Category: Campus life

A University of Wisconsin at Madison student is in critical condition at UW Hospital with bacterial meningitis. Dr. Sarah Van Orman, director of University Health Services, said Monday the health service learned about the illness Jan. 25.

The decision to make the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates Oversight Committee a closed meeting may have violated state open meeting laws Monday at a meeting to review MIU proposals.

A University of Wisconsin-Madison student is being treated for bacterial meningitis and is listed in critical condition, according to school health officials.

The fourth annual UW-Madison Residence Hall Energy Competition, organized by Big Red Go Green begins Monday.

The fourth annual UW-Madison Residence Hall Energy Competition, organized by Big Red Go Green begins Monday.

Arnie “Chowhound” Chapman honed his chops as a competitive eater while growing up in an orphanage in Yonkers, N.Y. On Saturday, heâ??s bringing the National Food Court Eating Championship and the Wisconsin Collegiate Eating Championship to the new USquare Food Court at University Square.

Johnny Jones waived his right to a preliminary hearing while making his first court appearance in the fatal hit-and-run crash that killed University of Wisconsin-Madison Student Shanica Adkins.

Volunteers from several UW-Madison organizations manned donation tables across campus Thursday to raise money for Haiti earthquake victims.

Associated Students of Madison along with the Wisconsin Student Public Interest Research Group helped inspire generosity on the University of Wisconsin campus in Thursdayâ??s Haiti Relief Day of Action.

The UW-Madison Habitat for Humanity chapter will offer soup and handcrafted ceramic bowls in the 14th annual Souper Bowl fundraiser on Saturday, Feb. 6.

Education Trust, which just two weeks ago released a report slamming flagship universities for not doing enough to enroll and graduate low-income and minority students, is drawing attention to some success stories. On Thursday, the organization released its analysis on colleges that have made notable progress in increasing minority graduation rates and/or narrowing the gap between minority and non-minority graduation rates. For example, the analysis notes that Georgia State University increased its minority graduation rate from 32.3 percent in 2002 to 50.7 percent in 2007. And the University of Wisconsin at Madison increased its minority graduation rate by 11.5 percentage points, to 60.4 percent.

A recent report argues that a trend toward higher grades at UW-Madison is the result of lowered classroom standards over the past 15 years.

Though a monumental rise in the average grade point average of University of Wisconsin students may seem like a cause for celebration, UW officials are responding to criticism for the increase with potential explanations.

Would you visit a virtual student union?

In an effort to reach out to its online student population, the University of Wisconsin-Extension is opening the doors to what it is calling a new virtual student union.

No, you canâ??t buy beer, Babcock ice cream or bags of popcorn. But the website — which is partly a social networking site — is being promoted as “a place where students offer each other advice, discuss school-related issues, and connect with employers and faculty online.”

Dear Editor: As an emeritus professor at UW-Stevens Point, I would like to make two points not raised in Cap Times reporter Todd Finkelmeyerâ??s recent article about so-called â??grade inflation.â?

Madison police are searching for a man who attacked a woman on a bike path this past weekend and released a sketch of the assailant on Wednesday.

In light of a recent armed robbery of a UW-Madison student on North Mills Street, UW-Madison spokesperson John Lucas released a statement Monday urging students to focus on personal safety.

….For some, parking illegally has become routine, despite the risk of a $20 citation for a first offense. MATCâ??s own traffic cops wrote 2,927 parking tickets and another 1,500 warnings last year.
Still, that level of enforcement has done little to stop drivers from blocking driveways, pulling up onto snowbanks or just leaving their vehicles parked illegally and taking a chance.

“We could sit out there all day long but we canâ??t spend all our resources just writing parking tickets,” says Jim Bottoni, chief of public safety, whose staff of four must handle calls for 13 MATC facilities across a 12-county region.

To ease the parking crunch, MATC is proposing to build a new 360-space surface parking lot on vacant land next to the schoolâ??s softball stadium.

If grades are any indication of on-the-job proficiency, the students graduating from UW-Madisonâ??s department of curriculum and instruction should be very, very good teachers.

According to a Capital Times analysis of publicly available grade information at UW-Madison, the average grade awarded to undergraduates in this department â?? which develops the teachers of tomorrow â?? is higher than a 3.9 on a 4.0 scale. Similarly, the average grade awarded to undergraduates taking courses in UW-Madisonâ??s School of Nursing last spring was slightly above 3.8. To put these numbers in perspective, if 18 Aâ??s, one B and one C were dispensed to students in a class of 20, the average grade would be 3.85.

The paperâ??s analysis also found that a surprisingly high number of Aâ??s and Bâ??s are being handed out all over campus, mirroring a decades-long trend.

Students have organized a Haiti Day of Action on the UW-Madison campus Thursday.There will be drop-off locations across campus where people can donate spare change, cash or checks to the Red Cross. Locations include Memorial Union, Holt Commons and Gordon Commons. Look for students at tables sporting Badger red.

More than 110 people turned out at a church basement on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus for the locally sourced feast, the kickoff to the semester of weekly Family Dinner Nights that Slow Food UW organizes.

President Barack Obama announced a proposal Monday that would extend loan forgiveness and reduce monthly payments for students working low-income jobs after graduation.

Officials are highlighting the necessity of maintaining vigilance when traveling alone after one woman was robbed at gunpoint and another woman was battered on local bike paths this weekend.

Darnell Adkins on Monday remembered his 21-year-old daughter, Shanica. He recalled she played the angel Gabriel in a church program.

“One thing I do know,” Adkins said. “She is definitely with the angels now. She is definitely with the Lord. My daughter believed. My daughter is gone, but she is definitely not forgotten.”

About 200 friends and family members attended a tribute at UW-Madisonâ??s Memorial Union for the Milwaukee student. She was killed when an SUV being chased by police rammed into the car in which she was a passenger on Dec. 31, authorities said.

Campus and city police are urging UW-Madison students to be on guard after a student was robbed at gunpoint on campus Saturday night.

The 20-year-old female student was walking on the bike path in the 100 block of North Mills Street at about 7:40 p.m. Saturday when a man approached her, holding a long-barreled handgun.

The Board of Regents is expected to consider a four-year plan to raise tuition by $1,200 for students at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Monday, a tribute was held for a Milwaukee college student killed on New Yearâ??s Eve. Shanica Adkins, a senior at University of Wisconsin-Madison, was in a car when it was hit by a vehicle that police said was driven by a drunken driver fleeing officers.

Members of the UW-Madison community turned out Monday to honor a student killed in a car accident New Yearâ??s Eve.Students, staff and faculty attended the tribute to Shanica Adkins, who died December 31 in Milwaukee.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison community came together on Monday to remember a student who was killed in Milwaukee just before the New Year by an alleged drunken driver.

Shanica Adkins was killed on New Yearâ??s Eve after a suspected drunken driving who was fleeing police crashed into the vehicle that she was riding in. At Mondayâ??s memorial at the UWâ??s Memorial Union, the focus of the event was on the kindness, ambition and passion that made 21-year-old not just another university student.

UW Madison has made some progress in efforts to decrease student drinking, but there continues to be a â??binge drinking cultureâ? on campus. Madison alcohol counselor Janet Duberry runs classes called Alcohol Smart for UW students who run afoul of the law. â??Unfortunately, our classes are very full, in fact weâ??re adding classes this semester,â? she says, adding that her close up view of the campus drinking culture is â??a little scaryâ?

The Academic Staff Ad Hoc Committee on the Research Enterprise delivered a resounding message to University of Wisconsin administrators late last week, finding that the UW Graduate Education program is â??strong, effective and needs no restructuring.â?

An academic staff committee released a report Wednesday stating their belief that the proposed restructuring of the graduate school is unnecessary.

A 20-year-old female UW-Madison student was robbed at gunpoint Saturday night while walking on a bike path on campus, Madison police reported.

The armed robbery happened at about 7:40 p.m. Saturday on the bike path in the 100 block of North Mills Street.