A new report by Alex Tahk, director of the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, reveals the results of an important survey of UW Madison faculty. But there are serious problems with the survey questions, and we need to be careful not to adopt Tahk’s claims about “ideological imbalance and its consequences” uncritically.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Athletic Hall of Fame will have a new, permanent home outside of the Kohl Center, according to a UW Athletics press release. Construction is set to begin early spring and be completed in time for the 2026 Hall class next September.
A group of UW-Madison faculty and staff is putting pressure on campus police to remove AI-powered license plate-reading surveillance cameras.
UW-Madison installed eight cameras in July 2025 from the Atlanta-based company, Flock Safety. The company operates a network of automated cameras that monitor 24/7 and capture images of the rear of passing cars.
Anna Andrzejewski, an art historian who arrived at UW–Madison in the early 2000s, is the first holder of the Wright professorship, which was inaugurated on July 1, 2025.
Andrzejewski has taught a course on Wright’s architecture and writings since 2016. The endowed professorship — which she calls “utterly transformative and inspiring” — will enhance and expand Andrzejewski’s Wright-related teaching and research while supporting student field trips to Wright-designed buildings in the region.
“As I argue in a new essay for Inquisitive magazine, institutional neutrality as originally formulated by the University of Wisconsin in 1894 is a concept that protects academic freedom by prohibiting colleges from punishing or condemning faculty for their political views. The issue of affirmative institutional statements is a much later, and more minor, concern. But when a university condemns certain political stands, it inevitably creates the danger of suppressing those ideas.”
“Universities ought to return to the 1894 University of Wisconsin approach to the opinionated university, where academic freedom is so important that even denouncing a professor violates standards of neutrality. But when the concept of institutional neutrality is abused by politicians and administrators to silence faculty, then it becomes a cure worse than the disease. Soucek’s book recognizes these dangers and provides a thoughtful approach to trying to address the problems inherent in the inevitable opinions of a university.”
University of Wisconsin junior Noah Warren studies political science with a special interest in geopolitics. But, Warren said he became frustrated when he found no free platform displaying a picture of politics across the globe — so he built one.
As of Thursday, Feb. 12, a new University of Wisconsin policy requires its students to share their vaccination status amidst the recent measles outbreak.
Despite some confusion, according to Jake Baggott, Associate Vice Chancellor & Executive Director of University Health Services, students are not required to be vaccinated but rather obligated to share their status for specific vaccinations, such as Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR), Varicella (Chicken Pox), Hepatitis B and more, according to the UHS Vaccination Records website.
The University of Wisconsin announced Mar. 4 that it created a web page with expanded information and guidance should students or employees encounter someone representing a federal agency in campus facilities or workspaces, according to UW News.
The Open Seat food pantry, located in the UW Student Activity Center, provides food and hygiene products to students experiencing food insecurity. Open to all UW–Madison students without income verification, the pantry aims to remove barriers to basic needs so students can focus on academics instead of worrying about their next meal.
Now, the eight part-time student employees who operate the pantry are calling on Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Lori Reesor to fund a full-time, permanent staff position dedicated solely to pantry operations. Student organizers say the current model — in which students manage every aspect of a large-scale food distribution program — is no longer sustainable.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is addressing the impact of the ongoing conflict in Iran and the broader Middle East. Students who are studying abroad in the region are being moved to new locations, where the university says they will continue their programs. Their plan aims to ensure the safety and well-being of students and staff.
“The situation is evolving rapidly, and we are closely following developments,” said Fran Vavrus, vice provost and dean of the International Division. Vavrus emphasized the university’s commitment to connecting with both international students in Madison and those studying abroad.
When University of Wisconsin-Madison juniors Amelia Wozniak and Kaleb Roessler worked for a moving company last spring, they were shocked by the amount of housing items that were thrown away in good condition. That observation led them to create Badger Reclaim, an organization dedicated to helping other UW-Madison students by recycling and distributing gently used items to those in need.
Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin called the win “exciting” and highlighted the importance of the partnership in saving lives.
“The Badgers contributed more than 15,400 donations over the course of the competition,” Mnookin said. “That included our students, alumni, community members, anybody who went and donated.”
On Wisconsin! University of Wisconsin-Madison announced the date of this year’s homecoming game on Tuesday. (video)
Three candidates vying to become the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s next provost recently outlined their visions for how to address the university’s most pressing challenges and opportunities.
harles Martinez, a dean at the University of Texas at Austin, says he’s the right person to guide UW-Madison through the upcoming search for the university’s next chancellor.
The Blk Pwr Coalition and non-profit organization Leaders Igniting Transformation reflected on the Black Panther Party’s historical activism and current political challenges at an event Wednesday at the Multicultural Student Center.
The three finalists for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s second-highest academic position — the provost — presented their visions for the role and the future of campus to an audience of faculty, staff and students alike last week.
The University of Wisconsin’s Blk Pwr Coalition held an event in collaboration with the Leaders Igniting Transformation club Wednesday to talk about the history of the Black Power Movement.
A few years after a frenzied off-campus housing search saw UW-Madison students camping overnight to secure apartments, groups representing Madison-area developers and property management companies say there is enough housing for all undergraduates near campus and no need for the university to build another dorm.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department’s Chief of Police Brent Plisch spoke with University Committee members Monday about the presence of eight Flock Safety cameras on campus, addressing their privacy concerns.
After a nine-month search to replace the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s second-highest academic official, three finalists — Anna Stenport, John Zumbrunnen and Charles Martinez Jr. — are presenting their visions for the future of campus this week.
The All–Campus Leadership Conference returns this year for an event with several professional and networking opportunities along with leadership skill building.
As a group of University of Wisconsin–Madison students made their way from campus to the Madison Municipal Building earlier this month, they walked on sidewalks, crossed downtown streets and rode the bus.
The Morgridge Institute for Research’s leader, Brad Schwartz, is retiring after more than a decade, the UW-Madison-based nonprofit announced Tuesday.
The Morgridge Institute is a private biomedical research hub housed in the taxpayer-supported Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery.
While serving as CEO for 13 years, Schwartz expanded its research footprint in partnership with UW-Madison and recruited top scientists.
The Badger Challenge is launching a new event to raise funds for cancer research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The 2026 Badger Challenge Ball will bring together survivors, supporters, researchers, and community partners for a formal dinner, reception, and auction at The Edgewater. Set against the lakefront backdrop, the evening aims to celebrate hope while directly supporting life-changing cancer research.
Award-winning writer, healing justice practitioner and yogi Yolo Akili Robinson hosted Black Love as A Practice: A WorkShop to Help us Embody The Love We Desire Wednesday night, an event planned by the Black History Month Planning Committee (BHMPC) and the Black Cultural Center (BCC) where students rethought Black love not just as a feeling, but as a practice and a behavior.
Fans are used to seeing basketball and hockey games at the Kohl Center, but that was only made possible after a large donation and lengthy construction project. On Jan. 17, 1998, the Wisconsin Badgers hosted Northwestern in the inaugural men’s basketball home game following completion of the new facility (UW won 53-33). Former U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, who graduated from UW in 1956, donated $25 million toward the $76.4 million facility. Take a look back at archive photos tracing the construction process.
Anna Stenport, dean of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Georgia, laid out her case Monday for why she’s the right pick for UW-Madison’s second-in-command.
Beyond Lake Mendota, Ho-Chunk ancestors left their mark on the landscape through a massive collection of effigy mounds used for gathering, ritual and burial, with at least 4,000 remaining throughout Wisconsin. Today tourists can visit the roughly 200 mounds in Madison, and take the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s First Nations Cultural Landscape Tour – a walking tour that explores upwards of 12,000 years of human history (running between 1 March and 30 November).
“I think the tours are so important for campus,” said Omar Poler, an Indigenous education coordinator in the Office of the Provost and a member of the Sokaogon Chippewa Community. “They’ve changed the way that UW-Madison sees and understands its own place,” Poler notes, adding that this is especially true of the tour guides.
The Universities of Wisconsin and the Board of Regents have reviewed and changed policies regarding political campaigning in residential halls, both at UW-Madison and other UW system schools, according to the Feb. 5th Education Committee Meeting.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Wisconsin Humanoid Robotics club, founded in November, plans to design and build a humanoid robot from scratch.
Humanoid robots are human-like automatons powered by artificial intelligence, with arms, bipedal legs and the ability to execute a range of mechanical tasks in the same way a human would. An analysis by Morgan Stanley projected the humanoid industry to become a $5 trillion market in the next 25 years. Humanoids could have applications in hazardous industrial work environments, consumer households and even scientific operations beyond Earth.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs has found its future home at one of the college’s oldest buildings — thanks to a $30 million donation from the late U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl’s philanthropic foundation.
The public affairs school is currently sprawled across 28 different locations on UW-Madison’s nearly 1000-acre campus. The gift from Herb Kohl Philanthropies will turn the university’s Music Hall into Herb Kohl Hall and also help support school programming.
The inspiration for one of four new public art proposals on the edge of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus came from a 6-year-old boy named Luke.
“We go birding when we’re in Madison,” said artist Jason Klimoski, who with his wife, Lesley Chang, founded the architecture firm StudioKCA. “When we go to the Arboretum or Vilas Park, robins make that ‘cheerio’ sound: ‘Cheerio, cheerio, cheerio.'”
Wisconsin’s state universities are set to have new policies on campaigning in residence halls for the first time in nearly 40 years.
The Board of Regents, which oversees the Universities of Wisconsin system, last reviewed and approved the schools’ policies in 1988, when Ronald Reagan was president, floppy disks were popular and the movie “Die Hard” was released in theaters.
It’s gearing up to be an action-packed summer at the Kohl Center.
UW Athletics and FPC Live announced this week that Shinedown and Phish will perform at the venue later this year. Shinedown is coming to town on May 16 while Phish will have shows on July 7 and 8.
Tickets for Shinedown will go on sale on Friday and tickets for Phish go on sale Feb. 27.
Herb Kohl Philanthropies announced a pledge to extend the late Sen. Kohl support of the UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs with a $30 million lead private gift.
The late Sen. Herb Kohl’s name will now grace not one but two buildings on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.
Dozens of University of Wisconsin-Madison students, faculty and alumni marched from Library Mall up Bascom Hill Friday to demand stronger protections for immigrants and international students on campus.
University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty are raising concerns over new workload requirements set to begin next fall that were passed as part of Wisconsin’s latest state budget negotiations.
Volunteers gathered on Lake Mendota over the weekend to clean litter piles left on the ice following a party on the lake’s surface that took place in spite of the cancellation of Lily’s Classic, which was set to take place Saturday.
A party on Lake Mendota Saturday left the lake covered in garbage after the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a fraternity could not reach an agreement to host its annual hockey tournament fundraiser.
Mitch Daniels, former Indiana governor and past president of Purdue University, spoke Monday at the University of Wisconsin–Madison as part of the La Follette School of Public Affairs’ Spring Spotlight series.
The La Follette School of Public Affairs plans to move into one of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s oldest buildings and rename the facility after former U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl.
A 19-year-old UW-Madison student was arrested Sunday for recording videos of people using the restroom at his residence hall, UW-Madison police said.
Former U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl’s foundation is donating $30 million to UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs to modernize Music Hall, which will be renamed Herb Kohl Hall in honor of the late politician and businessman.
After experiencing increased demand in recent years, organizers of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s student food pantry are asking campus leaders for help.
Readers most likely have encountered the Friends of the UW-Madison Libraries by attending their semi-annual book sales that bring in some $60,000 a year. The friends group has used the proceeds in various ways, including supporting speakers and making grants to visiting scholars using special and often unique material in the UW’s and State Historical Society’s libraries and archives.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon at UW-Madison has canceled its massive annual fundraiser party on frozen Lake Mendota scheduled for this weekend after the university set rules around the event the fraternity says are unattainable.
The Madison Water Utility oversees the 21 wells that service the City of Madison, including the University of Wisconsin campus, according to Grande. They closely monitor a wide variety of regulated contaminants, like volatile organic compounds, pesticides, inorganic compounds, bacterial contaminations and PFAS, according to Grande.
Music educator and violinist Zeynep Alpan believes music is more than entertainment — it teaches “life.”
Alpan, who works on music education programming with the New York Philharmonic and Lincoln Center, is the co-founder of Global Impact Musician (GIM), a nonprofit based in New York and partnered with the University of Wisconsin-Madison that works with young professional musicians in East Africa.
The University of Wisconsin College of Engineering is set to debut its new Aerospace Engineering major this fall after the UW System Board of Regents voted on its approval Feb. 5, according to a College of Engineering press release.
Eric Wilcots, dean of UW-Madison’s College of Letters and Science, will serve as interim chancellor, the Universities of Wisconsin has announced.
Wilcot replaces Jennifer Mnookin, who is taking over as president of Columbia University in New York City.
Here’s what to know about Wilcots.
UW-Madison students now will be required to report their vaccination status to the university, campus officials said Thursday.
The mandate comes after UW-Madison announced earlier this month that a student living in an off-campus apartment tested positive for measles. University and Dane County officials said at least 4,000 people were exposed.
UW-Madison has announced it will now require students to share their vaccination status for multiple diseases, including measles.
The policy change comes after a measles case in a UW-Madison student, which was reported in early February. The student visited several locations on and off campus while contagious, and university officials had to notify about 4,000 people who may have been exposed.
The Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team gathered tonight for a meaningful celebration of resilience, faith, and community as they attended a premiere.
The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents approved new policies that would cautiously ease access for political campaigning in residence halls in their February meeting by allowing greater door-to-door campaigning.
Students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will now be required to disclose their vaccination status to the university under a new policy introduced Thursday.
After experiencing increased demand in recent years, organizers of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s student food pantry are asking campus leaders for help.
The Open Seat Food Pantry is run by eight part-time student employees who distribute over 32,000 pounds of food to hundreds of students each month.
University of Wisconsin-Madison leaders and students urged campus communities to strengthen civil dialogue, protect free expression and adopt a systemwide artificial intelligence vision responsibility at a Board of Regents meeting Thursday.
