The student suing the University of Wisconsin Sigma Chi fraternity, national headquarters and insurers for an alleged rape in the fall of 2008 is seeking more than $10 million in damages, according to documents filed recently in the Milwaukee County Circuit Court.
The president of the University of Wisconsin system is challenging state campuses to find new ways to increase the number of graduates over the next decade.
University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly is challenging campuses to find new ways to graduate more students as part of a plan to increase the number of degree-holders in the state.
Chancellor Biddy Martin returned from a trip to China last night, bringing stories and new initiatives with her, including a new partnership between the University of Wisconsin and the Beijing University of Sport that will bring Chinese Olympian student-athletes to spend six months studying at UW.
About two blocks northwest of Brothers Bar, the austere Humanities Building houses UW-Madisonâ??s School of Music. The building itself stifles the music, officials say. Heating ducts rattle the walls and ceiling during sensitive moments in concerts. The full orchestra violates fire code when it squeezes onto the Mills Concert Hall stage. Windows arenâ??t insulated. Ceilings are peeling. Over the 40-plus years since the school moved into Humanities, about 30 faculty grew to 50. Two hundred students made way for 450. There isnâ??t enough office, storage, practice or performance space.
Just blocks from the UW-Madison campus, Brothers Bar and Grill is a classic college tavern with sports-crazed patrons, 10-cent chicken wings and a line out the door on Saturday nights. But it now stands in the way of the very institution that has been feeding it a steady stream of customers over the years. The university has moved to take the land on which the bar sits at 704 University Ave. to build a new School of Music performance hall.Bar owners Marc and Eric Fortney sued the university, sparking a debate about when itâ??s appropriate and legal for government institutions to condemn private property for public purpose. The two sidesâ?? arguments will be aired in court during a trial scheduled for this week. Given the schoolâ??s ambitious long-term building plans that seep into surrounding neighborhoods, the results of this case could inform the way UW-Madison acquires property for future expansion. “If this works for them now, why wouldnâ??t they use it again?” asked UW-Madison political science professor Donald Downs.
Two years have now passed since a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was killed, but police insist the case is still “solvable.” Brittney Zimmermann was stabbed to death in her apartment on April 2, 2008.
A column by William Barnes, a junior majoring in communication arts, and Porter Pearce, a junior majoring in political science and religious studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Both are interns at One Wisconsin Now, a statewide liberal advocacy organization.
The UW Varsity Bandâ??s annual Spring Concert is a show like no other. This month, the musicians will show their audience everything theyâ??ve accomplished over the past year. Itâ??s also a chance to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of “On Wisconsin,” the U.W.â??s fight song.  Â
It will be 2 years Friday since UW Madison student Brittany Zimmermann was murdered in her off-campus apartment, and Madison Police are still looking for her killer. Investigators and Zimmermannâ??s family believe someone knows who did it, and that has brought a renewed plea by her parents for donations to a reward fund.
Like a growing number of college students across the country, Teresa Welsh considered spending a semester studying abroad.
â??But Iâ??ve heard from a lot of people that you basically go and hang out with other Americans or English speakers, live in a dorm with others like you and donâ??t necessarily integrate yourself with the culture or students in your classes,â? says Welsh, who is set to graduate from UW-Madison in May with a double major in journalism and Latin American studies. â??Thatâ??s not what I wanted.â?
Someone knows who killed UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann in her West Doty Street apartment two years ago. That belief – held by members of Zimmermannâ??s family since she was slain April 2, 2008, in the middle of the day on a normally bustling street – is shared by detectives still trying to find her killer, said Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain. But no one has come forward with that information, prompting renewed pleas by Zimmermannâ??s parents for contributions to a reward fund.
Administrators at the University of Wisconsin-Stout are trying to crack down on alcohol abuse after six students died in alcohol related incidents in the last two years.Chancellor Charles Sorensen informed students and staff of the new measures in an email Tuesday, saying “strong and decisive steps are necessary to address a serious situation,” and he said the school would begin taking disciplinary actions against students who abuse alcohol.
The Memorial Union Terrace will open officially on Sunday, April 4.
“She was everything. She was my only daughter. She was my best friend. I cannot even imagine that Iâ??m gonna have to live the rest of my life without her.”
Only on NBC15, Brittany Zimmermannâ??s mother pleads for help in finding her daughterâ??s killer.
Some Wisconsin parents are complaining that state grants for college tuition are falling far short of what they thought Gov. Jim Doyle had promised, the Associated Press reported. The Wisconsin Covenant program has enrolled 50,000 eighth graders over the past three years, but Governor Doyle, a Democrat, only recently announced details of the grants it would pay. Those range from $250 to $2,500, based on family income. At a legislative hearing on Monday, some parents complained that they had thought the grants would cover the entire cost of college.
The director of the Wisconsin Covenant program acknowledged Monday sheâ??s heard from “a lot of parents” who believed it would give their children a free ride to college, but insisted that was never the intent. Gov. Jim Doyle proposed the Covenant in 2006 to motivate students to attend college and help them afford it. He promised “the neediest families will receive grants to pay the costs of education” and others would receive a mix of loans, grants and work study opportunities. Sharon Billings, who runs a service with her husband that helps parents plan for their childrenâ??s higher education, testified Monday that sheâ??s heard from many parents upset about the size of the state grants. The “word on the street” was that students would get a full ride for fulfilling the Covenant requirements of a B average and good citizenship during high school, Billings said. Covenant Director Shannon Loredo responded that she had heard from a lot of parents with similar comments, but the Covenant “was never intended to be the only piece.”
MADISON, Wis. — This week marks the two-year anniversary since the death of University of Wisconsin-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann in her downtown apartment.
For Madison police investigators, the Doty Street house where the 21-year-old lived and was killed serves as a reminder. Much like the public perception of their investigation, the building is unchanged from two years ago.
â??People just want to know the answer, so I do appreciate that side of it as well,â? said Police Capt. Mary Schauf. â??We want to do a quality investigation, but we also want the right person arrested.â?
Schauf said that this case is far from cold. In fact, she said detectives work on it daily and there have been occasions that they thought they might have a break.
For years, the rallying cry for education parity was on behalf of girls. This culminated in 1992, when the American Association of University Women reported that female students werenâ??t being called in class as often as boys, werenâ??t participating in math and science classes like their male peers, and thus, werenâ??t likely to pursue those fields in college.
Schools caught on, and for the most part, the campaign worked. But a curious thing happened on the way to Jane earning her chemistry degree â?? the boys got left behind. Over the past decades, public high schools report that more girls than boys are taking Advanced Placement courses, including calculus and biology. And your typical college campus is nearly 60 percent female.
For several University of Wisconsin-Madison students, this yearâ??s spring break was an opportunity to skip the traditional beach parties in Florida or Mexico in order to spend their time volunteering at parks, schools and nursing homes in six cities – including a stop Monday in Auburn.
Laura Phelan, a freshman at the university, said the students have already stopped in South Bend, Ind., and Pittsburgh and will visit Bethel, N.Y., Philadelphia and Washington D.C. when they are done volunteering.The trip is part of a nationwide Pay it Forward Tour meant to encourage college students to spend their spring break volunteering in local communities.
MADISON, Wis. — The director of the Wisconsin Covenant program said sheâ??s heard from “a lot of parents” who mistakenly believed it would give their children a free ride to college.
An Assembly committee has voted to significantly enhance Wisconsins higher education benefits for veterans.
LA CROSSE, Wis. — A University of Wisconsin-La Crosse student has been found sleeping in another personâ??s car after he was reported missing after leaving a bar, prompting a nearly six-hour search.
The La Crosse Tribune reported Sunday that the 22-year-old student was last seen at 1 a.m. leaving the State Room bar downtown. He had told friends he was walking home, but never made it.
APPLETON (WKOW) — A tragic end to spring break for seven Wisconsin college students returning home over the weekend, after a deadly crash in Missouri killed one and injured six others.
Brittany Zimmermannâ??s mother shares a personal nightmare in hopes others will share what they know about her daughterâ??s murder.
….Madisonâ??s point man on the census, planning staff member Brian Grady, says the city is working with members of its Complete Count Committee and the organizations it represents to get an accurate count of the cityâ??s population. Every person not counted means the loss of an estimated $1,000 a year in federal funding to the community, he says.
The city has focused on census tracts that had a low response rate in the 2000 census, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, South Park Street, Fish Hatchery Road near the Beltline and Allied Drive. Mail-in returns of the 2000 census for those areas ranged from 60 to 70 percent, compared to 81 percent for the city as a whole.
WASHINGTON (AP) – More needy college students will have access to bigger Pell Grants, and future borrowers of government loans will have an easier time repaying them, under a vast overhaul of higher education aid that Congress passed Thursday and sent to President Barack Obama.
The legislation, an Obama domestic priority overshadowed by his health care victory, represents the most sweeping rewrite of college assistance programs in four decades. It strips banks of their role as middlemen in federal student loans and puts the government in charge.
ST. PAUL, Minn. â?? After every meal with his teammates on the University of Wisconsin menâ??s hockey team, Ryan McDonagh does the same thing.
Whether itâ??s a breakfast on the road or a dinner after practice at the Kohl Center, the junior defenseman and tri-captain walks over to Mike Cerniglia, the oft-harried director of hockey operations, shakes his hand and says thank you before leaving the room.
Itâ??s a daily display of respect and appreciation that doesnâ??t happen everywhere and doesnâ??t surprise anyone who knows McDonagh.
Eleven Chinese student-athletes, including two Olympics gold medal winners, will be coming to study at UW-Madison this summer and fall.
The first-of-its-kind collaboration between UW-Madison and the Beijing University of Sport is being announced on Saturday by UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin and Yang Hua, head of the Beijing University of Sport.
Weâ??ve got to do more to save our young people from alcohol abuse. Itâ??s a killer.
More than 1,800 college students die each year from alcohol, and 500,000 students are injured by it, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
By day, these students have curious, textured, challenging minds. By night, too many are getting black-out drunk, mixing shots with potent drugs, and randomly hooking up.
Quoted: John Bechtol, a University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant dean of students.
As spring break approaches, many college students will head to the beach for fun in the sun.However, University of Wisconsin-Madison student Gergens Polynice has a different plan. Polynice will visit his home country of Haiti to assess the damages caused by the devastating earthquake that struck on Jan. 12.
â??My goal is to make a difference in the lives of some people in Haiti,â? Polynice says, a graduate student in Latin America, Caribbean and Iberian Studies.
UW Chancellor Biddy Martin announced the first projects to receive funding from the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates second round of proposals Wednesday.
A University of Wisconsin Law School mock trial team defeated Georgetown University Sunday to win the 2010 National Student Trial Advocacy Competition.
Though it has been almost two years since the University of Wisconsin campus was shaken by the murder of junior Brittany Zimmermann, the Madison Police Department are still confident they will find her murderer.
University of Wisconsin officials announced the first recipients of funds from the second round of proposals for the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates Wednesday.
The Sweet 16 of the NCAA menâ??s basketball tournament tips off Thursday night.
In the spirit of March Madness, UW-Madison graduate Stuart Rojstaczer put together a group of 16 colleges and universities — from public commuter schools to elite privates — that grade tougher than their rivals. The post also includes a chart on grade inflation by athletic conference.
“I saw you â?¦ looking like a dork. But I donâ??t care how dorky you can be. I just want you to come be dorky with me, babe.” “I saw you â?¦sitting by yourself and I desperately want to talk to you â?¦but Iâ??m too incredibly awkward to actually talk to you AND be successful â?¦but donâ??t worry, Iâ??ll start trying when I get back from Spring Break ;)” This, says Keone Hon, a junior at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is what happens when the romantic impulses of the college student meet the declarative instincts of the social media generation.
Recent reports reveal that Nike, a UW-Madison licensee, violated several workersâ?? rights laws in India and Honduras.
Not every UW-Madison team struggled over the weekend. The University of Wisconsin Law Schoolâ??s mock trial team defeated Georgetown Sunday to win the championship at the National Student Trial Advocacy Competition, which was held in New Orleans. Itâ??s the first national title for the team, which was captained by Andrew Rima.
After receiving initial approval from the Urban Design Commission, representatives of the Edgewater Hotel expansion project faced off with the Plan Commission Monday night in hopes of receiving approval for the redevelopment and construction on the Edgewater.
Reactions to the passage of a significant health care reform bill Sunday remain divided in Wisconsin, with some heralding the bill as a long-awaited insurance solution while others claim it is a dangerous move away from American ideals.
Somewhat lost in the House of Representativesâ?? approval of the health care reform bill on Sunday night was its vote in favor of President Obamaâ??s overhaul of the federal student loan system. Under the measure, fees paid to private banks as intermediaries would be eliminated; the maximum value of Pell grants would rise â?? though not by as much as in previous versions â?? and college graduates in low-paying jobs would have an easier time paying back loans.
Tuition for technical college students will increase by 4.5 percent if the Wisconsin Technical College System Board approves proposed 2010-2011 rates Tuesday. The change means students taking a full load of liberal arts courses at a Wisconsin technical college would pay roughly the same tuition as a student attending one of the 13 UW Colleges, the University of Wisconsin Systemâ??s freshman and sophomore campuses. Each would pay about $4,270 per year.
The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire is among schools canceling student trips to Mexico because of continuing violence there. The universityâ??s Center for Service Learning has canceled a spring break trip to Durango, Mexico.
In a throwback to a more politically active era on the University of Wisconsin campus, more than 200 people attended a teach-in Friday night at the Pyle Center covering the United Statesâ?? current involvement in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
A University of Wisconsin student was allegedly sexually assaulted on Langdon Street last Thursday, the second incident involving a female UW student to take place in the area in recent weeks.
The University of Wisconsin Police Department is still searching for the party responsible for spraying graffiti on several campus buildings last week.
HOBART, Wis. (AP) â?? The family of a 21-year-old Wisconsin woman says she died in her sleep while on a spring break trip to Florida.
Marie Sumnicht says her daughter, Julia Sumnicht of Hobart, died this week while visiting Miami.The Green Bay Press-Gazette says tests to determine the cause of death could take several weeks. Julia Sumnicht was a junior at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
….Stopping rape on campus may require a few extraordinarily strong survivors to file Title IX charges against their schools. It will require visionary campus administrators who care more about the safety of students than they do about their public image. It will require parents, students and alumni to demand real change. We will all need to recognize that, because the veil of silence must be pulled back for the real work to begin, the campuses we love may have to suddenly appear less safe if theyâ??re going to actually become safer.
An innovative UW-Oshkosh project will help students who dropped out of college — but had at least 45 credits — complete an associate of arts degree, according to a university news release. The program, called the Graduation Project, is designed to increase the number of degree-holders in the state. The idea is to reach students who were in good academic standing, but left college before getting a degree.
Cancun, Panama City and Miami are some of the traditional university break destination spots, but Costa Rica? This Latin American country, with its high level of biodiversity, has been a tourist destination for years. Now, with ticket prices cheaper than some domestic flights, its popularity among university students is growing. For $280 and a passport stamp, the door to a tropical paradise opened for me and my roommates during our UW-Madison winter break.
Applications for admission to the UW Colleges – the 13 freshman and sophomore campuses of the University of Wisconsin System – are up 10 percent over the same time last year. As of March 17, UW Colleges had received 5,040 applications, up from 4,576 one year ago.
Walter Pridham didnâ??t so much sweep his future wife off her feet as bowl her over.It was 1952, and they were both singing in the choir at Pres House, the Presbyterian student chapel on the UW-Madison campus. He was 21 and in the Air Force, stationed at Truax Field in Madison. She was an 18-year-old nursing student. After practice one night, he came around a blind corner from the coat room and crashed into her. As he picked her up, he invited her to coffee, thus beginning their courtship. Pres House has rarely been far from their thoughts ever since. Now, 58 years later, the Pridhams have donated $72,000 to replace the pipe organ in the chapel. Of the total, $22,000 is an outright gift, and $50,000 is a matching grant, part of an effort to raise $125,000 for the Pres House music program.
A University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire student from Minnesota is dead after accidentally falling from an elevated walkway at an apartment complex. Police say 22-year-old Kyle Joswiak of Inver Grove Heights, Minn., either climbed onto a safety rail and fell or tried to jump over the safety rail to the parking lot below.
Plans for the 2010 Mifflin Street Block Party are beginning to take shape and include more live music, beer and bathrooms.
The U.S. Census Bureau provided students with key information about the 2010 Census Wednesday on Library Mall.
University of Wisconsin freshman applications for fall 2010 bounced back after a sharp decline last academic year, in contrast to some universities in the UW System that saw a decrease in applications.
Until he took a statistics class on it this spring, Christian Reyes barely knew what the U.S. Census was, much less that he has a legal obligation to return a completed form in Pittsburgh, where he is a freshman at Carnegie Mellon University. Now that he has become a bit of an expert on the topic, he suspects most students are similarly unaware. “Even the people who are supposed to know donâ??t know,” says Reyes, 18, who is helping encourage participation in the 2010 count as a class project. He was surprised to find that some student leaders and resident advisers had facts wrong.
It sounds like an impossible mission: find 2,400 people who will take an hour-and-a-half out of their day to help prepare 500,000 meals to send to Haiti, over a three-day period in April. Whatâ??s more, each volunteer is being asked to donate $25 to help pay for the food for survivors of the Jan. 12 earthquake that hit the poverty-stricken nation. In the past six weeks, a committee of nine has been created to steer the event, and more than half a dozen businesses already have committed to make contributions.ATo get the volunteers, committee members are contacting friends, posting information on Facebook and spreading the word on the UW-Madison campus.
