In preparation for the Badgersâ?? football game against Illinois, the 2008 UW Homecoming parade lifted student spirits Friday with a performance from the band and fireworks at the Memorial Union Terrace.
For most college students, paying back student loans after graduation has become an expected part of the college experience.
Several health-related factors have a significant effect on studentsâ?? overall academic performance, according to a study conducted by the University of Minnesota.
MADISON, Wis. — A herd of UW law school grads took over Camp Randall right before Saturday’s Homecoming game against Illinois.
The Homecoming tradition calls for all law school graduates to run across the field, toss a cane over the north goalposts, and catch it. Legend has it that law students who catch their cane will win their first case.
Among Saturday’s cane throwers was Johnny Walsh, who conquered many obstacles, not the least of which is being legally blind, to get to the big day.
CONWAY, Ark. (AP) — Police officers patrolled the University of Central Arkansas campus Monday and classes were canceled after a shooting in an alleyway left two students dead and a third person wounded.
Shots were fired in the heart of the campus Sunday night near a male dormitory and behind the campus police station. No arrests had been made by 7 a.m. Monday.
“This is just an awful tragedy. It’s the worst thing that can happen on a college campus,” interim university president Tom Courtway said. “We have start looking at everything.”
Although polls are showing Barack Obama with a double-digit lead in Wisconsin over John McCain, state Democrats are taking nothing for granted.
Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisconsin, is launching a two-day, eight-college tour Monday to urge students to vote early and get involved in the final days of the campaign.
After a spike in arrests at two night games, University of Wisconsin-Madison arrested 14 people, 10 of them students, at Camp Randall on Saturday during the Badgers’ 27-17 victory over Illinois at UW’s homecoming day game.
Forty-three people were ejected from the stadium, 20 of them students, University Police reported.
Alcohol use was involved in 38 of the ejections, including 12 instances in which a citation was issued for underage use of alcohol. Two other citations were issued: one each for possession of marijuana and trespassing.
Sexually-transmitted infections are on the rise for teenagers and young adults in Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Department of Family Services said.
Department officials said in 1996, 6,000 people were diagnosed with an STI, compared to 10,000 in 2000.
With this in mind, a new Web site aims to enable people who have received an STI to tell those with whom they have been sexually active about the illness with an electronic card. The project began in Brown County.
It’s a hard conversation to have but, inspot.org is reaching out to those dreading the talk.
Sex Out Loud, a new University of Wisconsin-Madison campus group, said it supports the site as they promote sexual education and protection to help students avoid STIs and prevent them in the future.
Saturday’s 27-17 Badger football victory over Illinois â?? the Badgers first Big Ten victory of the season â?? wrapped up a week of homecoming activities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Alumni were seen everywhere on Saturday having a great time, made even better by the Badgers’ sorely-needed victory.
Many told WISC-TV that the annual Homecoming game is the one home game that draws them back to Madison.
Madison and Freakfest — it’s an infamous relationship — and one that some people are trying to break up.
Members of a UW student group have come up with a sober alternative. They’re calling it Shriek Week. It’s a celebration with all the spooky trappings of Halloween, but without the booze.
“There really is something for everybody and an opportunity to create whatever you want to see on campus, besides drinking and dangerous activities,” said Shira Weiner, of the Wisconsin Union Directorate.
(MADISON) The non-profit College Board says nationally, tuition at public four-year colleges has almost doubled over the last 20 years. Yesterday students at UW-Madison joined a country-wide effort asking Congress to make college more affordable.
Volunteers with the Student Wisconsin Education Association petitioned for Congress to provide more funding for Pell Grants, which give need-based aid to low-income students, and for affordable student loans. Co-president Heather Feltz says her group is made up of future teachers, whose salaries are often not enough to pay back thousands of dollars in college loans.
â??Iâ??ve got a roommate and she gets loans every year and she’s going to be $40,000 in debt the day that she graduates,â? says Feltz. â??And if you don’t have a job that pays a lot then you struggle.” (Third item.)
Tickets for this year’s Freakfest are selling at a faster rate compared to last year, according to Madison Police Lt. Joe Balles. Balles is in charge of planning the police presence for the weekend.
Freakfest is Saturday on State Street. Fifty-thousand tickets have been authorized for this year’s event. Last year, 35,000 people attended. Tickets are $7 in advance and $10 the day of the event, which features four stages of entertainment. O.A.R. is the headlining musicial act.
Chancellor Carolyn â??Biddyâ? Martin will address the university at the Kohl Center today, as a matter of formally introducing herself to the campus and outlining her plans for UW-Madisonâ??s future.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has at least a 10-point lead in all Big Ten states, including the battleground state of Indiana, according to a poll released Thursday.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Carolyn “Biddy” Martin outlined some goals and priorities she believes are important to the future success and health of the university during a 45-minute speech Thursday night at the Kohl Center.
Martin, who replaced John Wiley as chancellor on Sept. 1, spoke to a crowd of about 2,000 during an event titled “On, Wisconsin! A Great University and its Friends Welcome Chancellor Martin.”
First, Martin said it’s vitally important to make UW-Madison affordable for students of all economic backgrounds. That, however, does not mean she plans to slash tuition — or even keep the price of attending the UW flat.
MADISON, Wis. — A long and sometimes infamous tradition in Madison, the annual Halloween celebrations along State Street date back to the 1970s.
In the last few years, the city of Madison has transformed the large outdoor party that has sometimes been marred by violence and property damage into “Freakfest,” a city-sanctioned event that requires admission and features live music.
The city’s involvement with the annual Halloween celebration was prompted by riots on State Street in 2002, 2003, 2004 and the use of pepper spray to disperse of unruly crowds in 2005.
The U-W Marching Band has made some changes in its travel arrangements, intended to cut down on inappropriate behavior that lead to its suspension a few weeks ago.
Band director Mike Leckrone says members are moving on after the week-long suspension, and had a great experience playing during Sundayâ??s Packers game. He says everyoneâ??s working to prevent further suspensions by minding how they behave on the road. (8th item.)
Zou Zou Robidoux loves classical music and is not ashamed to talk about it.
“I’m a geek about it,” said the 16-year-old Robidoux, who began playing in fourth grade. “It’s 90 percent of the music I listen to.”
Quoted: School of Music admissions coordinator Bonnie Abrams and graduate student Morgann Davis
Your 18-year-old is finally out of the house, attending college.
And this is a critical time for you to be talking to him or her about drinking.
The first six to eight weeks of a college studentâ??s freshman year are perhaps the most dangerous when it comes to excessive drinking, according to Susan Crowley, University of Wisconsin-Madison director of prevention services. Students are on their own for the first time in their young lives, and they often donâ??t have friends or family members to keep their behavior in line.
MADISON, Wis. — For the first time, there will no University of Wisconsin-Madison fraternity parties the night of Freakfest, Madison’s city-sanctioned Halloween celebration.
UW-Madison said that none of the campus’ 24 fraternities applied for a social event contract for Nov. 1.
As part of an agreement with the university and police, fraternities have to apply by Oct. 15 and take a Halloween risk training course with Madison police.
The University of Wisconsin marching band played at Lambeau Field for the half time show Oct. 19, anxious to improve their reputation after hazing allegations led to their suspension two weeks ago.
For the first time in several years, none of the UW-Madison fraternities will be hosting formal parties the night of Freakfest 2008, but that will not stop police from patrolling Langdon Street during the Nov. 1 event.
The University of Wisconsin, in partnership with the Madison Fire Department, will give students the ultimate hands-on experience in fire safety on Wednesday, which is Campus Safety Day.
Mackenzie Heinrichs is less than two months into her freshman year at UW-Madison but already is playing an active role in political protests around town.
She recently helped organize a gathering outside U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin’s office to protest the government’s $700 billion bill to bail out the nation’s financial services industry. Baldwin voted for the bailout. Heinrichs then made T-shirts that stated “No Money for Wall St. and War, Bailout Workers and the Poor!” and participated in another small protest Oct. 8 that disrupted Baldwin’s appearance at the Memorial Union for a panel discussion on voter issues.
Yet as active and enthusiastic as Heinrichs is herself, she’s frustrated by what she sees as a general apathy among her classmates toward important political issues — especially the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Quoted: Political science professor Kathy Cramer Walsh and Paul Soglin, an adjunct associate professor at the LaFollette School of Public Affairs
College career counselors are intensifying efforts to help students. Ms. Steinfeld’s group is inviting recruiters from smaller employers around New York, soliciting job postings from NYU alumni and scouring newspapers to find companies that are expanding. This week, the career center will hold an information session on “alternatives to Wall Street.”
At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the number of companies attending a September career fair fell to 225, from 232 last year. Leslie Kohlberg, director of career services for the College of Letters and Science, is encouraging students to seek individual counseling, visit employers and develop a back-up plan — or two.
“Things have been so good that students were able to rely on even some of the least-effective job search strategies,” like sending résumés via email and searching online career postings, she says. “They can’t really afford to do that now.”
The only taxi stand in downtown Madison will try to stay in operation despite diminishing funds expected to run out at the end of the month.
When Nate Lustig lost the lottery for student-section Badger football tickets in 2005, he turned to a year-old online business called ExchangeHut.com to buy seats for campus athletic events at market-rate prices.
Within a year, Lustig and friends John Tucker and Corey Capasso bought the company for $6,000 from founder Matt Stamerjohn, who was graduating from UW-Madison.
Beer for beer and shot for shot, when all 50 states belly up to the bar, few can hold their own with Wisconsin.
Binge drinking â?? weâ??re No. 1.
Percentage of drinkers in the population â?? No. 1.
Driving under the influence â?? No. 1.
We lag a few states in beer consumption, but weâ??re near the top. With brandy, itâ??s no contest. We put away more brandy per person than any other state. We have a strong claim on the vodka title, too.
And often we have no clue how drunk we are. Consider, for example, 75 drinkers who took a breath test for the Journal Sentinel. About half underestimated their blood-alcohol level, and when they did, they missed by a lot â?? falling short of their actual results by an average of 35%. Many who were over the legal limit for driving expressed full confidence in their ability to get behind the wheel.
Madison – There’s nothing pretty about detox.
In Madison, that starts with the facility itself – concrete block walls, stark rooms, beat-up showers and a stash of restraints the staff keeps ready to use when necessary. Then there’s the vomit, the yelling, the drunken fighting and, in one case, the maggots crawling in the sore a man left untended on his foot.
The family of slain UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann hung up reward posters in the downtown area Saturday, revealing new details surrounding the April 2 homicide at Zimmermannâ??s off-campus apartment.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will stop at a rally in Madison Thursday with less than two weeks until Election Day, his campaign announced Friday.
Dozens of disabled children and their families gathered for a Sunday afternoon carnival on Library Mall in an event sponsored by two University of Wisconsin Greek organizations.
Hoping to bring closure to their loved oneâ??s homicide investigation, the family of slain University of Wisconsin student Brittany Zimmermann hung reward fliers around downtown Madison over the weekend.
Connie Pesek lost her only biological child when she was a battered wife. Though her abusive ex-husband ended that pregnancy, she has nevertheless gained lots of children.
She’s been a house mother for fraternities and sororities for more than 20 years in Nebraska, Missouri and now in Madison, where she mothers the young ladies at the Delta Gamma Sorority on Langdon Street.
The former teacher started out in her rather unusual profession when she saw a Help Wanted ad and called the phone number given.
Ever wonder what those elegant sorority and fraternity street houses on and near Langdon Street look like on the inside?
Very nice indeed, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison students who live in them opened their homes to local residents on Sunday in the second annual Greek Tour of Homes.
Concerned that police are not doing enough to get information that could help find their daughter’s killer, the parents of slain UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann spent part of Saturday putting up reward posters in and around the Downtown neighborhood where she was killed April 2.
What, you might ask, were they sinking? Out there on Lake Mendota within splashing distance of the Union Terrace on Friday afternoon was a flotilla built and crewed by students from UW-Madison groups, Greek chapters and residence halls, all participating in the cardboard-barge race. One of the first events in the buildup to Homecoming, the 17 vessels were built from cardboard, plastic and tape. The object: to race from pier to pier and not sink.
Mike Leckrone is legendary as the unbound band director at the University of Wisconsin. In the band’s annual spring concerts, which draw rock-star levels of crowds, Mr. Leckrone has dropped onto the stage on a bungee cord, ridden a bicycle down a wire, slid down a firefighter pole, driven in on a motorcycle, arrived on a wedge of cheese and flown in on a cow that flipped in midair.
“I tell the kids it’s supposed to be fun, but not fun at the expense of other people,” said Mr. Leckrone, who’s been a director for 39 of his 72 years.
When the bars close up downtown, students head home.
For many, heading home includes phoning a cab for a ride, or trying to hail one heading down State Street.
City leaders found a temporary solution to the problem by setting up a late-night taxi stand on University Avenue on Friday and Saturdays.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin is designating next weekend’s homecoming football game with Illinois as “carbon-neutral.”
The designation gives the university a chance to raise awareness of environmental issues, such as the damaging effects of carbon dioxide and the benefits of recycling.
Fliers have now been posted around downtown Madison urging people who may have seen something suspicious in the 500 block of West Doty Street April 2 to call police.
The fliers were created and distributed by the parents of Brittany Zimmermann. Zimmermann was killed inside her apartment at 517 W. Doty Street April 2.
As Halloween weekend is shaping up to be an even bigger event than usual with the actual holiday on Friday and the cityâ??s annual Freakfest party on Saturday night, officials are speaking out on how to minimize trouble and inconveniences during the celebration.
From now until December, Memorial Library will be hosting a traveling exhibit designed to reveal the persecution of homosexuals by the Nazis.
UW-Madison students exploring political activism of today’s youth released a short documentary on Friday titled “Youthanized.”
The video, which is available at www.youtube.com/youthanized, compares activism of today’s UW students with those of the late 1960s and early 1970s — when Madison was a national hot spot for Vietnam War protestors.
The documentary, which started to take shape in the fall of 2007 as a school project for Mark Korshak, begins by posing the question, “Is Generation Y uniquely apathetic?”
The Madison Police Department announced at a press conference Thursday night it will reduce the number of state troopers patrolling the streets during Freakfest, even though a larger crowd is expected.
UW seniors are growing anxious. Excited to graduate, but nervous about what lies ahead in the real world.
Especially today where getting a job is getting a lot harder.
“I am legitimately scared, because we are going into the job market, and it’s going to affect our futures,” says UW senior Danielle Frydman.
Steve Schroeder of the UW’s Business Career Center tells students companies are still hiring, but because of the downturn in the economy, they may be hiring less.
On Friday, Oct. 3, UW Band director Mike Leckrone and Dean of Students Lori Berquam announced the suspension of the band amidst hazing allegations. Six days later allegations were confirmed, and the suspension was lifted, under the provision that the band would not travel â??for the time being,â? according to Berquam. Six days later, that restriction was lifted as well. See a pattern emerging?
As the new school year begins, thousands of UW-Madison students struggle to balance cramming for exams and volunteering for various organizations on campus. Amid all this stress, two organizations fly under the radar, avoiding any promotion of their activities.
Thereâ??s an elephant in the room, but the university would sooner shove you outside than let you talk about it. For an institution that supposedly values discussion that sifts and winnows through ideas, it has refused to talk about the enormous pachyderm squatting right in front of its face.
College students become increasingly liberal within their first three years of college, according to a recent study.
The University of Wisconsin Band will travel to Green Bay this Sunday as scheduled after allegations of hazing from the bandâ??s trip to the University of Michigan put the Lambeau Field appearance in question.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Marching Band will be allowed to make a trip to Green Bay on Sunday to perform during the Packers’ game against the Indianapolis Colts at Lambeau Field.
UW-Madison made the announcement in a press release Wednesday afternoon.
The UW Marching Band will be allowed to perform at a half-time show at Lambeau Field on Sunday, but it better be on its best behavior, said Director Mike Leckrone.
The announcement means that a temporary travel ban, which was adopted last week because of hazing among band members, is lifted.
MADISON â?? The University of Wisconsin marching band is getting another chance to behave while traveling.
The university announced Wednesday the band would be allowed to play at halftime during the Green Bay Packers game at Lambeau Field on Sunday.
The university temporarily suspended the band’s travel privileges last week after an investigation uncovered inappropriate hazing and alcohol-related activities. Some of the behavior occurred during the band’s last road trip to Michigan in late September.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The University of Wisconsin-Madison is establishing a student exchange program with a university in Beijing.
Lieutenant Gov. Barbara Lawton announced the new agreement with Tsinghua University in Beijing on Wednesday.
She recently returned from a National Lieutenant Governors Association mission to China where the deal was signed.
Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton recently returned from a mission to China as head of the National Lieutenant Governors Association. While there, Lawton signed a student exchange agreement between the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Tsinghua University in Beijing. Lawton says China understands that their development as a country depends on importing knowledge and technology, which is something Wisconsin can export.
UW-Madison Libraries will soon become part of HathiTrust archive service, a new digital repository collaboration among research libraries, the Committee on Institutional Cooperation announced Monday.
A recent series of allegations of misconduct by college marching bands across the country has raised questions about the culture and practices the groups adopt.
In several instances, university officials have responded by suspending the bands criticizing the groups’ behavior.
The marching band at the University of Wisconsin, Madison also landed a suspension on Oct. 3 amid allegations of misconduct, including inappropriate use of alcohol, serious hazing and sexualized behavio
U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., visited UW-Madisonâ??s Chadbourne Residential College Monday evening, speaking with students on the issues of the economy, energy and heath care.
University Health Services began offering free flu vaccinations Monday in hopes of decreasing the number of student illnesses this year.
