“Senioritis” â?? skipping class, missing tests, attending parties instead of athletic practice, and generally slacking off at the end of the last year of high school â?? is practically a rite of spring. But this year there may be serious consequences â?? including having college acceptance withdrawn â?? for those who don’t finish with a strong academic record.
On a table in the office of University of Wisconsin Chancellor Biddy Martin is a little white Badgers-themed piggybank. Interim Provost Julie Underwood gave Martin the piggy bank Wednesday morning as a way to help UW survive the stateâ??s budget troubles.
Martin laughs after she says this, since she has a different thing in mind for raising money â?? a plan to increase tuition that will either succeed or die Thursday, when the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates is scheduled to go before the UW System Board of Regents.
Chancellor Biddy Martin will officially propose the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates to the UW System Board of Regents Thursday.
Martin will attend the meeting in Milwaukee and submit her proposal to the Business, Finance and Audit Committee, according to John Lucas, a spokesperson for UW-Madison.
â??The recent reports about the stateâ??s budget make the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates even more important,â? Martin said in an e-mail. â??We must begin immediately to increase need-based aid and build new partnerships between students and their families on the one hand and alumni and friends on the other.â?
Several residents of UW-Madisonâ??s Witte Hall reported that an unknown man entered their rooms while they were sleeping early this morning, according to the UW-Madison Police Department.
In response to the grim job market, UW-Madison Law School officials did something this spring that theyâ??ve never done before.
That means, in some cases, competition is tough even for volunteer positions.
University of Wisconsin System students facing charges of misconduct could have lawyers represent them at disciplinary hearings under a change praised by student advocates but opposed by some deans of students.
The UW System has spent two years considering changes to its student code of conduct, including giving universities the authority for the first time to punish students for off-campus, nonacademic misconduct.
The system announced several revisions to the proposal last week after student leaders, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and others complained an earlier plan went too far.
State Rep. Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) is pushing for the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents to delay approval of the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, a plan that would add a tuition surcharge for students at UW-Madison to increase financial aid and improve undergraduate education.
The initiative is up for approval this week at the Board of Regents meeting in Milwaukee.
UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin has spent more than a month talking about the plan on campus with students, faculty and staff and has gotten a largely positive reception for the initiative.
To shake, or not to shake?
Thatâ??s the question for officials on college campuses who are planning graduation ceremonies amidst concerns over swine flu.
UW-Oshkosh administrators have decided to forego the tradition of shaking hands with students when giving out diplomas at graduation on May 16.
Influenza. When you normally think about this illness, you picture an annoying sore throat accompanied by a mild fever and head congestion. The current variant of this infection, swine flu, has been receiving considerable attention, now considered nearly a pandemic. The responses to swine flu range from humor to concern with some Mifflin-goers donning masks in the midst of resonating caution as the illness continues to spread across the world.
To shake, or not to shake?
Thatâ??s the question for officials on college campuses who are planning graduation ceremonies amidst concerns over swine flu.
UW-Oshkosh administrators have decided to forego the tradition of shaking hands with students when giving out diplomas at graduation on May 16.
The Board of Regents will vote Thursday on proposed revisions to the UW System conduct rules that could allow universities within the system to punish students for severe off-campus misbehavior.
We understand that Dean of Students Lori Berquam, professor Jacqueline Hitchon, Associate Dean of Students Ervin Cox and various student members of our misconduct panels are petitioning the Board of Regents to reject code of conduct changes making it possible for students to be vocally defended â?? not merely advised â?? by an attorney at serious misconduct hearings.
A 26-year-old Monona man was arrested early Wednesday morning after he allegedly entered unlocked University of Wisconsin-Madison Witte Hall dorm rooms where female students were sleeping.
Simvong Inthavong was taken into custody by UW-Madison police and tentatively charged with eight counts of disorderly conduct and five counts of criminal trespass.
Copies of Michael Pollanâ??s book â??In Defense of Food: An Eaterâ??s Manifestoâ? will likely swarm the UW-Madison campus this fall.
The book was chosen for the universityâ??s first common reading program, Go Big Read. Chancellor Biddy Martin created the program to engage students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members in a shared reading experience.
A committee chose the book from nearly 400 nominated titles.
Amazon.com is widely expected to unveil a new Kindle electronic book device with a larger screen Wednesday, which would be geared for textbooks, magazines and newspapers and possibly shake up the economics of multiple industries at once.
If Amazon reveals a bigger device better suited for digital textbooks and periodicals, the rollout could help students get educational materials more cheaply and give newspapers and magazines a better way to sell digital versions of their content.
The University of Wisconsin celebrated the talents of its student-athletes Monday night, but not in the customary manner.
For more than a dozen years, the UW Athletic Department held a banquet at the end of the school year to honor the academic achievements of its athletes.
In an attempt to jazz things up this year, the event was re-named The Buckinghams, moved to the Capitol Theater at the Overture Center and modeled after the Academy Awards, including a red carpet. All that were missing were long-winded acceptance speeches.
â??This is very cool,â? senior Joe Krabbenhoft, a member of the menâ??s basketball team, said after earning an unsung hero award. â??You feel like youâ??re at the Oscars or something.”
Bud Selig, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, will be UW-Madisonâ??s 2009 spring undergraduate commencement speaker, campus officials announced Monday.
Close to 8,000 UW System students who received financial aid package projections in March will be given an average of $310 less than expected in grants for the 2009-â??10 school year.
The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents will vote Friday on proposed changes to the Chapter 17 and 18 code of conduct that, if passed, would allow students an advising attorney to speak on their behalf in possible cases of suspension and expulsion.
About 7,700 University of Wisconsin System students will receive an average of $310 less than expected in their financial aid package for the next school year, based on a Thursday vote by the Joint Finance Committee.
The University of Wisconsin Art Department and School of Educationâ??s Art Lofts facility will celebrate its grand opening beginning today with a series of events to highlight the buildingâ??s purpose and presence on campus.
Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig will speak at each of the four University of Wisconsin spring undergraduate commencement ceremonies, the university announced Monday.
Library Mall is going to the dogs, and stressed-out students will be glad for it.
The Pet Therapy study break on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus will be on Wednesday from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Library Mall at the western end of State Street, with staff from University Health Services bringing their dogs to the mall so students can pet and play with the puppies.
The “counseling canines” are intended to reduce the stress that students can feel heading into final exams.
I support UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin in her efforts to re-establish UW-Madison as an excellent school, which it isn’t now.
If 200 to 300 students are frozen out of courses they want and need, this doesn’t speak very highly for UW. I encourage the Regents to raise tuition.
Nearly 8,000 University of Wisconsin System students could see their financial aid packages for next school year reduced by an average $310 after action by the Legislature’s budget committee.
The Joint Finance Committee cut Gov. Jim Doyle’s proposal to increase funding for Wisconsin Higher Education Grants by $21.2 million over two years. About 27,000 UW System students receive the grants, which are the largest source of state financial aid.
While 2009 marked the event’s 40th anniversary, this year’s installment of Mifflin Street Block Party was worth celebrating in more ways than one.
About 15,000 people attended the annual springtime street party in downtown Madison last Saturday, but things were far tamer than they’ve been in years past — much to the relief of police and the event’s sponsors.
Congratulations to city officials and private sponsors for reducing problems and protecting participants as well as taxpayers at the Mifflin Street Block Party on Saturday.
Arrests at the 40th annual event fell dramatically to 164. Most arrests were for minor alcohol violations. Just three people were taken to jail.
Some University of Wisconsin System students who misbehave off university grounds could face punishment on campus under new rules that attempt to clarify the universityâ??s jurisdiction.
If approved by the Board of Regents on Thursday, the board will ask the state Legislature to consider putting the changes into state law.
Although it may not have been noticeable at first, something was missing at the 40th annual Mifflin Street Block Party. No, it wasnâ??t the blaring music or raucous crowds lining the streets. It wasnâ??t the swarm of police officers and crowd control in place to keep the student-heavy population in check. Rather, the annual bash was missing the usual increased number of handcuffed partygoers and arrested revelers, signaling a marked change from previous years.
Even with larger crowds and more beautiful weather than previous years, the 40th annual Mifflin Street Block Party saw significantly fewer problems and arrests, which authorities are attributing to official sponsorship of Saturdayâ??s event.
The 2009 installment of the Mifflin Street Block Party has come and gone. And to the delight of concerned students on the University of Wisconsin campus, the addition of a sponsor did not turn the event into the spring version of Freakfest.
A laptop and other belongings were stolen from a Tripp Residence Hall room in the Lakeshore area early Saturday morning.
Showcasing a sponsor for the first time since 1995, the 40th anniversary of the Mifflin Street Block Party Saturday proved to be an overwhelming success according to partygoers, sponsors and the Madison Police Department.
Last school year, UW-Whitewater was home to a championship football team.
This year? Paintball.
By KJ LANG
La Crosse Tribune
Under fire from the National Rifle Association, the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse might go in a much different, “truthier” direction to name its mascot.
Campus members in January voted to christen its eagle “Eddie,” but the NRA recently notified the university it has a trademarked gun safety mascot with the same name. Pick another name, the NRA advised.
So UW-La Crosse will vote again â?? and this time, thereâ??s a new contender.
At first glance, a key premise of Chancellor Biddy Martin’s undergraduate initiative seems absurd. In an effort to make the University of Wisconsin-Madison “affordable to all,” she is proposing a tuition increase.
Yet Martin’s Madison Initiative for Undergraduates — the first major proposal of her eight-month-old tenure — has met with little organized resistance from students, who, in the past, have howled at any attempt to raise the cost of a college education.
Affordability. Itâ??s a word advertised in college brochures, catalogs and financial aid packages.
While every college and universityâ??s marketing department seems smitten with the word, affordability doesnâ??t have a concise or even similar meaning depending on whoâ??s doing the talking.
Student guides give potential incoming freshman and their family members a tour of the Viterbo Univesity campus Friday. PETER THOMSON photo
Nate Emerson, vice president for student affairs at Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical in Winona, Minn., calls affordability what students actually have to pay out of their pocket. In other words, the net cost: Gross tuition minus financial aid, not including student loans.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s plan to increase tuition would allow the school to hire 235 faculty and staff.
UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin has proposed increasing in-state undergraduate tuition by $250 per year for the next four years, on top of hikes approved by the Board of Regents.
Undergrads from other states would see their tuition go up by $750 per year.
UW-System officials are trying to find ways to make textbooks more affordable for students. As the average college student can spend up to $900 a year on them, the Board of Regents plans now to develop guidelines to help out.
Possibilities include having professors announce their text selections as early as possible, so students have more time to find the best deals. Another is to have professors order just the text, as opposed to â??bundledâ? versions that come with extras like workbooks and CD-ROMs, that drive up the price. (7th item.)
University of Wisconsin student leaders and campus administrators met informally Sunday night at Chancellor Biddy Martinâ??s house to reflect on the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates and to look forward to the vote on the proposal by the Board of Regents Thursday.
Martin said in the few days left before the initiative goes before the board, the university will be working on the most effective way to present the proposal. If the initiative is passed, work will begin immediately on implementing its different facets.
The first Saturday in May means Mifflin Street is packed with college party goers.
Madison police say this year’s block party is mellow compared to years past –as of 8:00 p.m., around 140 pople were cited and released for minor offenses. Only two were taken to jail.
Last year, there were 440 arrests, with 63 taken to jail.
In light of the stateâ??s first probable cases of the H1N1 swine flu, Gov. Jim Doyle signed an executive order Thursday declaring a public health emergency in Wisconsin.
â??You donâ??t know me, but I know you.â?
Allie, a freshman at UW-Madison, listened to her stalker speak to her for the first time. She was a victim of both phone and cyber stalking by an unknown perpetrator. He began by obsessively calling her and sending 28 friend requests on Facebook under different aliases.
Although Madison officials believe a sponsorship will contribute to the success of the Mifflin Street Block Party Saturday, some Mifflin Street residents expressed their fears about new regulations at a meeting Thursday night held by Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4.
In an effort to save money and increase technological opportunities for students, University of Minnesota colleges will allow students and staff to switch their Internet messaging services to Gmail and other Google Apps.
With the Mifflin Street Block Party Saturday, the event sponsors and police and fire departments met with Mifflin residents Thursday to discuss the finalized rules and regulations for the festivities.
A number of American universities are calling off faculty and student travel to Mexico, and at least one is evacuating students from the country. The list includes campuses from Western Illinois to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and Tulane University in Louisiana.
(UW-Madison is mentioned.)
The former treasurer of a University of Wisconsin-Madison fraternity blamed an addiction to video games for his alleged theft of more than $12,000 from the fraternityâ??s coffers, according to a criminal complaint.
“My initial reaction is flu. ”
That was what Brock Waterman thought about a week ago while he was studying abroad in Mexico.
Since then he’s changed his tone a little…. and is now back in Boscobel in southwestern Wisconsin.
Higher education traffics in reputations. To thrive as an institution means keeping up with competitors while setting yourself apart. But as good as colleges have become at building brands, the game is shifting to social media, where there is perpetual motion and little control.
Concerns about swine flu are prompting possible travel changes for some University of Wisconsin students.
Reports from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization and the U.S. State Department have cautioned people against traveling to Mexico because of swine flu, and that could mean some changes for students planning to study there.
Mexico is suspected to be the center of the outbreak.
The one UW-Madison student who was studying in Monterrey, Mexico, this semester has left the city, and UW-Eau Claire announced Tuesday it has canceled its study abroad programs to Mexico.
The Adult and Student Services Center honored 26 students at the Pyle Center Wednesday for their tenacity in earning a UW-Madison degree.
The Madison Street Use Staff Team voted unanimously Wednesday to grant a street use permit to Saturdayâ??s 40th annual Mifflin Street Block Party, making the event officially sponsored for the first time since 1995.
In response to a declining economic climate and growing costs of higher education, the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents is working to create a systemwide policy to make textbooks more affordable for students.
After many meetings with city and University of Wisconsin officials, the newly licensed sponsors of the Mifflin Street Block Party revealed their finalized agenda Wednesday when they were granted a street use permit for the May 2 festivities.
The former treasurer of a University of Wisconsin-Madison fraternity blamed an addiction to video games for his alleged theft of more than $12,000 from the fraternityâ??s coffers, according to a criminal complaint.
Mifflin Street will be Party Central on Saturday during the annual block party, with thousands of young people expected for the revelry.
But do they know the laws about drinking and how to stay safe during the event?
University of Wisconsin-Madison officials put together a list of safety tips and do’s and don’ts for Mifflin Streeters, and the Madison Police Department also is encouraging partiers to be safe.
When Abby Sears was accepted into the journalism school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she had hopes of one day working for a public relations firm.
Then she did some work at the Daily Cardinal news desk and “fell in love with writing and reporting.”
A Madison native, Sears covered last year’s downtown homicide of UW student Brittany Zimmermann. Her reporting led to several appearances on Greta Van Susteren’s “On the Record” and a summer internship at Fox News in New York. And she is committed to the craft.
College admissions officials, keenly aware that their target audience grows more tech-savvy with every passing year, appear to be getting the hang of social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (AP) — The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire has canceled its study abroad program to Mexico because of swine flu.
Karl Markgraf, the director of the Center for International Education, says staff decided Tuesday to pull the six-week program involving 23 students starting May 26.
Instead, staff is working on a comparable program to Costa Rica.
Five UW-Eau Claire students studying in Mexico now are so far healthy.
