Category: Campus life

The Sigma Chi fraternity and at least one other Greek chapter house were vandalized late last week, resulting in an emergency meeting between university officials and Greek community leaders Saturday.

For the second time in as many months, the University of Wisconsin Varsity Band will perform in north central Wisconsin.

The band, the spring version of the famous UW Marching Band, will perform at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 9, at Mosinee High School, 1000 High Street. The performance will raise money for the Mosineeâ??s marching band, said Joe Martens of Mosinee, a member of the programâ??s organizing committee.

A dreary day in Jefferson was nowhere near as gloomy as a day more than six years ago now that keeps leading Gail Bailey back to Greenwood Cemetery.

“I’ll never forget that day as long as I live,” said Bailey. “My whole world ended.”

Her son Eddy was a junior at UW Madison. On a November weekend, he made a trip a friend’s football game in LaCrosse. Less than three days later, Eddy died of meningitis.

A group of local grads might be going back to school. They won’t be going back as students, but with the hopes of making waves in the very classrooms that molded them, WISC-TV reported.

For the first time in the 18-year history of “Teach for America,” the program will be part of Milwaukee public schools. For many new graduates looking to work with today’s youth, this means their service to the community can be felt right at home.

UW students say new code of conduct rules that could punish them for what they do off-campus go to far.

The Board of Regents is working on updating the student code of conduct, which hasn’t been revised for over ten years. The United Council of University of Wisconsin Students is participating in that process, but is not happy with some of the changes the board wants to make to chapter 17 cases.

Amid the controversy surrounding the proposed changes to the UW student code of conduct, Adam Kissel of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education discussed their potential effect on studentsâ?? rights Wednesday at Memorial Union.

Allegations of a rape at the Sigma Chi fraternity house dominated the thoughts of students, faculty and staff across campus Wednesday when the alleged victim decided to come forward and share her story.

As if double-majoring in both physics and French wasnâ??t enough, UW-Madison senior Grant Teply decided to add a third major in math. Then he tacked on astronomy. And finally, for good measure, philosophy.

Teply, who is graduating this spring in a highly efficient four years, said his decision to quintuple major wasnâ??t exactly pre-meditated. Once he learned he could, his attitude was more one of, why not?

A University of Wisconsin-Madison fraternity has voluntarily suspended its social activities while Madison police investigate an alleged October sexual assault at its Langdon Street house.

Madison Police Capt. Mary Schauf confirmed that police are investigating the reported assault at Sigma Chi, 221 Langdon St.

There have been no arrests but Schauf said there has been an active investigation since early October.

After concluding the Plan 2008 diversity program did not entirely meet its intended results, the University of Wisconsin System is forming a new program to speed up the increase in diversity and close the diversity achievement gap through a series of reforms.

A public hearing scheduled by the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents will take place today to discuss final changes to the student conduct code regarding student behavior outside off university property.

At the City Council meeting Tuesday, the Peter Talen Memorial Ordinance was unanimously approved, enstating the first city regulation to be named in someoneâ??s honor.

On Feb. 25, The Badger Herald sat down with a University of Wisconsin student who made allegations of rape against unknown members of the Sigma Chi fraternity, as well as a friend of hers who was present to tell a portion of the story and give emotional support. Below is the transcript of the 44-minute interview.

â??My life is ruined because of this. I donâ??t trust anyone; I honestly feel as if I canâ??t be a normal college student anymore. There are days I donâ??t want to get out of bed. Iâ??ve never had that before in my life.â?

The Sigma Chi fraternity has placed itself on a form of social probation amid a controversial investigation into at least one sexual assault that allegedly took place at its Langdon Street house last October.

Four young women having breakfast in their apartment on Feb. 25 had an unexpected visitor come to their patio door, prompting a call to police and a warning to residents on the near west side to call 911 if suspicious characters are seen lurking about.

The brief encounter between the four women, three 19-year olds and a 20-year-old, and the man was in the 100 block of North Brooks Street.

Madison Alderman Eli Judge is working with UW-Madison students to develop a “Madison Property Ratings” website for the campus area.

The project will help renters and property owners by focusing on the quality of campus area housing in Madison.

The site will be similar to the already popular “Rate My Professor” site, but instead will enco

Madison City Council Members unanimously passed a new stricter smoke alarm ordinance.

It’s called The Peter Talen Memorial Ordinance. Named after a 23-year-old Plymouth man who died in a fire inside a home on North Bedford Street on UW’s campus on November 18th 2007.

Three people escaped. Talen did not.

The UW marching band took their instruments on the road today to deliver meals to people who are homebound.

Members played mini concerts and helped deliver 200 meals in Madison to those who have difficulty leaving their homes or are disabled.

Tragedy brings change to Madison. The city council has approved changes to the city’s fire code, almost a year-and-a-half after a college student lost his life in a fire downtown.

Tim and Patty Talen described Tuesday as being “bitter sweet.”

They lost their son in a blaze in November of 2007.

The UW System wrapped up its 10-year plan to increase diversity on campus with mixed success.

Plan 2008 was meant to attract more students of color to UW campuses through recruitment, scholarships, retention efforts, and diverse coursework.

A new report says Wisconsin made progress, but much work remains to be done.

Those who watched the University of Wisconsin Varsity Marching Band concert at Hartford Union High School on Sunday night likely recognized a few familiar faces on stage.

HUHS graduates Michelle Gehlhausen (trumpet), Christy Fritche (mellophone) and Jessica Scheunemann (trumpet) were joined by Slinger grads Nathan Retzlaff (trumpet) and Heather Wheiland (trombone) for a rousing performance of arrangements and compositions.

As the U.S. war in Iraq appears to be winding down, officials at UW-Madison are exploring a unique partnership with the university in Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit.

President Barack Obama’s recent promise to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq by the end of this summer is good news for supporters of a plan to establish a formal relationship between UW-Madison and Tikrit University in Iraq.

So far, negotiations have involved only U.S. embassy staff in Iraq and the Department of International studies at UW-Madison. But plans are underway for a video phone conference between Tikrit University faculty and their counterparts in Madison within the next six weeks. UW-graduate Brett Bruen, now a U.S. Foreign Service officer in Baghdad, is helping design a memorandum of understanding between the two campuses. Heâ??s hopeful that the agreement will be mutually beneficial. (Second item.)

More than 80 UW-Madison community members attended Saturdayâ??s basketball tournament at the Southeast Recreational Facility to support the City of Chicago as a candidate for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Wisconsin Dance Marathon raised almost $57,000 for the American Family Childrenâ??s Hospital Friday and Saturday during the overnight dance marathon event at the Shell.

Apple’s iPhone can help you find a restaurant, discover who is singing the song you’re listening to, play on Facebook, tweet on Twitter, and stream Internet radio into your ears.

Thanks to a couple of enterprising, entrepreneurial University of Wisconsin-Madison students, Apple’s popular smart phone – as well as its iPod Touch – soon may be able to help you sleep better, too.

With just $15 in their pockets and a time limit of 100 hours, University of Wisconsin-Madison students dreamed up and created such inventions as an egg-cracking machine and an isolation chamber for studying.

The winner of the 100-hour Wiscontrepreneur Challenge will be announced Monday.

There could soon be more money than ever to help students go to college, but figuring out how to get it is the trick.

Both the proposed state and federal budgets included significant investments in financial aid, beefing up grant and loan programs and creating new ones.

The concern among some officials is that the federal application form for aid â?? a labyrinthine 109 questions â?? intimidates prospective college students and their families from applying to college.

Itâ??s a story that stretches the bounds of credulity: Police arrest a man, pour blood on him and plant a blood-smeared knife in his truck to frame him for a murder he didnâ??t commit.

Prosecutors and police then withhold, alter and destroy the evidence that could let the man prove his innocence.

Kenneth Hudsonâ??s account of what happened the day 19-year-old UW-Madison student Shanna Van Dyn Hoven was stabbed to death in Kaukauna in 2000 may seem improbable.

While University of Wisconsin students are looking forward to spring break in just two weeks, the U.S. State Department is issuing new travel warnings.

Citing rising violence in the country, the State Department is asking the estimated 100,000 American college students that head to Mexico for spring break every year to take extra caution.

Officials said that among the U.S.-Mexico border, escalating violence by Mexican drug cartels has created dangerous situations, including large firefights in some towns.

A record number of University of Wisconsin students rolled out of bed Saturday morning to attend a seminar on personal finances.

More than 120 students attended the Alumni Student Board’s annual personal finance seminar. That’s more than double the number last year.

UW-Madison students and community members will participate in a recreational basketball tournament this weekend to support the city of Chicago in its bid to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“Requesting you write a column on Ali Marie Raddatz, the recently passed UWM student,” said an e-mail I received this week.

My response: What would I say? She was only 18. It’s tragic beyond words. What more can anyone tell college kids to convince them that drinking yourself into a stupor is dangerous? I wouldn’t have listened at that age.

Fewer prospective freshmen have applied for admission to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay compared with a year ago, reflecting a trend also evident in Madison.

As of Feb. 15, UWGB freshmen applications were down about 5 percent versus last year, said Pam Harvey-Jacobs, director of admissions. Officials had received 3,175 new freshman applications for fall, versus 3,345 at the same time in 2008.

Affording tuition and other school expenses is proving harder than ever in the current economic recession, but for student-parents, paying the bills is becoming nearly impossible.

The Associated Students of Madison’s proposal for a new constitution was voted down earlier this week, ending plans for a new form of student government on the UW-Madison campus.

Of the 6,034 students who cast ballots Monday and Tuesday, 61.1 percent voted against the new constitution, while 38.9 percent voted for the new government — which would have been led by a popularly elected president.

MADISON (WKOW) — As college students plan their spring break trips, a new warning about a popular destination. The State Department issued a travel alert for Mexico. It says drug-related violence has reached alarming levels — especially along the Mexico-U.S. Border.

A proposal to provide housing for a dozen homeless men in a three-flat in the Greenbush neighborhood is stirring fears among some residents over safety, property values and the future of the area. Others say it is an opportunity for their community to step up and provide housing for people many don’t want as neighbors.