Category: Campus life

Carlos Gonzales is not anti-Jewish, or even anti-religious. He just doesn’t approve of “religious figures supervising state employees.” And that’s exactly what he thinks is happening at the UW-Madison.

Gonzales, 50, has worked for two years as a cook at Pop’s Club, a residence dining hall in Gordon Commons, on the UW-Madison campus. Recently, the kitchen began preparing a weekly meal for Hillel Foundation, which is building a new campus facility. And this, he says, has caused some faith-based disruption.

MADISON, Wis. — Fire investigators still haven’t nailed down the cause of a fire at the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house in Madison.

City officials have given the fraternity permission to demolish the 8,000-square-foot house, which will happen after an insurance settlement is complete.

At this yearâ??s Freakfest Halloween celebration, Madison residents can expect a bigger headlining entertainment act, lower public cost and possibly a higher ticket price.

More than $1 million in refund checks mailed by the University of Wisconsin previously believed to be lost in the mail could have reached recipients, Bursar Cathie Easter said Thursday.

Madison partygoers could be paying more for Freakfest this year if City Council approves a discussed fee increase.

I usually am a big supporter of the UW-Madison SAFE (Safe Arrival for Everyone) Nighttime Services. However, this past Saturday night I had a pretty unpleasant experience with SAFEride.

I can remember back in 1993, when I was 20 years old. Gas was $1.19 a gallon, there was no Facebook, text messaging, or a perceived problem with our “drinking culture.”

That’s right, we’re Cheeseheads. We like to drink, eat brats, and watch the Packers. No big deal, right? Well, some of your city officials seem to think it is.

UW-Madison is working to improve services provided to current ROTC students and student veterans returning to campus through the creation of a new position: assistant dean of veterans and ombuds services.

Here’s one anyone can get: New technology tools have broad appeal to University of Wisconsin-Madison students.

Yes, folks, youngsters like new toys. In the news business that’s called a “dog bites man” item, meaning it’s nothing surprising or out of the ordinary.

Still, it comes from the always interesting annual Student Computing Survey conducted each spring by UW-Madison’s Division of Information Technology (DoIT).

Carlos Gonzales is not anti-Jewish, or even anti-religious. He just doesn’t approve of “religious figures supervising state employees.” And that’s exactly what he thinks is happening at the UW-Madison.

Gonzales, 50, has worked for two years as a cook at Pop’s Club, a residence dining hall in Gordon Commons, on the UW-Madison campus. Recently, the kitchen began preparing a weekly meal for Hillel Foundation, which is building a new campus facility. And this, he says, has caused some faith-based disruption.

A moment of silence to honor all who have fallen in armed conflict will be the central rallying point Sunday during Peace Day at UW, held in conjunction with U.N. International Day of Peace.

MADISON, Wis. — University of Wisconsin-Madison’s political tradition of student activism is continuing as student groups for both Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama are organizing for the November election.

On Tuesday night, hundreds of Students For Obama packed the university’s largest lecture hall to kick off the year for UW-Madison College Democrats and swing into the election season.

And last Friday, Students For McCain met to organize their election season efforts.

MADISON, Wis. — A total of about $1.6 million in financial aid and tuition refund checks didn’t arrive on time, leaving some 600 University of Wisconsin-Madison students waiting for their money. The checks are for varying amounts from about $100 to $10,000.

A recent surge in violent crimes this fall, including two Monday night, continue to stretch the resources of the Madison Police Departmentâ??s crime investigations unit.

The UW has filled a new position aimed at helping war vets transition back to student life.

John Bechtol is UW’s new assistant dean for veterans and ombuds services.

MADISON, Wis. — Madison police said a student was beaten and robbed on West Gilman Street just after midnight Tuesday.

Police said the student was walking eastbound in the 100 block of West Gilman Street when he was attacked by two men.

Police said the student was struck several times, including a few times with a silver handgun. The attackers took his gray backpack, wallet and cell phone, police said.

Madison Police tell 27 News a 23-year-old man was cut many times in the face during an attack while walking in the 100 block of West Gilman Street overnight.

Police say he was hit in the face several times by two suspects, including a few times with a silver handgun. The victim is a UW student.

UW-Madison officials are trying to track down as much as $1.6 million in missing student refund checks, which were processed by a Milwaukee vendor and were intended for mailing from a Milwaukee post office last month.

In the meantime, UW-Madison officials said the hundreds of students affected by the missing checks were being given the opportunity to receive zero-interest, short term loans to tide them over. Much of the refunded money is from student loans and intended to help students with living expenses.

Wisconsin Union officials unveiled exterior designs for the new south campus union at a news conference Monday, and said changes to interior designs will be made within the next month.

A new assistant dean for veterans and ombuds service joined University of Wisconsin staff atop Bascom Hill Monday.

Students will have the opportunity to design the interior of the new Union South.

The collegiate push to get Sen. Barack Obama into the White House begins in Wisconsin Tuesday, with rallies planned in Madison and Milwaukee.

Rallies organized by Students for Barack Obama are scheduled at 7 p.m. in the Humanities Building on the UW-Madison campus and at 6 p.m. in Union Ballroom West on the UW-Milwaukee campus.

Other kickoffs this week are at UW-Stout’s Memorial Student Center and at Reeve Underground at UW-Oshkosh on Wednesday, UW-Superior and UW-Green Bay on Thursday and Alverno College on Friday.

A climbing wall, a 350-seat theatre and an entertainment center will be a part of the new Union South, scheduled for completion in March 2011.

A University of Wisconsin graduate student was found dead in his Broom Street apartment Monday evening.

University of Wisconsin-Madison officials held a news conference Monday to unveil new exterior architecture renderings for the $82 million South Campus Union.

The new building is scheduled to open in the spring of 2011, in time for the National Science Olympiad being hosted by UW-Madison in May of that year.

Sending your child off to college can be an anxious time for many parents. But for parents of children with a mental illness or learning disability, the transition is especially challenging. One worry is that parents of adult children have no legal standing in their medical care. In Nashville, Tenn., the Diehl family has worked hard to prepare their son for the move from home to UW-Madison. (Audio and text.)

MADISON, Wis. — University of Wisconsin officials revealed plans on Monday for the new south campus student union, offering the community a new state-of-the-art green facility.

The new Union South will feature the latest in amenities, including numerous restaurants and an indoor climbing wall, but comes with an $87 million price tag, WISC-TV reported.

WISCONSIN RAPIDS — Carol Gelhausen had seen her daughter play trumpet many times before, but Friday’s performance in Wisconsin Rapids was just a little different.

Gelhausen, Hartford, visited the city this weekend to see her daughter, Michelle, a junior trumpet player in the University of Wisconsin Marching Band, play during the Lincoln High School and Stevens Point Area Senior High School football game.

Alex Waskawic worked up a sweat this summer and in the end it was all worth it.

The 2005 Omro High School graduate was put through a rigorous workout on a hot August day and it paid off in his selection as the new assistant drum major for the University of Wisconsin Marching Band.

From the most experienced fifth-year senior to the newest of freshmen, we all have felt at one time or another the stress and rigors of college life bearing down on us. Whether we are stressing over financial situations, what our goals for the future may be, relationships, or even that term paper due this Friday you havenâ??t even started yet, college is a tumultuous time that heavily impacts our minds and mental states.

That being said, it should be a top priority for our university (any university or college, in fact) to have mental treatment and counseling readily available to all students for free, or at least at very affordable prices. The fact that a recent UW System audit found that student mental health needs were growing at a much faster rate than the resources available is, therefore, a cause for great concern. The UW System needs to address this issue now before it grows out of control or situations arise in which students are put at risk.

Threats of stabbings and drive-by shootings are just a few things Jason Koepke heard after denying entry to unruly patrons when he worked at Madison Avenue, a popular bar and dance club in downtown Madison.

Koepke, a UW-Madison senior who currently works the door at the Nitty Gritty, also recalled a drunken altercation in February between two men and a male freshman that left the student bloodied on the sidewalk.

â??He had a huge cut across his face, his lip was all split open,â? Koepke said. â??They pummeled him good.â?

A â??digital commonsâ? is on the horizon for University of Wisconsin System students, offering them a wealth of information including more digital journals and databases than ever before.

The Board of Regents discussed the proposal last month, and it is now in the systemâ??s 2010-11 budget request to the state.

An unknown number of University of Wisconsin students are still waiting on thousands of dollars in checks from the Bursarâ??s Office though they were mailed in Milwaukee more than two weeks ago, according to the office.

Bursar Cathie Easter said Friday that the checks, dated Aug. 28, have likely been misplaced or delayed in the mail.

On the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, several student organizations at UW-Madison joined Thursday as part of an effort to honor and remember the victims.

“So many people forget what happened and forget the meaning of what happened, and we’re just trying to help people remember and memorialize those victims,” said Sara Mikolajczak, chairwoman of the University of Wisconsin College Republicans, the lead group in organizing the 9/11 event on campus.

The parents of slain University of Wisconsin junior Brittany Zimmermann have filed a lawsuit against Wisconsin Management, Inc. due to inadequate locks and doors at the apartment in which she was killed last April.

Zimmermannâ??s parents had filed a federal lawsuit against Dane County and the 911 Center earlier this year but dropped the case at the end of June with the agreement to file again in state court.

MANITOWOC â?? Returning home last month to the town of Newton after a summer of exploration, 24-year-old Brian Backhaus looked much like the scrawny junior high school kid he’d been more than a decade ago.

Except, that is, for the wiry beard that had sprouted from his chin.

“On the East Coast I was eating rice and oatmeal, but then I couldn’t find gas containers for my stove,” said Backhaus, a third-year forestry student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Once I got out west, I started eating bread and dry cereal and lunch meat.”

UW System officials recently updated the set of guidelines university employees and student organizations must follow for campaigning on campus.

According to UW System spokesperson David Giroux, the system has compiled a list of references to policies, statutes and administrative codes about political involvement on campus to make it easier for students and employees to know what their boundaries are.

To the Graduating Class of 2009:

It is with utmost sincerity that I publicly apologize for my lapse in judgment that resulted in the highly-publicized event last semester. My inconsiderate actions have been a disservice to University administrators, the Van Galder Bus Company and our venerable judicial system. Most of all, I disappointed the very people that believed in my goals, trusted my credentials and elected me as class president; the student body. It is at this moment that I humbly ask for your forgiveness.

County, city and university attorneys met in Dane County Circuit Court Thursday to fight subpoenas against various officials in the latest lawsuit filed by the family of slain UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann, The Capital Times reported.

Zimmermannâ??s parents are suing Wisconsin Management Company Inc., who manage the property at 517 W. Doty St. where an intruder killed Brittany on April 2, alleging that unsafe living conditions contributed to her death. The Capital Times reported the lawsuit alleges the management company â??knowingly failed to provide adequate security to residentsâ? after Zimmermannâ??s fiancé Jordan Gonnering complained about the lack of secure doors and locks.

MADISON, Wis. — As Sept. 11 memorials occur all over the world, in Madison, the sentiment is no different.

It’s a history lesson outside the classroom for Alex and Ian Campbell, on Bascom Hill’s memorial for the victims of 9/11.

“They were just coming home from school today,” said Robert Kauffman, the boys’ grandfather, “And we thought, let’s have a little lesson on humanity, humility, and humbleness about this tragic event that happened.”

The boys are too young to remember what grandpa Kauffman remembers so vividly.

About one in five UW-Madison students in last year’s freshman class were first-generation college students, according to a study released Tuesday by the university.

Those students are more likely to be from Wisconsin and tend to be poorer than other freshmen, the study found.

University of Wisconsin senior Elizabeth Yurish was feeding elephants in Tsitsikamma National Park, South Africa, while thousands of miles away, fellow UW senior Erica Efron attempted to navigate the narrow medieval streets of Prague, Czech Republic.

Every year, thousands of students stuff their backpacks, grab their passports and hop on a plane to begin what many consider the â??adventure of a lifetime.â?

This is a rare exercise in idealism for me

My co-editor, Sam Clegg, will likely roll his eyes as he reads the bleeding-heart liberalism gush from my pen onto an editorial page once heralded (no pun intended!) as a bastion of right-wing thought. There might be a snide reference in the online comments section to the river of tears that will soak the tie-dye shirts and salt the free-range eggs and vegetarian-fed bacon of many a Madison liberal as they read this article over breakfast.

The beast that killed our baseball team is back. And this time, itâ??s coming for your beakers.

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, or Title IX for short, was designed to reduce gender discrimination in public schools. It decreed that nobody could â??be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination underâ? any federally-funded educational program on the basis of sex.

University of Wisconsin School of Business Dean Michael Knetter apologized for calling UW tuition�cheap� Wednesday, after being quoted in an article printed in the Wisconsin State Journal Tuesday.

Knetter said his remark was not meant to be â??insincereâ? to those families who find the tuition at UW expensive.