People flocked to the UW-Madison campus Friday night to dance the night away… literally. The second annual Wisconsin Dance Marathon ran from 7:00 p.m. Friday to 9:00 a.m. Saturday as part of a fundraising effort to support the American Family Childrenâ??s Hospital.
Category: Campus life
Campus sexual assaults underreported, women face barriers to notifying authorities (WisconsinWatch.org)
At University of Wisconsin campuses, sexual assaults remain seriously underreported and many women still face barriers to notifying authorities. Most victims do not report crimes. The statistics are inconsistent. And most rapists go free.
UW-Madison Officials Confirm Safety Of Students Studying In Chile
University of Wisconsin-Madison Officials said all of its students studying in Chile this semester are safe following a massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake early Saturday. The students are in Chile with the International Academic Programs exchange program, as well as programs affiliated with the Wisconsin School of Business and College of Engineering.
UW Looking For New Interpretations Of “On Wisconsin!”
Got your own cool take on the “On Wisconsin!” fight song? The University of Wisconsin-Madison wants to hear it.
First Wave hip-hop group to compete internationally
UW-Madisonâ??s First Wave hip-hop dance performance group has been selected to participate in Contacting the World 2010, an international theater project that marks First Waveâ??s debut on the world stage.
Students develop jet fuel from organics
University of Wisconsin engineers have made a breakthrough in technology that would allow food waste to be converted into clean jet fuel.
Grass Roots: Park plan invites UW students to be part of the neighborhood
Kudos to the Greenbush Neighborhood Association for getting involved at the start in making the most of Klief Park.
The group is circulating some statements on what members want to see at the park as the city begins to develop a master plan to improve it. The park at Milton and South Charter Streets is a favorite with families — and UW students — who live nearby in the â??Bush. The group wants to keep many of the features packed into the city-block sized park: playground, basketball court, open lawns, while making improvements that show the park “is cared-for and valued by the community and is welcoming to all.” What to add? New play equipment, a water-jet kiddie cooler, benches for adults watching children, accessible walkways.
E.J. Dionne: Dems can’t afford to ignore the Millennials
WASHINGTON â?? Young Americans are the linchpin of a new progressive era in American politics. So why arenâ??t Democrats paying more attention to them?
Advertisement linked to Holocaust denial causes stir for Badger Herald
The online ad, a small text link, is easy to miss. It reads, â??The Holocaust Question: The Power of Taboo.â? The advertisement on the Badger Herald website leads to a site denying the Holocaust and the UW-Madison student newspaper is now taking heat for running it.
Grad school divided cannot stand
An ad hoc committee of the Faculty Senate released its report Monday in response to proposals from Chancellor Biddy Martin and Provost Paul DeLuca, who intended to substantially restructure the UW-Madison Graduate School. Administrators sought to divide the graduate education and research sections of the Graduate School into more separately defined entities and create a new administrative structure to accommodate them. Martin and DeLuca both said restructuring was needed so UW could remain competitive in securing multi-million dollar federal grants, fix problems in research safety compliance and better administer UW-Madisonâ??s ever-expanding research capabilities.
Searching for buried hope: UW students work to keep Haiti fresh in our minds
The latest estimated death toll from Haitiâ??s recent earthquake is 212,000, according Haitiâ??s prime minister. The United Nations has reported that more than 300,000 are injured and three million have been affected worldwide by the earthquake.
UW community strong enough to face ad, reject it
Over the course of the last week, we have been inundated with comments of the most reprehensible quality. Anti-Semitism was bandied about in our comments section for our story on Alpha Epsilon Pi. This spurred a dialogue between Dean of Students Lori Berquam, Hillel Executive Director Greg Steinberger and the University of Wisconsin-Madison student body over appropriate speech and the need to repudiate anti-Semitic speech in all forms.
Bill would regulate cards
An assembly committee had a public hearing Wednesday regarding a bill that would put regulations on university and credit card issuer marketing campaigns that target students.
UW students experiment with the dramatic art of kabuki theater
At a recent rehearsal in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Vilas Hall basement, it took more than an hour to help Robert V. Phan into his costume.
Dressers put on five layers, including a padded vest, wrist gauntlets and a cape with red and orange flames licking at the hem. His sleeves hung wide, two feet from his arms, and his legs were hidden beneath a straight, floor-length skirt.
Julie Jarzemsky: Back fair trade products at campus eateries
Dear Editor: Compared to Madison as a whole, the UW-Madison delis severely lack fair trade, organic, and local products. Being part of a city full of fair trade establishments like Just Coffee, SERRV, and the farmersâ?? market, UW seems like a natural candidate for these products. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
On Campus: ‘On, Wisconsin,’ in rap form?
Most of us know the brassy rendition performed by the UW Marching Band.But could “On, Wisconsin!” be reimagined as a rap, a guitar solo, or an a capella ballad? People are invited to perform their own version of UW-Madisonâ??s fight song, “On, Wisconsin!” at an open mic night Thursday at 8 p.m. at the Memorial Union. This year is the 100th anniversary of the song.
Lax Enforcement of Title IX In Campus Sexual Assault Cases (Center for Public Integrity)
It took nine months in 2005 and 2006 for the University of Wisconsin at Madison to contemplate, then reject filing disciplinary charges against a crew team member accused of rape.
Enough time for the accused student to start his fourth year at the university, compete in another rowing season, and glide into another spring as a celebrated college athlete.
Enough time, too, for an enraged encounter with his accuser, Laura Dunn, at a fraternity party. â??He started threatening me,â? said Dunn. â??When he hit the wall, he used his whole forearm, and just slammed within inches of my head.â?
Morgridge Center looking to restructure after advisory board suspended
On Feb. 2, 2010, the members of the Morgridge Center Advisory Board received an e-mail informing them the board had been â??temporarily suspendedâ? by the Morgridge Center staff.
Obama to speak to Michigan graduates
Although the University of Wisconsin Spring 2010 commencement speaker may not be as esteemed as President Barack Obama, who will be speaking for the University of Michigan, UW speakers are chosen with student dollars in mind.
Despite Madisonâ??s relative affluence, poverty rate growing rapidly
The doors at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul food pantry on Fish Hatchery Road donâ??t open for another 30 minutes, but a line has already formed.They wait quietly, for the most part, this rainbow coalition of all ages: African-American grandmothers, Latino families, young women with pierced tongues, disabled seniors and working fathers.
What they have in common is poverty.
….Measuring poverty in college towns can be somewhat misleading, researchers caution, since many students live below the poverty line and are counted by the U.S. Census Bureau as officially â??poorâ? even if they come from wealthy families.
Quoted: Tim Smeeding, director of the UW-Madison Institute for Research on Poverty and professor of public affairs
Why Minority Students Don’t Graduate From College
Noted: At the University of Wisconsinâ??Madison, the gap has been roughly halved over the last three years. The university has poured resources into peer counseling to help students from inner-city schools adjust to the rigor and faster pace of a university classroomâ??and also to help minority students overcome the stereotype that they are less qualified. Wisconsin has a “laserlike focus” on building up student skills in the first three months, according to vice provost Damon Williams.
Officials: Tests Show Meningitis Cases Not Connected
Public health officials said that final state test results indicate that both of the recent meningitis deaths were due the same type of meningococcal disease but different strains. Officials said that confirms the belief that Haleyem M. Thorpe, 16, of Mount Horeb High School and Neha Suri, a University of Wisconsin-Madison student from Singapore, were not in contact with each other.
Campus Rape Victims: A Struggle For Justice
A college campus isnâ??t the first place that comes to mind in a discussion about violent crime.
But research funded by the U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 1 out of 5 college women will be sexually assaulted. NPRâ??s investigative unit teamed up with journalists at the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) to look at the failure of schools â?? and the government agency that oversees them â?? to prevent these assaults and then to resolve these cases.
When a woman is sexually assaulted on a college campus, her most common reaction is to keep it quiet. Laura Dunn says she stayed quiet about what happened in April 2004 at the end of her freshman year at the University of Wisconsin.
H1N1 now virtually non-existent on campus
With cases of Swine flu among University of Wisconsin students becoming virtually nonexistent in recent weeks, Dane County and Public Health-Madison jointly released a report Monday detailing efforts to immunize large parts of the Dane County population.
Bielema suspends 3 Badger football players indefinitely
University of Wisconsin football head coachoach Bret Bielema recently announced the suspension of three football players due to an alleged violation of team rules.
Anna Emmerich: Edgewood shouldnâ??t worry so much about diversity
Dear Editor: Speaking as a UW-Madison student, I was shocked to read about Edgewoodâ??s diversity issue (â??At Edgewood College, a surge in minority enrollmentâ?). The experiences Iâ??ve stumbled upon here in a single semester have allowed me to meet many unique individuals of all ethnicities. Itâ??s almost as if â??diversityâ? swallowed me whole.
Campus Connection: Off to college after just two years of high school?
….The New York Times posted an interesting article noting that a number of public high schools in eight states are participating in a program that allows students who pass a range of tests after their sophomore year to receive their high school diploma two years early so they can enroll in a community college. None of those schools are in Wisconsin.
Those who pass these exams but who hope to one day attend a selective college such as UW-Madison can continue with college preparatory classes during their junior and senior years of high school.
UW to host fight song contest
Got your own cool take on the “On Wisconsin!” fight song? The University of Wisconsin-Madison wants to hear it. In honor of the tuneâ??s 100th anniversary, the university has invited anyone to come to the student union on Thursday to perform.
UW hockey: Thurber dismissed from team
Sophomore center Matt Thurber has been dismissed from the University of Wisconsin menâ??s hockey team. Thurber, from Beaver Dam, was charged with multiple misdemeanors Feb. 8 after an alleged incident of domestic abuse. A Madison Police Department official said officers responded to a 911 call involving a woman, described as a girlfriend or ex-girlfriend of Thurberâ??s, and cited him for battery and disorderly conduct.
UW seeks to upgrade aging, crowded fitness facilities
Over the last decade, weâ??ve redefined what it means to be healthy. No longer does sitting on the couch eating bags of 100-calorie snack packs and watching marathons of The Biggest Loser count as being health conscious. Frequent exercise and physical activity have become a necessity for many Madison residents, especially college students. But are UW-Madisonâ??s recreational facilities able to accommodate an increasingly active student population?
College-Bound Students Gather To Learn About Financial Aid
High school student got into a financial state of mind on Sunday as they sought strategies to map out their futures in higher education. Hundreds of college-bound students and their families packed a Madison College classroom for help applying for financial aid for the fall.
UW Student Celebrating the Winter Games
Evan Western is a graduate student at UW. We profiled him and his friends on Thursday, February 11 as they prepared for their trip to the Winter Games. Evan is blogging about his experience.
Baby be my Biddy: Student song serenades chancellor
As University of Wisconsin students cuddled up to their sweethearts on Valentines Day, the musicians behind the controversial â??Coastie Songâ? serenaded their own personal valentine â?? UW Chancellor Biddy Martin.
UW might be attracting fewer Merit, Wis. scholars
A sharp drop in the amount of funding awarded to the University of Wisconsin based on the number of National Merit and All-State Scholars enrolled has some officials concerned UW is having trouble attracting high-achieving students.
Thousands brave the Polar Plunge for charity
Thousands gathered at the 11th annual Polar Plunge Saturday to brave the icy waters of Lake Monona in an effort to raise money for the Special Olympics of Wisconsin.
Ticket prices to rise by $3
Single-game football tickets will cost $3 more beginning this fall after the University of Wisconsin Athletic Board approved its 2010-11 budget.
Fewer colleges printing yearbooks
RICHMOND, VA (WKOW) — Many colleges across the country have made the decision to stop printing yearbooks.
College-Bound Students Gather To Learn About Financial Aid
MADISON, Wis. — High school student got into a financial state of mind on Sunday as they sought strategies to map out their futures in higher education. Hundreds of college-bound students and their families packed a Madison College classroom for help applying for financial aid for the fall.
Making UW-Madison a food-allergy friendly campus
Prior to the start of each school year, Denise Bolduc typically sits down with four or five students who have food allergies.
The assistant food services director for UW-Madisonâ??s Division of University Housing not only goes through the six-week menu cycle with the student, pointing out specific items to avoid, but sheâ??ll introduce the student to the managers of the four dorm dining rooms, three convenience stores and deli that her division runs on campus.
UW football ticket price hikes approved; Alvarez speaks on expansion
The most important bit of news to come out of the University of Wisconsin Athletic Board meeting Friday involved a ticket price increase for Badgers football. As expected, the board unanimously approved a $3 hike for general public and student season tickets, pushing the per-game price to $42 and $22, respectively, for seven games at Camp Randall Stadium in 2010. Meanwhile, UW athletic director Barry Alvarez told board members a research firm is working on behalf of the Big Ten Conference and recently put together data on 15 schools that might prove compatible for the league, which is considering adding a 12th member.
Lucas: UW ski team tale uplifting
The University of Wisconsin is part of the U.S. Collegiate Ski & Snowboard Association. Who knew the Badgers â?? or technically the UW Hoofers and Wisconsin Union â?? were fielding nationally competitive Alpine skiing and snowboarding teams? â??We donâ??t get a ton of coverage,â? acknowledged Dakota Dux, who is a co-coach along with Kevin Houlihan. Both are former UW skiers.
Image : Liz Waters food
The ingredients in every dish served by University Housing will soon be available online. Here a student selects food from a salad bar in the cafeteria at Elizabeth Waters Hall.
Carthage to go ahead with speech, despite protest
KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) – Carthage College in Kenosha says it has no plans to cancel a speaker opposed to homosexuality.
More than 400 students signed a petition objecting to a regional conference of an evangelical Christian group called “Intervarsity” this weekend.
Student who drowned in La Crosse was intoxicated
The La Crosse County medical examiner said the college student who drowned in the Mississippi River this week had a blood alcohol level more than three times the legal limit.
Side dishes
UW-Madison dietetic and nutrition students will be this weekâ??s guest breakfast team, with help from chef David McKercher, Mermaid Café, at the â??Taste of the Marketâ? Saturday at the Dane County Farmersâ?? Market from 8:30 to 11 a.m. at the Madison Senior Center, 330 W. Mifflin St. Farmersâ?? market hours are 8 a.m. to noon.
UW-Madison Churchill scholar is the only one surprised at award
Having near-perfect grades and an impressive cadre of coursework and research helped Daniel Lecoanet win the prestigious Churchill Scholarship last week. The award is given out to only 14 students across the country each year. The first UW-Madison student to win it in 30 years, Lecoanet will spend the 2010-2011 academic year studying mathematics at the University of Cambridge, with expenses up to $50,000 paid.
Student group serenades UW chancellor on YouTube
UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin got a special Valentine from some students this month: a song in her honor. “My Biddy” riffs off the chancellorâ??s nickname, which is also a slang term for women.
History of the conflict
The dispute between Madison and Dane County over the 911 center is not a new development. The tension intensified in April 2008 after the 911 center mishandled a call made from the cell phone of UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann around the time she was killed in her West Doty Street apartment.
MIU may fund new electronic learning center
A multi-million dollar electronic learning center was one of the 31 proposals recommended for Madison Initiative for Undergraduates funding to Chancellor Biddy Martin Tuesday.
Minority, overall 6-year grad rate on rise at University of Wisconsin
The rate of minority students graduating in six years is on the rise at the University of Wisconsin, corresponding to an overall increase in graduation rates.
MIU proposals will need more debate
With the 31 top-ranked Madison Initiative for Undergraduates proposals in the hands of University of Wisconsin Chancellor Biddy Martin, UW officials have begun the next step in the process of choosing which proposals to fund.
The 11th Frame: Live webcast of major college tourney this weekend
The 41st Backhaul Direct Hoosier Classic this weekend will feature one of the largest fields in college bowling history and the United States Bowling Congress announced that it will provide wire-to-wire live webcasting on BOWL.com.
On Campus: Name that Union!
You could be the one to name the new south campus union.Associated Students of Madison and Wisconsin Union will take submissions beginning Friday.
Hilary Knight’s dream at age 10 becomes reality now at 20
Hilary Knight was not yet 10 when she was in a Maine emergency room, paging through a magazine while waiting to get her knee lanced because she had fallen on barnacles.
In it was a story about the U.S. womenâ??s hockey team, featuring smiling Cammi Granato and teammates Angela Ruggiero and Jenny Potter.
Schools changing student loan options (WLUK-TV, Green Bay)
Some colleges are trying to cut out the go-between when it comes to federal student loans. UW-Oshkosh is the latest school to require students to borrow any new loans from the government, not banks.
Some other schools in the process of changing to direct loans are UW-Green Bay, Ripon College, and Fox Valley Tech. The University of Wisconsin-Madison has already made some of the changes to direct loans.
Tom Bush: Ethics program supported by Rotary
The Rotary Club of Madisonâ??s Ethics Symposium, to be held Friday, provides high school students a chance to discuss ways to think through ethical issues. A group of talented UW-Madison students, known as the First Wave Spoken Word and Urban Arts Learning Community, will open the symposium with an interactive performance.
UW frat suspended after complaints
A UW-Madison fraternity has been suspended from Greek membership at the university after Overture Center staff complained about the fraternityâ??s behavior during a fall gala. Alpha Epsilon Pi was suspended by the Greek Judicial Board, a student self-governing body, on Monday, said Ashkon Kiarashi, chief justice.
Campus Connection: Help name UW’s new south campus union
The Wisconsin Union and the Associated Students of Madison are about to start taking suggestions for what to name UW-Madisonâ??s new south campus union, which is currently under construction and slated to open in the spring of 2011.
On the surface, this sounds like a great idea — giving students and others a say in naming the new, $95 million facility. But is it?
On campus, is heckling free speech? Or just rude?
Every few minutes during a talk last week at the University of California at Irvine, the same thing happened. A student would get up, shout something critical of Israel, be applauded by some in the audience, and be led away by police. In the end, 11 students were arrested and they may also face charges of violating university rules.
UW-L closing the achievement gap
The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse is closing the achievement gap between minority students and their classmates. UW-Lâ??s gap in six-year graduation rates between minority and Caucasian students closed by about 5 percentage points within five years, from a 22 percent difference in 2002 to a 17 percent difference in 2007, said Carmen Wilson, special assistant to the chancellor.