Everybody knows Bucky Badger. Then again, nobody knows Bucky Badger.
That’s why the documentary “Being Bucky” will likely open a few eyes as to what it’s like — and what it takes — to be the live version of the state’s most visible symbol.
The film, which played to a sold-out theater at the Wisconsin Film Festival and will return Friday, April 10, to Point Cinemas, tracks the lives of the seven guys who play Bucky. It begins with the tryouts and continues throughout a busy, busy year.
MTV has tapped eight underclassmen from the University of Wisconsin-Madison for an experiment in reality TV. Rather than trailing the kids with a camera crew, the network gave them their own cameras. They spent several months documenting their lives, and MTV has assembled the footage in a show called College Life. It premieres at 9:30 p.m. on Monday, April 13.
“Technology has democratized the filmmaking process for our viewers,â? says Tony DiSanto, head of MTV programming. â??That fact combined with this generation’s real-time publishing online of every aspect of their lives brings us into a new era of honesty and openness, and College Life exemplifies this.”
MTV’s new “reality” show about four University of Wisconsin-Madison freshmen has a far more real feeling than most such programs.
Part of that comes from the fact that the four subjects of “College Life” – premiering at 9:30 p.m. Monday – are shooting their own stories with hand-held cameras. That means plenty of blurry images that stir college memories for some of us.
The first installment features plenty of drinking, lots of boy-girl stuff and even a bit of time devoted to studying in the half-hour weekly show.
The deans of the UW-Madison School of Business and College of Engineering want their students to know they will benefit from a proposed tuition hike for all undergraduates.
Engineering Dean Paul Peercy and Business Dean Mike Knetter penned an editorial in todayâ??s edition of the student newspaper The Daily Cardinal in support of the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, arguing it is necessary on top of the extra tuition engineering and business students already pay.
Although largely scrutinized, Biddy Martinâ??s proposed Madison Initiative for Undergraduates will do more good than harm for the student body. It is easy to get riled up by numbers, but after hearing all of the fuss, I was surprised to find much of the commotion is over petty change. With tuition numbers in the thousands, it is hard for me to comprehend the impact $2,500 at most is likely to have on me in the long-run.
But I do know something that is likely to have an impact. Lecture halls filled to the brink, the loss of renowned faculty to a student body unwilling to fork out the money and the end of distinguished reputation in a school known for above-average academia. I have heard enough horror stories about seniors who are unable to graduate on time due to competitive majors. It is about time the student body put their money where their mouth is. Stop complaining about the bitter-sweetness of Biddyâ??s cookies and realize how fortunate we are to have an initiative that is looking out for our needs as students.
Leave it to libertarians to reduce every single issue on earth, be it political, economical or social, to absolutism.
Leave it to them to turn an innocuous and practical initiative like Chancellor Biddy Martinâ??s Madison Initiative for Undergraduates into a new battlefront between those who value freedom and self-reliance and those pesky Marxists who just love leeching off the rich. One needs to look no further than the way those who oppose the Madison Initiative are going about framing the discussion as proof of these tendencies. Yet, is it true that this initiative is just another case of â??wealth redistributionâ??
Tables and volunteers encircled Library Mall Wednesday for Promoting Awareness Victim Empowermentâ??s Sexual Assault Day of Action.
The University of Wisconsin group Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment set up shop on Library Mall Wednesday as part of the national Sexual Assault Awareness Month Day of Action.
WHITEWATER (WKOW) — A Milwaukee-based religious group spent part of the day on the UW-Whitewater campus preaching against homosexuality. Students said everyone has a right to protest, but many opposed the message.
MENOMONIE, Wis. — Students at the University of Wisconsin-Stout have voted to ban smoking anywhere on campus.
Stout Student Association President Michael Lubke said students were concerned about “walking through clouds of smoke and having cigarette butts littered around campus.”
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A judge has granted a new trial to a man convicted of exposing himself to women near the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.
Appeals Court Judge Paul Lundsten says Tyler Schmidt’s trial was tainted because prosecutors introduced evidence that he had exposed himself to another woman in the same area months earlier.
Every spring, U.S. colleges and universities shut down for a week or two, allowing students to relax at home or take a vacation from their studies. Some head to the beaches in Florida or other warm spots. But more students are trading their vacation opportunities for volunteer work projects in Miami and other cities.
At Everglades National Park outside Miami, Louie Toth is leading a group of students from the University of Wisconsin into remote areas of the forest.
Louie Toth teaches student volunteers to identify and remove invasive plant species in the Florida Everglades.
“This is a Brazilian pepper tree, and if you scan the area around it, you will see there is no other vegetation growing around it,” he explains.
The Brazilian pepper and other foreign plants were introduced by accident to the Everglades and now crowd out native species. Student volunteers are ripping out these invaders and trying to collect the seeds to prevent new plants from growing.
Nearly three months after the man convicted of fatally stabbing Joel Marino in his Madison home hung himself in prison, his cellmate has been charged with assisting in his suicide.
Joshua Walters, an inmate at the Dodge Correctional Institution, was charged Wednesday in the death of 20-year-old Adam Peterson. Peterson, who dropped out of UW-Madison several weeks before he killed Marino on Jan. 28, 2008, was serving a mandatory life sentence.
A Dodge County Correction Institution inmate is charged with assisted suicide in connection with the death of his cellmate, Adam Peterson, last January.
Dodge County District Attorney William F. Bedker filed criminal charges on Wednesday against Joshua Walters, 20.
Dodge County authorities said that the charges follow an investigation by the Dodge County Sheriffâ??s Department, with the assistance of the Dodge Correctional Institution, which was holding Peterson.
UW-Madison Chancellor Carolyn â??Biddyâ? Martin has proposed a new initiative to provide additional investment in the undergraduate experience at UW-Madison through a premium tuition applied only on the Madison campus. We support this initiative for the following reasons:
â?¢ We believe there are important investments that need to be made in undergraduate education on our campus. We believe these investments will boost the quality of the experience and student outcomes (which accrue over a lifetime) by more than the increase in cost.
The Associated Students of Madison partially endorsed the Wisconsin Initiative for Undergraduates Wednesday and resolved to create a shared governance committee to oversee the allocation of the funds if the initiative passes.
â??We are hemorrhaging faculty. Itâ??s directly impacting the quality of education,â? ASM representative Jeffrey Wright said. â??Somethingâ??s got to give. Students on this campus who can be giving more should be giving more.â?
While ASM supports the initiativeâ??s vision, the group has lingering questions about how the initiative will operate if passed by the UW System Board of Regents in May.
The Associated Students of Madisonâ??s Student Council voted Wednesday to partially endorse Chancellor Biddy Martinâ??s budget initiative to raise student tuition Wednesday.
The council decided on only a partial endorsement for the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates in an effort to ensure all students, as well as council members, fully understand the proposal before taking a permanent stance.
I never thought Iâ??d hear myself say this, but given a recent discussion with Associate Dean of Students Kevin Helmkamp â?? one of the key figures in the revisions to the Student Academic Misconduct Policy â?? Iâ??ve had something of a change of heart on the controversy. Thatâ??s not to say I donâ??t object to a vast number of the proposed changes; I most certainly do. But given Helmkampâ??s statements on the policy, there are a number of points that deserve clarification.
An argument between two roommates over where to store a beer pong table and who should clean up a trashy mess ended up with one of the roommates getting arrested for allegedly damaging the table belonging to the other roommate.
Jeffrey Ross Klein, 22, Madison, was tentatively charged with intentional damage to property following the incident, which happened Monday night in an apartment in the 700 block of University Avenue.
There is a lot of quiet in the Lower 9th Ward, but this was different.
The only sound was that of a gentle breeze and a couple of volunteers picking up trash. Everyone else — the rest of the volunteers and two residents — was silent, looking out over the tranquil water of the Bayou Bienvenue Cypress Triangle.
UW-Madison students are involved in the effort.
U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl warned college students Tuesday to be wary of credit card marketing ploys involving free T-shirts, blankets and food, saying they can lead to mountains of debt.
Kohl spoke to about two dozen students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, touting a bill that would place new limits on credit cards for college students. He complained about direct-mail offers sent to students and kiosks on some campuses where companies offer freebies to students for signing up.
“Be very cautious,” said Kohl, a Democrat. “Don’t be enticed by a free sandwich or something. A lot of it is just plain common sense.”
After Biddy Martin gives her perspective on why the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates is necessary, UW students sound off on whether the proposal is right at this point in time. (Video.)
An estimated 80-percent of college graduates leave school with an average credit card debt of about $3,000. U.S. Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI) says much of that debt is the result of predatory lenders taking advantage of uniformed students.
Kohl says credit companies have abused their powers in order to entice young people in to credit offers that are beyond their capacity to pay off. He points to interest rates that can quickly climb to as much as 30-percent and high credit limits that are completely unjustified.
The University of Wisconsinâ??s Undergraduate Initiative seeks to add a tuition surcharge on students from higher-income families to improve the quality and value of undergraduate education and put greater emphasis on need-based financial aid. Chancellor Biddy Martin has encouraged comments and dialogue with students and the community. In fact, thereâ??s an entire website dedicated to the initiative and an online forum where students are encouraged to share their thoughts and vote on the issues that matter most to them.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison continued its pledge to provide students with the opportunity to explore new avenues of learning with three important decisions in the past week. History and Engineering department curricula will be augmented with the addition of several new professorships, while an agreement with Tikrit University in Iraq will expose students to academic resources halfway around the world.
Nearly 25 percent of women in the United States experience sexual assault at some point in their lives, but most of these women may not know they are victims of a heinous crime.
The University of Wisconsin fencing team took second place in men’s foil at the National Fencing Championship held at Chula Vista Resort at the Wisconsin Dells over the weekend.
MTV has revealed the identities of the four freshmen who will appear in College Life, a new reality series that will follow the University of Wisconsin-Madison students and is scheduled to premiere Monday, April 13 at 10:30PM ET/PT.
Each episode of College Life will follow the students as they deal with their freshmen year, from dealing with academic pressures and homesickness to starting new friendships and romances.
In addition, College Life’s cast members will the ones who will be operating the MTV cameras — providing viewers with “an authentic and unprecedented” look at attending school, according to the network.
Each year Kyle Shatto and his egineering colleagues leave the Great Lakes Regional Conference empty-handed, but this year a 330 pound concrete canoe kept them a float.
“When we won, the other schools gave us a standing ovation,” Shatto said. “It was kinda neat to see the underdog win.”
The University of Evansville paddled their way to victory beating 16 other schools including 14 time champion University of Wisconsin-Madison, which held the title of concrete canoe champions.
Noted: The Faculty Senate also discussed Chancellor Biddy Martinâ??s Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, which proposes a supplemental tuition increase over the next four years to provide more need-based financial aid and increase academic resources available to students.
According to a university publication, UW awarded $5.7 million in need-based grants to undergraduates for the 2006-07 academic year, the lowest need-based financial aid of all Big Ten universities.
Martin said the practice of using tuition for financial aid is standard at other universities and thinks the initiative would help the university continue to provide high-quality education at an affordable price.
The state of Wisconsin has built a tremendous resource in the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Even when the economy slows â?? as it has in the past â?? our education and research continue moving us forward. Weâ??ve pushed the boundaries of discovery and given the state a value worth more than just dollars and cents.
But, weâ??ve faced financial shortfalls for several years. Budget restrictions limit what we can do and prevent us from keeping pace with the costs of higher education. We need to find new ways to provide a world-class education and compete on a national and international playing field.
It is a typical Friday night and you are walking home from your favorite bar with a friend you met in your chemistry class last week. He takes you to your door to say good night. For some young women, a â??good nightâ?? will not mark the end of the evening. For some young women, the night could spiral out of their control.
The band â??OK Goâ? will be headlining UW-Madisonâ??s annual All-Campus Party concert on Friday, April 24 at the Overture Center.
Ticket vouchers to the show wonâ??t cost anything extra for UW-Madison students, but itâ??s not exactly free for them.
Associated Students of Madison is using $40,250 in student fees to help fund the concert. UW Credit Union is also chipping in, although the university declined to share that figure. A call to UW Credit Union was not returned.
Jeanette Popp cried and gasped and tried to keep her trembling legs from buckling.
She could not stomach Christopher Ochoa’s courtroom testimony confessing to the rape and shooting of her 20-year-old daughter, Nancy DePriest, she writes in her memoir.
DePriest, a mother and restaurant manager, was robbed, raped, shot in the back of the head and left for dead in an Austin Pizza Hut in 1988. She died later in a hospital.
Ochoa, an El Paso native, confessed to the killing and spent 12 years in prison — but he didn’t commit the crime.
Ochoa, now a lawyer in Wisconsin, was released in 2001 through work done by the Wisconsin Innocence Project, a college course at University of Wisconsin-Madison, which investigates possible wrongful convictions.
On a spring weekend when winter makes a comeback, two events near the University of Wisconsin are trying to put a spotlight on homelessness and poverty.
In one event outside Memorial Union, students raised nearly $6,000. Besides the donations, organizers hope the Hunger Clean-Up will draw attention to a global problem.
“Poverty has been around for so long,” said Ranshi Mangalic, the chairperson for the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group. “I feel like people forget about it, like it’s not solveable. It definitely is. We just have to prioritize and make sure we take legal action to solve it.”
Some UW-Madison engineering students say the proposed tuition increase for all undergraduates will hit them especially hard because they already pay a higher rate in the College of Engineering.
â??Itâ??s going to be a double whammy,â? said Adam Wright, a freshman from Green Bay who plans to major in nuclear engineering.
Passers-by on Library Mall on Saturday afternoon were greeted by an energetic group of University of Wisconsin-Madison students and community members standing amongst their homes for the night â?? large, colorful appliance boxes.
The potential snowstorm did not deter them from participating in the fourth annual Box City sleep-out, aimed at raising awareness about homelessness in Madison.
As students from the state’s private colleges lobby legislators for more financial aid, one lawmaker sees things differently.
Republican Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) says “it’s not surprising that young children who know nothing about life” want more money. He says the kids should be happy with what they’re already getting.
“Quite frankly, it’s unconscionable, as people get laid off or being told they have to take cuts in pay, for Governor Doyle and certain members of the state legislature to increase scholarships by 40% in two years!”
UW athletic department officials released a copy of a canceled check to 27 News as verification the transfer of a moped from Cindy Alvarez to a football player was a sale, and not a gift, but the copy deletes the name of the check writer.
27 News had made repeated requests for a copy of the cancelled check without redaction of the check writer’s name, after a moped dealer told 27 News the moped had been a gift from UW athletic director Barry Alvarez’s wife to the player. A UW official acknowledged such a gift would be a violation of NCAA rules, but said the transaction was a sale.
A legislative leader is backing a controversial tuition surcharge for UW-Madison students.
State Senate President Fred Risser says the University is hurting and needs the money. The Madison Democrat says Chancellor Biddy Martin’s plan to impose higher tuition costs on families making more than $80,000 a year seems to make sense. He says taxes are often based on the ability to pay, so a similar system may work for higher education.
Both candidates for the open seat in District 8 are University of Wisconsin juniors. Both have track records of involvement with important issues. Bryon Eagon has been elected to the ASM Student Council and has served on the Student Services Finance Committee. Mark Woulf has served on UW’s Alcohol and Other Drug Task Force, and he’s got some good ideas about how to promote public safety by having the police change policies on raiding bars and house parties.
We’re convinced that either Eagon or Woulf would serve ably on the council, and that each would give voice to the important concerns of students.
David Maley left his internship at Lehman Brothers last summer figuring he would be back on Wall Street in a glamorous investment banking job once he graduated from Colgate University in May. Now Lehman is history, and Maley is moving instead to a Cleveland suburb to start a management training program at an industrial supply company. Considering the job market, he’s just fine with that.
For many college students in the class of 2009, the post-graduation job hunt has turned into a quest for a rewarding Plan B â?? or in many cases Plan C or D.
Wisconsin authorities improperly charged the federal government for rent on unused rooms, unlicensed foster care providers and college students ineligible for financial aid, auditors reported Thursday.
UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee and UW-Oshkosh did not seek financial aid reimbursements from the federal government fast enough. The report estimated the state lost $183,000 in interest as a result of delays. UW-Madison also agreed to seek $6.7 million in outstanding reimbursements that should have been claimed sooner.
The Wisconsin Union Directorate voted Wednesday to decline sponsoring the 2009 Mifflin Block Party, citing a lack of time and money to properly host the event.
According to Union President Jeff Rolling, WUD was originally interested in sponsoring the event after being approached by Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, in early March.
However, after further examining the full cost of the event and the timeframe they had to work with, he said WUD ultimately decided against it.
Chancellor Biddy Martinâ??s new Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, unveiled last Tuesday to students, is designed to improve student services, access to core classes and increase the amount of need-based aid offered to University of Wisconsin students. Martin rightly assesses higher education funding by dividing it into four areas: federal, state and private dollars in addition to tuition money. As state support continues to slip, she is correct in turning to the two sources of money that are out of the hands of politicians and bureaucrats and rather largely in our control â?? tuition and private donations â?? in order to fund the initiative.
A UW student group launched a new campaign promoting the importance of consent in sexual situations.
PAVE (Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment) is behind the Metro bus ads, that feature the tagline “Some things should never be blurry. Get consent every time.”
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and PAVE says they want to stress that while drinking might cause impaired judgement, “there’s no excuse for taking advantage of someone else … We want students to have a good time, but when they drink and hook up, there are simple things they can do to ensure that they’re engaging in safe, consensual sexual activity.”
The University of Wisconsin remembers one of its own, on the one year anniversary of her murder. Brittany Zimmerman’s family was present as the Carillon Tower bells on the Madison campus tolled 21 times in memory of the 21 year-old Marshfield woman who was murdered in her off campus apartment a year ago.
On April 2, 2008 UW Madison student Brittany Zimmermann was murdered inside her West Doty Street apartment. Thursday, on the UW campus students, staff and faculty honored her life — exactly one year after it was taken.
On the above date at 12:20 in the afternoon. Brittany Zimmermann was murdered in her West Doty Street Apartment. Exactly one year later, at 12:20, people gathered at the Carrilon Tower to honor her life and pay their respects.
“I have children who are about her age and I would be floored I would be crushed if something like this happened. It is just terrible. The injustice of it is terrible,” said Debbie Klimet who works at the university.
Her family and many others looked on with tears in their eyes.
One year ago, a slaying in downtown Madison sent shock waves through the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus community.
A year later, the campus paused Thursday to remember Brittany Zimmermann, 21, and also to remember that her killer hasn’t yet been brought to justice.
Out of the silence on the UW-Madison campus, the bell at Carillon Tower tolled. It started at 12:20 p.m., the approximate time of Zimmermann’s death. It rang 21 times — once for each year of Zimmermann’s young life.
Opening up yet another university e-mail, I was initially disappointed to find a hidden message from Chancellor Biddy Martinâ??weâ??re jacking up your tuition. They call it â??The Madison Initiative for Undergraduatesâ? when the initiative is to charge us more.
For obvious reasons, Martin does not want to frame her plan as what it isâ??an intentional tuition increase for students. There would be considerably more attentionâ??and outrageâ??if this idea were sold to us sans the glittery, wonderful-sounding name.
Despite the unnecessary marketing maneuver, this tuition hike will benefit every Badger.
A UW-Madison athletics department official told 27 News verification the provision of a moped from the wife of UW Athletic Director Barry Alvarez to a football player was a sale and not a gift will be produced.
After repeated requests from 27 News for verification of the transaction through a document such as the player’s cancelled check, associate athletic director Vince Sweeney said documents would be made available for inspection to 27 News.
During her 21 years of life, Brittany Zimmermann loved many things. She loved spending time with her family and friends in her hometown of Marshfield, Wis. She loved her fiancé, Jordan Gonnering, whom she lived with as they both attended UW-Madison. And each spring, she loved returning home to spend Easter weekend with the people she cared about most.
Twenty-one bell chimes will ring out across the University of Wisconsin campus this afternoon to memorialize each year of UW junior Brittany Zimmermannâ??s life.
You’ll have to forgive Michael Garrison, an avid hoops fan, for vouching for another favorite sport of his — even if his top choice isn’t nearly as well-known in this country.
“I’m completely biased,” Garrison said with a chuckle, “but fencing’s so much cooler than basketball. I mean, we have swords.”
Thanks in large part to Garrison, the sport is once again considered cool at the University of Wisconsin — and at other colleges around the country whose varsity programs who have been slashed in the last two decades.
For college-bound students, it’s time to make decisions â?? and to navigate a transformed landscape where acceptances and wait-list status might have different implications than they did just a year ago.
Decision letters being sent out this week reflect the worries of administrators, who fear admitted applicants may hesitate to commit in this climate of economic uncertainty.
Attorneys for a man convicted of murder in 1980 on Wednesday accused the assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case 29 years ago of misconduct.
Ralph Armstrong was initially convicted in 1980 in the slaying of University of Wisconsin student Charise Kamps, but the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned that conviction in 2005, citing DNA evidence.
In a Dane County courtroom Wednesday, Armstrong’s attorneys accused former Dane County prosecutor John Norsetter of misconduct in the case.
The bells will toll Thursday for Brittany Zimmermann, UW-Madison student murdered on April 2, 2008.
University officials will conduct a memorial ceremony for Zimmermann on Thursday, with the carillon tower bells ringing 21 times, one ring for each of her 21 years, at 12:20 p.m., the approximate time of her death.
The bell tower is on campus at 1160 Observatory Drive.
It’s sort of like getting a bid in the NCAA basketball tournament, just a little lower-profile.
UW-Madison’s equestrian team is heading to the national collegiate championship at the end of April after winning its region over the weekend.
But unlike the basketball tournament – where 64 teams get spots – only 18 out of about 400 college teams make it to the horse riding championship in Tennessee.
When Derek Jose enrolled in the University of Wisconsin’s Stephen L. Hawk Center for Applied Security Analysis in September 2007, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was racing to 14,000 and the program’s freshly minted grads were settling into investment jobs that paid an average of $84,000 plus bonuses.
Now, Jose is 28, newly married, burdened by $60,000 in student loans and on the cusp of graduating into an investment world shattered by a calamitous bear market.
Welcome to Wall Street, kid.
