Category: Campus life

A search-and-screen committee named three finalists for the University of Wisconsinâ??s Vice Provost for Diversity and Climate Wednesday.

Madison: As the Director of Admisssions, Rob Seltzer spends a lot of time staring at his computer, trying to decide if the resume on his screen is good enough for the University of Wisconsin.

“His test scores are somewhat lower than our freshman class average, which would be a little bit of concern to me,” says Seltzer, looking at one prospective student’s applications.

Seltzer says while the admissions process isn’t an exact science, it’s also not a mystery. They’ve gone as far as producing a fact sheet. “We do a lot of myth busting.”

MADISON, Wis. — A University of Wisconsin Board of Regents committee is discussing changing policies for spending student segregated fees, but some students said they are concerned the changes might take away their power to decide where the money goes.

Two major points of contention for students are whether money can be spent paying non-university staff working with organizations and if it can go toward rent for organization space off campus, WISC-TV reported.

Union directors and UW police said Tuesday they would collaborate with students to streamline union event policies, in response to complaints police unfairly cancelled several social fraternity events this semester.

UW Police are investigating a suspended UW-Madison student who wrote potentially threatening e-mails to UW-Madison English department faculty last week and issued a poster Monday to alert faculty in Helen C. White Hall.

The University of Wisconsin Alliance for Programming Equality and UW Police Department reached an agreement Tuesday to open communication about safety in planning Union events.

Jeopardy! producers and UW-Madison officials announced Thursday that UW-Madison will host the 2008 Jeopardy! College Championship April 11 and 12.

Students from across the nation will gather on the University of Wisconsin campus this weekend to discuss strategies for combating national and world hunger and homelessness.

This Big Ten university will be home of the Jeopardy College Championship 2008.

What is University of Wisconsin?

MADISON, Wis. — Authorities said that behavior is changing at Madison’s annual Halloween party on State Street and that property damage and arrests are at the lowest point in years.

This year, WISC-TV was given a firsthand, behind-the-scenes look from the police transport area, which is set up outside State Street during Freakfest, to the arrest processing center where over-rowdy revelers are cited and released or sent to detox or sometimes to jail.

Police said that behavior at the Halloween party is changing year-to-year but they said if partiers cause trouble, they will be arrested.

The Wisconsin Student Public Interest Research Group, a UW-Madison student organization, launched the Residence Hall Energy Competition Thursday, to challenge UW-Madison housing residents to conserve energy as part of WISPIRGâ??s Big Red Go Green campaign.

A team of University of Wisconsin mechanical engineering students received funding to develop a zero-emission electric snowmobile, the group announced Wednesday.

The University of Wisconsin announced Wednesday an alumnus will be giving a series of lectures on campus and in the Madison area during November, marking the debut of a new program by the Wisconsin Alumni Association.

After missing a meeting with a University of Wisconsin student group Tuesday, the UW Police Department said they had intended to attend the meeting but were unable due to a prior commitment.

When political science professor Jon Pevehouse told his students he was leaving the University of Wisconsin last spring, one student said his departure was a â??huge lossâ? to the school.

House Republican Tom Petri of Fond du Lac, long an advocate of reforming a federal student-loan program, introduced a bill Wednesday that he says would cut costs to taxpayers and let students reap the benefits.

At issue is whats called the Federal Family Education Loan Program. It lets private lenders make student loans at interest rates determined by a formula set by the government. In the end, the return to lenders is generous while the government guarantees almost all loans, relieving lenders of most risk, Petri said.

Former Madison Mayor and UW-Madison alumnus Paul Soglin addressed UW-Madison students about turning passions into careers Tuesday at an event hosted by the Career Development Association.

The Madison chapter of Teach for America said they have set an ambitious, but not unreachable goal for the University of Wisconsin this fall.

With University of Wisconsin students deciding on their classes for the spring semester in the upcoming weeks, Stephen Friedman hopes each of them checks one of his sites before making their selections.

University of Wisconsin police failed to attend a meeting Tuesday to discuss future planning of Union events, after a September incident sparked a local fraternity to accuse the department of racial profiling.

The fatal fire at a North Carolina beach house Sunday appears to fit a tragic pattern that has claimed the lives of college students across the nation.

In a study published last year, USA TODAY identified a pattern of risk that leaves college students vulnerable to the dangers of fire.

Halloween isn’t what it used to be on State Street in Madison, Wisconsin.

Last Sunday, the main gathering point for the university town’s annual Halloween bash saw a throng of heavily boozed cross-dressers, walking food products and pop-culture oddities slowly crawling about at almost 1:30 Sunday morning, closing time here.

But Molly Kelley, a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, pointed at the large unpopulated gaps of littered concrete from a balcony overlooking the seven block stretch. “Two years ago this place was packed like sardines,” she says. “You couldn’t move. Either you got run over by [police] horses or climbed on light poles.”

Ticket revenue generated from Freakfest 2007 climbed from last year and police costs remained steady. City officials hope in the coming years a greater interest will not translate into a higher city cost.

As the dust begins to settle over Madisonâ??s Halloween celebrations, the city continues to tally arrests from the weekendâ??s parties.

Freakfest became Ticketfest and Arrestfest for fewer partiers this year than the past two years, according to statistics released today by the Madison Police Department.

Friday and Saturday arrest and citation numbers show 181 people were arrested on a variety of charges, including three felonies and nine criminal misdemeanors. Police also handed out tickets for a total of 247 municipal ordinance violations. Some revelers were arrested for multiple violations.

Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain on Monday released a final accounting of arrests and detox trips during the city ‘s annual Halloween bash on State Street last weekend.
The final tally for both was slightly higher than earlier reports but remained far lower than in previous years.

MADISON, Wis. — The public cost of Freakfest is the focus of a new debate after a relatively calm weekend on State Street in downtown Madison.

Once a black eye in the community, the city’s annual Halloween celebration has transformed into a ticket-requiring event called Freakfest. City officials said that Freakfest is quickly becoming something Madison can be proud of.

MADISON, Wis. — Some of the students attending Freakfest on Saturday night were actually doing homework.

The Journalism 335 or Intermediate Reporting class on the UW campus deployed crews to cover all aspects of the party, reported WISC-TV.

Students took down the sights and sounds of the street and then returned to their labs in the early morning hours to write and post their stories.

It’s all experience students said was invaluable.

As two students from the West Coast got on a plane bound for Madison Friday afternoon to join in the Freakfest celebration, they had no idea who they would be sitting next to on the flight.

The verdict is in: Madison officials have declared Freakfest 2007 a success.

The moods at Saturdayâ??s State Street Freakfest split between those optimistic to see multiple concerts for a few dollars and those disheartened at the commercialization of the once unique Madison tradition.

Madison police set up barricades — with barrels, fencing, their presence and horses — closing off each block of State Street and making revelers leave the street block by block through side streets early Sunday to bring the city’s annual Halloween party to a peaceful conclusion.

MADISON, Wis. — Madison police called the annual Halloween party on State Street Saturday night a success after Freakfest ended without the police confrontations and property damage that have marred the event in the past.

Madison’s Mayor says Freakfest 2007 marks another successful year for State Street’s annual Halloween celebration. Thirty-four thousand people purchased tickets for the event.

As of two o’clock Sunday morning, police had made 120 arrests — most for alcohol violations. That compares to last year’s 148 arrests, or the 334 in 2005.
Madison Police also report no serious property damage or injuries from the celebration

MADISON, Wis. — Madison police are calling the arrests during Freakfest a new record low, down 25 percent in one year.

After years of hauling hundreds in to be processed, officers have a system, reported WISC-TV.

The department’s arrest processing center is in located in the basement of the city-county building downtown.

An old saying exists in lifeâ??â??if it ainâ??t broke, donâ??t fix itâ?â??and that is exactly what city officials plan to do for â??Freakfest 2007 brought to you by Mountain Dew.â?