Category: Campus life

A UW-Madison student was robbed at gunpoint by two masked men Tuesday night while walking home on the north side, Madison police reported. The armed robbery happened at about 10:30 p.m. near Dexter?s Pub on North Street, police said. The victim told police he had been walking home after getting off a charter bus that had broken down on Wisconsin 30.

As students flock back to Madison for the start of the fall semester, many search for a cheap bite near campus aside from the usual Subway or Potbelly sandwich. A bit off the path from the usual State Street eateries, MacTaggart?s Market & Deli provides inexpensive made-to-order sandwiches with Boar?s Head meats, cheeses and dressings, along with freshly baked breads. Only real insiders know about MacTaggart?s, 230 W. Lakelawn Place, which is a standard late-night stop for Langdon Street locals.

The Madison Police Department is encouraging UW-Madison students to not walk alone late at night, following an attack on a 19-year-old female student early Friday morning. The woman was walking alone at about 2:15 a.m. Friday on Bassett Street when a stranger grabbed her from behind, police said.

Last week, Eric Neumaier caught the bus in front of the East Side apartment complex in which he has lived for four years. This Wednesday, the UW graduate student went to the same Fordem Street spot for his daily trip to campus and found a hole in the ground where the bus stop sign used to be. “The driver told me they wouldn?t be stopping there anymore,” he said. “They?ll still drive by, but won?t hit the brakes.” The stop was one of 20 eliminated under a new schedule that took effect Monday and caught some riders unaware; one affected area is home to many UW students. Metro Transit spokesman Mick Rusch said the changes were made to improve wheelchair accessibility, line up with pedestrian crosswalks and be closer to sidewalks.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig, along with owners of the Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland A?s and Boston Red Sox, are donating an undisclosed amount of money to the University of Wisconsin. The donations were announced on Friday at a news conference at Miller Park. Donations from Brewers owner Mark Attanasio, A?s owner Lew Wolff and Red Sox co-owner Tom Werner will go toward a scholarship in Selig?s name. Hank Aaron?s Chasing the Dream Foundation also announced a new scholarship in Selig?s name. Selig gave money to support a new faculty position in United States history focusing on the relationship between sports and society from 1900 to the present.

Madison police are looking for two suspects who allegedly beat up and robbed five different young men in two different incidents downtown early Wednesday morning.The strong arm robbery and battery incidents happened at about 1:45 a.m. in the 200 block of North Bassett Street, Madison police said.

MADISON, Wis. — Drivers will want to avoid the downtown area this weekend as 6,500 UW students move into campus housing. This year, ongoing road and utility construction will make the big move-in weekend even more hectic than usual. Several city streets will be closed and turned into one-way streets for several days this week.

Large message boards will be up in the campus area to help direct people to the appropriate places, according to a release from the university.

If you see dazed and confused parents, driving packed-to-the-roof SUVs with out-of-state license plates, going round and round the UW-Madison campus, looking for a parking spot, it can only mean one thing: It?s move-in week.

Beginning Wednesday, 6,500 UW-Madison students will start moving into the 17 residence halls on campus: 1,300 with housing jobs move in on Wednesday, then 2,600 on Friday and another 2,600 on Saturday. To add to the fun and excitement, a pile of campus streets are torn up due to utility and road construction.

Some new and returning UW-Madison students will find themselves in freshly-renovated dorms this week when they move into their new home for the school year. But driving near campus this week will not be for the timid or quick-tempered, as construction continues to snarl traffic and promises to add to the move-in congestion. About 6,500 students will move into dorms, mostly on Friday and Saturday, although around 1,300 students have permission to move in on Wednesday because they have campus jobs and need to be trained.

Choosing health insurance coverage could be one of the most important decisions you?ll make. Without adequate health insurance, an accident or serious illness could saddle you with thousands of dollars in medical bills and force you to drop out of school. And even if you think you?re invincible, you may not have a choice: 30% of colleges and universities require students to have health insurance as a condition of enrollment, according to a 2008 study by the Government Accountability Office.

The University of Wisconsin welcomed a group of elite athletes from China on Monday.The nine athletes, many of whom have won Olympic medals, will be living and studying at the university this fall; working on their English and taking sports leadership classes.

Five minutes into my first three-hour journey to college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, my parents had already begun monopolizing the car?s air space with truism after reminder after frantic assertion about college life. I zoned out and probably missed some useful morsels of advice.

Two men arrested last week for the alleged rape of a Minneapolis woman were charged Monday with kidnapping in addition to several counts of first-degree sexual assault. In addition to kidnapping, Jose L. Bedolla-Calderon, 22, of Madison, was charged with three counts of first-degree sexual assault, strangulation and suffocation, and misdemeanor battery for the early Tuesday attack on the 23-year-old woman in the 400 block of West Dayton Street near the UW-Madison campus.

For more than a decade, Beloit College has released the “Beloit College Mindset List” that looks at cultural touchstones shaping the lives of the years college-bound students. The List this year is aimed at the 2 million young people born around 1990. Beloit notes that the class of 2012 has grown up where computer and rapid communications are the norm and colleges no longer trumpet the fact that residence halls are “wired.”

Saturday and Sunday were the two days of the year when U-Hauls might have outnumbered Priuses on the streets of Downtown Madison. The annual turnover of housing leases, which peaks each Aug. 14-15, was relatively seamless this weekend because of beautiful weather and many landlords who have relaxed restrictions on how early renters can move in.

MADISON, Wis. — It?s one of the most enduring — and exhausting — traditions in Madison: Move-in day. Over the weekend, thousands of UW-Madison students moved from one place to another in a 24-hour time span.

While nearly everyone was excited about new dwellings and new roommates, safety, both personal safety and property safety, was also on the minds of many, WISC-TV reported. UW-Madison police said that during this annual rite, some students lose their belongings because others mistake their treasure for trash.

A 21-year-old woman sitting on her porch was punched early Tuesday morning by another woman who first told her she was going to take her purse, Madison police reported. The mugging happened at about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday at a residence in the 300 block of South Park Street, police said.

According to the police report, the victim — a UW-Madison student — was sitting on her porch when a woman approached, saying she was going to take the victim?s purse.

Perhaps the most important lesson recent University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate Danny Haber learned in his four years did not come out of a classroom but through a run-in with the City of Madison – one that could cost him more than $400,000.

Christmas doesn?t just come once a year, at least as far as some Downtown Madison residents are concerned.”Hippie Christmas” accompanies the turnover of hundreds of housing leases, which will largely happen on Saturday and Sunday this year. This unusual festivity stems from people scooping up household items discarded by outgoing tenants on curbs and in trash cans.

The UW-Madison student whose liquor delivery business was shuttered by Madison officials in April says the city should return any forfeitures ? up to nearly $430,000 ? he would have to pay as a result of alleged city ordinance violations. Danny Haber maintains he was relying on advice given to him by Ald. Mike Verveer, 4th Dist., a member of the city Alcohol License Review Committee, when he opened Campus Drank, which allowed students to order liquor and beer for delivery.

A University of Wisconsin-Madison student facing more than $420,000 in penalties from the City of Madison for operating an alcohol delivery service says he was told by a city alderman that the operation was legal.

Danny Haber, 22, of Long Island, N.Y., filed a notice of claim with the city attorney?s office Wednesday indicating he intends to sue the city for the same amount they have fined him for operating without a liquor license and selling to underage customers.

UW-Madison students might have to contend with more than just moving in and classes starting as summer ends. Unforeseen problems underground have delayed the completion of work on the East Campus Utility Project, meaning work won?t be finished by the target date of Aug. 24, UW-Madison announced in a news release.

Students will probably having to contend with road closures and detours when moving in Aug. 27-28, when classes begin Sept. 2 and probably up to Labor Day on Sept. 6.

MADISON. Wis. — A 23-year-old Portage man has been charged with sexual assault and false imprisonment in connection with a series of sexual assault attempts that occurred on the University of Wisconsin campus area Monday. Robert D. Rickaby was charged in connection with an incident that happened on N. Park St. in downtown Madison early Monday, according to University of Wisconsin police. Police said there are multiple additional charges pending which will be referred to the Dane County district attorney on Wednesday.

The man accused of sexually assaulting a woman early Monday morning and who police say may have assaulted up to eight other women has been identified as Robert D. Rickaby, 22, Portage. Rickaby was booked into the Dane County Jail on Monday on a tentative charge of second degree sexual assault and false imprisonment. The charges stem from an early Monday morning assault at 21 N. Park St.

Unlike many who take courses during UW-Madison?s summer session, Peter Owen hasn?t spent any hot evenings catching up on his studies while sipping a cold beer on the Memorial Union Terrace.

Owen is a 24-year-old first lieutenant stationed in Iraq with the 724th Engineer Battalion of the Wisconsin Army National Guard. So instead of sitting near the shore of Lake Mendota while finishing coursework, he?s knocked off some required readings and listened to recorded lectures on an MP3 player while seated in the back of a military transport aircraft waiting to take off on another mission.

A 22-year-old Portage man could be a suspect in nine sexual assaults on the UW-Madison campus and Downtown between Sunday night and Monday morning, police said. All of the female victims reported being groped by a man and gave similar descriptions of their assailant, said Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain. Many of the victims are college-age women, he said. UW-Madison Police Sgt. Ruth Ewing said one victim is a university employee.

It?s hard to believe, but the he University of Wisconsin-Madison Pre-college Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence (PEOPLE) program is already 10 years old.

?We started in 1999 with about 66 students,? says PEOPLE program executive director Jacqueline DeWalt.?Right now, we have 1350 students in the program ? elementary through undergrad degree. For those students that have completed our program we actually have 100 percent high school graduation, and 94 percent of our students go onto higher education, with about 50-55 percent coming here to UW-Madison and another 14 percent going to other UW system schools and another 30 percent going to other universities.?

A Downtown Madison church is stepping in to ease a chronic late-summer problem ? university students forced into a night of homelessness because they?re between apartment leases.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is the #12 party school in the nation, according to the Princeton Review.

The University of Georgia has won a national title this year — top party school.