Category: Campus life

Iraqi students and faculty could begin studying and conducting research at UW-Madison if a burgeoning partnership with Tikrit University is formalized.

Sending UW-Madison students to study in Iraq is not in the immediate plans but could happen in the future if the country stabilizes, said Gilles Bousquet, dean of the Division of International Studies.

Officials from UW-Madison are speaking with U.S. Embassy authorities based in Iraq on Friday to discuss details of the possible relationship.

UW-Madison student Aaron Andrzejak showed up Tuesday afternoon at the Vilas Zoo grinning and bare-armed in a T-shirt.

For the first time in five years, undergraduate applications for fall admission to UW-Madison are on the decline.

The reason why is still unclear, officials said, but it could be related to the slumping economy and a smaller class of high school graduates.

The total number of students who applied to UW-Madison dropped from a record high last year of 25,073 to 24,263 this year.

This past spring no more than 9 percent of the student body at University of Wisconsin-Madison turned out to vote for the student government elections. Participation, in fact, has been low for years — and so have been expectations. Katherine Tondrowski, chair of the Associated Students of Madison’s Elections Commission, admits she’d be “very happy” if even 10 percent of the student body would turn out to vote for a student government election.

Most associated with ASM seem to agree the organization is battling an identity crisis and image problem, and is struggling to remain relevant to the more than 40,000 students on campus.

Unless University of Wisconsin students specifically restrict access to their directory information, businesses such as credit card companies and lenders can get a list of every student’s name, address, phone number and more from the university for a nominal fee.

The ongoing battle between Russell Athletics and Honduran workers continues, and the hundreds of universities like Cornell that are sponsored by Russell are caught in the middle.

The issue â?? which dates back to October 2007 â?? started when Russell Athletics announced it would be closing Jerzees de Honduras, the only solely Russell-owned factory in Honduras. The controversy arose over the ThreadsThreadscontext of the closing: The factory was shut down after 750 of the 1800 workers announced the consolidation of a union on Oct. 5. The leaders of the Union, Moises Elias a Bovado, who was president, and Norma Estela Mejia Castellano, vice president of the union, have been touring campuses nationwide to make their cause heard, and authorities have been listening.

The Corporation for National and Community Service recently recognized UW-Madison for its service to the U.S. community in 2008.

The Wisconsin Union Redevelopment Design Committee announced Monday the first floor of the new Union South has been redesigned to contain restaurants instead of food counters.

STEVENS POINT, Wis. (AP) — The student who died after being found unresponsive in the stairway of a University of Wisconsin-Steven Point dorm was a 19-year-old freshman from Fredonia.

Vice chancellor of student affairs Bob Tomlinson says Andrew Woods may have fallen down some stairs in Thomson Hall early Saturday morning.

Nearly 2,000 University of Wisconsin students received need-based financial aid this fall from the Fund For Wisconsin Scholars, announced the UW System Board of Regents Thursday.

Hmong activists said Thursday they look to President Barack Obama to fight Thailand’s forced deportations of Hmong refugees to a hostile homeland.

“We put our faith and hope in President Obama to help provide for our people. We must act now before it is too late,” said Pa Shoua Vang, the daughter of refugees, a UW-Madison student and a 19-year-old Elk Mound, Wis., resident.

UW-Madison officials said a half dozen engineering school graduates either had accepted job offers rescinded, or delayed for months, by national firms.

College of Engineering career services director John Archambault told 27 News the firms involved provided payments akin to severance to compensate students, but students were left to scramble to adjust career plans.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The University of Wisconsin System gave more than $1.7 million in need-based financial aid to students last semester thanks to a scholarship donation.

Naveen Duraisamy’s future seemed enviable: Despite a down economy, the engineering student had a job offer from a Fortune 500 company, where he’d start after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Then, days before his Dec. 21 commencement, the international student got an e-mail from his future employer: Caterpillar Inc. had rescinded the job offer, citing uncertain economic times.

With his student visa about to expire, Duraisamy quickly enrolled in classes so he could stay in the country. He began the job search from scratch.

Sara Wilcox was a freshman at Wausau West High School when she saw the University of Wisconsin Varsity Band perform there in 2001.

“I saw how much fun they were. It looked like they really enjoyed performing,” said Wilcox, now a senior majoring in legal studies at UW-Madison. “I knew that was what I wanted to do.”

When I was growing up, I would hear stories about Madison and the University of Wisconsin from my mother as we were driving past the campus. Sheâ??d point out what had changed, like where a Rennebohmâ??s soda counter had been or that the Medical Sciences Center used to be Madison General Hospital. Among these stories were the classics; how the Sterling Hall bombing was planned in a dark booth at the Nitty Gritty, how 1,000 pink flamingos dotted Bascom Hill, and how the Statue of Liberty was erected on the frozen surface of Lake Mendota.

I’m working with a group of people in Hoofers to bring back the original Statue of Liberty — a stunt pulled off by the pranksters in the UWâ??s Pail and Shovel party. Our plan is to return it to the ice of Lake Mendota in front of the Memorial Union for Valentineâ??s Day weekend (and possibly longer) during the Hoofers Winter Carnival, a tradition itself stretching back to at least the 1930s.

The Lake Mendota Statue of Liberty will make its return to University of Wisconsinâ??s Hoofers Winter Carnival this month after a 13-year hiatus from campus.

The cold, long winter has at least one good thing going for it: It might mean the return of the Statue of Liberty to Lake Mendota.

The Hoofers, the UW-Madison’s outdoor recreation club, is hoping to bring back the iconic faux statue as part of its Winter Carnival Feb. 16-21.

Guess what world-renowned university on the shores of Lake Mendota celebrates the big 1-6-0 on Thursday?

The University of Wisconsin-Madison, of course.

The state’s flagship institution of higher learning is 160 years old on Feb. 5, the first day of class held on that day in 1849.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s student government, Associated Students of Madison, is attempting to create a more professional image, and in doing so, engage more students. ASM recently created a press office, a new Web site, and a new logo.

Celeste Lewis is in a pickle that could prove costly, all because of something she did mostly in high school, when it seemed like everybody else was doing it.

The UW-Madison junior said that back home in Chicago, she started using file sharing software to illegally download music. She said she did it briefly as a freshman in college until her conscience told her that downloading music for free was wrong.

The 43rd annual Super Bowl may be Sunday in Tampa, but the 13th annual Souper Bowl, a tasty celebration for a good cause, was held Saturday in Madison.

The fundraiser is the biggest one of the year for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s chapter of Habitat for Humanity. Its goal is to help build change in Madison.

The gymnasium at Madison West High School, the site of the Souper Bowl, looked like a pep rally before a big game Saturday. But unlike the Super Bowl, there are no losers at the Souper Bowl, because every ceramic bowl filled helps to continue a building project.

The UW-Madison subcommittee on Sexual Assault and Dating Violence hosted UW-Madison faculty and students Thursday for a workshop on the dangers of stalking.

Campus safety officials informed an audience Thursday the age group experiencing the highest rates of stalking victimization are individuals aged 18-24, the general age group of the population located on the University of Wisconsin campus.

The scenarios are downright frightening — stalkers lurking around the corner, watching your every move, following every step. It usually starts small — with an unwanted e-mail or a hang-up call — then gets worse.

“Then they branch out into multiple contacts where they’re following the victim, they’re consistently e-mailing and texting all hours of the night,” said Detective CarolAnn Glassmaker, UW Police Department.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed an economic stimulus bill Wednesday, part of which would increase funding for the Hope Tax Credit, making nearly 4 million low- to middle-income students eligible for a tax break.

Bascom Hill is the beating heart of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, its tree-lined east face surrounded by historic schools and structures, and crowned by the weather-beaten statue of Abraham Lincoln gazing out upon the city. Along with a fearsome reputation among campus commuters tasked with conquering its heights, the hill has also long served as a canvas for students engaging in anti-war protests, pink flamingo hijinks, and now, a snowball battle royale.

Students and faculty were evacuated from Helen C. White after a staff member smelled smoke in the English department Tuesday morning.