Category: Campus life

A Madison police official confirmed Thursday someone forced their way into UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann’s West Doty Street apartment, before the 21 year old junior was murdered April 2.

In a e-mail, Madison Police spokesman Joel DeSpain divulged a key, new piece of information on the circumstances of this crime. “There was forced entry on a door to a building in which Zimmermann resided.”

DeSpain wrote it was a difficult decision for police chief Noble Wray to acknowledge how the apartment was entered. “He took time deliberating whether revealing this detail would outweigh investigators desire to withhold the information while they search for a killer.”

Dane County released a transcript Wednesday of the 911 call Brittany Zimmermannâ??s boyfriend made upon finding the University of Wisconsin junior dead in her Doty Street home.

Brittany Zimmermann’s killer broke through a door to get into her apartment and kill her, police confirmed today.

“There was forced entry on a door to the building in which Zimmermann resided,” Police Chief Noble Wray said through a spokesman.

Homeless people “are our brothers, our sisters. They are members of our community,” says Linda Ketcham, executive director of Madison-area Urban Ministry.

She was preparing for a noontime press conference at Community Action Coalition of South Central Wisconsin called in response to what advocates perceive as a growing tendency to demonize the homeless in the wake of two recent deaths. “We’re concerned about the stereotyping, the profiling, the scapegoating that’s going on now,” Ketcham said.

“We have a shared responsibility as a community,” she said, “I think that’s what’s been forgotten here.”

MADISON, Wis. — In light of the recent violence in the campus and downtown areas, student safety has become a hot-button issue, and a new campus group said it has a solution: concealed carry.

The group is called Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. It’s a national organization with 25,000 members. The University of Wisconsin-Madison chapter formed in the last few weeks.

The group says putting guns in the hands of responsible, licensed citizens will make the UW-Madison campus, as a whole, a safer place.

The parents of Brittany Zimmermann conducted their first television interview Tuesday.

Her family is taking their tragedy and turning it into motivation to help others.

“She so wanted to finish out in Madison. We thought if we can raise enough money we can help other kids who want a great education at the UW-Madison, fulfill their dreams as our daughter was doing” said Jean Zimmermann, her mother.

They’re forming a scholarship in Brittany’s name – a fitting tribute to a young woman who loved to learn.

The family of Brittany Zimmermann established a scholarship fund Tuesday in honor of the slain UW-Madison student.

The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents will convene in Madison Thursday and Friday for their third regular meeting of 2008, tackling a smattering of financial issues.

After record-setting snowfall this winter, the University of Wisconsin faces concerns regarding toxic pollutants coming from a melting pile of plowed snow in a marsh near the UW Hospital.

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz assured optimism for the future of safety in Madison and addressed the cityâ??s commitment to more efficient energy in his annual State of the City speech Tuesday.

Ald. Eli Judge, District 8, a junior at the University of Wisconsin, smiled with pride Tuesday as the Madison City Council unanimously passed an ordinance aimed at furthering tenant rights.

The death of a 21-year-old University of Wisconsin student last Wednesday was the third killing in the Madison area in less than nine months and calls attention to the unsolved homicide of UW-Whitewater student Kelly Nolan.

Brittany Zimmerman, of Marshfield, Wis., was found dead in her Doty Street home at 1 p.m. last Wednesday. No suspects have been named and the cause of death, as with Nolan’s, has not been disclosed.

Brittany Zimmermann’s family is establishing a scholarship fund in her name to remember the University of Wisconsin-Madison student who was killed April 2 in her apartment.

“In the days since Brittany’s tragic death, we have searched our hearts for answers that we may never receive. We are grieving her death and we are grieving the future events that we will never celebrate with Brittany. One event we will never celebrate with Brittany is her graduation from UW-Madison next fall,” Zimmermann’s family said in a press release submitted by her aunt, Kim Heeg, about the Dollars for Brittany Scholarship Fund Drive.

MANITOWOC â?? DNA, macromolecules, “speed” chemistry, and presidential race stump speech performances highlight today’s “Campus Preview Day” at the University of Wisconsin-Manitowoc.

“For those 18-year-olds who want their baccalaureate degree from, say, UW-Madison, the best way is through UW-Manitowoc,” Chancellor David Wilson said Tuesday on a visit to the campus on Viebahn Street. “And your sheepskin at your graduation ceremony will say, ‘The University of Wisconsin- Madison.'”

MADISON, Wis. — Wednesday marks one week since Brittany Zimmermann’s fiancée found her slain in their West Doty Street apartment near the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

The downtown Madison neighborhood is still on edge, and Madison investigators said they have no new details in the case to release.

Despite the increased police presence in the area, many living downtown said they are still scared.

“With all the students and people around, you just always felt safe. And now it’s just a whole other story and you have to be cautious,” said Amanda Seeberger, who lives in the neighborhood.

Six days after UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann’s murder, the crime scene tape is down and her West Doty Street apartment is no longer cordoned off.

But the police work continues.

Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain said one of the focuses of this investigation is the downtown’s transient population.

“She was just an amazing girl. Just an amazing girl.”

Brittany Zimmermann always dreamed of attending U-W Madison.. and she worked hard to get there.

“We always told her, if you’re going to Madison, you have to earn this yourself. She put all that time in.”

The new South Campus Union will feature both a climbing wall and bike station, as voted Monday by the projectâ??s design committee.

Dean of Students Lori Berquam asked Faculty Senate members Monday to speak with any students or colleagues about the death of Brittany Zimmermann, and university police said they are working to keep the campus and city safe.

Although several arrests have been made during the homicide investigation of UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann, there are still no suspects in the case, police said Monday.

The Madison Police Department has made numerous arrests of individuals with possible connections to the homicide of 21-year-old University of Wisconsin junior Brittany Zimmermann, police announced Monday.

The investigation into the death of UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann last week, focused on the central city area, has resulted in the arrest of “many” people on unrelated charges, police reported Monday.

No numbers were available, but Madison Police Department spokesman Joel DeSpain said Monday that of the people arrested on outstanding warrants and unrelated charges, none was being called a suspect in Zimmermann’s death.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. â?? The Wisconsin man who collapsed and died last month after finishing the Little Rock Marathon had a heart condition that would have been undetected in a routine physical exam and was not by itself fatal.

Dr. Stephen J. Erickson, a pathologist with the state crime laboratory, said Monday that Adam Nickel had narrow heart arteries that tended to restrict the flow of blood that caused his death when combined when combined with the electrolyte abnormalities that can result from running long distances.

Nickel, 27, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, collapsed after finishing the 26.2-mile race in 3:02:26 on March 2. He was an experienced long-distance runner and had no known medical problems.

MADISON, Wis. — Madison landlords are required by law to provide security-locked entrances for buildings with more than two units.

Deadbolts are also required on each apartment door, but tenants must remember to use the locks.

MADISON, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Madison student who was found dead last week in her campus area apartment was buried on Monday as the search for her killer or killers is continuing.

The funeral was held on Monday morning for Brittany Zimmermann, 21, at St. Andrew’s Church in Stratford. During the service, the church was filled with family and friends. Zimmermann was a UW junior and her family said they would welcome any students who wanted to attend the services. The university provided a free bus for those that wanted to make the trip, WISC-TV reported.

A man whose arrest was first reported last week by 27 News has been identified by neighborhood witnesses as a home intruder on the day of UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann’s murder.

Court records also show David Kahl, 42, stole money from an elderly man in 1993 and then raped an acquaintance, who objected and was told by Kahl, “he would break her neck if he wanted to.”

Madison Police spokesman Joel DeSpain confirmed Monday a man who had intruded into a downtown home and asked for money, and also solicited others for money around the time of the Zimmerman murder, was in custody on a probation hold.

In light of the recent homicide of University of Wisconsin junior Brittany Zimmermann, city and university officials reassured more than 200 students, residents and retirees Saturday afternoon that Madison is still a safe city.

About 200 members of the Madison community took time out Sunday to remember University of Wisconsin junior Brittany Zimmermann, who was killed last Wednesday.

UW-Madison senior Suchita Shah will compete in the â??Jeopardy! 2008 College Championship,â? game show officials announced Friday.

The University of Wisconsin System released its annual accountability report Friday, highlighting that the system is achieving the majority of its goals but still lacks progress on diversity issues.

UW-Madison community members joined classmates and family members of Brittany Zimmermann at a memorial vigil Sunday to remember a woman who was â??always smiling.â?

In the wake of the murder of UW-Madison junior Brittany Zimmermann, city and university officials renewed their call for vigilance at a Bassett neighborhood meeting Saturday.

A staggering economy pushed a capital campaign for a new cathedral for the Madison Diocese back by at least a year, the diocese said in a statement Friday.

“The next year will allow me the opportunity to address these questions: as to what a cathedral is and why one is needed in Madison and why the inclusion of campus ministry in our capital campaign is a top priority,” Bishop Robert Morlino said in the diocesan statement.

In his column Thursday in the Catholic Herald, Morlino cited a consultant’s feasibility study, which included a survey of thousands of local church members on their priorities for the diocese.

Madison police are “very active” today tracking down leads in the Brittany Zimmermann murder case, but are not naming any suspects or persons of interest at this time, or a motive in the slaying or how Zimmermann was killed.

“It’s very active at this point,” said Madison Police Department spokesman Joel DeSpain today. “We are talking to lots of people. We are getting good information from many in the community, including residents, students and transients, with the transient population being very helpful.”

Zimmermann, 21, a UW-Madison senior, was killed Wednesday afternoon in her apartment on West Doty Street downtown.

Sources said she was stabbed, and her father, Kevin Zimmermann, was told by police she suffered a chest trauma, but police are tight-lipped about that aspect of the investigation.

It was September 2006 and Sister Celestina Menin of St. Paul’s University Catholic Center had just arrived in Madison from Italy.

She approached a young woman sitting on top of Bascom Hill on a beautiful day and asked for information.

The young woman she approached was Brittany Zimmermann, who not only answered her questions but asked if she was in a hurry and invited her to sit down and chat.

“She was so kind and welcoming,” Menin said. When she found out Menin was a nun, Zimmermann had all kinds of questions about God and prayer, Menin said.

UW-Madison students voted to support a symbolic referendum to bring five Iraqi students to study on campus at a cost of $1 per student per semester.

Madison police plan to expand their horseback patrols Downtown this year and launch a fundraising drive to support the costs of housing, feeding and equipping their mounts.

This year, beginning in May, two officers riding horses will patrol in the State Street and University Avenue areas from about 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. on most Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, said Capt. Jill Klubertanz, who supervises the mounted patrol.

Next week, the 2008 “Jeopardy!” College Championship will be recorded at the Kohl Center, making UW-Madison the ninth college campus to host the competition.

The contest, April 11 and 12, will feature 15 student hopefuls from universities nationwide with their eyes on the $100,000 grand prize. Students hail from universities such as Harvard, Cal Tech and Georgetown.

As police search for the person who murdered a UW-Madison student in her Downtown apartment on Wednesday, other students are asking, “Could this happen to me?”
Bob McGrath, director of counseling and consultation services at UW-Madison, said there is “certainly a lot of anxiety” among students and recent graduates following the death of Brittany Sue Zimmermann, 21, whose body was found about 1 p.m. Wednesday in her first-floor apartment at 517 W. Doty St.

More than 200 Downtown neighbors of slain UW-Madison student Brittany Sue Zimmermann remembered her with a moment of silence on Saturday before meeting with local leaders to discuss their fears and share ideas for improving safety.

City and university officials, their voices cracking with emotion, said they take Zimmermann ‘s murder personally because they either live near her apartment at 517 W. Doty St., where her body was found about 1 p.m. Wednesday, or they lived in the area during their days as UW-Madison students.

Quiet hands protected flickering flames as students, faculty and community members joined with the family of Brittany Zimmermann on Sunday night around the fountain at Library Mall to remember the life that ended violently last week and to try to come to grips with the loss of one of their own.

A mysterious topic began popping up in conversations among Alex Reifâ??s friends four years ago.

Reif, now a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, would hear his friends at other colleges such as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee chat excitedly at parties about a new Web site called Facebook.

â??They would always talk about it, and I would be sitting there in the dark,â? Reif said.

Which is where he stayed until December 2004, when Parkside became a member of the social utility Web site that was launched by a 19-year-old Harvard University student in February of that year. Reif signed on right away.

Mentioned: Suchita Shah, a senior neurobiology major at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, joins 14 other students in the “Jeopardy!” 2008 College Championship being taped Friday and Saturday at the Kohl Center in Madison. The tournament starts airing May 5.

Kelly Ryan used to scoop up her psychology books when the Electric Earth Coffee shop closed at 11 p.m. and walk back to the house she shares with six other women attending the University of Wisconsin.

Not anymore.

An early-morning house fire in Menomonie killed three University of Wisconsin-Stout students and left the campus in a state of shock Saturday.