In a controversy that has drawn national attention, University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly requested the State Legislature�s Joint Audit Committee assess the UW System�s employment policies and practices last week.
With the fall semester starting in a matter of days, the University of Wisconsin announced Tuesday that the investigation into the controversy that has engulfed the school throughout the summer is complete.
Congratulations, Badgers: We guzzled, gulped, groped and gagged our way to an honor never yet realized in the history of our beer-blooded student body. We received Princeton Review’s highest honor as the No. 1 party school in the nation. Like a fly preserved in a jello shot, frozen in time, our alma mater will go down in the history books as the school that always parties and never sleeps. Except during lecture.
Smoking ban needs time, exceptions
Friday classes ridiculous
Students and other fans alike will encounter some new game experiences at Camp Randall Stadium this season.
In addition to the well-documented move of the student voucher exchange to right outside Camp Randall, once students are inside the 88-year-old stadium they will discover changes to the friendly confines of the student sections themselves.
Biological pollution problems in Lake Mendota and Monona can be difficult to avoid with a bustling city nearby, but one potential health hazard to lake-goers, blue-green algae, has not been a significant problem this summer.
In fall 2006 male UW-Madison students will go where no man has gone before – into Elizabeth Waters Hall, not as visitors, but as residents. The all-female dorm, termed The Virgin Vault by students, will go co-ed for the first time since it opened in 1940, according to a UW statement.
On the morning of Aug. 24, 1970, a van loaded with explosives detonated next to Sterling Hall, killing a graduate student inside and ending the most turbulent social and political period the UW-Madison campus has ever seen.
The 35th anniversary of the bombing shed light on the historical significance of what happened at Sterling Hall and raised questions about how the bombing affected the tradition of protest at the university.
A debate has erupted between the UW System Board of Regents and Wisconsin State Legislation about UW employment practices that continue to pay employees in “backup” positions and after being convicted of a felony.
This debate has led to plans for reviews of employment policies by both the Joint Legislative Audit Bureau and the Board of Regents this September. Pending these reviews, backup appointments have been suspended.
Two weeks ago, Andy Lathrop, a UW-Madison sophomore from Menasha, Wis., went missing in Hakodate, Japan. Lathrop was last heard from Aug. 15 before he failed to meet his friend, Ariel Smoke, at the train station where the two were to catch a train to Tokyo so they could fly home to the states.
“Let me say this: they better get season tickets right now because before long, they won’t be able to.”
These were the words of head coach Barry Alvarez the day he took over the Badgers, a squad that had averaged a measly two wins per season in the three years before he took the reins. Now, 15 years and 108 wins later, Alvarez will be entering his final season as head coach, with defensive coordinator Bret Bielema set to take over next fall.
Before signing the state budget July 25, Gov. Jim Doyle used his powers of veto to restore $43 million to the UW System. But a $1 million cut the legislature passed specifically for UW-Madison stood and UW officials stressed that the small increase in funding the system received is not near enough to counter rising costs.
Months after the Madison City Council launched the controversial tobacco ban this summer, some bar owners say their business has been plummeting. The ban outlaws all forms of tobacco in public establishments, including chewing tobacco.
UW-Madison revelers sipped and smoked their way to the top, claiming the title of number No. 1 party school in a survey conducted by The Princeton Review.
In an effort to downsize Madison’s annual, and historically violent, Halloween celebration, UW Housing will not allow any guests to stay in the dorms from Friday, Oct. 28 through Tuesday, Nov. 1.
A legislator has lashed out at University of Wisconsin-Madison officials for not immediately dismissing several professors who have been convicted of crimes and keeping two of them on the payroll while they serve time behind bars.
Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, said Tuesday that once university employees are convicted of a crime, they should be dismissed immediately and given no pay.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison came under fire Tuesday for not immediately dismissing three professors who have been convicted of crimes and for keeping two of them on the payroll while they serve time behind bars.
A package of used hypodermic needles delivered to Assembly Speaker John Gard�s office last week has highlighted a political battle over stem-cell cloning for diabetes research. It�s also caused Gard to question Gov. Jim Doyle�s judgment in sanctioning the political stunt.
On the second floor of Yury Verlinsky’s Reproductive Genetics Institute, located in downtown Chicago across the street from a mattress store, there is a room full of metal kegs where thousands of embryos chill in liquid nitrogen.
Over the past three years, researchers working for Dr. Verlinsky say they have used up hundreds of those embryos to make more than 125 supplies of embryonic stem cells — nearly as many supplies as exist in the rest of the world. As a technician uses an insulated blue glove to scrape steaming frost off a long rack of test tubes, Dr. Verlinsky says proudly that inside, “It’s all stem cells. A lot of stem cells!”
Drinking gallons of orange juice and popping vitamin pills may not make you live longer, say US researchers, contrary to previous reports.
In the past, scientists have suggested that taking antioxidants to combat free radical cell damage might delay ageing.
But a University of Wisconsin-Madison team has found no proof that highly reactive oxygen molecules are involved.
Four years ago, Senator Bill Frist, speaking as a physician and former medical researcher, took the lead in the debate over embryonic stem cell research by urging lawmakers not to limit this “promising and important line of inquiry” with unscientific restrictions. Now, as the issue approaches a climactic moment, Mr. Frist, speaking as the Republican majority leader and someone with presidential ambitions, will lead the debate as a convert to President Bush’s unrealistic hobbling of full-fledged research financing. The results will affect the fate of a worthy and overdue commitment to add funds for greater research, something that has already been approved by the House.
If stem cells ever show promise in treating diseases of the human brain, any potential therapy would need to be tested in animals. But putting human brain stem cells into monkeys or apes could raise awkward ethical dilemmas, like the possibility of generating a humanlike mind in a chimpanzee’s body.
CHICAGO, July 12 – Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich signed an executive order on Tuesday making Illinois the fourth state to devote public money to embryonic stem cell research.
A state program will distribute $10 million in grants in its first year to seek treatments and cures for conditions like Alzheimer’s, spinal cord injuries and heart disease.
WASHINGTON, July 12 – With President Bush vowing to veto a bill to loosen restrictions on federal financing for embryonic stem cell research, leading Congressional Republicans, including Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader, have drafted an alternative that promotes new, unproven methods of obtaining stem cells without destroying embryos.
The Republican Congressional leadership had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, but it has finally pledged to do the right thing and close an appalling loophole that permits lenders to skim billions from college loans, money that should be going directly to students. The loophole, which guarantees lenders a mammoth 9.5 percent return on loans for which the prevailing rate is 3.5 percent, is especially outrageous at a time when college aid is falling far short of the national need.
It might not be a Profile in Courage moment, but letââ?¬â?¢s give Rep. Gregg Underheim an ââ?¬Å?att-a-boyââ?¬Â for having the courage of his convictions.
During the debate in the state assembly on human cloning and stem cell research, Underheim departed from his Republican colleagues to oppose the legislation sponsored by Rep. Steve Kestell, R-Elk Lake. Kestell�s bill, which passed along party lines, would create the strictest ban on human cloning in the nation.
UW WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Minnesota guard commits
Senior-to-be Sarah Ingison says playing defense is “my favorite.”
Jon Masson Wisconsin State Journal
June 23, 2005
When Sarah Ingison orally committed to the University of Wisconsin women’s basketball team, the Badgers landed a 5-foot-8 point guard who plays tenacious defense and likes an up-tempo offensive style.
The next time the University of Wisconsin System hires a top administrator with a fat salary, maybe the job title should be something like this: vice chancellor of gaffe and blunder prevention and contrition.
Patents for discoveries made at UW-Madison brought in more money than at all but four other universities nationwide, a new study shows.
UW NOTES: Kohl Center awaits word on men’s hockey regional bid
Andy Baggot Wisconsin State Journal
June 23, 2005
The University of Wisconsin Athletic Department is always in the market for NCAA tournament assignments, especially when they involve the Kohl Center.
UW officials will learn today if a men’s hockey regional will be added to a resume that already includes an NCAA Final Four for women’s volleyball (1998) and a men’s basketball regional (2002).
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Despite optimism and enthusiasm, stem cell researchers arriving here Thursday for a conference are rowing hard against strong currents of financial, political and technical turmoil.
A newly hired lawyer for embattled UW-Madison administrator Paul Barrows said Wednesday his client has done nothing wrong, despite growing legislative pressure to have him fired for taking a seven-month paid leave triggered in part by a failed relationship with a graduate student.
“There’s no basis to fire him,” said Madison attorney Lester Pines. “A lot of legislators, their only reaction to any problem is one of two things: cut taxes or fire the person. That’s the extent of the intellect of some legislators.”
State budget passage not certain in Senate
Phil Brinkman Wisconsin State Journal
June 22, 2005
With their 60-39 majority, Assembly Republicans were able to do without the four dissenters who joined Democrats to vote against the 2005-07 state budget shortly before sunrise Wednesday.
UW-Madison junior Jake Becker gave what he called a “six degrees of separation” explanation for his presence Wednesday at a mass casting call at Memorial Union for extras in an upcoming movie.
Jack S. Kilby, an electrical engineer whose invention of the integrated circuit gave rise to the information age and heralded an explosion of consumer electronics products in the last 50 years, from personal computers to cellphones, died Monday in Dallas. He was 81.
THERE is a way to get beyond the religious morass created by President Bush’s position on embryonic stem cells.
By PAM BELLUCK
Published: June 12, 2005
BOSTON ââ?¬â? It sounds like a terrific solution to a thorny consequence of infertility treatment: take the extra embryos created during in vitro fertilization treatment for one couple, and donate them to other couples who are having trouble conceiving children but who desperately want them.
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Shortly before Congressman James Langevin cast his vote last month to relax federal rules on funding of stem cell research, the Rhode Island Democrat told his colleagues, “I believe one day I will walk again.” Langevin, who has been paralyzed since a gun accident at age 16, pleaded with his colleagues to vote with him. “Stem cell research gives us hope and a reason to believe. … We have a historic opportunity to make a difference for millions of Americans.”
Until the country renews its commitment to making college affordable for everyone, the American dream of success through education will die.
Tens of thousands of low-income students will not be eligible for grants, and middle-class families will dig deeper into savings.
No matter how long a person has lived in Madison, it is common for UW-Madison students to see the same nameless faces passing by them almost daily. They become a part of a routine, and seeing familiar faces can be comforting to students-but faces don’t explain a person’s life story.
UW-Madison students do not have to travel to the nation’s capitol to get a glimpse of a memorial to see one of America’s greatest leaders.
A statue of Abraham Lincoln has watched over UW-Madison students since 1909.
A $40 million initiative to add a new wing to Grainger Hall can begin this summer, following the demolition of 905 University Ave, a building commonly identified by the “Bucky Badger” clocks on its exterior.
“The Santa Fe Trail,” a UW-Madison traveling classroom summer course, embarked June 2 for a two-week exploration of racial issues and history found within the U.S. West.
The course aims to broaden student perceptions of the West by visiting a range of famous and not so famous western locations on their bus tour.
On May 6, UW-Madison and the Elvehjem Art Museum accepted $20 million from UW-Madison alumni Jerome and Simona Chazen to fund an expansion of the museum, according to a museum statement.
In a May 7 cycling race, Matthew Wittig-a dearly-loved member of the UW-Madison cycling teams-crashed and sustained the injuries that would lead to his death on May 12.
Almost 600 incoming UW-Madison freshmen found themselves on the University Housing waiting list in late May, seeking spaces in the dorms that many will never receive.
Randy and Julie McClure had three children who were long out of diapers and no plans for more when they heard about a program called Snowflakes, which arranges for women to become pregnant with embryos left over at fertility clinics.
In an unprecedented move, officials at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) asked the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) to pull a bioterrorism-related paper that the journal planned to publish online on 30 May. The journal took the paper off its publication schedule on 27 May and has been reviewing it internally.
American scientists looked on in envy last month when Korean researchers announced a breakthrough in embryonic stem cell research. The news fanned fears the US is losing ground in the field and heightened the sense of urgency in Congress to pass legislation to ease federal restrictions on stem cell funding.
WASHINGTON, May 26 – As the Senate moves to complete the spending bill for the Higher Education Act next month, a growing number of organizations concerned about privacy rights are fighting a Department of Education plan that would require colleges and universities to place personal information on individual students into a national database maintained by the government.
Photographs in Wednesday’s papers of President Bush with cuddly little babies, all of whom were produced from surplus fertilized eggs at fertility clinics, represent a White House attempt to deal with the biggest flaw in logic regarding its stem cell policy ââ?¬â? and its moral weak point. This is the fact that fertility clinics routinely create many test-tube embryos for every human baby that is wanted or is produced.
President Bush seems determined to thwart any loosening of the restrictions he has imposed on federal financing of embryonic stem cell research, despite rising sentiment in Congress and the nation at large for greater federal support of this fast-emerging field. His actions are based on strong religious beliefs on the part of some conservative Christians, and presumably the president himself. Such convictions deserve respect, but it is wrong to impose them on this pluralistic nation.
WASHINGTON, May 25 – Senator Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican and chief sponsor of a bill to expand federal financing for human embryonic stem cell research, issued a stark challenge to President Bush on Wednesday, saying he had enough votes in the Senate to override a presidential veto of the measure.
A survey of more than 100 medical schools has found that they vary widely in their standards for testing new medicines for drug companies, with some saying they would accept far more control from the companies than others would.
MADISON, Wis. — The scientist who first isolated human embryonic stem cells now hopes to profit from the discovery.
Even as the debate unfolds in Washington over federal funding for stem-cell research, Jamie Thomson and two colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have formed Cellular Dynamics International, a company that will test new drugs on heart cells they plan to develop from the undifferentiated master cells.
As debates over embryonic stem cell research flare anew worldwide, a private foundation says it will give $50 million for such work to three Upper East Side medical institutions, a gift they say will position New York City as a player in an increasingly competitive field.
Up and down the East Coast, stem cell researchers are feeling the tug of a powerful, invisible force. It is a wave of recruiting calls from institutions in California seeking to expand their research programs with help from Proposition 71, the state’s $3 billion stem cell initiative.
With speed and efficiency that will make waves in laboratories and legislatures around the world, scientists have created nearly a dozen new lines of human embryonic stem (ES) cells, ones that for the first time carry the genetic signature of diseased or injured patients. Last year, a group led by veterinarian Woo Suk Hwang and gynecologist Shin Yong Moon of Seoul National University reported the first–and until now the only–derivation of ES cells from human nuclear transfer experiments (Science, 12 March 2004, p. 1669). Those efforts yielded just one cell line from more than 200 tries, but the researchers report online in Science this week that they can consistently derive a cell line in fewer than 20 tries.
WASHINGTON, May 18 – With a vote on embryonic stem cell research expected as early as next week, the House majority leader vowed on Wednesday to defeat a measure that would expand federal financing of the science.
“Once people understand the issue,” said the majority leader, Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, “more than 70 percent are against embryonic stem cell research.”
