Category: Campus life

Madisonâ??s Mayor says Freakfest cost the city a lot less this year.Mayor Dave Cieslewicz Thursday said the cityâ??s net cost for the annual event is down 68% from 2008 and 88% from the eventâ??s first year in 2006. The cityâ??s net cost for 2009 dropped to $41,667.

A 19-year-old UW-Madison student was punched in the face by a mugger Tuesday night while she was exiting an underground parking garage near campus.

The mugging happened at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the 900 block of Spring Street, just off Park Street. Madison police said the victim was leaving the garage when the suspect grabbed the hood of her coat.

So, whatâ??s a coastie?

Chances are until this fall, most folks, even in Madison where the term appears to have originated, would have told you itâ??s one of two things:Anyone not from around here.

Or, a privileged East or West Coast transplant, often a woman of a certain look: black tights, Ugg boots, oversize sunglasses and sporting a Starbucks cup.

If you care about how Dane County grows and spends your money, consider running for the County Board. Only three out of 37 Dane County supervisors are planning to leave their seats this spring. One open seat is in the 5th, which covers the student-dominated UW-Madison campus area, and where Sup. Wyndham Manning is leaving after a single two-year term.

Itâ??s called the “coasties” song, and itâ??s drumming up controversy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The song, written by two UW students, pokes fun at some of their classmates, particularly out-of-state students who tend to wear certain clothes.

When two students recorded their first rap song together, they wanted to have fun with a cultural icon unique to the University of Wisconsin-Madison: the coastie. The term is widely used here to describe out-of-state students who tend to wear certain clothes, come from wealthier families and live in more expensive private dormitories. They are teased by “sconnies,” the Wisconsin kids who make up a majority of the student body.

As the fall semester comes to a close, many students have begun to think about what student groups they want to join during spring semester. However, some groups on campus do not have a history as well known as others.

Video of new Housing initiative.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison now has enough H1N1 flu vaccine on hand to begin innoculations for students of all ages.

University Health Services (UHS), announced on Monday that all students are now eligible for the free H1N1 shots, available without appointment at the UHS clinic.

The announcement comes on the heels of the stateâ??s Department of Health Services “freeing up” the H1N1 supply to allow for all residents to get immunized through public and private health care clinics.

An effort to get college students to graduate in four years is the latest initiative by University of Wisconsin officials as they try and get the message of affordability out to families. However, some students and their families said that isnâ??t as easy as it once was.

Officials said that currently only 29 percent of UW system students graduate with a bachelorâ??s degree in four years. The other 71 percent take between four-and-a-half to six years to complete their degree, WISC-TV reported.

A new national report on student debt ranks Wisconsin 19th for graduates owing money on student loans. Thatâ??s up from previous years.

The Project on Student Debt based its rankings on data from the U.S. Education Department. The new Wisconsin figures show that 64-percent of graduates from both public and private, non-profit four-year colleges had debt. The average amount: $21,386. Thatâ??s an increase of more than $2,000 from the year before, when Wisconsin ranked 26th nationally for graduates with debt.

UW System President Kevin Reilly stressed the economic benefits of graduating in four years at the Board of Regents meeting Friday.

With less than 50 percent of University of Wisconsin System students graduating in four years or less, the Board of Regents expressed concern over the cost of extended time necessary to complete a degree and debated various options to increase this percentage at their meeting Friday.

The number of students in the UW System who binge drink has dropped in the past two years, according to a survey released this week by the system.

The University of Wisconsin System will encourage students to graduate faster as a way to save money as some campuses seek tuition increases to improve their quality, its president said Friday. President Kevin Reilly told the Board of Regents that 29 percent of students graduate within four years, and increasing that rate would allow students to enter the work force faster and free up spots for others.

University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly is working on a plan to encourage students to graduate faster as way to save money as some campuses seek tuition increases to improve their quality. Reilly addressed the issue during Fridayâ??s meeting of the UW Board of Regents.

Chancellor Biddy Martin outlined how she thinks UW-Madison can remain a top public research university in her speech at the UW System Board of Regents meeting Thursday.

Amazon recently released plans to make its electronic reading device, the Kindle, more accessible to blind and vision-impaired readers by summer 2010, prompting the University of Wisconsin to reconsider its stance on the devices.

The founder and chief executive officer of the national non-profit organization One Heartland will headline the graduation commencement ceremony Dec. 20, UW announced Thursday. 

Fifty years after graduating from UW-Whitewater, a 72-year old Milwaukee man will finally get to cross the stage at commencement Dec. 19. Frank W. Schultz missed out on the chance in 1959 because of a clerical error.

Fifty-one percent of students in a UW System survey told researchers that they had a binge drinking episode within the two previous weeks. Thatâ??s a lower number than in previous surveys – and one that gives the researchers “guarded optimism” that efforts to stem dangerous drinking and drug use might be working.

A graduate student in the UW-Madison library and information studies department has created a day just for pleasure reading. Called “Do Nothing But Read Day,” Amanda Lanyon-LeSage wants people to remain in their pajamas, find a comfy chair, and curl up and read on Sunday, Dec. 20.

The jelly doughnuts are back at the kosher coffee shop inside the UW-Madison Hillel, a sure sign of Hanukkah. The eight-day Jewish holiday starts at sundown Friday.

University of Wisconsin System regents meet Friday to discuss the future of tuition policy in the state. The regents will review the current rules governing tuition increases sought by UW campuses, and whether they need to make any changes.

University of Wisconsin System regents meet Friday to discuss the future of tuition policy in the state. The regents will review the current rules governing tuition increases sought by UW campuses, and whether they need to make any changes.

The northernmost University of Wisconsin campus is the only one to remain open today. With the announcement that UW-Milwaukee closed at 1 p.m., UW-Superior is the only UW school where students must still trudge to classes.

Some fortified themselves by wearing goggles and using dining hall trays as shields. Others attempted to intimidate by waving skull and crossbones flags. Colin Griffin went shirtless. No matter the approach, thousands of University of Wisconsin-Madison students took advantage of an unplanned day off and hurled snowballs at one another Wednesday in a massive melee. Classes had been canceled due to more than a foot of snow and blizzard-like conditions that brought sub-freezing temperatures and winds of more than 20 miles per hour.

This grassy mall on the UW-Madison campus is usually a peaceful place, where students lounge on warm days or trudge from one class to the next. But Bascom Hill was transformed into a brutal battlefield on Wednesday. It was the site of a campus-wide snowball fight, a whizzing white-out that lasted nearly 90 minutes.

Frigid temperatures iced the Upper Midwest on Thursday as a massive storm that dumped more than a foot of snow in several states from Iowa to New England neared the end of its cross-country trek. At least 3,000 University of Wisconsin-Madison students took advantage of an unplanned day off and hurled snowballs at each other in a massive snowball fight. Classes were canceled for the first time in 19 years due to weather.

UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin has issued an ultimatum to Nike.  She has sent a letter to the athletic apparel-maker saying that if it doesnâ??t address workersâ?? rights issues with two of its Honduras-based subcontractors within the next four months, then the university will, allow its licensing deal to expire.

Thousands of University of Wisconsin-Madison students hurled snowballs at one another in a massive snowball fight on campus Wednesday.

In an attempt to break an unofficial record for worldâ??s largest snowball fight, in addition to generating a little excitement on a day of canceled classes, UW-Madison students took to Bascom Hill Wednesday afternoon to fire snowballs at each other.

Wednesday became the first time on record UW-Madison cancelled a full day of classes because of bad weather. Students proved youâ??re never too old to get excited about a snow day. And when youâ??re a poor college student, what better sled to use than a cafeteria tray?

Some fortified themselves by wearing goggles and using dining hall trays as shields.

Others attempted to intimidate by waving skull and crossbones flags.

Colin Griffin went shirtless.No matter the approach, thousands of University of Wisconsin-Madison students took advantage of an unplanned day off and hurled snowballs at one another today in a massive melee. Classes had been canceled due to more than a foot of snow and blizzard-like conditions that brought sub-freezing temperatures and winds of more than 20 mph

Students at the University of Wisconsin – Madison made the most of their snow day, by studying the physics of spheres in flight. With a YouTube video.

Video: Chadwyk is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, where he spotted students rolling a giant snowball in the street on December 9. He estimates the snowball grew to about 10 feet in diameter.

Itâ??s often cited as one of the most serious issues on college campuses. But University of Wisconsin System officials say theyâ??re making progress on the problem of binge drinking and a new survey offers some encouraging results. It also shows there is still work to be done.