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Author: jnweaver

Campus Connection: Tech college head asks elections panel to rethink voter ID ruling

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Capital Times

The president of the Wisconsin Technical College System sent a letter Wednesday to the Government Accountability Board formally requesting that the body which oversees elections in the state reconsider its Sept. 12 decision to not allow technical college student ID cards to be used for voting purposes. Dan Clancy writes that the “plain language of the statute clearly includes technical college student IDs as an acceptable form of identification for voting purposes.”

Mike End: Learn about attack on U.S. civil justice system at Friday documentary on UW campus

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Capital Times

Dear Editor: You think you know about the McDonald?s coffee court case and why tort ?reform? has been so popular with politicians like Texas Gov. Rick Perry? I?ll bet you don?t.The ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) agenda that has been promoted in the Wisconsin Legislature and the attack on the U.S. civil justice system will be examined in the HBO documentary ?Hot Coffee? at a free screening in Madison this Friday evening. The Center for Media & Democracy and the Wisconsin Association for Justice want to help you connect the dots about the corporate campaign to restrict your rights.

State, cranberry industry look to capitalize on growing demand in China

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Wausau Daily Herald

CRANMOOR — Gong Ruina, a graduate student at Beijing Sport University and world-champion badminton player, said harvesting cranberries is more difficult than it looks.

“It?s fun to do once, but it?s hard to imagine people doing it all the time,” said Gong, who spoke with a Daily Tribune reporter with the help of an interpreter. Gong was one of about a dozen participants of the University of Wisconsin-Madison?s Chinese Champions Program who visited Elm Lake Cranberry Co., 5865 Elm Lake Lane, on Tuesday to learn about the cranberry industry and its growing importance in a global market.

Huskers hoopla: The usual UW gameday hangouts may feel like Lincoln North

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Wisconsin State Journal

The scene at Union South hours before the Nebraska-Wisconsin showdown could be ripe for a culture clash. At the same time University of Wisconsin fans converge on the first floor to watch the UW Marching Band at the pre-game Badger Bash, the second floor will be occupied by a tailgate party of 850 Cornhuskers fans held by the Nebraska Alumni Association.

Madison police brace for surge of Huskers fans

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Wisconsin State Journal

Madison police are gearing up for a Badgers game unlike any they?ve seen, with between 20,000 and 40,000 Cornhuskers fans, most of whom won?t make it into Camp Randall Stadium, expected to descend on nearby bars to watch Saturday?s first Big Ten matchup between the two teams.

?It?s like a first date ? you don?t know what to expect,? said Madison Police Lt. Dave McCaw.To deal with the Nebraska throng ? and whatever comes with it ? the department is calling out its Special Events Team.

ESPN College Gameday to broadcast from Bascom Hill

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With the ESPN College Gameday team setting up near the statue of Abe Lincoln on Bascom Hill on Saturday, will Lee Corso wear a stovepipe hat and beard?The former coach and mascot-head wearer will be on the set with fellow Gameday members Desmond Howard, Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit when ESPN College Gameday comes to Madison for the much-anticipated football game between Wisconsin and Nebraska.

Dr. Gerhart: New doctor columnist joins State Journal

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Wisconsin State Journal

Dr. Jacqueline Gerhart will answer your health questions each week on Tuesdays in the Wisconsin State Journal.

“As a local family medicine physician I am excited to connect with you and the community to share health information and answer your questions.”

State gets $10.5M for English learner assessment

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Capital Times

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has been awarded a $10.5 million grant to develop technology-based assessments for students learning English. The four-year grant from the federal Department of Education will be used to develop an online assessment system to measure student progress in attaining the English language skills they need to be successful in school and, ultimately, post-secondary studies and work.

The DPI is the lead agency in a 28-state consortium working with World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at UW-Madison.

Campus Connection: UW-Madison business professor loses battle with cancer

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Capital Times

Mason Carpenter, a professor and associate dean within the Wisconsin School of Business, died on Thursday at the age of 50 after a battle with cancer, the university announced. Carpenter was a professor of strategic management, the M. Keith Weikel Professor in Leadership and the associate dean of evening and executive master of business administration programs in the business school.

Campus Connection: UW-Madison nets $23.5 million public health grant

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Capital Times

The Wisconsin Clearinghouse for Prevention Resources will receive $23.5 million in federal funding over the next five years to implement and promote proven prevention strategies that decrease obesity and tobacco use across the state. The clearinghouse is a unit of University Health Services at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Jason Morgan: UW should reassess biased admissions policy

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Capital Times

Dear Editor: UW-Madison?s position on admissions is disingenuous. Preference given to any ethnic group is racism; indeed, it is the very definition of racism. The university divides students up along racial lines, and then has the audacity to portray as racist the attempt by an outside body to call attention to the plain truth of the university?s own biased stance.

UW football: With his Nebraska ties, game has special meaning for Alvarez

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Madison.com

It might be the biggest football game ever played at 94-year-old Camp Randall Stadium and Barry Alvarez will be smack in the middle of it. When the seventh-ranked University of Wisconsin plays No. 8 Nebraska to open the Big Ten Conference season Saturday night, it will be as hyped as a preview of the inaugural league championship game later this year, as a melting pot of two legendary fan bases and as the nationally televised debut of the Cornhuskers under the Big Ten banner. It also will put the spotlight on Alvarez, who has an extraordinary vantage point for the game.

StubHub sees record demand for UW-Nebraska matchup

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WKOW-TV 27

This weekend (Saturday, October 1) is the highly-anticipated Wisconsin-Nebraska football game. Ticket brokers say they?re seeing record demand. The online broker StubHub says it?s the most demand it?s seen for a Badger home game in the company?s history. It says the game is the top selling event on its website this week.

Two UW professors, Forest Lab engineer get presidential honor

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Capital Times

Two assistant professors at UW-Madison and a Forest Products Lab engineer are among 94 scientists and engineers honored by President Obama as recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award. Michael Arnold, Daniel Fredrickson and Samuel Zelinka were recognized by the U.S. government for their work in the early stages of their independent research careers. Arnold is an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering and Fredrickson is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry.

What’s News: Madison tied for the highest percentage of bike commuters in the U.S.

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Capital Times

A greater percentage of Madisonians bike to work — 6 percent — than in any of the largest U.S. cities except Portland, Ore., which has the same percentage, according to the State Smart Transportation Initiative. Next on the list released Monday by the UW-Madison-housed initiative was Seattle, which had 3.6 percent of its commuters using a bicycle to go to work in 2010, followed by San Francisco and Minneapolis, which both had 3.5 percent.

DNR to answer questions via ‘Warden Wire’

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Wisconsin State Journal

For the Warden Wire, the DNR will cull and answer the most-asked questions that come to its popular telephone hotline. Wardens also will contribute when they hear the same questions being asked time and again, and the hotline questions are already popular.

Quoted: Kathleen Bartzen Culver, a UW-Madison School of Journalism expert in multimedia, law and ethics, who applauded the DNR’s plans to use “the government’s ability to put information out to the community” but noted that it “comes tremendous ethical responsibilities.”

Campus Connection: Growing economic divide called ?national tragedy’

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The Chronicle of Higher Education released its annual Diversity in Academe special section over the weekend. I point this out to readers because the issue of diversity and “holistic admissions” practices are hot-button topics on the UW-Madison campus these days. Although much of what is posted online by The Chronicle in this special section is available only to those who subscribe, there are some interesting free articles/commentaries anyone can take a look at.

Bill Berry: Racing to keep up on the technological highway

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Capital Times

Covering cultural trends has long been among the jobs of news sources. So it is my duty to report on a startling finding. Several professorial-type sources tell me that many of today?s students in higher education cannot read cursive writing. This one is likely to get the ?three R?s? crowd?s undies in a bundle, but it is apparently true. I can just hear some of the current presidential candidates screeching about the end of civilization.

Editorial: State needs to pay its security bills

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Green Bay Press-Gazette

….The state has undergone a rare display of huge public protests this year, and the possibility exists that more demonstrations could erupt in the future. We expect those who disagree with the governor or state legislators to maintain civility if they choose to hold a public protest, and we expect law enforcement to do its usual thorough job of maintaining the peace. We also expect the state to pay its bills.

Q&A: Financial aid, campus climate are top issues for UW-Madison student leader

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Capital Times

When Allie Gardner was considering where to go to college, about the only thing the Sun Prairie native knew for certain was she wanted to leave the area.

“I really had no intention of coming to UW-Madison,” says Gardner. In the end, however, the 2009 graduate of Edgewood High School realized she couldn?t afford to pay out-of-state or private college tuition, and Madison was the only UW System campus she had applied to.

Obituary: Mason A. Carpenter

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Mason Andrew Carpenter passed into the hands of God on Thursday evening, Sept. 22, 2011, at his home with his family by his side after a year long battle with head and neck cancer. He joined the faculty in UW-Madison’s Wisconsin School of Business in 1997 and went on to earn distinction as the M. Keith Weikel Professor of Leadership. An international expert in strategic management, Mason’s research focused on corporate governance, social networks and global startups.

On Campus: Non-binding referendum will gauge student opinion on Memorial Union project

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Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison students will have a chance to express their opinions this fall on a controversial project to expand the Union Theater in an advisory referendum. The vote will not necessarily affect the project. Associated Students of Madison, UW-Madison?s student government, voted Wednesday night to put a question on the ballot for an election that will be held Oct. 17 through Oct. 19.

Madison 360: City’s percentage of college grads jumps

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Capital Times

Madison is mentioned atop the front page of Thursday?s Wall Street Journal in a map showing “brain gainers,” metro areas that have shown the biggest 10-year growth in percent of population with college educations. According to the map, Madison is second among the nation?s 100 largest metro areas, up 6.4 percent to 43.3 percent.

City Council OKs new campus apartment building

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Wisconsin State Journal

Despite concerns that it could hurt the long-term viability of a neighboring church, a student apartment building has been approved for the site of UW-Madison?s Episcopal student center. On a 15-4 vote, the City Council early Wednesday approved the project at St. Francis House Episcopal Student Center, 1001 University Ave.

Largest state unions won’t seek recertification by Thursday deadline

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By the end of Thursday, the major state employee unions covering tens of thousands of workers will have effectively lost their official status. Top leaders for those unions say they won?t seek to meet the high hurdle for keeping that current status as laid out in Gov. Scott Walker?s union bargaining law. With a deadline set for the close of business Thursday, so far only four smaller state unions have said they are seeking to keep their status by winning a difficult recertification vote.

Largest State Unions Won’t Seek Recertification

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WISC-TV 3

MADISON, Wis. — Leaders of major unions representing Wisconsin state workers said they won?t seek recertification before Thursday?s deadline. That means those unions representing tens of thousands of state government workers will effectively lose their official status.

Jeff Godsey: No need to bash South on racism ? Wisconsin has issues all its own

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Capital Times

Dear Editor: The recent Capital Times editorial ?UW doesn?t need diversity advice from cradle of the Confederacy,? is a wonderful piece of ?Na-na-na-na-boo-boo? finger-wagging, but it does little to address the real weaknesses of the Center for Equal Opportunity?s reports of racism in UW-Madison?s admissions policy. The most obvious flaw in the CEO?s report is that the percentage of the pool of black students who apply to UW-Madison who are then accepted is significantly higher than the percentage from the pool of white students. Presumably, a great many more white students apply to UW-Madison than black students, making the CEO?s statistic not particularly helpful.

Vickie Mulkerin: Professor fans flames on UW admissions bias claim

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Capital Times

Dear Editor: After all of the controversy in the past week generated by the Center for Equal Opportunity study claiming bias in admissions to UW, I had hoped that there would be a move toward thoughtful discussion, heralded by Chancellor David Ward?s statement last week. But apparently professor Marshall Onellion wants to fan the flames. In his email to the Cap Times, he refers to the student protesters as ?thugs,? a charged term these days in Madison.

Campus Connection: Student fires back at UW-Madison professor

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Capital Times

On Tuesday I posted a strongly worded letter from UW-Madison physics professor Marshall Onellion. He is no fan of the university?s “holistic” admissions policy or UW-Madison?s response to a report by a conservative think tank which purports to show whites and Asians aren?t getting a fair crack at being admitted to Wisconsin?s flagship institution of higher education.

In that letter, Onellion is not only highly critical of UW-Madison interim Chancellor David Ward, but he also singles out a student — referring to her as a “thug” and ripping comments she made to the Wisconsin State Journal about the Center for Equal Opportunity?s (CEO) findings. That student, Mia McKinney, a senior from Racine, emailed me a letter of her own Tuesday night.

Sun Prairie Grad Relishes New Role Of UW Drum Major

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Channel3000.com

In her fifth year in the University of Wisconsin Marching Band, it?s fair to say Sun Prairie native and newly named drum major Sarah Edlund?s passion for music has only gotten stronger.

“My two older brothers went through the band program in Sun Prairie and the oldest one is eight years older than me, so since I was 6 or 7, I?ve been going to band concerts and then when I was old enough I got to do it myself. It?s been a big part of my life since I was very young,” Edlund said. Edlund beat out four other band members for the title of drum major. The competition took place in mid-August.

Plain Talk: Grothman, Nass again don?t have a clue

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Capital Times

I wish somebody could tell me it isn?t true, but I?d swear that this current crop of Republicans who control the Legislature would return us all to the failed law enforcement policies of 50 years ago.

….During the 1960s and into the early 1970s, urban law enforcement leaders throughout the country eventually discovered that it was much wiser to let people in large crowds have their say as the First Amendment allows them to do, keep the crowds within controlled areas as best as possible, and go after only those who get out of control.

Kaleem Caire draws on personal experience to support school alternatives for blacks

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Wisconsin State Journal

(This story first appeared in the Sunday edition of the Wisconsin State Journal newspaper.)

“Come on Madison, we can do better than this!” That?s Kaleem Caire. He said it not recently, but in 1998 in an op-ed questioning why his hometown wasn?t paying more attention to the poor educational outcomes and high incarceration rates of black males. “I?m asking Madison to be your best self and get this done!”

That’s also Caire, in an interview this week about his proposal for a publicly funded charter school designed to improve educational outcomes of low-income minority students.

Jim Yong Kim: Sharing best practices to stop binge drinking

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Capital Times

The rate of student alcohol abuse has remained unchanged for 30 years: Nearly 40 percent of 2010 U.S. college students engage in high-risk alcohol consumption. That means, unfortunately, that binge drinking is as widespread among today?s freshmen as it was for their parents? generation and potentially just as lethal. Each year, almost 2,000 U.S. college students die from alcohol-related causes. An estimated 600,000 others are injured while under the influence.

(Jim Yong Kim is president of Dartmouth College.)

No charges for driver in deadly Metro bus crash

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WKOW-TV 27

MADISON (WKOW) — The Dane County District Attorney?s Office says it will not file criminal charges against the Metro driver who was behind the wheel in a deadly crash in June. Maureen Grant, a 58-year-old UW-Madison librarian, died June 22, 2011. Authorities say Debra Foster hit her while turning the corner from North Lake Street onto University Avenue in Madison. The D.A.?s office determined that the bus itself had a significant blind spot that prevented Foster from seeing Grant until Grant was directly next to the bus.

UW football: Nebraska fans to ‘pack the black’ for Madison trek

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Madison.com

If Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne?s suggestion is taken to heart, the only fans wearing red at Camp Randall Stadium on Oct. 1 will be backing the University of Wisconsin. In a letter Thursday to fans who purchased tickets to the Cornhuskers? inaugural Big Ten Conference game from the school?s allotment, Osborne asked them to pass on the traditional red attire and wear black instead.

Video games go viral at UW educational research lab

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Wisconsin State Journal

Upstairs in the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, scientists toil away in their labs researching everything from stem cells to viruses. Downstairs, you?ll find a very different kind of laboratory. In cubicles and makeshift computer labs, a number of people sit behind their screens ? playing games. They?re not nerds, they?re researchers. OK, they are a bit nerdy and seem as glued to their screens as any game-crazed teenager. But there is science being done here, too.

Quoted: Kurt Squire, the lab’s creative director

Campus Connection: UW-Madison admissions policy debate likely not over

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Capital Times

A diverse cross-section of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus community spent a good portion of Tuesday pushing back against a conservative think tank?s report that purports to show whites and Asians aren?t getting a fair crack at being admitted to Wisconsin?s flagship institution of higher education. But while some viewed the studies released by the Center for Equal Opportunity as a chance to challenge those who don?t see the value in affirmative action programs, the report also opened the door for critics of UW-Madison?s “holistic” admissions policy, which takes into account everything from grades and test scores to leadership activities, socioeconomic factors, race and ethnicity.

….”I don’t feel pressure to change what we’re doing,” says UW-Madison admissions director Adele Brumfield. “I really don’t. I can appreciate that some people have concerns. But at the same time we feel good about what we’re doing and feel like it’s a process with great integrity.”

Chris Rickert: Jobs, not workers, have changed most

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Wisconsin State Journal

….”every child can be helped to connect with the world of work starting in childhood and early adolescence,” said Dave Riley, a UW-Madison professor of human development and family studies. But it?s not likely puberty is the age when people decide to become, say, machinists or operating engineers. “Lasting commitments” to particular career paths made in early adolescence tend to be in the fields of sports, math or music, Riley said, and only if the adolescents happen to be really good at sports, math or music.

The simplicity of the stories and the power of imagination keep ?old-time? radio dramas relevant in a visual culture

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Wisconsin State Journal

“We?re such a visual culture,” said Patricia Boyette, head of the acting and directing program at UW-Madison, and director of a performance of H.G. Wells? “The Time Machine” to be broadcast live at 8:30 p.m. Saturday on Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR). With radio drama, “it?s all about the voice,” she said. “It does appeal to the imagination; it?s not all spelled out for you.”

Les Thimmig spent his formative years learning from the greats.

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Wisconsin State Journal

Les Thimmig was born the same year as Mick Jagger and only nine months ahead of Paul McCartney – but his true musical peers are the jazzmen of his Chicago-area youth. At age 6, Thimmig took up the clarinet, and by 13 was seated next to some of the top musicians of the 1950s, subbing in jazz bands and the pit for Broadway shows, and learning from the masters who set the stage for the rest of his career.

Michael Olneck: Student protesters wrongly called a ‘mob’

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Wisconsin State Journal

The press release from Doubletree general manager Tom Ziarnik describes the large group of students protesting the Center for Equal Opportunity?s report attacking the UW-Madison?s admission practices as a “mob” that “became increasingly physically violent when forcing themselves into the meeting room where the press conference had already ended.” And, it alleges that “staff were then rushed by a mob of protesters, throwing employees to the ground.”

I attended the press conference and was in the main lobby afterward. There was no “mob” that was “physically violent.”

(Michael Olneck is a UW-Madison professor emeritus of educational policy studies and sociology>)

Doug Moe: Arboretum dedications, old and new

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Wisconsin State Journal

This is a story that starts with a barn and ends with a bench, and it spans nearly 80 years. In the decades between, a jewel of Madison came into existence and prospered, while a man who was there by accident at the beginning grew to love it as much as anyone ever has. Their story begins on a hot June day in 1934, when a UW-Madison chemistry student named Harold Tarkow took a walk along Mills Street from campus to an area of farm and woodland south of Lake Wingra.

Thomas Pleger: Understand history of UW System

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Wisconsin State Journal

This spring Gov. Scott Walker and former UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin proposed splitting UW-Madison off from the UW System. The plan was controversial, but it also was lost in the other contentious measures pushed through state government.The governor is currently assembling a task force to examine the structure of the UW System into the future. In all likelihood, the suggestion that UW-Madison and the UW System would be better off separate will resurface.

(Pleger is campus executive officer, dean and associate professor of anthropology and archaeology at UW-Baraboo/Sauk County.)

Eyeworthy: ‘Thinking About War’

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Wisconsin State Journal

You could travel to the Museum of Modern Art in New York to see the work of Warrington Colescott and Frances Myers, or simply go to Grace Chosy Gallery, where an exhibit of their works titled “Thinking About War” runs until Oct. 1.