Here?s what you might have done for free Thursday night. You might have walked into the University of Wisconsin-Madison?s Mills Concert Hall and heard famed pianist Paul Badura-Skoda play with the UW Chamber Orchestra.
Noted: Other very happy people included a slightly shell-shocked looking Marian Salzman from Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, who beat off intensely strong competition to become PR Professional of the Year; and PR Student of the Year Alyssa Vande Leest from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who received $5,000 and an internship at Hill & Knowlton as a prize to add to her trophy and a well-deserved round of applause.
….it took about 40 years for Wisconsin college teachers to win the right to try collective bargaining, which they may well lose after two years. Meanwhile, I took my math talent and training to another state and to private industry, where in eight years I managed to more than triple my last, best college salary. What message is Gov. Walker sending to Wisconsin students who aspire to be teachers? Will a career as a perpetual political football appeal to them?
From the international media to Twitter & Facebook, images from the deadly earthquake in Japan continue to stream in. For Minami Goda it?s close to home. Luckily for Goda, a senior at the UW, her family is in Osaka and hasn?t been affected.
According to a statement released by University Communications, the UW-Madison has made contact with all 14 students that are studying abroad in Japan now and confirmed their safety.
University of Wisconsin-Madison officials have confirmed all 14 students studying abroad in Japan are safe after a devastating earthquake and tsunami rocked the island nation, but the 82 Japanese students on campus are finding it difficult to watch as the devastation unfolds.
In response to the governor?s proposal to break the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus from the rest of the System campuses, the Board of Regents unveiled a plan to seek similar flexibilities for all UW institutions at a meeting Thursday.
The League of American Bicyclists bestowed a silver award on the University of Wisconsin-Madison in its first-ever rankings of bike friendliness on college campuses. Darwin “Dar” Ward, the commuter solutions manager for the UW, said the silver designation was both an honor and motivator.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. ? Justin Schultz has had some distinctive moments on behalf of the University of Wisconsin men?s hockey team this season, a flair for the remarkable that was recognized in a big way Thursday. Schultz was named Defensive Player of the Year in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, becoming the first sophomore to win the postseason honor since it was introduced in 1992.
The Wisconsin Capitol was eerily quiet Thursday night following three weeks of protests against anti-union legislation that drew tens of thousands of demonstrators to Madison. While people had been sleeping in the building for weeks, all eventually left after the Assembly voted to approve a bill eliminating public employee?s collective bargaining rights. Danny Spitzberg, 26, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said officers gave protesters vague explanations for why they had to leave.
As an initiative to help inform the student body about the possibility of UW Madison splitting from the UW System, students and faculty passed out fliers and buttons that read, “Save My UW.”
It was business as usual at the state?s two largest public universities Thursday, but with an undercurrent of tensions over the state Senate?s abrupt vote Wednesday night to eliminate collective bargaining provisions for most public workers.
A lawsuit against Sigma Chi?s UW-Madison and national chapters, filed by a UW-Madison student who claims she was raped at the fraternity house in October 2008, has been closed, according to Milwaukee County Judge Timothy Dugan.
UW-Madison plans a normal class and work day today, despite tensions at the Capitol over a bill that strongly curtails collective bargaining rights for public workers.
One group on campus that would be affected by the measure — teaching assistants — has a membership meeting scheduled for tonight, but there?s no motion currently on the agenda to strike, said Kevin Gibbons, co-president of the T.A.A.
Wisconsin workers will be gathering in a dozen cities across the state on Thursday morning to protest Senate passage of a bill curtailing collective bargaining rights, organizers say. The rallies are being organized by the state AFL-CIO.
The biggest rally will be at 9 a.m. at the State Capitol, where thousands of protesters surged into the building Wednesday night when the Senate quickly passed the bill.
Kevin Gibbons, 29, a doctoral student in geography, is co-president of the UW-Madison Teaching Assistants? Association, which helped run the budget protest in the state Capitol. The organization coordinated such things as rallies, cleanup crews, medical help, day care and food and is credited with helping keep the peace in the historic building and working with police and maintenance people.
For many young people, the excitement of attending college is often followed by the stress brought on by new challenges.
The legacy of the Wisconsin Covenant may be as much about helping students develop aspirations for college as it is about funding them. While it?s unfortunate Gov. Scott Walker intends to end state support for the program, after making good on aid to students already enrolled ? we think it has held a laudable ? if far from perfect, place in Wisconsin?s educational landscape.
If you have camping equipment, sleeping bags or other materials on the State Capitol grounds, remove it or the state will dispose of it. The latest update from the Department of Administration?s blog said camping gear has been collected and moved to the outside of the ground-level Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard entrance.
“Any camping materials not removed from this area by 6 p.m. Wednesday will be considered abandoned and will be hauled away and discarded,” the blog said.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by the University of Wisconsin at Madison of a federal appeals court ruling that could require many public colleges and universities to permit the use of student fee money to pay for explicitly religious activities, including those involving prayer.
Almost a dozen cities — Antigo, Chippewa Falls, Eagle River, Menasha, Merrill, Neenah, New London, Oconomowoc, Oshkosh, Sturgeon Bay and Waupaca — ban throwing snowballs, The Appleton Post-Crescent notes. There is no such ban in Madison, the state capitol, however, which opens the way for all kinds of snowy mayhem by students at the University of Wisconsin.
(Includes photo of Bascom snowball fight.)
The showdown over collective bargaining rights for public employees is just the first step in a contentious debate over how to solve Wisconsin?s budget woes, with newly elected Republican Gov. Scott Walker also seeking to dismantle an array of social policies enacted under his Democratic predecessor. On the chopping block is a policy allowing in-state college tuition for the children of illegal immigrants. Walker?s budget plan would ax a Democratic initiative approved under former Gov. Jim Doyle that grants in-state college tuition rates to children of illegal immigrants, so long as the students have graduated from a Wisconsin high school and lived in the state for at least three years. The students also have to sign an affidavit promising to pursue legal residency or citizenship. Fewer than two dozen of the 182,000 students in the University of Wisconsin system have used the program, said university spokesman David Giroux.
Ohio State spokesman Allen Kraus said the school received about 29,000 applications for next school year. Madison has received 28,564 as of Feb. 15, spokesman John Lucas said. Both figures equate to a 10 percent increase over last year.
Well, New Hampshire?s state House speaker was certainly right when he said college students have feelings.
The University of Wisconsin marching band was marching for a different reason Tuesday.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to try the University of Wisconsin?s appeal after a previous ruling required funding for a Catholic student organization?s religious activities, a decision that essentially ends the university?s appeals process.
The U.S. Supreme Court decided Monday it will not hear UW-Madisons appeal of a lower court decision that found denying funding to the Catholic student group Badger Catholic violates the First Amendment.
When going on spring break, don?t forget to pack condoms and sunscreen. UW-Madison students will take a break from studies March 14-18, so school officials have come up with a list of suggestions to make the break more enjoyable, safer and relaxing. Madison Area Technical College and Edgewood College also have spring break the same week.
Quoted: Dr. Sarah Van Orman, executive director of University Health Services
So much for the promise of the Wisconsin Covenant. When he introduced his vow to state eighth-graders it in 2006, Gov. Jim Doyle said, “As long as the student holds up his or her end of the bargain, every family that qualifies for financial aid will get a package that fully covers their tuition” in the University of Wisconsin System. But, with no actual cost to the state attached to it at the time, the Covenant looked like more of a bill of goods.
Dear Editor: As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I would like to express my support for the New Badger Partnership, Chancellor Martin?s principles to provide the university with the means to navigate through difficult times. The New Badger Partnership aims to readdress the relationship between the state government and the university, freeing it to focus on its primary missions.
The U.S. Supreme Court says it won?t hear an appeal of a lower court decision to grant a Catholic student group funding from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The decision by the high court effectively ends UW-Madison?s appeal process. The university has argued that its funding of Badger Catholic?s religious activities is a violation of the First Amendment.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by the University of Wisconsin at Madison of a federal appeals court ruling that could require many public colleges and universities to permit the use of student fee money to pay for explicitly religious activities, including those involving prayer.
An appeals court decision that said UW-Madison must fund religious activities for student groups will stand, after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take the university?s appeal on Monday. In September 2010, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the university violated the First Amendment by refusing to fund some events for the student group Badger Catholic involving prayer, worship and proselytizing.
….Many of the students who enroll in our master?s program and serve us as teaching assistants are from diverse working class backgrounds and are struggling to make ends meet and stay in school right now. Like the UW-Madison, in general, the department of Afro-American studies relies on the high-quality performance of our teaching assistants.
It is with dismay and disappointment, therefore, that we greet Gov. Scott Walker?s plan to deny collective bargaining rights to Wisconsin?s public employees. This will certainly have a detrimental effect on these students? welfare and a negative impact on their ability to maintain the superior service that they currently render to the hundreds of undergraduates who take our courses.
A lot of people don?t understand what ironworkers do, said Mike Grimslid, business manager for Ironworkers Local 383, so he?s glad a UW-Madison class took an interest and put out a short film called ?The Art of Ironworking.?
UW-Madison students who live in Sellery Hall now have the (dubious?) honor of living in one of the top party dorms in the country, according to a new survey. The first annual “Dormy Awards” ranked Sellery the seventh biggest party dorm, based on 7,100 reviews on DormSplash.com. According to UW-Madison?s University Housing website, Sellery Hall “means living in the heart of campus” and houses 1,152 students in double rooms.
UW-Madison students who live in Sellery Hall now have the (dubious?) honor of living in one of the top party dorms in the country, according to a new survey.
The University of Wisconsin women?s basketball season of high aspirations ended with a thud on Thursday.The Badgers dug themselves a big hole early and could never climb all the way out as they suffered a shocking 63-56 loss to No. 11 seed Illinois in the opening round of the Big Ten tournament.
Any politician who still thinks it?s a keen idea to go after the collective bargaining rights of public employees ought to come over to Ohio. You know the old saying: As Ohio goes, so goes the nation. It doesn?t take much of a stroll through the Buckeye State to see that somebody sorely underestimated regular Americans? fondness for the freedoms of regular Americans.
Chancellor Biddy Martin and Vice Chancellor Darrell Bazzell answered questions about how a proposed public authority model and major budget cuts would affect UW-Madison faculty and students at a forum Wednesday.
In the wake of the governor?s budget announcement, protesters at the Capitol continue to voice discontent with strict limitations on public access to the building as University of Wisconsin students rallied in opposition to the proposed ?marriage? between the university and the state on Wednesday.
After the governor?s budget proposal outlined extensive budget cuts in higher education, the University of Wisconsin chancellor clarified the details of a public authority status and said the university must remain a contender among international institutions in a public forum Wednesday.
Tucked in Gov. Scott Walker?s state budget among the big ticket items that will hit the University of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Technical College systems in big ways, is a small line item that is not likely to save the state much money but will have a big impact on the state?s immigrants, advocates for the community say.
The budget would repeal a year-old provision that allows undocumented students who have lived in the state for several years to pay resident tuition, instead of the more expensive non-resident tuition.
Nothing is certain but death and taxes. Oh, and a jump in tuition when state funding for public higher education is slashed.
Under Gov. Scott Walker?s 2011-13 biennial budget proposal released Tuesday, UW-Madison and the UW System each will see state aid slashed by $125 million over the next two years.
“The size of the cut is really sobering,” says UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin.
A cover story in this week?s Sports Illustrated takes a look at crime in college football.
Chancellor Richard Telfer addressed UW-Whitewater faculty and staff this morning regarding the governor?s budget repair bill and the 2012-13 biennial budget.
Governor Walker?s proposed biennial budget calls for separating U.W.-Madison from the rest of the University of Wisconsin System so it can operate on its own — and remove more than 20,000 employees from the state payroll.
UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin says Gov. Walker?s budget proposal will give the school more flexibility, but it will result in higher tuition.
Governor Scott Walker?s proposed budget means major changes for the state, especially its longtime flagship university.
Along with local governments and school districts, the UW-System will also see large cuts in state aid.
How do you think a perfect strange would react if you asked him for illegal drugs? Now imagine you?re on a college campus, and the drug you?re seeking is adderall. FOX6 hidden cameras expose how easy it is to get so-called study drugs without a prescription.
Although Chancellor Richard Wells used a metaphor to illustrate his stance on the idea of UW Madison separating from the system, how he felt about the issue was clear.”There is no flagship without a fleet,” was the highlight of his March 1 statement speaking out against UW Madison?s plan.
Three students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison provided the solution for many people around the world who, in recent weeks, wanted to donate food to the protesters at the state Capitol.
I wrote this yesterday in response to the Governor?s budget proposal:
Dear members of ASM,Today, Governor Walker released his proposal for the state?s budget for the 2011-13 biennial.
They have filled Madison?s Capitol Square and spilled down State Street, a sea of Wisconsin Badger red. They have jammed the Capitol rotunda, remaining around the clock, dozing on hard marble floors in sleeping bags, testifying before the Assembly, and transforming the beautiful Capitol building into a house of the people.
The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health has selected Dr. Elizabeth Petty as the new senior associate dean for academic affairs, the university announced Tuesday.
While some are optimistic, others remain hesitant about substantial changes to the UW System proposed in Gov. Scott Walker?s 2011-?13 budget. In an effort to combat the budget deficit, Walker proposed a plan to remove UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee from the UW System, in addition to cutting $250 million in state aid from the system, $125 million of which will be directly from UW-Madison.
After the governor unveiled funding reductions for higher education and plans to establish the Madison campus as a public authority, the chancellor said University of Wisconsin officials will use the new flexibilities to combat ?painful? budget cuts.
Rutgers University will allow co-ed friends to live together in some “gender neutral” dormitories next year, a change many feel is in response to student Tyler Clementi?s suicide last year.
Gov. Scott Walker just gave a boost to the Urban League of Greater Madison?s intriguing proposal for an all-male charter school.As part of his state budget address late Tuesday afternoon, Walker said he wants to let any four-year public university in Wisconsin create a charter school for K-12 students. That gives the Urban League of Greater Madison a second potential partner for its proposal, should the Madison School Board reject the League?s idea. Partnering with the Urban League on the innovative school could potentially help UW-Madison attract more minority students.
