Category: Campus life

A UW student was the victim of a strong arm robbery Thursday night around 9:25 near Witte Hall on N. Lake Street.

Authorities say the suspect shook the victim and demanded money. The suspect fled the scene on foot. The victim was not hurt.

A new committee will consider mandating health insurance for all UW students, among other options, when it evaluates the UW Systemâ??s insurance policies next semester, according to UW System Assistant Vice President Larry Rubin.

Swine flu vaccine clinics scheduled at Dane County schools after Friday are in question as health officials devise a new plan to get scarce vaccine first to high-risk people who need it most.

Pregnant women and people with chronic diseases likely will have priority over healthy children and young adults in a plan to be announced by early next week, said Dr. Thomas Schlenker, director of the Madison-Dane County Health Department.

Madison police are expecting Freakfest, State Street’s annual Halloween bacchanalia, to be tamer this year.

They’re scheduling about 27 percent fewer officers for the Halloween weekend, including a sharp decrease in the number of officers to handle arrests.

New data shows a significant drop in the four-year UW-Madison graduation rates for two campus diversity programs, though their retention rates are higher than the overall campus minority population.

University of Wisconsin System applicants reached an all-time high this year.

Although many UW System school enrollment totals still require finalization, a preliminary total of 178,000 students were enrolled in UW System schools as reported by UW System President Kevin Reilly at last weekâ??s Board of Regents meeting.

Wisconsin first lady Jessica Doyle encouraged University of Wisconsin students to engage in volunteer activities during and after their time in Madison Tuesday, when she came to campus to share her experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer.

The number of reported cases of influenza-like illness on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus was up slightly in the seventh week of the fall semester, according to the latest report from University Health Services UHS.

Forty-nine students with flu symptoms were evaluated by UHS Oct. 11-17, a half-dozen more than the 43 students evaluated with the flu the week before.

The campus started out with 198 flu cases the first week of classes in September, with cases jumping up to 345 the second week, then falling back to 168 the third week, 94 the fourth week and 58 the fifth week.

A University of Wisconsin-Madison club plans to build a mock Berlin Wall and then destroy it.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the wall coming down. To celebrate, UW-Madison’s German Club plans to erect an 8-foot tall cardboard wall on the school’s Library Mall. The university says the German embassy has supplied funding.

The last time I paid to watch a sporting event was last summer to watch the Brewers play. One of the best things about Miller Park, despite the inflated prices, is the stadium always allowed fans to carry in whatever snacks they might have brought from home to enhance the experience. Fansâ?? bags were inspected on arrival, and upon entrance attendants observing that Mr. and Mrs. Baseball-Fan had nothing more than peanuts and sunflower seeds in their bags, they were allowed in.

This fall, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee implemented a Hmong Studies certificate program, which the University of Wisconsin-Madison discussed creating in 2007 but failed to get off the ground.

A 19-year-old University of Wisconsin-Madison student was mugged early Sunday morning, but the alleged thieves only got away with the studentâ??s backpack, which had a couple of cans of soda inside.

The mugging happened at about 12:45 a.m. Sunday on South Charter Street between Bowen Court and Regent Street.

Dear Editor: One of the biggest sources of waste I have ever witnessed is student move out on Aug. 14 and 15. During the week preceding move out, the streets of downtown Madison gradually become lined with piles of garbage and abandoned furniture. A large portion of this stuff is still in perfectly good condition, but unless someone walks by who wants it, it is destined for a landfill.

Noted: Campuses, from the University of Wisconsin to the University of Maryland, are producing more professional-level journalism with student manpower. Former Boston Globe reporter Walter Robinson, a Pulitzer Prize winner, has used his Northeastern University students to conduct 11 front-page investigations for the Globe since 2007. The report urges more universities to become centers for professional reporting, as they are for medicine, law, science, business, engineering and education.

If given a choice between reading the 1,200-page epic novel “War and Peace” on a Kindle digital reader or curling up with an old-fashioned book, itâ??s no contest for UW-Madison student Rule Johnstone.

The lack of details and short time frame for student input on a proposed tuition hike at UW-Eau Claire had members of a UW System Board of Regents committee skeptical that it would be approved by the end of 2009.

With Halloween and the annual citywide Freakfest celebration right around the corner, city officials said they are right where they want to be in terms of preparedness.

The UW System Board of Regents attended to the progress of a call to action at their monthly board meeting at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Thursday morning during a presentation of â??Give the Students a Compass.â?

Two University of Wisconsin alumni spoke to students and faculty Thursday about their accomplishments since graduation as part of â??Wisconsin Rewind,â? a new homecoming program this year.

When her mast broke during qualifying for the national womenâ??s collegiate single-handed sailing regatta, Lauren Knoles of Michigan State thought her quest for a national championship was over. â??It was like everything was torn from me,â? said Knoles, a junior from Grosse Ile.

Photo: Magdalena Cerrina, a senior at UW-Madison, gets a seasonal flu shot Tuesday from registered nurse Laura Forcia at University Health Service

Residents of the West Mifflin neighborhood met Wednesday with Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, to address concerns for the proposed renovation plans of the Mifflin Street area.

Working while in college doesnâ??t necessarily hurt your grades. A study finds it can help.Two economists have found what UW officials have known for a while: some work is better than none and too much, worse than some work. UW-Madison financial aid director Susan Fisher says undergraduates who work between 10 and 15 hours a week, tend to have better grades, but working more than 20 hours a week, can hurt grades.

I never paid much attention to the great Sconnie vs. Coastie divide at UW-Madison, but Iâ??ve got to admit, this new parody song about “coasties” thatâ??s circulating on campus is pretty clever.

The Associated Students of Madison held a town hall meeting Tuesday to provide UW-Madison students with information regarding possible future redevelopment of the Mifflin Street area.

In considering further development for Madison residents, the Legislative Affairs Committee heard student questions and feedback Tuesday night about the potential renovation of Mifflin Street.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries quickly jumped on board the newest trend in the technology era, digital reading.

What appeared to be a suspicious package Tuesday morning on campus at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point turned out to be a prop for a class.

Although the incident proved not to be serious, it did provide university officials a chance for a live-action implementation of the campus’s emergency management plan.

Interior construction has begun on a grocery store in the University Square complex, with Jan. 15 targeted as the opening date.

Fresh Madison Market will be on the West Lake Street/University Avenue corner of the development. The 18,000-square-foot project will have an emphasis on fresh foods such as produce, meat, seafood, bakery and deli as well as being a full-service grocery, owner and operator Jeff Maurer said Tuesday.

Noted: UW-Madison has requested 20,000 swine flu vaccinations and plans to offer walk-in vaccinations at the University Health Services, as well as seven “large scale” clinics once the vaccinations are received, said Dr. Sarah Van Orman, executive director of University Health Services.

And while the university recently reported a decrease in the number of students evaluated for influenza-like illness, “I would not be surprised if we see another uptick,” she said.

The 2009 Student Diversity Forum, hosted by the Associated Students of Madison and the Multicultural Student Coalition met Monday to challenge students and other members of the UW-Madison community to engage in an open and honest dialogue about diversity on campus.

The Madison Initiative Student Oversight Board met Monday night to discuss 20 proposals submitted by almost every college on campus, ranging from a new certificate in nanotechnology to a shared adviser note system.

The Associated Students of Madison and MultiCultural Student Coalition teamed up Monday night at Memorial Union to engage students in discussing the importance of diversity on the University of Wisconsin campus.

The number of students with flu-like symptoms continued to decline last week on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, according to the weekly report from University Health Services.

In the sixth week of the fall semester (Oct. 4-10), 43 students were determined to have an influenza-like illness, down from 58 students in the fifth week of the semester.

“Influenza activity on campus seems to be pretty quiet right now,” said UHSâ?? executive director, Dr. Sarah Van Orman. The 43 cases are the lowest since school started Sept. 2.

Very few parents would be pleased to hear that their college son or daughter was on the 50-year plan.

Richard A. Smith, 66, is on just such a track.

He started his undergraduate education at UW-Madison in 1960 and is planning to finally graduate in May 2010 with a joint major in history and history of science.

A computer glitch which allowed some Google users to inadvertently see otherâ??s e-mail is underscoring some of the pitfalls colleges have, when students and faculty rely on computer applications that donâ??t have campus oversight.

It didnâ??t happen here in Wisconsin. The glitch occurred at Brown University in Rhode Island. UW-Madison Information Technology director Brian Rust says it doesnâ??t happen frequently. But itâ??s the kind of thing in which I.T. officials everywhere take note. Rust says it probably wouldnâ??t go over well at UW-Madison if students discovered that their gmail, facilitated by campus officials, was able to be read by other students. (3rd item.)