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Category: Campus life

UW-Madison’s new Afghan Student Association launches this year

Wisconsin Public Radio

Hera Salehi’s adjustment to college life wasn’t easy. Salehi grew up in Afghanistan. Although she had been living in the United States for a while, she had trouble finding her place when she enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Madison two years ago.

But Salehi saw how student groups and organizations helped nurture community at the large Midwestern university. It inspired her to start the Afghan Student Association to help connect other Afghan students and the larger community.

Wisconsin Democrats move to change state law to ban concealed carry of guns on college campuses

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Democrats announced legislation to amend Wisconsin law to prohibit the concealed carry of firearms on college and university campuses in Wisconsin.

The legislation, which has been introduced in previous sessions and failed to advance, would make it a misdemeanor to possess a gun on campus, making the penalty up to nine months in jail and a fine of up to $10,000. The new stipulations would not apply to law enforcement or military personnel, nor anyone who possesses a gun on campus with permission.

Democratic lawmakers propose prohibiting concealed carry on college campuses in Wisconsin

Wisconsin Examiner

Democratic lawmakers want to align gun laws for Wisconsin colleges and universities with those in place for K-12 schools by prohibiting concealed carry on campuses.

Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) and Rep. Brienne Brown (D-Whitewater) said during a press conference Wednesday that the bill would help protect students at a time when schools continue to be targets of gun violence.

The home of UW–Madison’s game day hype committee

Madison Magazine

Sure, there are other marching band houses on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus: Tuba Haus, Clarinest, Pi Palace (for the saxophones), Bone Zone (trombones). Nine in all. But only Trumpet Haus — Thaus, for short — lays claim to being the unofficial game day hype committee. This is where a lucky few trumpet players in the UW Marching Band call home.

Photos: Fall Move-In at UW-Madison

Wisconsin State Journal

While the fall semester of classes at UW-Madison officially commences on Sept. 3, this week offers the chance for nearly 9,000 students to transition into the campus’ 21 residence halls, explore their new surroundings and begin to enjoy university life.

Photos: Remembering the UW-Madison Sterling Hall bombing 55 years ago

Wisconsin State Journal

Early in the morning of Aug. 24, 1970, four anti-Vietnam War radicals — Karleton Armstrong, his brother Dwight Armstrong, David Fine and Leo Burt — used a van filled with almost a ton of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil to bomb UW-Madison’s Sterling Hall, killing researcher Robert Fassnacht and injuring three others.

2 Madison School Board members criticize administration on weighted grading

Wisconsin State Journal

The district announced Friday evening that it would not use weighted grading as part of its response to the Wisconsin Guarantee program. Approved by the state Legislature, the program guarantees admission to UW-Madison for students who rank in the top 5% of their class and guarantees admission to the 12 other four-year Universities of Wisconsin campuses for students who rank in the top 10%.

Hip-hop’s role in today’s classrooms

USA Today

“The reason why it resonated with students … is because it felt like an opportunity for them to be met on their own ground and to have a kind of shared ground with which to meet instructors or meet ideas,” says Nate Marshall, award-winning poet and assistant professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Ultimately, like, the role of an educator is to connect the students in order to serve the students. So, if that’s not your way to connect with them, that’s cool. You find other ways.”

What are the best colleges in Wisconsin? Niche ranked the state’s top schools for 2025

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has been named the best college in Wisconsin for 2025, according to a recent report from Niche.

The school rankings website analyzed more than 1,000 colleges and universities across the U.S. for its 2025 Best Colleges in America report and related state reports.

Businesses around Camp Randall feel impact from beer sales inside stadium

Wisconsin State Journal

The athletic department had more than $3 million in alcohol purchases from seven home games last season, the first with sales open to everyone of legal age instead of only those in suites and clubs.

The impact of expanded alcohol sales on businesses around the stadium who also sell beer wasn’t as pronounced as owners and managers feared a year ago. But the Dillises are among those feeling changes on game days.

Galin Scholars expands free college prep program in Madison

Wisconsin State Journal

The Galin Scholars program is welcoming its third cohort of high school students this fall, continuing its expansion of free college prep in the greater Madison area.

The Madison-based nonprofit now supports 15 students from seven high schools. The first five students graduated from high school this summer and will begin college at Northwestern University, Lake Forest College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison this fall.

911 services restored in Middleton, at UW-Madison

Wisconsin State Journal

Police departments in Middleton and at UW-Madison restored their 911 services Monday afternoon after outages earlier in the day.

Around 3:30 p.m., UW-Madison issued an all-clear for the 911 system, which earlier in the day had problems taking calls from landlines. Middleton police Capt. Tyler Loether also confirmed to the Wisconsin State Journal Monday afternoon that the city had restored its 911 system too.

UW system would fund project to recover MIA soldiers under GOP bill

Wisconsin State Journal

Legislative Republicans nixed a plan to fund a UW-Madison program that recovers the remains of missing service members, but a new proposal would require the Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents to pay for it.

A team of students and experts in the Missing in Action Recovery and Identification Project at UW-Madison sifts through archives and conducts field excavations in an effort to return the remains of veterans who went missing in combat to their families.

How Dane County, UW-Madison have prepared for potential measles outbreak

Wisconsin State Journal

Jake Baggott, UW-Madison associate vice chancellor and executive director of University Health Services, said in a statement that UW-Madison as a campus has been actively preparing over the last year for a potential measles case.

University Health Services led and coordinated a walkthrough exercise with campus, local and state public health officials to simulate their preparedness during a measles outbreak, Baggott said

UW-Madison organization repurposes old dorm, apartment furniture for students in need

WMTV - Channel 15

An organization at UW-Madison is giving gently used college furniture a second life.

“Badger Reclaim” was founded by two UW-Madison students, Amelia Wozniak and Kaleb Roessler.

They started Badger Reclaim during their sophomore year after they noticed the amount of college dorm and apartment items that get thrown on the streets of Madison during student move out.

Why a UW-Madison ‘treasure trove’ of health data could go away

The Cap Times

Fifteen years ago, the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison launched the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps. The resource provides a “treasure trove” of public data and offers a snapshot on the health of nearly every county in the nation, said Sheri Johnson, the institute’s director.

While more than 700,000 people use the resource each year, Johnson said, County Health Rankings and Roadmaps will soon lose its primary funder. The New Jersey-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is set to end its support after 2026.

UW-Madison hosting men’s swimming and diving for 2025-26 Olympic sports championships

Channel 3000

UW-Madison will be hosting swimming and diving squads this winter for the 2025-26 Olympic sports championships and tournaments.

The Big Ten Conference announced the dates and host sites Wednesday. The fall season is kicking off on Oct. 31 at Michigan State, with the Spartans hosting cross country championships from Nov. 6-9.

Tom Still: A new college at UW-Madison focused on AI? Now may be the time

Wisconsin State Journal

What’s so special about being a college versus a school or even a department, which is how computing programs at UW-Madison were structured up until six years ago? It’s not about bragging rights or status, but being able to build business relationships, raise money and more quickly carry out a mission that’s in step with the times.

UW exhibit asks ‘What If Everything Turns Out OK?’

WORT FM

The world is a terrible mess right now.  Climate change, government upheaval, warfare have many of us on edge and filled with anxiety about the future. The University of Wisconsin-Madison Nancy M. Bruce Center for Design and Material Culture asked its Design and Innovation graduate students to contemplate the question, “what if everything turns out OK?”

Discovery of grenade at UW-Madison Arboretum deemed safe

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The discovery of a training grenade closed the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum for a couple hours as authorities investigated.

The incident took place Aug. 4 at about 9:30 a.m. when a university police officer on routine patrol in the arboretum was flagged down by a passerby who reported they saw a grenade sitting on a railing on the boardwalk near Mills Street entrance, according to a news release from UWPD.

Middle-earth comes to UW-Madison

Wisconsin State Journal

In a sunlight-dappled room in UW-Madison’s Science Hall, between historical maps from around the planet, rests a world unlike the others: the fantasy land of Middle-earth.

Curated by Mark Fonstad, the exhibit showcases the hand-drawn maps, writing tools and stories behind the atlas depicting the “Lord of the Rings” realm his mother Karen Wynn Fonstad created.

New UW-Madison lab creates ‘Green Book’ for city’s Black residents

The Cap Times

Launched this spring, The SoulFolk Collective is the first research lab to be housed in UW-Madison’s Department of African American Studies. The group is made up of about a dozen undergraduate and graduate students and is led by Jessica Lee Stovall.

“As a Black studies professor,” Stovall said, “I’ve been really interested in the ways that we can create learning and research environments that are Black affirming, that center Black joy and Black liberation, Black organizing.”

New Wisconsin undergrads will pay in-state tuition at Iowa university

Wisconsin State Journal

Incoming Wisconsin students will pay in-state tuition at a public Iowa university starting this fall.

The University of Northern Iowa is offering in-state tuition to new first-year and transfer undergraduate students from its neighboring states, including Wisconsin, in the next academic year in an effort to attract students from throughout the Midwest.

Dane Co. Regional Airport announces new, returning nonstop flights to select UW football games

Channel 3000

Heads up, Badgers fans! The Dane County Regional Airport has announced the return of nonstop flights to select University of Wisconsin-Madison football games.

These flights, as provided by Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, and United Airlines, offer UW football fans to travel to the University of Alabama and University of Oregon.