Category: Campus life

To land a spot in the UW Marching Band, Matt Endres made it through the physically exhausting tryout week. He nailed his audition. He beat out other hopeful trumpet players. And he did it with just two fingers on each hand. Thatâ??s quite a feat, considering the highly selective UW Marching Band turns away about 100 people who audition every year, and director Mike Leckrone isnâ??t exactly known for his leniency.

Eight out of 10 sexual assaults reported at the University of Wisconsin-Superior since 2004 were anonymous reports â?? a policy that protects victims but also makes it almost impossible to prosecute the cases.

From shoes to uniforms, basketballs to duffle bags, the Phoenix womenâ??s basketball team sports the Nike swoosh. UW-Green Bay has had a relationship with Nike for the past 15 years, but they donâ??t a contract within the specific sports. Instead, some of the coaches, like womenâ??s basketball coach Matt Bollant, have their own contracts with Nike.

Sports and college have a long, interwoven history. Athletics can be a major source of revenue for a university, and the campusâ?? sporting teams can be a major draw for prospective students. Given this deep connection between athletics and academics, UW-Madisonâ??s decision to end a licensing agreement with Nike Inc. because of concerns about labor practices is a bold and commendable move.

As a UW-Madison student and local citizen born and raised in Madison, Iâ??m troubled by the St. Paulâ??s University Catholic Center proposal. It entails a 14-story facility, including a religious learning center, a chapel and student apartments.

The U.S. Census is making a push among area college students, who typically have lagged in returning forms for the once-a-decade count. Theyâ??ve set up booths at campus events, asked instructors to make announcements and sent out mass e-mails to convince students to fill out a 2010 census form.

Student activists at the University of Wisconsin (UW) in Madison won an important victory for labor rights when Chancellor Biddy Martin announced that the university will revoke Nikeâ??s authorization to sell university apparel in response to the companyâ??s labor violations abroad.

A man upset he couldnâ??t attend a private party at a UW-Madison fraternity on Saturday night took it out on cars parked outside and on windows of the fraternity house, police said.

Nine cars parked in a lot at the Delta Upsilon fraternity house, 644 N. Frances St., were scratched with a key or other sharp instrument, and two windows of the house were broken, according to Madison police.

With five days left for people to return their census forms, Wisconsin is leading the nation with a 77 percent participation rate. And starting Tuesday about 40 census workers called enumerators were squeezing more completed forms from one of Madisonâ??s lowest-participation areas – UW-Madison student housing. “Our enumerators and crew members will be swarming the campus,” said Patrick Ryan, who manages the Census Bureauâ??s 10-county Madison region. Most residents received census forms in the mail, but in UW-Madison dormitories, the forms were placed in dorm mailboxes Monday, said John Lucas, a university spokesman.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has spent thousands of dollars encouraging students to vote this week to raise their fees by $108 per year for a new fitness center, according to a review by The Associated Press. The $31,000 campaign by the universityâ??s Division of Recreational Sports included funding for a student organization lobbying for the project, NatUP.

Itâ??s a vote thatâ??ll last 30 years.UW students will be asked to vote this week on raising fees to pay for an expansion to the Natatorium, one of the student gyms on campus.

After the sixth alcohol-connected student death in two years, Charles Sorensen had had enough.Sorensen, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Stout, penned a memo to the entire campus on March 30, informing students that he planned to redouble efforts to curb alcohol abuse on and around the campus.

The UW System Board of Regents unanimously approved a measure Friday that requires state universities to seek student input when raising differential tuition costs.

Itâ??s unlikely that theyâ??ll reveal any substantial spoilers about how the epic television series “Lost” will end (in only five more episodes!). When “Lost” co-writers and executive producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis visit UW-Madison next Wednesday, theyâ??ll more likely share how they went from UW-Madison students to major players in show business. The two graduated with degrees in communication arts and, prior to “Lost,” wrote and produced various television shows, including “Felicity.”

Members of Madisonâ??s Polish community lit candles, prayed and sang the Polish national anthem Saturday in a hastily arranged remembrance for the 97 people – including Polandâ??s president and religious and military leaders – who died earlier in the day in a plane crash in Russia. Arranged by the UW-Madison Polish Student Association and the Polish Heritage Club, about 40 people met at Library Mall before walking to the Capitol. Many carried candles or Polish flags or wore clothes with the countryâ??s colors.

University of Wisconsin campuses will be required to get student input before recommending special tuition increases but they wonâ??t need studentsâ?? permission under a policy adopted Friday. During a meeting in Fond du Lac, the Board of Regents approved a policy spelling out the process campuses must follow before implementing extra tuition increases. UW-Madison, UW-Eau Claire and UW-La Crosse have been granted approval to hike undergraduate tuition in order to pay for hiring more faculty and improving services. Individual academic programs, including the UW-Madison business and engineering schools, also have received such permission.

Students at Wisconsin universities and colleges may be able to get their undergraduate degrees after only three years, if a report released Friday by a partnership of statewide organizations gains support.

Students within the University of Wisconsin System will have greater say in the revision of differential tuition hike policies after the Board of Regents approved new guidelines at its Friday meeting in Fond du Lac.

Like the 17,000 or so runners at the start of the GO! St. Louis marathon, half-marathon and marathon relay on Sunday, Elliot Bennett of Madison, Wis., has prepared to push himself farther and faster. Heâ??s running his first marathon.

A group of University of Wisconsin-Madison students held a hunger strike on State Street this week.

The shocking plane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski is being recognized in Madison.The Polish Heritage Club and the University of Wisconsin-Madisonâ??s Polish Student Association walked down State Street Saturday, lighting candles in honor of the victims.

The University of Wisconsin-Stout chancellor is promising to get tough with students who have numerous alcohol-related violations _ even if they happened off campus. Chancellor Charles Sorensen says suspension is among the possibilities for students who have numerous underage drinking citations, repeatedly use fake IDs or host house parties.

One out of every four women in America experience some type of domestic violence within their lifetimes, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

To raise awareness, students from the UW-Madison School of Social Work-Community Agencies Field Seminar will host an intimate partner violence IPV fair Monday afternoon on Library Mall.

The UW Board of Regents is setting new guidelines for approving special tuition hikes.  The Board on Friday approved changes to how requests for differential tuition increases are reviewed. UW System spokesman Dave Giroux says Regents want to stress the importance of having student input on efforts to launch new initiatives on a specific campus.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is cutting ties with Nike because the company has failed to address its concerns related to the closing of two factories in Honduras.

The UW-Madison campus is in a city that hosts the nationâ??s largest producer-only farmerâ??s market, is home to three grocery co-ops, nearly 50 community gardens, and more than 200 organizations working on food or sustainability. Youâ??d think it would be easy for students here to find a variety of local and sustainable foods at campus grocery stores and dining facilities.

If you happened to pass the Microbial Sciences building on the UW-Madison campus Thursday morning, you would have noticed a strange sight: college students swinging from a tree. About a dozen students attempted to scale the swamp white oak as part of a tree-climbing lab. Itâ??s the highlight of the universityâ??s arboriculture course, where students learn to care for trees and the landscape. Yes, for one day, they were getting course credit for climbing trees.

University of Wisconsin campuses would be required to seek input from students but not their formal approval for special tuition increases under a proposed policy revision. The Board of Regents on Friday will consider the policy spelling out the process for approving differential tuition increases for specific programs and campus initiatives. UW-Madison, UW-Eau Claire and UW-La Crosse have won approval for major increases to improve their quality in recent years, but it hasnâ??t always been clear what role students play in the process.

 At least 50 University of Wisconsin students marched on Bascom Hill Thursday afternoon, demanding the school sever ties with Nike. Four months ago, Chancellor Biddy Martin issued the apparel company an ultimatum — clean up your act, or weâ??ll take away your license to do business with the UW.

A group of UW students is calling for the university to drop its contract with Nike.

Despite concerns by city officials about height and size, St. Paulâ??s University Catholic Center is proposing a striking, 14-story facility with a chapel, student center and residences on State Street Mall â?? a project Madison Catholic Diocese Bishop Robert Morlino says is more important than rebuilding the Downtown Cathedral.A redevelopment of the Catholic Center would create a “religious learning center” that would serve thousands of Catholic students at UW-Madison and the larger community, church officials said.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. And as commemorating events get underway nationwide, the Center for Public Integrityâ??s recent project, Sexual Assault on Campus: A Frustrating Search for Justice, continues to resonate in significant ways.

University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly set goals for UW campuses to increase the number of graduates by 30 percent over the next 15 years.

The University of Wisconsin System will strive to increase its graduates by 30 percent in the next 15 years, a plan that will be presented at the Board of Regents meeting in Fond du Lac today.