It’s a rite of passage for UW students: move out day!
A rite of passage, but also a pain in the neck. Many students were up early Friday morning to clean up and move out. And most of them won’t be able to move in to their new place until Saturday, leaving many students homeless and their stuff in harm’s way.
“It’s scary because we’ve been chasing away like lots of people. My roommates mom tried to tackle somebody to get him away from her stuff,” says Melanie Most.
MADISON, Wis. — The piles of unwanted belongings lining the streets of Madison is a sure sign that Move Out Day is here again for downtown renters.
Itâ??s a lease loophole for renters. One rental lease ends on Friday while the other doesnâ??t start until Saturday, which leaves many without a roof over their heads for 24 hours. With that 24-hour window between moving out and moving in, some students are not only figuring out what to do with all their stuff scattered near sidewalks, but theyâ??ve got to figure out what to do with themselves.
Starting Saturday, the first half of Madisonâ??s new smoke alarm ordinance will go into effect, requiring all apartment buildings and rental properties to have smoke alarms in place.
Technical colleges throughout the state are bracing for a fall enrollment boom, spurred by unemployed workers who need retraining and students looking for affordable alternatives to four-year universities.
The city streets division is pulling out all the stops this week to remove materials from curbside during the annual move out/move in days.
Garbage and recycling trucks were on the road by 4 a.m. today (Thursday, Aug. 13) and will be out once again at 4 a.m. on Friday, trying to stay ahead of the tidal wave of stuff discarded downtown and on campus by thousands of renters moving from one apartment to another Friday and Saturday.
Last summer, University of Wisconsin-Madison senior Keira Wiatrak and her roommate found themselves in a common predicament: The lease on their downtown apartment ended Aug. 14, but their new least didnâ??t start until Aug. 15.
Fortunately, the residents of Wiatrakâ??s new apartment had moved out early, so apartment managers told Wiatrak she and her roommate could move in early if they were willing to pay $40 a night before their lease began.
Wiatrakâ??s boyfriend, Jeff Stein, wasnâ??t as lucky.
MADISON (WKOW) — You probably know U-Haul for its bargain prices.
You can rent a truck for 24 hours for only $19.95.
But 27 News Call for Action has heard from customers lately complaining about rising prices and shirking time periods during this weekend’s campus moving weekend.
“Moving is always stressful. We have everything boxed up. My wife is pregnant. It’s not a good time, a week before the move, to find out everything has been cancelled,” said U-Haul customer Brandon Dybdahl.
Dybdahl reserved a truck a month ago for 48 hours this weekend.
Everything was fine for three weeks. Then, with six days before his move, U-Haul called and said he could only rent his truck for six hours, instead of 48.
Dybdahl says U-Haul blamed busy campus move-in weekend.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Struggling with budget shortfalls that reach into the billions, several states are making deep cuts in college financial aid programs, including those that provide a vital source of cash for students who most need the money.
At least a dozen states are reducing award sizes, eliminating grants and tightening eligibility guidelines because of a lack of money. At the same time, the number of students seeking aid is rising sharply as more people seek a college education and need help paying the tuition bill because they or their parents lost jobs and savings during the recession.
Quoted: Assistant professor of educational policy studies Sara Goldrick-Rab, an expert on financial aid
MADISON, Wis. — For motorists who commute through downtown Madison, officials are advising they watch out for movers.
Most renters in the city’s downtown have to be out later this week so the city’s Streets Division will be busier than usual. Crews will empty trash and recycling carts each day this week for downtown residents who put items out on the curb.
MADISON, Wis. — Move out week underway in Madison, and this year there are new options for displaced students.
With off-campus leases ending Friday, and new ones starting Saturday, thousands of students are left with no place to go. But this year, the student government is sponsoring the first ever “Move Out” night at the student activity center in University-Square. The all-night event is free with a valid student ID, and offers games, food, entertainment and a place to spend the night.
While Madison is far from foreign countries and international borders, itâ??s home to many people who delve into international problems, some working at an individual and grass-roots level.
The cityâ??s international sensibility and influence come through in its 10 sister-city relationships and its international student population of nearly 4,000. More than 1,000 people from the Madison area have served in the Peace Corps, said spokeswoman Christine Torres.
Some Wisconsin high school students will be able to send their official transcripts to college electronically this year under a new statewide e-transcript initiative.
The initiative is an attempt to get state high schools to offer online transcripts of courses and grades, one of the last pieces of the college application that canâ??t be sent electronically for many students.
“It really removes the hassle factor,” said Mari McCarty, vice president of WAICU, the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and part of a statewide task force that implemented the initiative. “The application itself is already online. The one piece that remains stubbornly on paper is the transcript.”
Coming this weekend are two of Downtownâ??s most hectic days â?? Aug. 14 and 15, a stressful time for Downtown residents whether youâ??re a student whose lease is up or not.
But Madisonâ??s Tenant Resource Center wants to help those struggling to figure out why that landlord charged you for cleaning an immaculate bathroom or what to do with that extra sofa.
MADISON (WKOW) — A team of engineering students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has developed an engine that can handle a blend of gasoline and diesel fuel. It outputs low emissions, and offers up to 20 percent greater fuel efficiency.
MADISON (WKOW) — The Associated Students of Madison (ASM) are offering a safe place for students and their stuff to stay overnight on this year’s annual move-out, Friday, August 14.
ASM is hosting the first-ever Move-Out Night in the Student Activity Center (SAC) at 333 East Campus Mall.
ASM is teaming up with the University Police Department, the dean of students’ SafeU task force and Transportation Services to keep the SAC open all night. There will also be secure parking offered.
Freshmen in the know will heed these pieces of advice as they prepare for dormitory living: Shop early. Be selective. Place everything you plan to take to college in a big, open space and take a hard look at what you have.
The annual “rite of summer” known as move out/move in days in Madison will be a little easier for young apartment and flat dwellers this year, as city crews downtown plan to empty garbage and recycling carts every day this week.
Most leases end on Aug. 14, which is Friday, with most new leases starting up the next day.
Hundreds of tons of refuse and recyclables used to be piled high at curbside, but the city has been very proactive for several years, both in collections and working with agencies to get dropoff donation sites set up downtown and on campus.
OSHKOSH — The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh is trying to incorporate interactive technology such as Twitter and Facebook into a four-year degree.
Jakob Iversen, a professor of Information Systems, is part of a three-member team looking to incorporate the popularity of the technology, its workings and possible applications into the degree.
Students who get drunk and rowdy at a University of Minnesota football game may be asked to make a special stop â?? at a breath-test machine â?? before entering the next time.
The new policy is aimed at curtailing unruly behavior at the U’s new on-campus stadium, which opens next month.
The stadium itself is dry, but there are bars nearby, and alcohol consumption is allowed in tailgating areas near the field.
The rule applies only to students and will target the most egregious behaviors, said Jerry Rinehart, vice provost of student affairs.
Bill Gierach is moving out and taking the stuff he does want.
And stuff he can’t bring he says he’s left for anyone who wants it.
“There is too much we can’t go home with,” he says.
He’s not alone, student move in is a week away, but already box springs, couches and clothes line the curb all up for grabs.
When the Chicago Tribune revealed in May that the University of Illinois had used a “clout” admissions system — in which trustees and senior administrators pressured admissions officers on behalf of politically connected applicants — the university insisted that its admissions system was fundamentally fair and running well.
After an eight-week investigation found that the state’s culture of political dealmaking seeped into the admissions process at the University of Illinois, a state panel called Thursday for resignations and reforms to move the school past the embarrassing scandal.
To start, the Illinois Admissions Review Commission urged the university’s trustees to resign and had harsh words for the top administrators — President B. Joseph White and Chancellor Richard Herman — for acting unethically by enabling an admissions process that allowed subpar students sponsored by powerful people to get into the state’s most prestigious public campus.
The recording industry has settled a lawsuit against a University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point student accused of illegally downloading songs from the Internet.
For the first time since forming in 2002, the UW-Madison IEEE team won first place in the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition. The team’s robot, “Paradroid” also placed in the top 10 in the navigation and autonomous challenges.
The robot survived a significant portion of the course before failing. It was the team’s best competition showing since they first entered in 2002.
Madison Police are cracking down on bicyclists who break traffic laws. A traffic sting last week netted ten bicyclists for running red lights. Seven more are planned in four-hour blocks for the next two months.
The issue had us wondering, how well do bikers and drivers follow basic rules of the road.
We picked a four-way stop that saw heavy traffic and counted. The findings weren’t surprising. Whether four wheels or two, we are bad about stopping at stop signs.
It was one intersection, for one hour, on one day, but it could be anywhere.
“I haven’t seen any that have come close to a complete stop yet,” said DOT state program manager Larry Corsi shortly after staking out the intersection of Linden and Babcock on the UW-Madison campus with 27 News.
….The new Post-9/11 GI Bill, which went into effect Aug. 1, is modeled after the highly successful post-World War II Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, the original GI Bill, which is credited with making education affordable for eight million World War II veterans. Like the original GI Bill, the current version also has the added bonus of keeping returning veterans from adding to the jobless ranks.
….”Veterans are coming back with real-world experience,” says Gerald Kapinos, a 28-year-old Air Force veteran, UW-Madison student and the Midwest regional director of Student Veterans of America. “Give them just a little more education, and hopefully we can be part of the solution and help turn this economy around.”
“Being Bucky” is a tough ticket no more.
The documentary, which was named the Audience Winner last spring at the Wisconsin Film Festival, just came to DVD. It chronicles a year in the life of the seven students who put on the Bucky Badger suit and represent the University of Wisconsin-Madison at functions throughout the state.
(Producer John Fromstein and director Scott Smith are UW-Madison alumni)
Nearly all public law schools rely on a combination of tuition, public money and private donations or revenue from endowments. Public funding has been on the decline for decades at many public law schools, but state funding cuts were especially steep this year as legislators struggled to address deep budget deficits. Some law schools are looking to tuition to help fill those funding gaps.
“We face a cut in state funding, like many other schools, and a decline in the revenue that our endowment produces,” said Kenneth Davis, dean of the University of Wisconsin Law School. “Our tuition differential will account for some of that cut funding.”
Police say a UW-Madison student fought off a would-be robber downtown on Friday evening, with pepper spray.
The victim, a 21-year-old woman, told police that around 8:30 p.m. a man on a bicycle riding on the 200 block of North Frances Street tried to steal her purse.
The University of Minnesota has a plan to deal with intoxicated troublemakers at the school’s new 50,000 seat stadium when it opens this fall.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison put a similar program in place two years ago.
Ervin Cox is director of student assistance and judicial affairs at UW-Madison. Cox said the school was looking for a way to deal with drunken students at its 80,000 seat Camp Randall stadium.
“This process gives students a second chance, and it sends a message, and hopefully over time it will start to decrease the amount of problems we have to deal with,” Cox said.
The chairman of the Board of Trustees at the University of Illinois resigned on Monday amid increasingly incendiary accusations that he encouraged an academic version of â??pay to playâ? politics to flourish, allowing students to be admitted based largely on personal and political connections.
MADISON (WKOW) — Police say a UW-Madison student fought off a would-be robber downtown on Friday evening, with pepper spray.
The victim, a 21-year-old woman, told police that around 8:30 p.m. a man on a bicycle riding on the 200 block of North Frances Street tried to steal her purse.
A 21-year-old University of Wisconsin-Madison student was mugged as she walked near campus Friday night, but her yells during the attack attracted the attention of police who arrested the 17-year-old alleged attacker.
Angel Garcia Montes was tentatively charged with attempted armed robbery following his arrest at about 8:30 p.m. Friday at the corner of Park and Regent Streets.
Madison police said the victim was walking in the 200 block of North Frances Street when the suspect, riding a bicycle, tried to steal her purse.
Noted: At UW-Madison, I have also joined AIESEC, the largest student-run nonprofit in the world! With a mission of global understanding through international internships, AIESEC has allowed me to learn about the world from international students my own age who are working in Madison and from my AIESEC friends who have interned abroad. Although my internship opportunity to teach English in China had to be canceled because I had to have knee surgery, I still plan to travel the world and learn about it firsthand.
It’s an honor and an opportunity.
Entrepreneur magazine just ranked Madison as the eighth best “startup-friendly city” in America.
Business, government and civic leaders across the Capital Region need to keep the good vibes going by working together to keep and attract more risk-takers with bold ideas.
The national magazine’s August edition dubs Madison “The Diversifier.”
“Madison’s economy has traditionally been built on the three-legged milking stool of state government, the University of Wisconsin and agriculture,” the magazine reports. “These days you can add a few extra legs for good measure, including biotech, gaming, medicine and software.”
A judge Friday dismissed the 29-year-old first-degree murder case against Ralph Armstrong, citing what he said were repeated violations by prosecutors of a court order concerning evidence in the case and a failure to tell Armstrong’s lawyers about his brother’s purported confession nearly 15 years ago.
But Armstrong, 56, who has been in prison for nearly 30 years, won’t be immediately released. Reserve Judge Robert Kinney stayed his order for 20 days to allow prosecutors to decide on an appeal. Armstrong’s legal status in New Mexico is also in question, although his attorney, Jerome Buting, said he believes authorities there will ultimately decide not to hold him.
Armstrong was convicted in the rape and murder of UW-Madison student Charise Kamps, 19, who was found dead in her Downtown apartment on June 24, 1980, after a night of partying with Armstrong and others.
The term “season tickets” is changing to “half-season tickets” for University of Wisconsin-Madison students wanting to jam the Kohl Center for men’s basketball games.
The UW-Madison Athletic Department rolled out its ticket sale and allocation process for the 2009-10 men’s basketball season on Thursday, with students allowed to buy either the “white” or “red” half-season package, and not a full season of games.
Some University of Wisconsin-Madison band parents are fuming over the UW Athletic Department’s decision to move their seats and increase tickets prices for the 2009-2010 Badger football season.
Larry Brown is 12 years old and fast — so fast that he won Allied Drive’s first one-mile race this week, running in his socks. The crowd in Marlborough Park was cheering when he finished in 6 minutes, 30 seconds. And it kept on cheering as 43 other neighborhood children crossed the finish line behind him.
….”It’s not about who came in first or who came in last. It’s about finishing the race,” says the children’s proud trainer, Molly Kloosterboer, a University of Wisconsin Medical School student who started the Miler in Training program at Allied Drive this summer with the help of the Madison Schools and Community Recreation (MSCR) summer program, the medical school and Fleet Feet Sports, a locally owned store on Old Sauk Road.
UW-Whitewater has introduced a new program encouraging former undergraduates to return to school and complete their bachelorâ??s degrees.
UW-Whitewater has identified about 330 students who attended the university since 2001 and dropped out, for whatever reason, with one semester of coursework to complete.
Susan Crowley has been appointed administrator of the Division of the Long Term Care by Department of Health Services secretary Karen Timberlake.
Crowley, who is currently director of Campus Health Initiatives and Prevention Services for University Health Services at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, begins her new role Aug. 24.
The Pre-College Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence (PEOPLE) program will admit its eighth year of students Friday at the Alliant Energy Center.
The PEOPLE program prepares high school students for excellence at UW-Madison and serves as a major pipe-line to bring exceptional students to UW-Madison.
Seventy-four students completed the program and will take part in Friday’s ceremony.
CNN) — An international search is under way for a 29-year-old Auburn University veterinary student who vanished under what appears to be unusual circumstances in Thailand. Michael Griffin Harrie, 29, disappeared earlier this month during a vacation in Thailand, Auburn University says.
….In a media release, Alabama’s Auburn University said Harrie, a second-year student at the veterinary school, was attending a summer study abroad program in Morioka, Japan. He informed a professor he was going to take a one-week vacation with friends to Bangkok, Thailand, that would begin on July 7.
…my jaw dropped a bit when I saw this headline in The Chronicle of Higher Education: “U. of Alaska journalism students to embed with combat team in Iraq.”
According to the article, the journalism department at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks will soon have more reporters in Iraq than many major American newspapers, as three undergrads and a professor leave this week for Diyala Province in Iraq — where they will spend almost a month embedded with U.S. troops.
Ben Herbert’s weight room is more than a construction site, more than just a hard-hat area to build and nurture bigger, stronger and faster players for the University of Wisconsin football program. That’s especially true during the summer phase of conditioning — the final step before the opening of fall camp — when every precaution is taken to ensure success.
“There’s a million different things you can do from a program design standpoint,” said Herbert, the first-year UW strength and conditioning coordinator. “But the biggest thing you have to remember is that you want to put the guys in situations where you’re not only helping them get better, but you’re keeping them healthy.
Chalette Loy brought her daughter Chellalon some 70 miles from Grand Marsh to Madison Sunday for some education. She got a little for herself, too.
Lured to the Sheraton Madison Hotel via postcard from Edifi Education and Financial Aid Services, of Albany, N.Y., Loy discovered after two hours that the company would charge $1,500 to help the family fill out financial aid applications and prepare Chellalon, a high school sophomore, for college.
The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) chose three UW System campuses to pilot a national initiative to enhance student learning.
UW-Eau Claire, UW-Milwaukee and UW-Oshkosh, and six universities from Oregon and California, were chosen to participate in the pilot program, â??Give Students a Compass: A Tri-State LEAP Partnership for College Learning, General Education and Underserved Student Success.â?
The goal of the project is to increase the participation and success of traditionally underserved students, such as racial and ethnic minorities, low-income and first-generation students. The project will also evaluate the performance of transfer students, who may have missed a universityâ??s orientation for incoming freshmen.
ROANOKE, Va. — Families of the Virginia Tech shooting victims asked Gov. Tim Kaine on Tuesday to reopen a state commission’s investigation of the 2007 mass killings in which 32 people died.
A group of parents of many of those killed and injured in the rampage by student gunman Seung-Hui Cho issued a statement urging Kaine to reopen the review because of inaccuracies in the report.
The families’ statement followed disclosure last week that the former director of the university’s counseling center recently found missing mental health records for Cho at his home.
Penn State University is now the nation’s No. 1 party school.
The school known partly for its football tailgate weekends and fraternity and sorority scene snatched the title away from the University of Florida in the 2009 Princeton Review survey of 122,000 students nationwide. Florida, last year’s winner, finished second in the annual survey released Monday.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison ranked No. 8.
Apparently, a penny saved is now a penny earmarked to fill budget deficits if youâ??re a student-funded group.
The new state budget specifically called on UW-Madison programs that receive funding from student segregated fees to fork over nearly $2.2 million on top of the $1.3 million theyâ??ve already provided as part of a budget cut throughout the university.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn State University is now the nation’s No. 1 party school.
The school known partly for its football tailgate weekends and fraternity and sorority scene snatched the title away from the University of Florida in the 2009 Princeton Review survey of 122,000 students nationwide. Florida, last year’s winner, finished second in the annual survey released Monday. The University of Wisconsin is ranked 8th, one behind the University of Texas and one ahead of Florida State.
Once upon a time, eating in a college dorm meant soup in a hotpot or getting pizza delivered. The most interesting thing about the campus dining hall was often the salad bar.
No more. These days, college students have gourmet palates and a growing interest in preparing their own food. Mini-refrigerators and microwaves in dorm rooms are as essential as laptops. Chefs drop by dorm kitchens to give lessons, and dining halls provide takeout containers and ingredients for kids who want to cook their own meals.
What makes for college success? How do you survive freshman year? And beyond? For the freshly minted freshmen heading to campus in the next month, weâ??d like to hear your suggestions. To get you started, hereâ??s what a few readers have already volunteered.
Have a â??fellow student contact personâ? in each course, so you can read each otherâ??s notes if you need to miss class. Lucy Kelly, University of Wisconsin, Madison, class of 2006
The historic Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house at 237 Langdon St., destroyed by an early morning fire in May 2008, was razed this week with the site’s future still unknown.
Ryan Sugden, vice president of operations for the Sigma Phi Epsilon Alumni Board, said the fraternity just recently reached a settlement with the insurance company.
UW-Madisonâ??s student leaders are piloting a project this summer to deal with an annual problem: Where to sleep on the night of August 14?
Under most leases near campus, students must be out of their apartments on August 14, but canâ??t move into their new apartments until August 15.
This year, UW-Madisonâ??s student government is providing a safe place for students to spend the night. Under a program called Move Out Night, the third and fourth floors of the student activities tower, 333 East Campus Mall, will be open for 24 hours beginning at 10 a.m. August 14.
It has been two months since Diana Parsons graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a liberal arts degree that cost about $100,000, and she has still not found a full-time job. She has returned to Milwaukee, where she is living with her parents and occasionally waiting tables at a restaurant owned by a friend of her mother.
UW-Madisonâ??s student leaders are piloting a project this summer to deal with an annual problem: Where to sleep on the night of August 14?
Under most leases near campus, students must be out of their apartments on August 14, but canâ??t move into their new apartments until August 15.
This year, UW-Madisonâ??s student government is providing a safe place for students to spend the night. Under a program called Move Out Night, the third and fourth floors of the student activities tower, 333 East Campus Mall, will be open for 24 hours beginning at 10 a.m. August 14.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison will realign its Office of Admissions and Visitor and Information Programs (VIP) in anticipation of the campus’s newly appointed vice chancellor for university relations.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison will realign its Office of Admissions and Visitor and Information Programs ( VIP ) in anticipation of the campus’s newly appointed vice chancellor for university relations.
MADISON â?? The University of Wisconsin-Madison is launching a national search for a new admissions director as part of an administrative reorganization.
Admissions and Visitor and Information Programs director Steve Admunson will lose oversight of admissions but remain in charge of other programs, such as campus tours and the Parent Program.
