Syracuse Chancellor Nancy Cantor says the school won?t turn a blind eye to child molesting allegations against longtime assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine. The school placed Fine on administrative leave Thursday night “in light of the new allegations” and an investigation by the Syracuse City Police. ESPN said the accusations were made by two former ball boys.
The UW-Madison College of Engineering will provide a two-to-one match of any gift made by a student or recent graduate. The college?s Industrial Advisory Board gave more than $30,000 to support the gift-matching program. The board is made up of 16 prominent engineering alumni.
The UW-Madison College of Engineering announced an initiative to promote the importance of giving back to the college: The college will match and double any donation made by its students or recent graduates.
The student government finance committee unanimously approved a budget of over $150,000 for Movimento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA) Thursday. According to the group?s website, MEChA is a student group that works to educate campus and the community about Chican@ culture and struggles.
In the midst of increased political activity around the state, UW-Madison posted guidelines Wednesday reminding faculty, students and staff of appropriate political activity on campus. The rules discourage students, faculty and staff from engaging in political activity in university buildings and housing. They also prohibit employees from using university resources for political advocacy or participating in political actions when they should be working.
Though University of Wisconsin Housing has a system in place for reporting discriminatory and hateful incidents, one campus leader in the LGBT community says many incidents in the campus community still go unreported.
Hateful homophobic graffiti left on Sellery Hall residents? door this week has spurred an investigation from the University of Wisconsin Police Department, University Housing and the Division of Student Life.
Starting the first of the year, Dane County?s detox center will cease to be the “drunk tank” it?s often lampooned as and use its funding to become a pathway to treatment and recovery, Dane County Human Services officials said. In a statement, UW Hospitals and Clinics said the “proposed changes ? will undoubtedly result in increased numbers of intoxicated patients in the region’s only Level One Trauma Center.”
?Stop the problem before it starts.? This timeless adage has been offered as a solution to dilemmas both big and small, each time serving as valuable and effective words to live by. In the case of certain problems facing the UW-Madison campus, the situation is no different. Sexual assault, dating violence and stalking are already issues plaguing this community, but ones that need to be addressed before the number of victims gets even higher.
International education is more than learning a second language or becoming well-versed in world geography. In today?s new economy, it is all about preparing our young people to live, work, lead and compete in an interconnected, interdependent world. In a word, it is about employability. It also is about making sure that home-grown employers ? private, public and nonprofit alike ? can locally recruit the talent they need to fuel their growth in today?s increasingly global marketplace.
A former UW-Madison student who faced more than $400,000 in fines for operating an illegal liquor delivery business got his penalty reduced to about $3,000. The city of Madison filed a 575-count complaint against Danny Haber in May 2010 for operating Campusdrank.com, a website that sold and delivered alcohol to customers, mainly to UW-Madison students. The complaint charged Haber and fellow student Matthew Siegel for selling alcohol without a license and to underage customers.
MERRILL — Chase Boruch thought he could fool investigators and get them to believe that his mother died in a tragic accident so he could claim her insurance benefits.
A legislative committee asked state election officials to turn their motions on electoral issues into formalized rules to be approved by the governor Tuesday, a move critics say takes away the group?s independence from the Legislature.
MADISON ? Republican lawmakers ordered state election officials Tuesday to make their policy allowing technical college students to use their school IDs at the polls into a formal rule.
Two downtown roommates were busy doing their homework and watching football Monday night when they heard their garbage can getting kicked over.
….College students at University of Wisconsin schools, who have long benefited from a world-class education, keenly feel the effects of a state administration which refuses to put education among its priorities. The Walker administration has cut over $300 million from the system – and at least $125 million will come out of UW-Madison. UW System spokesman David Giroux responded with the reality of the situation: “We do not know how we can take these cuts without negatively affecting the education of our students and the expectations of their families for a quality experience.” Students will be forced to bear the brunt of these costs in higher tuition bills, less financial aid, more student debt, and fewer course offerings with larger class sizes.
As of Monday, the results of a student government survey indicate a majority of students want the Mifflin Street Block Party to continue. The Associated Students of Madison Legislative Affairs Committee said they plan to present the results to city officials in discussions about the future of the block party.
….In English, “Wisconsin Idea” is said to be the tradition of a university system offering its services and expertise to government, making it more transparent and responsive to the needs of citizens. I?m sure there?s a Chinese way to say the definition, too. It?s just that given China?s autocratic regime and shoddy human rights record, it probably wouldn?t be of much practical use.
Quoted: Laurie Dennis, associate director of the UW-Madison Wisconsin China Initiative. Edward Friedman, a UW-Madison political science professor who has been active in advocating for human rights in China, agreed that engagement hasn’t produced democracy there.
….College seniors in Wisconsin who graduated with student loans last year owed an average of $24,627, according to an analysis by The Project on Student Debt, a nonprofit that gets money from the Ford Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates, and others. Something has to change because the cost of a college education is growing so much faster than incomes and inflation.
The Chinese Champions program hasn?t gotten a lot of attention here, but it has been crucial to bringing the UW-Madison brand to China. Last year, the first of three groups of Olympic-caliber athletes came to UW-Madison through a partnership with Beijing Sport University and the China Scholarship Council to study English and kinesiology.The second group ? including gold medal winners in skiing, table tennis, swimming and more ? is here right now. A third group will come next year.
They?re here, they?re hungry and they need haircuts. The explosive growth in the number of Chinese students at UW-Madison has created boom times for Chinese-owned businesses near campus.
Eighteen-year-old Xinyi Wang?s bus rolled up to Memorial Union on an August night. After a 14-hour plane ride from her home in Eastern China, then a 3-hour bus trip from Chicago, she stepped onto the UW-Madison campus for the first time. She plans to spend at least the next four years here. ?It is my dream, when I was young, to study in the U.S.,? said Wang, a UW-Madison freshman.
UW-Madison faculty discussed ways to improve programs for first-year and transfer students at the annual First-Year Conference Friday. Dr. Jennifer Keup, director of the National Resource Center for First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, said universities nationwide should integrate learning communities, diversity training and undergraduate research into their curriculum. She said these are among guidelines that can help first-year students succeed.
Wisconsin Democrats will begin circulating recall petitions for Gov. Scott Walker across the state and on the UW-Madison campus starting Nov. 15. The Democratic Party of Wisconsin and United Wisconsin, a political action committee organized around recalling Walker, will have until Jan. 13, 60 days, to collect the 540,208 signatures necessary to prompt a recall election. College Democrats Chair Jordan Weibel said the student group plans to raise awareness about the Walker recall effort on campus.
We have a budding superstar in our midst, and among other things, that means if you have a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal in the cupboard, you might want to check to see if it?s still there. Cinnamon Toast Crunch is the favorite food of Eric “Silo” Dahl. At least that?s what he told me. He once told another reporter it was pancakes. Dahl is the No. 1-ranked collegiate competitive eater in the country. He’s a new student at UW-Madison ? studying computer engineering ? which is fitting because Madison is where Dahl first discovered his genius, if that is the word, for gluttony.
It?s been a good year for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Cinematheque, and also for its first director of programming, Jim Healy.
They are plentiful, they pay full tuition and American colleges and universities are eager to enroll them — despite questions about their credentials.
The Student Services Finance Committee discussed employing a controversial fund that would allow student groups to hire non-university-employed staff members Thursday. SSFC Chair Sarah Neibart said the committee could amend the Campus Services Fund to allow the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group (WISPIRG) and other student groups to contract non-university employed staff members.
Members of UW-Madison?s Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji) fraternity began the first leg of a 268-mile philanthropic run from Camp Randall to the University of Minnesota?s TCF Bank Stadium Thursday. About 35 participants in the third annual Fiji Rivalry Run, which raises money for the American Red Cross, will take mile-long shifts toward the stadium with the game ball in hand.
As an air traffic controller in Chicago for nearly 24 years, Will Crump made a lot of money. He was never exposed to the hopelessness of alcoholics, addicts and the homeless. “They were not part of my world,” said Crump, 59. But in 2009, Crump, a divorced father of four, moved to Madison to overcome his own addictions to alcohol and drugs and, eventually, homelessness. “It was my first exposure to a segment of society I never knew existed,” he said. “It was a stark and rude awakening.” A Wisconsin native, Crump said he started drinking as a freshman at UW-Madison.
Stephanie Schuebel is way ahead of her time. You might not think so at first glance, especially if you carry the prejudices of the high-debt, big-name-college generation.
Using excerpts from their academic work and personal experience, a panel of professors, a graduate student and a Madison photographer examined various issues presented to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community by globalization.
UW-Madison opted against using stickers on identification cards, which means students will likely receive updated forms of identification to accommodate stipulations in the law that require voters to show valid forms of IDs at polling places.
Look at any university ranking table, and the overwhelming majority of top universities are American. The Shanghai Rankings list 35 American universities among the top 50 universities with the world. The UK is next, with three among the top 50.
STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania (CNN) — The child sex abuse scandal at Penn State bringing down legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno and his vaunted reputation smoldered on Thursday. Angry hometown students rioted in support of Paterno overnight, a state legislator issued a call for tougher state law on reporting abuse and a wave of soul-searching permeated the nation?s airwaves and sports pages.”In less than once week, the Penn State we knew unraveled,” reported the Daily Collegian, the school?s newspaper.
The Madison Symphony Orchestra, housed in the Overture Center for the Arts, is considered one of the best regional orchestras in the country, and lucky for UW students, it is welcoming Badgers with open arms.
The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board took a second look Wednesday at some of the rules for voter ID, voting to reverse one decision and not to reverse another.
It took a couple of years to complete the deal but a new $5 million, mid-rise apartment is going up behind the historic Acacia fraternity house on the UW campus. A groundbreaking ceremony is Thursday at 229 W. Lakelawn Place, just off Langdon Street at 4 p.m. The five level building has 14-units and 59 bedrooms of student housing, along with 20 moped and 61 bicycle parking spots. No vehicle parking is provided.
Last week?s Associated Students of Madison decision to reinstate two former representatives was determined null and void Wednesday, meaning ASM Vice Chair Beth Huang and Nominations Board Chair Niko Magallon are back off student council.
UW-Madison opted against using stickers on identification cards, which means students will likely receive updated forms of identification to accommodate stipulations in the law that require voters to show valid forms of IDs at polling places. After months of going back and forth on whether to allow stickers on student IDs, the Government Accountability Board concluded Wednesday that stickers would be allowed. As a result on the decision, individual schools can decide what to do.
– State elections officials won?t reconsider a policy allowing colleges to place stickers on student identification cards to meet voter ID requirements.
State election officials have reversed themselves and will allow technical college students to use their school IDs to vote.
For the past six months, the Associated Students of Madison?s 18th session has received a constant barrage of criticism from all sides pertaining to the organization?s general internal ineffectiveness. Any member of ASM knows and understands that the concerns for the organization put out by the media and general campus avenues are valid, at least to some extent. General student body members who are versed in the history of ASM also know that these concerns are not unique to this session. So how do we mitigate these issues, and stop them from reoccurring in future sessions?
UW-Madison will test its emergency notification system between 12 p.m and 2 p.m. Wednesday (today) as part of a National Emergency Alert System Test. The trial will test many of WiscAlert?s newer systems, including text messaging, e-mail and voice lines, along with social media sites. Students and staff do not need to respond to the message, which will read, “WiscAlert: This is a test of the WiscAlert system. In a real emergency, more info would be posted at wisc.edu.”
“The only saving grace [Act 35] had was the fact that there were these requirements,” UW-Madison Young Progressives Vice President Sam Gehler said. “The elimination of those requirements does not bode very well for the safety of the people of Wisconsin.”
Gehler compared hurdles to receiving a driver?s license to the “less stringent requirements” now in place for permits to carry concealed weapons, “which are designed to kill people.”
Sellery Hall will house a mini art colony next year when UW-Madison opens its newest residential learning community, the Creative Arts and Design Community. Starting in fall 2012, students interested in art, dance, design, engineering, fashion, film, music, theater and computer science can live among like-minded individuals.
UW-Madison?s largest food drive, The Red and White Hunger Fight, is underway. More than 70 campus organizations will help collect food. Students began placing grocery bags and flyers on porches in campus neighborhoods this week and will return on Nov. 13 to collect bags of food.
Many attendees at a Memorial Union open forum Monday were happy to see compromise and clarity as members of the Memorial Union Design Committee introduced updated renovation plans. Alan Fish, associate vice chancellor for facilities, planning and management, introduced an alternative proposal for the union theater addition after a slight majority of students recently voted against the original proposal in an Associated Students of Madison referendum.
The Student Service Finance Committee decided Monday to delay the ruling on the Multicultural Student Coalition?s appeal for funding eligibility until next week. After SSFC ruled MCSC did not spend more than 50 percent of its time directly serving students and was thus ineligible for funding, MCSC appealed the ruling last Thursday. MCSC members said SSFC did not have a standardized process for determining what constitutes a ?direct service.?
(This story first appeared in the Sunday edition of the Wisconsin State Journal)
Just a few hours after comedian Mike Vecchione finished his set on a recent Saturday night at The Comedy Club on State, the space was turned over to a rental customer. Bibles replaced beer. The jokes largely disappeared. This is where Madison Alliance Church holds Sunday services. The new church is one of several religious startups ? called “church plants” ? trying to gain a following in the area. They pop up in storefronts and rental buildings, their leaders sometimes working second jobs until their religious ventures establish themselves.
….The church has done no paid advertising. Stewart and Rhodes handed out about 1,000 flyers at the freshman convocation at UW-Madison. Stewart said he loves the people the church is attracting, but to be successful the church will need to broaden its appeal.
“That’s our biggest challenge,” he said. “Financially, we cannot exist as a church with only college students and the homeless. We will need to be very intentional about reaching out to all demographics.”
A website created by three University of Wisconsin students was launched last month as a resource for artists, libraries and the general population.
Wisconsin Lawmakers? Debate Over Race in Student-Aid Program Was NeedlessNovember 3, 2011, 9:46 pmA bitter controversy on Tuesday night in the Wisconsin State Assembly over the use of race in a state student-aid program turns out to have been moot. Lawmakers were surprised when a Democrat proposed removing race as a factor that could qualify students for the program, which offers grants of up to $1,800. After a long debate, the measure received preliminary approval early Wednesday. But according to the Associated Press, the state agency that awards the grants no longer considers race as a criterion. Apparently no member of the Assembly was aware of the agency?s shift.
Like many US universities, it has long been a goal of the University of Wisconsin-Madison to engage our alumni in a culture of philanthropy to support their alma mater. And we have another goal ? of increasing private gifts raised to support need-based scholarships to help make Wisconsin?s flagship university accessible to academically qualified students, regardless of their family income.
It appears a late-night debate earlier this week in the Assembly about a proposal to remove race as a qualifying factor in the awarding of a state higher education grant wasn?t really necessary. According to the Associated Press, a letter circulated Thursday indicates race hasn?t been used as a factor in awarding Talent Incentive Program grant money for more than a year — with the switch being made by former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle?s administration.
College seniors who graduated from UW-Madison with debt in 2010 now owe an average $22,872 in student loans, a new study reports. The study, released Thursday by the Project on Student Debt, ranks Wisconsin 15th in the nation for highest debt. The $22,872 price tag puts UW-Madison slightly below the national average.
Representatives from student organizations across campus attended a rally Thursday planned by the Multicultural Student Coalition to protest the Student Services Finance Committee decision to deny the group?s funding. As MCSC played music from loudspeakers in East Campus Mall, the group?s Executive Staff Member Nneka Akubeze said she was pleased with the variety of student representatives supporting them.
The Multicultural Student Coalition appealed the student government finance committee?s decision to deny them funding eligibility Thursday. The Student Services Finance Committee denied MCSC eligibility for funding because the committee said a majority of the group?s time was not spent directly serving students, failing to meet eligibility requirements. The group appealed SSFC?s ruling, saying the committee violated procedures in reaching the
Madison officials say bar policies that deny entry to anyone without a valid driver?s license or passport could be discriminatory, and the city is working on educating bar owners about what is and isn?t acceptable.
“It?s been clearly documented who does and doesn?t have driver?s licenses in the state of Wisconsin,” said Mark Woulf, alcohol policy coordinator for Madison, citing a vast divide between blacks and whites. “That alone raises eyebrows and could easily be determined to be discriminatory.”
Minneapolis ? If you?re a college student thinking about transferring to the University of Minnesota, pay attention: it?s about to get tougher to make the cut.
Democrats in the state Assembly managed to temporarily stall a vote on a controversial surprise amendment on affirmative action brought into Tuesday night?s floor meeting, which flowed into the early hours of Wednesday morning.
