Category: Campus life

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.”

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A UW-Madison student landed an internship last summer that also landed her in the national spotlight. Every Sunday night on the Style Network, you can see Samantha DeZur on the show “Running in Heels.”

The docu-series goes behind the scenes of Marie Claire magazine, and often focuses on Samantha and two other interns, who were also her roommates. The internship ran from last August to this January.

During an interview on the U.W.-Madison campus DeZur said, “It was a huge, huge lifestyle change in every way possible. I mean, I had never been to New York City, I’ve never had an internship before, never dealt with that, and I’ve never–obviously–been on a TV show before.”

Thursday is the one-year anniversary of the slaying of University of Wisconsin-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann, and those working on solving the said they’re confident justice will be served.

Zimmermann, 21, had goals of studying immunology and finding cures for the world’s diseases. But on April 2, 2008, she was found stabbed to death in her downtown Madison apartment.

Authorities said an investigation into the death later revealed that Zimmermann called 911 for help, but the call was dropped and no police officers were dispatched.

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.

With the one-year anniversary of the homicide of University of Wisconsin senior Brittany Zimmermann on Thursday, the university and downtown police departments are continuing their safety practices as usual.

The Madison City Council unanimously voted Tuesday night to add a non-voting student member to the Alcohol License Review Committee.

This week marks one year since University of Wisconsin student Brittany Zimmermann was murdered in her off campus apartment.

The case sent shockwaves through the Madison community because of its brutal nature and the fact that Zimmermann placed a 911 call for help. Police were never sent.

“The truth is that the heartache we feel today is even worse than that of a year ago,” Zimmermann’s family said in a statement.

University of Wisconsin officials are planning to honor slain student Brittany Zimmermann with a ceremony at the campus bell tower on the anniversary of her death.

Thursday, April 2 marks one year since Zimmermann was murdered at her downtown home. Her killer has never been found.

To observe the day, the Carillon Tower bells will toll 21 times, one chime for each year of her life, beginning at 12:20 p.m., the approximate time of her death.

At first glance it may seem like Jon Liebherr is busy studying for an upcoming exam.

“No. Definitely not.”

But he actually isn’t.

He’s working.

” Like if I am in the building I am working.”

Cold cases and unsolved murders are making the news these days, but today marks the anniversary of one Madison’s more bizarre cases. March 31st, 2004, five years ago this afternoon, a U-W co-ed’s story of abduction hadn’t yet started to unravel.