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Author: jnweaver

Kamala Harris draws more voters 18-34 than Joe Biden, survey shows

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Cap Times

Logan Janssen, 19, is a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying political science and economics. As a Wisconsin delegate for the Democratic National Convention, Janssen had pledged his support for Biden as a candidate. But he said it was a “hard sell” to some of his peers.

“You know, a very old guy who’s a little out of touch from what a lot of students are feeling on the ground,” Janssen said. “I think having that change in energy with Vice President Harris. … I can see on campus, certainly, that there’s been a lot more engagement with Democrat Party politics.”

UW-Madison sees ‘disappointing’ enrollment drop for students of color

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Cap Times

UW-Madison released fall enrollment numbers this week, based on a student census conducted on the tenth day of classes.

The percentage of underrepresented students of color enrolled in the first-year class decreased from 18% last year to 14.3% this fall. These figures include students who identify as Black, Hispanic, South Asian, Native American or other underrepresented races and ethnicities. The percentages don’t include demographics of international students.

Admissions rates also dropped. Roughly 42% of underrepresented students of color who applied were accepted by the university this fall, compared to nearly 80% in 2023, when looking at first-year students.

Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin called the declines “disappointing.”

2 years after fall of Roe, Democrats campaign on abortion rights, ‘freedom’

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Wisconsin Public Radio

During an interview with WPR, UW-Madison Professor of Sociology Emerita Myra Marx Ferree said when Roe fell, “it was like this bucket of cold water poured on the public consciousness” and Americans began seeing the abortion issue as far deeper than simply having a choice.

“It’s fundamental, it’s freedom, it’s rights. It’s respect for you as a human being. It’s justice,” said Marx Ferree. “Freedom is not about buying coats or shoes or taking a vacation or not taking a vacation. Freedom is about determining the course of your life.”

Former Badgers football player, now an agent, at center of UNLV controversy over NIL payment

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Sluka’s agent, former University of Wisconsin football player Marcus Cromartie, told ESPN that UNLV didn’t come through on the verbal offer made by offensive coordinator Brennan Marion. Sluka’s father, Bob, also told ESPN that head coach Barry Odom later said in a conversation with Cromartie that the offer wasn’t valid because it didn’t come from Odom himself.

Trump expected to hammer border security during stop in Prairie du Chien

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Wisconsin Public Radio

During a recent interview with WPR, University of Wisconsin-Madison Sociology Professor Michael Light said anecdotes used by politicians don’t always reflect the broader trends related to crime and immigration.

“Yes, immigrants have committed crimes. And immigrants commit less crimes than native born U.S. citizens,” Light told “Wisconsin Today” in July. “Both (of) those can be true.”

Elections can be polarizing. How are Wisconsin teachers bringing them into the classroom?

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Wisconsin students aren’t required at the state level to take a government class. Some districts may have their own requirements, or government classes may be offered as an elective, but that lack of a state requirement can prevent students from learning about government itself, much less discussing and understanding current political events, said Jeremy Stoddard, a professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a researcher in the Wisconsin Center for Education Research.

Young voters play ‘potentially decisive’ role in 2024 election

Posted on
Washington Post

At the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Thomas Pile, chairman of the campus chapter of the College Republicans, said he is encouraged by how open-minded his classmates with different political attitudes have been in discussing the candidates’ positions.

Pile, a senior studying political science, isn’t fully sold on Trump. Pile said he is supporting Republicans in down-ballot races with more conservative values.

What’s Your Reaction to Instagram’s Changes to Improve the Safety and the Health of Teen Users?

Posted on
New York Times

Dr. Megan Moreno, a pediatrics professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine who studies adolescents and problematic social media use, said Instagram’s new youth default settings were “significant.”

“They set a higher bar for privacy and confidentiality — and they take some of the burden off the shoulders of teens and their parents,” she said.

Democrats take aim at Jill Stein as they seek to avoid Clinton’s mistakes

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Washington Examiner

“Because both major parties are expecting tight results in the battleground states that will decide the presidency, there has been more than the usual amount of interest [in] how minor party and independent candidates might affect the results,” University of Wisconsin-Madison Elections Research Center Director Barry Burden told the Washington Examiner. “Republicans have been assisting Kennedy in his efforts to get off the ballot assuming that his departure provides more votes for Trump. Republican allies have also been assisting progressive Cornel West with ballot access under the assumption that he would take votes from Harris.”

These women spoke out about Diddy years ago. Why didn’t we listen?

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USA Today

Some of the women alleging Combs abused them are Black women, which may play a part in the doubt they faced. According to Chloe Grace Hart, an assistant professor of sociology at University of Wisconsin-Madison, this dates back to the 19th century, where the minimization of of Black women’s experiences of sexual violence in the United States was “actually written into law.”

Overcoming distrust of West, one tribe in Wisconsin is partnering with UW for health care

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

These historic injustices continue to fuel distrust among Indigenous peoples toward Western institutions.

As a result, University of Wisconsin health officials were pleased when the leadership of one tribal community in northern Wisconsin recently agreed to meet about the possibility of signing up tribal members for clinical health trials. The entire tribal council for the Sokaogon Mole Lake Ojibwe Nation visited with health professionals at UW-Madison Sept. 11 and 12 to help build a cooperative relationship between the tribe and the UW Health system.

New York Post campaign reporter was a paid consultant for the Wisconsin GOP

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Kathleen Culver, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said it is rare for political operatives or issue advocates to become news reporters.

“As a news consumer myself, I’m questioning whether the New York Post’s reporting is fairly covering races in our critical swing state,” Culver said. “That’s not a question for this staffer alone but for the overall content and tenor of the material the Post is putting out.”

How a Florida lawyer with a checkered past became the go-to attorney for Wisconsin prisoners

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The types of allegations Story has laid out can lead to expensive and difficult-to-win lawsuits, according to Steven Wright, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and former attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.

“These are very hard cases to bring, both in terms of they’re expensive to develop the facts. The law is against your side,” said Wright. “It’s unequivocal that horrible things are happening at Waupun … But I am not certain, as somebody who’s a civil rights lawyer and who has worked for federal judges, that this is a problem that the federal courts are going to weigh in to solve.”

As protesters return to UW-Madison and UWM, new policies spark free speech concerns

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The first two weeks of the fall semester looked nothing like the last two weeks of the spring semester at Wisconsin’s largest universities.

The tents have not returned. The news cameras have largely vanished. The police no longer seem perpetually parked near the pro-Palestinian encampments that were fixtures of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and UW-Milwaukee campuses in May.

Survey: Demand for child care outpaces providers’ capacity

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Hilary Shager, author of the report and associate director of the University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty, said not having enough staff was a primary reason for not expanding capacity, mostly among group providers. She said providers pointed to low compensation as one of their top issues.

Voter frustration fueled by lack of policy details on issues like health care, climate

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The town hall meeting featured a panel discussion with two faculty members from the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison who focus on climate change and health care policy, Morgan Edwards and Yang Wang, and Laura Olson, chief business development officer at Eneration, a subsidiary of Gundersen Health System that helps health care companies reduce their energy costs.

These two Wisconsin cities are among the 100 best in the U.S., study finds

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

However, the ranking doesn’t tell the whole story: despite Madison’s relatively affordability compared to other U.S. cities, home prices and rents have skyrocketed in Madison in recent years and surpassed the area’s median income. University of Wisconsin-Madison students also face some of the highest off-campus rent prices in the Big Ten Conference.

Joe Gow isn’t alone. As industry booms, adult content creators fear being outed and fired

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Less than 10% of Silverstein’s clients are exposed, he said, but forcing them to face the worst-case scenario helps them understand the stakes. He then walks them through real-life examples of outed adult content creators, including a name now familiar to many in Wisconsin: former University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow.

Turning 40, the Haggerty Museum of Art is a Milwaukee venue deserving wider recognition

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Its permanent collection includes about 10,000 works of art, said John McKinnon, who came on board as director in July from a similar leadership post at Elmhurst Art Museum in Illinois. McKinnon earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked as assistant curator of modern and contemporary art at the Milwaukee Art Museum from 2007 to 2010.

A UW-Madison student’s racist video stirred outrage. Now, new ideas have been offered to improve campus climate

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A racist social media video featuring a University of Wisconsin-Madison student consumed the campus in spring 2023. A Black student advocacy organization formed. Protests staged. A petition signed, to the tune of 67,000 signatures. And an ad-hoc group formed to study the Black experience on campus.

Wisconsin Master Naturalists, Ho-Chunk Nation to host ‘Caring for Grandmother Earth’ volunteer summit

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Wisconsin Public Radio

For more than a decade, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Division of Extension has been offering the opportunity for people to become Master Naturalists by attending expert-led training sessions and volunteering their time to conservation efforts. Altogether, Master Naturalists volunteer over 25,000 hours of service each year to over 700 organizations across the state.