Category: Campus life

There is nothing wrong with the decision of Associated Students of Madison, the University of Wisconsin’s student government, to fund only groups that are student-led. But that does not mean that the UW should lose sight of the value to the university community of groups such as the Tenant Resource Center and the Rape Crisis Center.

The University of Wisconsin has improved its ability to use natural resources efficiently, increasing its rating on the Sustainability Report Card score this year. UW now holds a B-plus on the ranking system from the Sustainable Endowments Institute.

With the much-anticipated Freakfest Saturday night, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz met with Frank Productions and Police Chief Noble Wray Thursday to clarify final plans at a news conference.

Thirty years ago, the first Halloween gathering on State Street began with an inspired spark: a bonfire that drew hundreds of people.

In the years since, the party grew large and wild, shriveled to next to nothing, survived cold and rainy weather, then swelled in size again â?? eventually spinning out of control â?? until authorities tamed it last year, gating off the street and charging admission to enter.

MADISON, Wis. — After riots and out-of-control partying at past Halloween celebrations in downtown Madison, the city made it a priority to create a fun and safe event on State Street for Halloween.

For the second year, State Street on Saturday night will become a huge, organized party. The changes allow for more crowd control, but some students said it comes at the expense of tradition.

MADISON, Wis. — City of Madison leaders and police are preparing Thursday night for Saturday’s annual Halloween party on State Street.

After the party’s success last year, officials said they are looking forward to the weekend and added that safety is their top priority.

In past years, some businesses along State Street have seen the worst of the Halloween celebration.

But, they are no longer worried.

Halloween is big event for UW Madison, especially for the businesses.

“It really works out well for us,” said Matt Geotsch from State Street Brats. “Not only do people want to spend money, but it puts us on the map as far as out of town people coming in. I helps our national recognition or at least mid wester recognition.”

As plans for Freakfest 2007 continue to be finalized, the city of Madison will hold a news conference this afternoon to outline the changes made to this yearâ??s Halloween celebration.

The Tenant Resource Center is not closing its doors. Ald. Brenda Konkel, who is the nonprofit’s executive director, calls a TV news report that raised this as a possibility “exaggerated.”

But Konkel says that, after losing nearly one-third of its $350,000 annual budget, her group’s finances are “not good.” The center has temporarily closed its toll-free statewide hotline, and reduced its office hours.

Madison Area Technical College — MATC to most of us — is going great guns, now serving more than 43,000 students at its seven campuses and turning out graduates in many of today’s high-tech skills. Ninety percent of them take jobs right here at home.

Thousands of UW-Madison students and visitors will crowd State Street this Saturday to take part in â??Freakfest 2007 brought to you by Mountain Dew.â? City officials predict increased profit this year with the help of more ticket sales. According to Ald. Eli Judge, District 8,

UW-Madison Dean of Students Lori Berquam offered tips for UW-Madison students to have a fun and safe Halloween celebration this weekend on a newly launched â??Halloween 2007â? website.

Although the long-awaited Halloween weekend is just around the corner, many University of Wisconsin students say State Street will not be on their agendas this year.

Last year’s Halloween festivities on State Street were the first in several years that revelers weren’t dispersed by a plume of pepper spray. Credit for this went to the city, which fenced off State Street and charged an admission to offset the event’s roughly $1 million price tag, mostly for police.

Last year’s event, dubbed Freakfest, lacked the organic feel of Halloweens past, drawing a mere 35,000 people as opposed to the more typical 70,000. This year’s Freakfest aspires to be a more robust event, with three stages for entertainment and a costume contest.

Since 2002, more than 1,000 students from the University of Wisconsin Marathon County have used the UW Colleges Guaranteed Transfer Program, which ensures students with junior standing will be admitted to a four-year UW campus.

The program is ideal for students who eventually want to attend schools such as UW-Madison, said Whiz Beck, UWMC associate dean and director of student services.

Because students frequently start their research on Google instead of campus libraries, university librarians are taking the unique step of putting copies of their library books online, courtesy of the Google Book Search Library Project.

For instance, Google this spring began scanning 500,000 of the University of Wisconsin-Madisonâ??s 7.9 million library holdings, including collections on American and Wisconsin history, medicine, engineering and genealogical materials. Once the materials are scanned, people can read the universityâ??s public domain books online for free. For copyrighted books, Google will show a few lines of text and provide links to find the material in libraries or for purchase in online stores.

MADISON, Wis. — The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) continues its war on illegal music downloads on college campuses, including those in Wisconsin.

Since March, the RIAA has sent 128 pre-litigation settlement letters to University of Wisconsin students accusing them of copyright infringement.

Controversial conservative author David Horowitz addressed a mixed crowd of protesters and supporters at the Memorial Union Theater Monday, launching a week-long campaign discussing the dangers of fascist Islamic governments.

Friday afternoon I received an e-mail from the Campus Antiwar Network. Opening the e-mail I read across the headline: â??TheCampus Antiwar Network and theOffices of the Dean of Studentsbrings youâ?¦.â? Later I read that military deserter, Camilo Mejia, was the â??guest of honorâ? for the event the e-mail was publicizing. This did not sit right in my stomach.

A group of University of Wisconsin students and faculty are concerned over a lack of inclusiveness of the disabled community in decision-making at the Natatorium.

The Wisconsin Alumni Association awarded University of Wisconsin students nearly $569,000 in scholarships for the 2007-08 academic year, the WAA is expected to announce today.

The University of Wisconsin welcomed the third-largest entering class in history this year, despite talks about the possible negative effects of a still unknown state budget and increased tuition.

Conservative author David Horowitz attacked Muslim extremism and anti-Iraq war movements, calling liberals â??unable to add two and two and get fourâ? Monday.

MADISON, Wis. — Organizers behind Freakfest 2007 have announced new performers and stage times for this weekend’s event.

Freakfest is scheduled to begin on 7:30 p.m. on Saturday on State Street in downtown Madison. Frank Productions, the city of Madison and the University of Wisconsin ASM are organizing the event.

The Recording Industry Association of America is continuing its war on illegal music downloads on college campuses, including those occurring in the U-W system. Brian Bull reportsâ?¦

Regent Street, the bustling but worn corridor between Camp Randall and the Kohl Center, may get a face-lift, more shops, tall buildings and a parking garage.

After nearly a year’s effort, a special committee is nearly done with the first-ever streetscape and design guidelines for the Regent Street corridor and neighborhood to the north, a 160-acre mishmash of small shops, chain stores, houses, offices and parking lots.

Susan Riseling ‘s had a busy few months.

The UW-Madison police chief has helped lead the state ‘s response to the Virginia Tech shooting, while managing the university ‘s actions in high-profile security incidents this fall.

The University of Wisconsin Greek community and Wisconsin Alumni Association welcomed hundreds of Greek alumni to celebrate the 150-year anniversary of sorority and fraternity life on campus.

Drawing concern from liberal and minority-based campus groups, conservative author David Horowitz kicks off a weeklong event at the University of Wisconsin today opposing Muslim extremism.

The handsome and stately home of the University of Iowa is not one of those college towns where kids get all liquored up and provoke the cops into big ugly confrontations.

But it is a campus whose students are fond of drinking — many would say too fond — and that has sparked a town-gown quarrel over so-called binge drinking, downing five or more drinks in a single sitting.

The Recording Industry Association of America released its ninth wave of pre-litigation letters Thursday, which did not include any UW-Madison students, but contained an attachment telling univeresities the best ways to deal with illegal file sharers.

With the excitement of Halloween just around the corner, plans for Freakfest 2007 are being finalized.

Shivering outside a locked door on the south side of Chicago last Friday, a dozen University of Wisconsin students expressed a sense of anxiety with their situation.

MADISON, Wis. — Madison police said on Wednesday that they have garnered some new leads after they released a new sketch of the assailant who sexually assaulted a University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student on an East Side bike path two years ago.

Detectives released the new sketch last week as they reopened the investigation, using the new image to hopefully restart the cold case, WISC-TV reported.