Category: Campus life

My baby recently left home. He’s 19 and launching his life in an age-appropriate way: subsidized by his parents, at school in a distant city, directing himself toward self-sufficiency and maturity. Nevertheless, the day his move became effective, I felt like I’d left him alone in the woods with no pebbles. This tender son was born 16 years after his big sister. She was learning quadratic equations as he was learning how to hold a spoon. When either child faltered, I’d try to help: “Here, let me.”

The Madison Police Department is beefing up security for next weekend’s Mifflin Street block party – an event notorious for getting a little out of hand. This year they will have two high tech ways to watch the crowd.

For the first time in Mifflin Street Block Party history, cameras will be placed at various locations on Mifflin Street to monitor the actions of partygoers, police said Wednesday.

As the academic year comes to a close, many University of Wisconsin students are beginning to plan their summers, life after graduation or simply deciding on a major.

A University of Wisconsin student petitioning to lessen noise violations for music at the annual Mifflin Street Block Party met with two city officials Wednesday afternoon, attempting to reach a compromise.

As the Mifflin Street Block Party nears, the Madison Police Department said Wednesday they are increasing the number of cameras to monitor the celebration May 3.

When Suchita Shah was in middle school, her family would sit around the dinner table and watch â??Jeopardy!â? Shah played along at home by shouting out answers at the television.

â??It has always been a life dream of mine to be on the show,â? Shah said. â??It has been my favorite TV show for as long as I can remember.â?

Shahâ??s dream came true this month. The Holmen native and University of Wisconsin-Madison student competed in the 2008 College Championship â??Jeopardy!â? competition at Madisonâ??s Kohl Center April 11 and 12.

Madison, Wis. – How many start-up companies can boast the competitive advantage of being first to market, have its own fan club on Facebook, and take advantage of three established technologies – electronic games, mobile phones, and global positioning systems?

One of them, PerBlue, recently took home second place and $7,000 from the 2008 G. Steven Burrill Business Plan Competition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The All-Campus Party was John Jungâ??s brainchild. With the help of the Wisconsin Alumni Association, Jung spearheaded the weeklong, sober event eight years ago for all University of Wisconsin students to celebrate the springâ??s colorful Union Terrace chairs, Bascom grass and warm weather.

WHITEWATER — College students who went without heat and hot water in their dorms for about six days are getting the service back — and using the experience in a fundraiser to provide safe drinking water to those who need it in India.

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater said temporary repairs to the steam system allowed hot water to be restored in some residence halls by 4 p.m. Tuesday, and others were getting it restored Tuesday night. Hot water and steam were to be restored to all campus buildings by noon today, officials said.

Three street people who reportedly smoked crack and burglarized homes in Brittany Zimmermann’s neighborhood are no more likely to become homicide suspects than any of hundreds of others sought or questioned in the investigation, police said Tuesday.

WHITEWATER, Wis. — College students in Whitewater who went without heat and hot water in their dorms for about six days are getting the service back.

And they’re using the experience in a fundraiser to provide safe drinking water to those who need it in India.

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater said temporary repairs to the steam system allowed hot water to be restored in some residence halls by 4 p.m. Tuesday, and others are getting it restored Tuesday night. Hot water and steam are expected to be restored to all campus buildings by noon Wednesday.

Police are searching for a man accussed of sexually assaulting a female UW-Madison student Friday afternoon near the intersection of Park Street and University Avenue.

UW-Madison senior and member of the Student Labor Action Coalition John Bruning has gone to great lengths to convince Chancellor John Wiley to implement his groupâ??s demands.

A convicted sex offender in jail on suspicion of violating his probation is considered a â??material witnessâ? in the homicide investigation of University of Wisconsin junior Brittany Zimmermann, according to court records.

Some University of Wisconsin students are petitioning against a city ordinance, in efforts to â??save the musicâ? at the annual Mifflin Street Block Party.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor John Wiley stopped at the Wintergreen Resort Tuesday to offer the UW’s help to the area and answer questions.

The UW still follows the Wisconsin Idea, Wiley said. The Wisconsin Idea was started by UW President Charles Van Hise in 1904 and the principle is that the boundaries and influence of the university should extend to the boundaries of the state and beyond. One way it does that is to provide help to groups, organizations and businesses around the state.

A convicted sex offender jailed on suspicion of violating his probation is considered a material witness in the death of 21-year-old UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann, court records show.

Documents seeking to revoke David Kahl’s probation quote him as telling police he entered a home near Zimmermann’s apartment on the day she was killed and knew two homeless men he identified as “Hank” and “Mitchell” who were running scams and breaking into houses, WKOW-TV reported.

The fire that killed three University of Wisconsin-Stout students at an off-campus duplex started in a love seat in the living room of the home, investigators said Monday.

27 News has uncovered Madison police officials consider sex offender David Kahl a “material witness” in the death of UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann, and have asked Kahl to help them find two homeless men.

In court documents filed by a Wisconsin Department of Corrections probation agent, Zimmermann’s April 2 murder is cited in a request to revoke Kahl’s probation. “Mr. Kahl was a material witness in the death of a coed that was discovered on Doty St.,” wrote agent Allen Matheus.

UW-Madison students participated in a 100-hour competition over the weekend designed to spur studentsâ?? entrepreneur skills.

Hoping to claim one of the $300 grand prizes, aspiring entrepreneurs purchased items Friday at Memorial Union to create an invention for the Wiscontrepreneur 100-hour challenge.

Depending on whom you ask, Madison ‘s single, transient men — often mentally ill, addicted to drugs and alcohol, or both — are a problem this liberal city has long been reluctant to confront.

Or they ‘re a convenient scapegoat for a pair of unsolved killings and the targets of a general disdain for the poor.

It ‘s hard to know when police admit they have a less-than-ideal handle on their numbers or the problems they cause, although some officers say the problems they cause on State Street and elsewhere in the central city have gotten much worse.

MADISON, Wis. — Plans are in the works for the annual Mifflin Street Block Party on May 3.

In light of recent crime in that neighborhood, some residents and police have been preparing for the event together, WISC-TV reported.

“I hope this year will be just as great,” said Mark Bednar, a Mifflin Street resident.

Bednar said that he’s looking forward to the annual party, but said he also has safety on his mind because of the recent crime.

“My roommate’s laptop and then a few houses down she had a purse taken, but it was a very wham-bam situation in which we were all just kind of blindsided by it,” he said.

UW-Madison officials are considering a big renovation of their campus swimming facility, the UW Natatorium. But it may come too late to head-off a fat bonus for the university’s swim team coach. It may also be a tough sell to students, despite the facility’s decay.

The facility was built in the sixties and proponents of a renovation say it needs many repairs and revisions, including the installation of a diving tower and a larger pool to meet competitive swim meet standards. Proponents say the proposed renovation would cost approximately $60 million. UW-Madison swim team coach Eric Hansen said team members currently practice at another campus facility because of the natatorium’s inadequacies.

The Wisconsin Alumni Student Boardâ??s 8th annual All-Campus Party will kick off Saturday, April 19 with events running through April 26.

Partygoers at the Mifflin Street Block Party May 3 will be hearing an unexpected message from the Madison Police Department: Always lock your doors and windows.

The Madison Police Department laid out a plan Thursday night to bring safety measures at the upcoming Mifflin Street Block Party â??back to basics.â?

In Madison we don’t look for the first robin of spring. We look for chairs on the Terrace.

The candy-colored sunburst furniture returned this week from winter hibernation. Saturday is the season’s first outdoor performance at the UW-Madison Memorial Union. The brat stand is being readied, and the Hoofers sailing club is preparing to put in the docks.

WHITEWATER, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater said that there won’t be any hot water or heat on campus until Sunday at the earliest.

A boiler exploded in the university’s power plant on the north side of campus Wednesday afternoon, knocking out the heating system.

On Thursday, windows were boarded up at the building, and nearby Esker Dining Hall remained closed.

The family of slain UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann is establishing a scholarship fund in the hope that another student will be able to realize dreams that would otherwise be out of reach.

“They want for another student to have the opportunity that Brittany worked so hard to accomplish on her own,” said Julie Foley, who manages the Dane County district attorney’s trauma victims services. “The legacy of Brittany’s life will be that someone else will be able to achieve the dreams she couldn’t.”

MADISON, Wis. — The family of the University of Wisconsin-Madison student killed on April 2 announced it is establishing a scholarship in Brittany Zimmermann’s name and conducting a fund drive called “Dollars for Brittany.”

Police said the 21-year-old UW-Madison junior was killed after her assailant broke into her first-floor apartment on West Doty Street.

UW Madison students freeze for fired Adidas workers. Freezing in place for five minutes on the Library Mall, members of the UW Student Labor Action Coalition want the administration to step up to the plate, on behalf of fired Adidas workers in El Salvador.

A new bill in Congress aims to require that U.S. colleges and universities inform campus residents of an emergency within 30 minutes. Backers argue it could save lives, but critics say it could cause more problems.

The â??Virginia Tech Victims Campus Emergency Response Policy and Notification Actâ? mandates that schools notify students within half an hour of a confirmed emergency. Its introduction comes about a year after the Virginia Tech massacre, where officials didnâ??t alert the entire campus of a shooting in a residence hall for nearly two hours. By that time, the gunman had started a second shooting spree, killing a total of 32 people before taking his own life.

UW-Madison students still question university security a year after the Virginia Tech massacre.

With so many campus crises this year, headlines like this one are ever-present, however, safety officials at UW-Madison and other campuses say blanket terms like â??lockdownâ? are misleading and infeasible to implement.

Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz described his career path to University of Wisconsin students over dinner Tuesday night.

The heated debate surrounding the deportation orders of Tope and Oluwagbenga Awe highlights the urgent need for immigration reform. The Awes came to the United States from Nigeria on a tourist visa in 1989 and in July of 2004 after their application for citizenship was finally denied, the Awe family was ordered to leave the country.

Samuel Awe, Tope and Oluwagbenga’s father, was undergoing kidney treatment at the time and the family failed to contact the immigration service in July. The lack of contact classifies the family as “immigration fugitives.”

WASHINGTON — While most of the Democratic Party’s superdelegates are members of Congress, governors or senior party officials, UW-Madison student Awais Khaleel, Lauren Wolfe and Jason Rae are still in college. Yet the votes of the three student superdelegates might help decide the Democratic nominee.