Category: Campus life

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

Two reports released today allege the University of Wisconsin discriminates against whites and Asian applicants and have electrified both UW administration and some student leaders.

After Madison Mayor Paul Soglin expressed a desire to end the Mifflin Street Block Party for 2012,  members of the University of Wisconsin student government are looking to work with the mayor?s office in an attempt to compromise on the polarizing issue.

UW-Madison officials organized what they called an urgent meeting Monday night with students to discuss “a threat to the school?s diversity efforts.”

The Center for Equal Opportunity, a group that opposes the consideration of race in college admissions decisions, released reports today showing what it says are large and likely illegal boosts that the University of Wisconsin at Madison gives to black and Latino applicants.

A project is underway to create a new green space, similar to the lawn of Bascom Hill, in the heart of the UW campus near the Memorial Union, by the shore of Lake Mendota.

When al-Qaida attacked the United States on Sept. 11 Stephen Lee felt numb, like the rest of America. But for him, it was not until his boots hit the dry Afghan dirt that reality set in.

Sunday commemorated the 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, quietly bringing the Madison community together to remember the lives that were lost and reflect on the repercussions of that fateful day.

When Paul Soglin was busted in 1969 at the wild Mifflin Street block party, the arrest was something of a badge of honor. The city had refused to grant a permit for the gathering, which was intoxicated with left-wing politics, among other things. Mr. Soglin was happy to defy the ban.

University of Wisconsin-Madison administrators have a new initiative to keep students out of alcohol-related trouble.

University of Wisconsin-Madison officials are now requiring most students who get an alcohol-related citation to take a course on the risks of alcohol abuse.

Is it time for Neighborhood House, Madison?s oldest neighborhood center, to cash in on its valuable property and build a better community center somewhere else?

….Neighborhood House was founded in 1916 in the storied melting pot of Greenbush as part of the settlement house movement of the early 20th century that helped immigrants acclimate to America. In the decades since, the center adapted to changing needs but has struggled in recent years after urban renewal sparked a mass migration of families from much of the neighborhood and UW-Madison students replaced many others.

In what marks a major shift in the way UW-Madison handles problem drinking, officials are now requiring most students who get an underage drinking ticket or some other alcohol-related citation to take a course on the risks of alcohol abuse. Students pay $78 for two group sessions or $200 for two one-on-one sessions with a professional substance-abuse counselor. That?s in addition to the cost of the ticket ? $263.50 for a first-offense underage drinking citation, according to the UW-Madison Police Department. Previously, the university did not have a consistent approach to dealing with alcohol-related issues, said Tom Sieger, prevention director at University Health Services UHS. Students would be referred to counseling if they caught the eye of a staff member or could be kicked out of the dorms if they violated the alcohol policy, Sieger said.

UW-Madison students planning to snooze, er, study at the Memorial Library on Wednesday will have to make other plans. The Madison Fire Department will be conducting final testing of a new fire alarm system installed at the library, so it will be closed to users from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, the university said.

A member of the UW football team was arrested for battery after a fight outside the Red Gym earlier this month.