Category: Campus life

The University of Wisconsin-Madison celebrates Founders Day Monday, marking its 163rd anniversary.

Some people say true love doesn?t exist. In my life that has proven to be the case.

SOMERS ? The recent threats against students at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside may have been  ruled  a  hoax by authorities, but the fear they sparked and underlying racial tension that surfaced are real, several students said Saturday.

A Baraboo High School graduate is featured in a video that has swept the Internet and encourages bullied gay teens to look toward better days.

More and more students are going to Francie Biesanz for mental health help. The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse counselor holds about five 45-minute sessions a day with students. Anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder ? Biesanz sees them all.

A decade ago, Thomas Murphy was a college dropout who used alcohol and drugs to deal with undiagnosed depression. Now he?s back at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he co-leads a chapter of Active Minds, a national, student-run group promoting open conversations about mental illness.

In collaboration with a reporting class taught by UW-Madison Professor Deborah Blum, the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism examined mental health services at the University of Wisconsin System?s 13 four-year campuses. The project included extensive public records requests, interviews with students and officials, and data analyses.

Students at UW-Parkside have reported three hate crimes this week, according to The Journal Times. Among them are a student who found a noose in a residence hall and threatening fliers. On Thursday night, UW-Parkside Chancellor Deborah Ford delivered a message to a packed audience that “we will not tolerate hate,” according to a UW-Parkside news release.

Madison police are looking at the possibility that a man who attacked a UW-Madison student in December could be the same suspect in two assaults reported in July. Police spokesman Joel DeSpain told madison.com the sketches made of the suspect in the July attacks and the suspect in the December attack are similar.

KENOSHA, Wis. — Students at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside said there have been new death threats made on campus Thursday night. The threats came hours after university officials said a student found a noose hanging in a dormitory. Emotional students gathered inside the University of Wisconsin-Parkside student center.

Due largely to feedback from students, the University of Wisconsin is changing the way it administers placement tests in order to give students more time to focus on the advising process and registering for classes.

The University of Wisconsin recently announced plans to renovate housing for graduate students, all of whom will have to move out before the project begins in 2014.

Following heated debate, members of a branch of the University of Wisconsin student government voted in favor of a fine of $2,205.87 for the Multicultural Student Coalition following the organization?s third incident of a wage violation.

Officials at University of Wisconsin-Parkside are promising quick action against anyone responsible for recent hate crimes on campus.

After receiving complaints of long days and a “rushed” orientation, UW-Madison is changing the way incoming freshman take placement tests, the university announced Thursday. Rather than taking the tests during Student Orientation, Advising and Registration, new Badgers must now complete their placement exams before attending SOAR.

“This allows students to test at their pace, and when they’re ready,” said Coordinator of Orientation Advising and Operations Chris Verhaeghe.

The Student Services Finance Committee passed its internal budget at over $170,00 and fined the Multicultural Student Coalition for its third policy violation Thursday. While committee members debated de-funding its accountability liaison position, the position ultimately remained funded at $12,000.

The buses in Madison were filled with more people than ever in 2011, as riders on fixed routes for Metro Transit totaled nearly 15 million, up more than 10 percent over 2010….Leading the way in ridership increases was the UW-Madison campus route including Park Street (Route 85), which jumped 33.7 percent to 330,390 riders, and the Verona-West Transfer Point commuter route (Route 55), which increased by nearly 20,000 riders to 263,452. Student ride totals rose from 2.52 million to 2.75 million, a tribute to the use of student bus pass program. Every UW-Madison student gets a “free” bus pass, but Metro gets $1.15 from the university every time that card is used.

Madison police have released a sketch of a man who allegedly attacked a UW-Madison student in December. The assault happened at about 4 a.m. on Dec. 21 on North Carroll Street, with the 19-year-old female student getting punched two or three times in the face before the attacker was distracted by an approaching car and the victim was able to run away.

Three racial incidents in two days at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside have African-American students? fearing for their security.

UW-Madison plans to renovate 144 university-owned apartments first built in the 1940s, meaning the residents will need to move out by June 30, 2014, according to a letter the university sent to residents last week. The apartments, called University Houses, are located northwest of campus and make up one of three “neighborhoods” of apartments owned by UW-Madison. The other two neighborhoods are Eagle Heights, adjacent to University Houses, and Harvey Street Apartments, about a half mile southwest of campus near University Avenue.

Madison?s Housing Committee voted Wednesday to reject an ordinance aimed at curbing nuisance parties.

A group of University of Wisconsin law students is preparing to travel across the United States as part of a nationwide effort to provide legal assistance to non-profit groups.

Textbooks continue to account for a large chunk of college expenses ? an average of $1,168 per student annually at four-year public colleges, according to CollegeBoard. Some U.S. universities are searching for ways to keep more money in students? wallets by making affordable digital textbooks readily available.

A Bonduel High School graduate?s anti-bullying music video became an Internet hit last month after only a few days on YouTube.

A small audience said they were satisfied with a UW committee?s newly proposed unified university disaster management plan to respond to a variety of potential hazards at an open meeting Tuesday.

A University of Wisconsin group working to develop a campus-wide plan to react to possible disasters held an open house on Tuesday aimed at gathering students? ideas and feedback on the plan.

A small explosion in a Chemistry Building laboratory Monday morning injured one UW Staff member when a distillation apparatus shattered, sending out shrapnel and starting a fire.

A postdoctoral student sustained minor lacerations to the fingers and neck after an explosion and a small fire in the University of Wisconsin Chemistry Building Monday morning.

A student government committee examined several potential measures Monday night to protect student tenants following recent updates to the proposed Madison Nuisance Party Ordinance.

Carthage College and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside have taken steps to make sure the state?s new voter ID law does not get in the way of students casting their ballots.

Could you live without daily electronic conveniences — Twitter, Facebook, email, texting and more — for 90 days? Jake P. Reilly, a 24-year-old college student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, did just that.

Officials at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse say students were evacuated from a residence hall after an early morning fire in a basement recreation room. No one was injured in Sunday?s fire at Drake Hall. The school says on its website that smoke alarms went off at 4:23 a.m. and the students were evacuated.

A UW-Madison student and filmmaker wants bullied teens to know that life gets better after high school. UW-Madison senior Colton Boettcher unveiled a music video on Thursday, Jan. 26, that promotes the message of the “It Gets Better” Project, an Internet-based support group for LGBT teens that arose after a series of gay teen suicides in 2010.