A different picture of last week?s student protest over UW admissions discrimination emerged from my vantage point inside the Doubletree Hotel press conference room compared to that of the author of Monday?s letter “Student protesters wrongly called a ?mob?.”
After nearly five years of lawsuits, UW-Madison will pay approximately $500,000 in taxpayers? money to Badger Catholic, after denying the group funding for religious practices including prayer and worship practices in 2007.
The University of Wisconsin Law School?s Innocence Project is expanding its resources in examining cases for individuals who may have been wrongly convicted after receiving grants from the United States Department of Justice totaling more than $1 million.
A highly contested proposal for a student high-rise on University Avenue got approval from a city commission Monday night, after nearly two hours of public forum from two rivaling campus ministry communities.
Madison police are investigating a reported sexual assault on State Street early in the morning of Sept. 11. The incident is the fourth reported sexual assault on women in the UW-Madison/downtown area since July 1, although police have made no statements tying the incidents together.
(This story first appeared in the Sunday edition of the Wisconsin State Journal newspaper.)
“Come on Madison, we can do better than this!” That?s Kaleem Caire. He said it not recently, but in 1998 in an op-ed questioning why his hometown wasn?t paying more attention to the poor educational outcomes and high incarceration rates of black males. “I?m asking Madison to be your best self and get this done!”
That’s also Caire, in an interview this week about his proposal for a publicly funded charter school designed to improve educational outcomes of low-income minority students.
The rate of student alcohol abuse has remained unchanged for 30 years: Nearly 40 percent of 2010 U.S. college students engage in high-risk alcohol consumption. That means, unfortunately, that binge drinking is as widespread among today?s freshmen as it was for their parents? generation and potentially just as lethal. Each year, almost 2,000 U.S. college students die from alcohol-related causes. An estimated 600,000 others are injured while under the influence.
(Jim Yong Kim is president of Dartmouth College.)
Not everyone on the UW-Madison campus is a fan of the university?s “holistic” admissions policy. That?s the gist of a strongly worded email I received over the weekend from UW-Madison physics professor Marshall Onellion.
UW-Madison will pay nearly $500,000 in legal fees to Badger Catholic after the university lost a court battle with the student group. In September 2010, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the university violated the First Amendment by refusing to fund activities of Badger Catholic involving prayer, worship and proselytizing. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take the university?s appeal this spring, ending UW-Madison?s appeal process.
Political cartoonists often exaggerate in their cartoons to make a point. I didn?t in this cartoon and that really reinforces the point. There are 35 figures in this cartoon and one of them, or about three percent, is African American. That is the exact percentage of African American students at UW-Madison.
In honor of slain UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann, parents Kevin and Jean Zimmermann helped host a second annual 5k run and walk Saturday morning to memorialize their daughter and show hope for the ongoing investigation of her murder.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano introduced a new website to a packed UW-Madison auditorium Friday, designed to ease the process some foreign students experience when trying to study in the United States.
The University of Wisconsin?s Morgridge Center for Public Service, the campus? landmark for civic discourse and community work, is celebrating its 15th anniversary with a series of special events and discussions.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano unveiled a new website and initiative aiming to help international students study in the U.S. Friday afternoon during a campus appearance at Union South.
On a bright September morning, Kevin and Jean Zimmermann stood at the finish line of the race named in honor of their daughter, high-fiving the runners and walkers who filtered through the final stretch in front of the Memorial Union.
Every so often, a group calls out the University of Wisconsin-Madison for having an admissions policy that takes into account factors other than academics ? such as race.
Is there discrimination in the land of cheese? Yes, said an advocacy group based in Falls Church, Va., that seeks to promote a ?colorblind society.?
Conversation and coffee at Union South is an opportunity for international students to take a break from their sometimes rigorous course work.
The Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security made a stop in Madison Friday to unveil a new program aimed at making it easier for international students to come to America. Speaking on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano says the nation has a strong interest in attracting academics from around the world because of the economic, educational, and cultural benefits they have to offer.
The campus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison erupted this week after the release of two studies documenting the heavy use of race in deciding which students to admit to the undergraduate and law schools.
MADISON, Wis. ? Black and Hispanic applicants were more likely to be accepted to the University of Wisconsin-Madison even though they had lower average test scores than White and Asian applicants, according to an analysis by a conservative group.
College students need something to protest ? it?s all part of the growing-up process ? and young people on the UW-Madison campus found the latest cause earlier in the week.
A diverse cross-section of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus community spent a good portion of Tuesday pushing back against a conservative think tank?s report that purports to show whites and Asians aren?t getting a fair crack at being admitted to Wisconsin?s flagship institution of higher education. But while some viewed the studies released by the Center for Equal Opportunity as a chance to challenge those who don?t see the value in affirmative action programs, the report also opened the door for critics of UW-Madison?s “holistic” admissions policy, which takes into account everything from grades and test scores to leadership activities, socioeconomic factors, race and ethnicity.
….”I don’t feel pressure to change what we’re doing,” says UW-Madison admissions director Adele Brumfield. “I really don’t. I can appreciate that some people have concerns. But at the same time we feel good about what we’re doing and feel like it’s a process with great integrity.”
A: Badgers fans started jumping around at Camp Randall between the third and fourth quarters while the House of Pain song played in 1998, according to uwbadgers.com.
The press release from Doubletree general manager Tom Ziarnik describes the large group of students protesting the Center for Equal Opportunity?s report attacking the UW-Madison?s admission practices as a “mob” that “became increasingly physically violent when forcing themselves into the meeting room where the press conference had already ended.” And, it alleges that “staff were then rushed by a mob of protesters, throwing employees to the ground.”
I attended the press conference and was in the main lobby afterward. There was no “mob” that was “physically violent.”
(Michael Olneck is a UW-Madison professor emeritus of educational policy studies and sociology>)
Normally discussing the latest terror threat or national disaster response, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano delivered a much different message at UW-Madison on Friday afternoon.
Beautiful weather provided a peaceful backdrop Saturday for the painful memories of a three-year-old unsolved murder investigation.
A ?rebellion? against costly college textbooks made a stop Thursday in Madison. UW professor, Dr. Timothy Paustian, said textbooks are being priced out of the reach of many students. ?When I was a student, textbooks were 30 or 50 dollars. That seemed like a fair price back then, but textbooks have gotten more and more and more expensive.?
UW officials are unapologetic about their admissions policy. They don?t have to apologize.
Administrators are trying to cultivate a world-class institution that values diversity because it can lead to a better college experience, it can expose students to different cultures and it can help produce innovative thinkers.
The bottom line is this: When an admission policy is based solely on GPA and test scores, a university loses its richness.
A family of UW-Madison boosters have come up with a novel way to give scholarship money while also increasing support for the university on social media. Will and Jenny Hsu, of Minneapolis, pledged to give $1 to the Great People Scholarship for every new person to follow UW-Madison or the Wisconsin Alumni Association on Facebook or Twitter — up to $50,000. Will Hsu?s parents, Paul and Sharon Hsu of Wausau, Wis., will also contribute.
Test scores should not be the central marker for university admission because a test score is only a number. It does not tell about the person, about the endurance to get to UW-Madison.
The use of fetal tissue in biomedical research benefits Wisconsin, Chancellor David Ward said in a memo to Wisconsin lawmakers Wednesday.
City officials considered amendments Wednesday to an ordinance meant to curb large house parties and may remove controversial pieces from it that would allow police to cite parties with visible kegs and punish landlords of repeat offenders.
Pro bono law efforts at the campus level are expected to boost in the coming months after the University of Wisconsin Law School announced its receipt of federal funds to bolster its mission.
Housing residents in Phillips Hall were evacuated after the discovery of a Freon gas leak late Tuesday night.
Student Council voted Wednesday to place a referendum concerning the Memorial Union Reinvestment Project?s student theater lounge on the 2011 ASM fall election ballot in an effort to collect student opinion on the renovation.
Move over, Bucky. Two mascots will be on the UW-Madison campus today to call for lower textbook prices. ?Mr. $200 Textbook? and ?Textbook Rebel? are on a six-week, 40-campus tour to gather petition signatures and distribute information about making textbooks affordable. They represent a national coalition called Textbook Rebellion.
It should not come as any surprise that the objection to diversity on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus comes not from a Wisconsin group but from an organization headquartered in the cradle of the Confederacy.The Virginia-based ?Center for Equal Opportunity? sent a representative to Madison this week to claim that the UW is ?discriminating? against white people because its officials and students have worked in recent years to increase the presence of African-American and Latino students on campus.
The Center for Equal Opportunity, which accuses UW-Madison of “severe undergraduate admissions discrimination,” is a right-wing think tank that opposes bilingual education as well as affirmative action and takes a hard line on immigration policies.
The most striking thing about Tuesday?s press conference on UW-Madison?s alleged affirmative-action-driven bias against white and Asian applicants was not the loud, mildly violent protest that overran it. It was the university professor who publicly touted the rising admission rate for white students and the declining rate for blacks. This from an institution that only 11 years ago was so worried about its less-than-diverse image that it Photoshopped a black student onto an admissions catalog.
Students took over a Center for Equal Opportunity press conference Tuesday, protesting the conservative group?s claim that UW-Madison?s admissions process discriminates against Asian and white applicants by favoring black and Latino students.
The renovation of several roads and pedestrian walkways adjacent to the University of Wisconsin?s campus was just one of many budgetary breakdowns weighed by the mayor and city alders at Tuesday?s Board of Estimates meeting.
The release of a report from a conservative think tank alleging discriminatory practices within the University of Wisconsin Office of Admissions and Recruitment catalyzed a flurry of student mobilization in opposition to the study.
A state legislator is calling for a review of the University of Wisconsin?s admission practices after an organization released a study that labels higher admission rates among black and Latino students at UW as discriminatory.
Black and Hispanic applicants were more likely to be accepted to the University of Wisconsin-Madison even though they had lower average test scores than white and Asian applicants, according to an analysis by a conservative group. The school?s admissions data from 2007 to 2008 was analyzed by the Center for Equal Opportunity, based in Falls Church, Va. It found that the university admitted roughly seven out of 10 black applicants and eight out of 10 Hispanic applicants, compared to about six out of 10 white and Asian applicants.
Students were evacuated from the Phillips Hall dormitory on the UW-Madison campus late Tuesday night after smoke was reported in the building, but the smoke turned out to be leaking Freon from the hall?s cooling system. UW-Madison police and the Madison Fire Department answered the fire alarm call at about 11 p.m. Tuesday, police reported.
A sometimes tense but mostly uneventful press conference late Tuesday morning at the DoubleTree sprang to life after a diverse group of some 150 people stormed the downtown Madison hotel?s lobby, then forced their way into the adjacent banquet room where the press conference was wrapping up. The 11 a.m. press conference featured Roger Clegg, the president of the Center for Equal Opportunity. He was formally announcing two studies by the CEO that purport to show whites and Asians aren?t getting a fair crack at being admitted to the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
MADISON ? A conservative group says blacks and Hispanics are more likely to get admitted to the University of Wisconsin-Madison even though they have lower average test scores than whites and Asians.
More than 100 students and Madison community members stormed a campus-area press conference Tuesday where a national interest group accused the University of Wisconsin-Madison of “severe” racial discrimination.
A conservative group said blacks and Hispanics are more likely to get admitted to the University of Wisconsin-Madison even though they have lower average test scores than whites and Asians.
UW-Madison officials organized what they called an urgent meeting Monday night with students to discuss “a threat to the school?s diversity efforts.”
A day of protests on UW-Madison?s campus culminated in a scholarly debate Tuesday night, all focused on the university?s affirmative action policy.
A report from a conservative think tank criticizes the admissions policies of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the group?s press conference at an off-campus hotel on Tuesday drew a crowd of protesters.
UW-Madison waged an all-day offensive Tuesday against a charge that it engages in discriminatory admissions practices ? as students and staff rallied on Bascom Hill, hijacked a press conference and disputed the findings of the admissions allegation.
Police are seeing a spike in what they believe to be gang and drug-related violence around State Street and other campus areas.
The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board unanimously approved a policy Monday permitting state universities and colleges to issue stickers for student identification cards that would validate them for identification at the polls.
Student government representatives began planning Monday to combat the possibility of city officials putting an end to the Mifflin Street Block Party Monday.
UW-Madison officials called an urgent meeting Monday to warn students of an upcoming “attack” on university integrity after conservative think tank released a study it says shows evidence of “severe discrimination” against white and Asian students in UW-Madison?s admissions process.
This summer, news blew up that a ?glass box? will likely be added to the Memorial Union Theater. The structure would jut out in a mushroom-like shape, encompassing much of the area that sits next to Park Street to the north of the Union.
The controversial law that requires voters to provide photo identification at the polls will now allow school-issued IDs as proper identification, provided they meet the required specifications.
