lecturer

Capital Times

The war of words over a controversial UW lecturer escalated today when a Madison legislator called a fellow legislator “ineffective and useless” for condemning UW’s decision to allow the lecturer to keep his position.

Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, told The Capital Times today that Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, was way off base in his condemnation of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s decision to allow Kevin Barrett to teach an introductory course on Islam.

UW, why stop with 9-11 conspiracists?

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

It is a new day, indeed, on campus. I look forward to the UW biology department hiring scholars who support the scientific claims of the intelligent design movement and former Harvard President Larry Summers’ views (more accurately, suggestions) regarding the innate differences in mathematical ability between men and women.

I anticipate the fireworks when the Medical School adds a professor with substantial experience in turning gays and lesbians into heterosexuals. The sifting and winnowing should be hot and heavy. Quaere verum, baby (“Seek the truth,” for those millions of us not as smart as professor Barrett – I looked it up).