The University of Wisconsin Faculty Senate is scheduled to hold a special meeting May 20 to read through a resolution condemning university administration’s decision to use police force against protesters on Library Mall May 1.
The Associated Students of Madison (ASM) approved over $5,500 in grant allocations to Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) for the 2024-25 academic year — the eighth-highest allocation of all 119 student organizations that received grant funding at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Friday evening, University of Wisconsin students and Madison community members stood on Library Mall as a group of organizers took tents down one by one. As each tent was taken down, the name of a Palestinian university destroyed in the ongoing war in Gaza was read aloud.
Pro-Palestinian protesters will meet Tuesday with a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Foundation leader and will urge him to “disclose” any investments tied to Israel.
On Friday, nearly two weeks after UW-Madison students pitched their tents on Library Mall, they reached an agreement with the university’s administration.
This afternoon, Dahlia Saba, a media liaison with Students for Justice in Palestine, told our News Producer Faye Parks that – while the agreement does signal a small step forward – it doesn’t address their primary demands.
A small group of protesters were back out on Library Mall Sunday, just days after the encampment was torn down after lasting nearly two weeks.
For 7,868 newly minted UW-Madison graduates, Saturday’s commencement ceremony was a last hoorah, a time to take in the view from the peak of their academic careers thus far.
The spring 2024 commencement ceremony marks just over four years since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down many activities across the nation, including high school graduations. For many bachelor’s degree graduates, this commencement offered resolution.
A handful of students quietly protested the war in Gaza at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s commencement Saturday, but the annual graduation ceremony inside Camp Randall Stadium otherwise proceeded without disruption.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison received diplomas Saturday. For many of these graduates, the ceremony was a first.
“In high school, we didn’t really have a graduation because of COVID,” said Park Falls native Noah Peterson. “So it kind of feels like that whole area is kind of missing.”
As protesters dismantled their tent encampment at UW-Madison after reaching an accord with university administration, journalism professor Douglas McCleod discussed the impact of campus protests.
At UW’s commencement ceremony on Saturday, a group of students silently protested by standing up and turning their back during Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin’s speech. They then walked out of the ceremony while holding a Palestine flag.
Meghan Duggan took the call earlier this year and couldn’t believe her ears. The University of Wisconsin was inviting the former Badgers hockey star back to campus to deliver the keynote address at the spring graduation.
“I thought to myself, ‘Really? Me?’” she said.
There’s nothing like the threat of a disrupted commencement ceremony to get a deal done.
With tens of thousands of visitors descending on Madison for graduation weekend and protester numbers uncertain for the summer, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the campus’ Students for Justice in Palestine chapter cut a dealFriday.
Meghan Duggan is the Commencement Speaker for Wisconsin’s 2024 Graduation Ceremony, an opportunity the Gold Medalist couldn’t have fathomed when she graduated from UW-Madison in 2011.
After over a week of protests, the encampment on Library Mall is set to come down after UW-Madison leaders and students reached an agreement Friday.
The tents are coming down at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The university said Friday afternoon it had reached an agreement with pro-Palestinian protesters who first pitched tents April 29. The compromise came hours before commencement weekend began, and the potential for a disrupted ceremony loomed large.
Graduates sing “Sweet Caroline” during commencement Saturday, May 11, 2024 at Camp Randall Stadium at the University of Wisconsin – Madison in Madison, Wisconsin. The song is a popular tradition at Wisconsin football games. The school also held a commencement ceremony at the Kohl Center Friday. In total, the university anticipates that nearly 8,600 students will be earning degrees — 6,236 bachelor’s degrees, 1,394 master’s degrees and 968 PhDs.
Some of the memories that Meghan Duggan carries from her University of Wisconsin commencement ceremony are vivid more than 12 years later.
Duggan, a three-time national champion with the Wisconsin women’s hockey team, remembers sitting in the rows of chairs on the Kohl Center floor in the December 2011 ceremony next to her teammate and one of her best friends, Kelly Nash.
After two weeks, and just ahead of commencement, protesters agreed to remove an encampment on Library Mall in exchange for commitments from the administration. Here’s a recap of events.
Pro-Palestinian student protesters at UW-Madison agreed Friday to dismantle their illegal encampment on Library Mall and refrain from disrupting this weekend’s commencement after campus officials agreed to several of their demands, including helping students present their concerns to decision-makers about how the university’s endowment is invested.
Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin released a statement shortly after the resolution was reached. She said, “one of the most fundamental missions of a university is and must be to foster engagement and dialogue across intractable differences.”
Nearly 50,000 people packed Camp Randall stadium to witness the confirmation of 8,586 degrees at UW-Madison 171th commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 11, 2024.
The local Madison economy is reaping the benefits from UW-Madison’s 2024 graduations. Restaurants and bars in the vicinity are experiencing a significant surge in customers and sales, and they were well-prepared for the influx of guests.
This graduation ceremony is a first for many 2024 graduates. The COVID-19 pandemic cancelled high school graduations around the country in 2020, when most of this year’s college graduates were seniors in high school.
The UW-Madison Class of 2024 includes thousands of students who graduated high school in 2020 and have not experienced a normal ceremony due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, until Saturday’s commencement.
On Saturday, Benjamin Torine graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Bachelor’s degree in sociology. But before he could toss his cap at Camp Randall, there was another milestone he had to pass.
Outside the chancellor’s office at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, more than 100 protesters laid down side by side. Many had their palms up, painted red. Some wore graduation robes. Two of them, perched on a statue of Abraham Lincoln, held a banner listing Palestinian children who have died during the Israel-Hamas war.
Wisconsin hockey legend and three-time Olympic medalist Meghan Duggan returns to the big stage in Madison as the upcoming keynote speaker for the 2024 Spring Commencement. The 2011 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award Winner joked how “surreal” it is being invited to address over 6,200 undergrads and their families at Camp Randall.
Two thousand miles away, a handful of students held a largely silent protest at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Camp Randall Stadium. No arrests were made, the Associated Press reported.
After nearly two weeks of rallies and negotiations, protest organizers reached an agreement Friday with leaders at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to end a pro-Palestinian encampment on Library Mall.
That approach differed from one at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where administrators in early May called in the police to break down the tents after negotiations failed. After the initial crackdown failed to end the encampment, Wisconsin-Madison later came to an agreement with protesters to break down the camp voluntarily before commencement ceremonies over the weekend.
A small group of UW-Madison students in their caps and gowns stood up, walked out of the ceremony and were escorted by UW Police from Saturday’s commencement.
UW-Madison graduate student and Students for Justice in Palestine spokesperson Abbie Klein discusses demands campus protesters are making of the university and negotiations with its administration.
Pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and UW-Milwaukee have been clear from the beginning: The tents will stay until their demands are met.
WFAA and other public university foundations are set up to ‘intentionally obscure the public’s right of access’ says journalist suing for NIL contract
Negotiations set to continue on last day of final exams.
With recent protests on campus, the University sent out a list of planned security protocols. “These security measures follow typical University of Wisconsin gameday protocols and will be in place for both commencement ceremonies,” said a release from UW-Madison officials.
This month, roughly 23,000 students across the UW system will receive their diplomas as the graduating class of 2024. Those at River Falls and Stout have already walked across the stage, while the rest will follow in the coming days and weeks.
“It is the most diverse, equitable, and inclusive folksong field collection ever made for the Library of Congress,” said James P. Leary, professor emeritus of Folklore and Scandinavian Studies at UW-Madison. It reminds “us that we cannot fully grasp the richness of American roots music without recognizing the many peoples, tongues, and sounds that – whether past or present, from mainstream or margins, deservedly acknowledged or unjustly ignored – have always made America great.”
The administrations of UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee both released statements Wednesday updating their respective campus communities on the status of the pro-Palestine student encampments. Both encampments currently remain standing.
State of Affairs episode fifteen is now available, featuring UW Madison Law Student and Federalist Society President Samantha Crane joining the program to discuss life on campus as a Jewish student since the anti-Israel protests began in recent weeks.
Communication between UW-Madison pro-Palestinian student protesters and campus administration seemed to have fallen apart on Wednesday after protesters requested more than the university leaders were willing to agree to.
Negotiations between leaders at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and students involved in pro-Palestinian demonstrations have broken down.
Pro-Palestinian encampments continued into the second week at both the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at UW-Milwaukee.
Tensions persist between students and administration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison over an encampment at Library Mall, now in its tenth day of protest. Demonstrators are calling for the university to sever all ties with Israeli institutions.
Pro-Palestinian encampments continued into the second week at both the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at UW-Milwaukee.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is warning of disciplinary action and even arrest for people who disrupt its commencement ceremony this weekend.
UW-Madison officials and pro-Palestinian protesters said they’re willing to meet again Thursday, a day after protest leaders walked out of discussions.
UW-Madison officials and pro-Palestinian protesters said they’re willing to meet again Thursday, a day after protest leaders walked out of discussions.
The statement restated administrators’ goal to end the encampment demonstration, but said “no such police action will occur at 4 p.m. today.”“It remains an urgent campus priority to end the encampment, which is illegal, a violation of student and registered student organization conduct rules, and an increasing safety concern,” the statement said.
Protest organizer Dahlia Saba said they brought a proposal to Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and other UW leaders that outlined “several principles of ethical investment.””Specifically, no investing in weapons manufacturing, no investing in companies that profit off of the occupied territories and no investing in companies that profit off of private prisons,” Saba said.
In a statement Wednesday afternoon, university officials said that students and faculty liaisons walked out of a meeting on Wednesday. Student protesters are calling on the university to divest from groups that they said are supplying arms used by the Israeli government against Palestinians.
“We decided that it seemed like the university is not negotiating in good faith with us and as such, further negotiating meetings where the university refuses to talk about specific points are not worth our time,” Justice for Students in Palestine member Dahlia Saba said. The university says it remains an urgent campus priority to end the encampment.
A resolution failed on an 8-8 council vote Tuesday evening. The proposal would have called on UW Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin to allow the encampment on Library Mall to continue even as the university remains unwavering in its stance that the encampment is illegal and unsafe.
In the waning weeks of spring semester, some University of Wisconsin-Madison students prepared for final exams and graduation ceremonies. Several dozen others camped on the campus’ Library Mall to push the university to sever ties with funding and programs linked to Israeli institutions and the war in Gaza.
The UW-Madison students who set up a pro-Palestine encampment on Library Mall last week issued a list of six demands of university leadership. As of Tuesday, the encampment was still in place and negotiations were ongoing, though Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin has pushed back against some of the students’ demands.
The group presented 12 requests to the school, including to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism and enforce the law on encampments.
Roughly 250 faculty and pro-Palestine protesters marched up Bascom Hill to express frustration at University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and campus administration during a UW-Madison Faculty Senate meeting Monday.
The student organizations must cease activities pending an investigation and decision from the Committee on Student Organizations.
