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Author: knutson4

Physical media is making a comeback and UW-Madison is joining

The Daily Cardinal

Having millions of songs at our disposal through mobile devices propelled the initial decline in vinyl records and then CDs. However, UW-Madison students are part of a larger resurgence in physical media use among younger audiences. As early as 2007, global vinyl record sales started increasing every year. In the U.S., more than 43 million vinyl records were sold in 2024.

New student loan rules could affect more than 700K Wisconsin borrowers

Wisconsin Public Radio

For the last five years, the federal government has not penalized borrowers for not making student loan payments. But the U.S. Education Department announced Monday it would begin collections May 5 on student loans that are in default.

In Wisconsin, this could affect the 725,000 borrowers who have outstanding payments totaling $23.6 billion in federal student loan payments.

What Trump’s Department of Education plans mean for Madison schools

The Cap Times

Taylor Odle, who studies education policy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said a lot of uncertainty remains on how closing or gutting the U.S. Department of Education would specifically affect students and schools. But the effects would be widespread.

“I think it would be very hard to say that there’s going to be some area of Wisconsin that isn’t impacted by these changes,” said Odle, who clarified he wasn’t speaking on behalf of UW-Madison. Wisconsin and other states are “not well-equipped to take over (the agency’s) functions,” he added.  

UW-Madison chancellor, Beloit College president sign letter opposing Trump’s interference in higher education

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Two college leaders in Wisconsin signed a letter criticizing the Trump administration’s efforts to control universities and punish those that do not bend to his will.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and Beloit College Eric Boynton were among 200 college leaders nationally who signed the April 22 letter condemning government overreach.

A long-lost ice sheet could predict the future of New York City — one in which Lower Manhattan and Coney Island are ‘perpetually submerged’

Live Science

Andrea Dutton, a University of Wisconsin-Madison geologist, recalled researchers cataloging fossil corals in Papua New Guinea, only to find their study site uplifted by a sudden earthquake, which jumbled the geological record of historic sea levels. Aside from shifting coastlines, gravitational forces can distribute water unequally across the planet.

“That’s why it’s so important to look at many sites,” Dutton said. “They all have different stories, yet clearly one thing must have happened in terms of global sea level.”

‘It’s nice to see democracy in action,’ says Wisconsin media expert of recent protests against Trump administration

Wisconsin Public Radio

“It’s nice to see democracy in action,” said Douglas McLeod, a professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “I’m always inspired by peaceful demonstrations that show citizen engagement.”

McLeod’s research shows that how news outlets cover protests has a big impact on how the public views the demonstrations and whether they are ultimately effective. He says traditional media coverage tends to focus on what happened at the protest rather than the issues protestors are raising — something he calls the “protest paradigm.”

Wisconsin professor joins team of art experts to authenticate a possible long-lost Van Gogh

Wisconsin Public Radio

Susan Brantly is a professor in the German, Nordic and Slavic department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A few years ago, she got a call from art research firm LMI Group asking her to lend her expertise in reading and analyzing 19th-century Scandinavian literature to help authenticate an artwork.

“I didn’t know initially what the call was about — that there was some painter or another,” Brantly told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “And then came the reveal [that it was Van Gogh], and I just was grinning from ear to ear. I couldn’t have been happier. I thought, ‘Oh, this is too cool for words.’”

Federal funding cuts threaten life-saving severe weather forecasting at UW-Madison

Channel 3000

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is known for its innovations in forecasting technology, but its work could be in jeopardy if the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration loses funding.

“Weather is woven into the fabric of everyone’s life,” atmospheric and oceanic sciences professor Michael Morgan said.

Poison control calls are rising as more people use psilocybin, study finds

CNN

About 1 in 20 people report ongoing difficulties after their psychedelic experience, Dr. Charles Raison, a professor of psychiatry and human ecology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, told CNN in a prior interview. He was not involved in the new research.

“A year later, they say, ‘I had an experience that was so distressing to me that it messed up my ability to function, or alienated me from my family, or gave me post-traumatic stress disorder,’” Raison said.

DEI uncertainty at UW weighs on student mental health, sense of belonging, ASM leaders say

The Badger Herald

As diversity, equity and inclusion programs face increasing scrutiny and cuts across campuses nationwide, students at the University of Wisconsin are confronting a growing sense of uncertainty — not just about resources or representation, but about their mental health and sense of belonging in a predominantly white institution.

Visa terminations are ‘deeply troubling,’ seem ‘arbitrary and unjust,’ Mnookin says in newspaper column

The Daily Cardinal

In a column published in the Wisconsin State Journal, Mnookin addressed the recent visa terminations of UW-Madison students and alumni. As of Tuesday, the university is aware of the termination of 27 total records, which includes 15 current students and 12 alumni.

What it takes to be Bucky

The Cap Times

Donning a white bucket hat with a red “W” emblem, Caleb Hunnicutt stepped on the volleyball court at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Field House to demonstrate the skills others would need to perform as Bucky Badger, the university’s beloved mascot.

Protesting everywhere but in person: The changing face of activism at UW-Madison

The Daily Cardinal

Dr. Kathy Cramer, a political science professor at UW-Madison, told the Cardinal institutions like UW-Madison have become more strict with pushing back on student activism in recent years.

“I think it’s part of a broader public trend where there’s just so much less trust in political institutions and institutions across the board,” Cramer said. “I think students feel that, too.”

Trump administration’s science cuts come for NSF funding

Scientific American

Anthony Gitter, a computational biologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, had a grant about using deep learning for protein modelling flagged by the Cruz report. It contained a single sentence about offering summer research opportunities to underrepresented minorities as part of the broader impact statement. The Cruz report “plays into the narrative that universities are these elitist places that harbour out-of-touch academics that are no longer doing science,” he says. “But it’s out of touch with the data.”

Academic unions rally against Trump, demand action from UW-Madison leaders

WORT FM

More than 250 people gathered on campus to rally against the Trump administration and demand action from UW-Madison higher-ups. The local unions representing university faculty, academic staff, and graduate students organized the demonstration, joining countless others today across the country as part of the National Day of Action for Higher Ed.

Higher education leaders ask lawmakers for state funding as federal cuts loom

Wisconsin Examiner

Federal funding cuts and national culture war politics cast a long shadow over a state legislative committee hearing Thursday as Wisconsin’s higher education leaders asked lawmakers for additional investments in the next state budget — warning that disinvestment by the state could damage  public universities’, private nonprofit schools’ and technical colleges’ ability to serve students and the state.

Faculty call on UW-Madison to help fight Trump’s attacks, support international students

The Daily Cardinal

Over 100 faculty members, teaching assistants and activists rallied Thursday on Library Mall to oppose the Trump administration’s attacks on higher education, demanding the University of Wisconsin-Madison provide support for international students facing visa terminations and join other Big Ten universities to pool money for a shared defense fund.

‘This is not a drill’: UW-Madison scholars warn of long-term, unprecedented threats to higher education

The Daily Cardinal

A panel of University of Wisconsin-Madison professors and academic experts discussed the significant challenges facing higher education Wednesday in the wake of the Trump administration’s sweeping budget cuts, emphasizing the critical role of federal funding in public health and scientific advancements.

What to know about a University of Wisconsin student’s legal fight over visa termination

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

There have been at least 58 visa terminations at Wisconsin colleges and universities as of April 17. The terminations include current students as well as alumni who were legally working on their student visas after graduation through a program called Optional Practical Training.

Officials at UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee said they did not believe the terminations at their schools were related to free speech or protests. Some other students nationally have been targeted for their participation in pro-Palestinian protests last year.

With federal funding on the line, school leaders weigh Trump DEI order

NPR

“I have never seen anything like it during my 40 years of work in this field,” says Julie Underwood, former School of Education dean at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an expert in civil rights and education law.

Underwood says that, normally, if a district or state were in violation of civil rights laws, they would have a chance to prove their case.

“They would have due process. You’d have to go through the procedures that are set out in the statute and regulations in order to cut those federal funds,” she explains.

Madison Water Utility earns high marks in first-ever Wisconsin water report cards

The Daily Cardinal

The report cards, compiled by Manuel Teodoro, a professor at UW-Madison’s La Follete School of Public Affairs, evaluated 572 water utilities using data from 2022 and 2023 provided by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Teodoro’s research team.