Category: Campus life

MADISON, Wis. — University of Wisconsin officials said on Thursday that the school won’t deliver settlement letters to students it received from a recording industry group.

University officials received 16 letters from the Recording Industry Association of America, a music industry lobby group, on Thursday morning. The letters target 16 students suspect of downloading or sharing music illegally, WISC-TV reported.

A UW spokesman said that the school has decided it will not comply with the RIAA’s desire for the letters to be forwarded to the students.

Spring break fever may have UW-Madison students thinking more about sunny beaches and showing some skin than exercising their right to vote, but the “Vote Naked” campaign on campus is out to capitalize on that.

In high school Marissaâ??s* close friends began smoking marijuana. As their habit progressed, they began choosing to smoke over hanging out with her.

â??I was the only one out of my girl friends that was okay with it. Junior year, I guess, curiosity got the best of me,â? Marissa said.

Senior Special Assistant to the Chancellor LaMarr Billups announced Wednesday he is leaving UW-Madison in May to accept a position at Georgetown University.

The Recording Industry Association of America sent another batch of pre-litigation letters Wednesday in order to warn UW-Madison students who download and share music illegally. However, UW-Madison is still refusing to distribute the letters to the students.

After 11 years as senior special assistant to the chancellor at the University of Wisconsin, LaMarr Billups is moving on.

Continuing its efforts to crack down on illegal file sharing, the Record Industry Association of America sent a second wave of settlement offers to college campuses across the nation Wednesday.

Four times as many students.

Four times as many parties.

Four times as liberal. OK, way more than four.

We’re all familiar with the University of Wisconsin-Madison stereotype: vast crowds of students who attend class between partying and attending liberal protests. So The Marquette Tribune decided to find out if the university lived up to the rumors. Two reporters drove to Badger Country to investigate how different the two schools really are. The Daily Cardinal, a UW-Madison paper, decided to play along and sent its own reporter to find out what Marquette is really about (see story at rig

The music industry has sent hundreds of threatening letters to college
students across the nation, including dozens at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz,
as part of its campaign against illegal music downloading.

Representing music labels such as Sony and EMI, the Recording Industry
Association of America said Wednesday it is going after students who have
downloaded pirated music from the Internet at colleges, including UCLA and
Columbia, sending more than 400 “prelitigation” letters that order the students
to pay a settlement fee or face a lawsuit.

The Recording Industry Association of America is moving full speed ahead with its new campaign of sending pre-litigation notices to campus song-swapping suspects: Today the trade group sent a second batch of 405 notices to 23 different colleges.

MADISON, Wis. – University of Wisconsin-Madison wants engineering students to pay $1,400 more in tuition per year under a plan that would make the popular major more expensive to study than all others.

The stateâ??s flagship university has long charged higher tuition for students seeking professional degrees in areas such as law, medicine and pharmacy.

Youâ??ve heard the complaints about paying more for tuition and textbooks. The latest sticker shock to be upsetting students: the rising cost of birth control.

It’s not what you wear to vote in the upcoming spring elections but what you don’t wear, according to the University of Wisconsin College Democrats, who encourage Madison students to “Vote Naked” by way of absentee ballot before leaving for spring break.

“We thought it was a really good idea just because people do not necessarily care or want to vote by mail,” said Adam Lang, electronic media chair for the College Democrats. “Hopefully saying ‘Vote naked’ is amusing enough or interesting enough to get people to vote.”

The drive from the Menominee Indian reservation to the University of Wisconsin-Madison may only be three and a half hours, but for American Indian students like Fawn Youngbear-Tibbitts, the journey towards completing a college degree canâ??t be measured in mere miles.

Youngbear-Tibbitts is one of a growing number of tribal college graduates pursuing a four-year degree. After earning her associate degree from the College of Menominee Nation, Youngbear-Tibbitts â?? who is a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe â?? set her sights on UW-Madison.

Picture this: A group of ethnically diverse students studying together in expansive, state-of-the-art libraries or strolling across perfectly manicured campus lawns engaged in intelligent conversation â?? congregating as one in all higher education has to offer. This is an image colleges and universities often portray in recruitment brochures, and sometimes itâ??s even true. But when itâ??s not, these marketing materials can be embarrassing or worse.

Drake University has been criticized for running ads depicting more diversity than there really was. As a result, president David Maxwell now personally approves each ad.

As the University of Wisconsin waits to receive a batch of settlement offers addressed to 15 of its students from the Recording Industry Association of America, university officials have made one thing clear: They wonâ??t play along.

Chancellor John Wiley met with Provost Patrick Farrell and Interim Chief Information Officer Ken Frazier Tuesday morning to affirm UWâ??s decision not to forward pre-litigation settlement letters to anonymous students who the RIAA believes are illegally downloading music online.

After the recent disclosure of potential worker exploitation in El Salvador regarding UW contracted sports giant Adidas, university officials must place workerâ??s rights high on their list of priorities. However, by harassing Chancellor John Wiley an hour after he announced the initiation of his own investigation, the Student Labor Action Coalition only demonstrated that protest is not always warranted.

MADISON, Wis. — With just a few weeks before the spring election, city officials said that more voters are taking advantage of absentee ballots this time around.

Spring break for many area schools, from Edgewood to University of Wisconsin-Madison, lands on the April 3 election, which is why one group advocating absentee voting is asking students to “Vote Naked.”

MADISON, Wis. — A recording industry trade group is going after University of Wisconsin System students suspected of copyright infringement.

The Recording Industry Association of America has sent a letter to UW System President Kevin Reilly and Madison Chancellor John Wiley warning them the group is targeting 68 people on system campuses.

The letter is in response to UW-Madison’s refusal to serve alleged violators with settlement letters from the association. The letters give violators a chance to avoid getting sued if they pay the group.

The Madison Police Department released 2006 crime statistics Monday, showing that over the last year overall crime has remained steady, while violent crimeâ??murder, rape, aggravated assault and robberyâ??increased nearly 17 percent.

The city of Madison experienced an increase in violent crime and robberies last year, according to data released Monday by the Madison Police Department.

University of Wisconsin students could be shelling out $700 more per semester for a College of Engineering degree if a differential tuition plan proposed Sunday night is approved.

Faculty and staff raises at the University of Wisconsin will probably drive tuition increases of between 4 and 5 percent in each of the next two years, according to UW-Madison Vice Chancellor of Administration Darrell Bazzell.

“The Board of Regents proposed a 3 percent annual increase, but that does not include an assumption to pay for the pay plan,” Bazzell told the Madison Academic Staff Association at the Memorial Union on Monday.

College dorm life often runs cutting-edge wild.

One of the newest trends: “gender-neutral” housing that allows men and women to share rooms.

But there’s also a faith-based housing movement that’s gaining momentum: churches building dorms designed to attract seekers and believers alike.

Who would have thought? The newest dorm going up at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is a Christian dorm. The Presbyterian Church USA is building it right next door to its campus chapel.

“Mob mentality gone wild” were the words a newspaper article used to describe the 2002 riot during Madison, Wisconsin’s annual Halloween party on State Street.

That year, drunken costumed revelers harassed police, threw bottles, overturned bicycle racks and vandalized stores along the street, which runs between the State Capitol building and the University of Wisconsin (UW) â?? Madison campus.

Reports state it took more than 100 police officers armed with tear gas to finally disperse the crowd, estimated at approximately 65,000 people.

(MADISON) A national students group is calling on the University of Wisconsin-Madison to cut ties with sportswear maker Adidas. Theyâ??re accusing a former Adidas subcontractor of mismanagement and corruption, and UW- Madison officials say theyâ??re looking into the claims.

The UW Chancellorâ??s office says itâ??s sending a representative to El Salvador in April. Sheâ??ll visit former workers of Hermosa Manufacturing and neighboring apparel plants. The fact-finding tour is to help university administrators address the complaints with Adidas executives. The companyâ??s contract with the UW system runs through 2011.

But United Students Against Sweatshops and its Madison charter, the Student Labor Action Coalition, say reports of worker rights abuses have already been verified by the Workers Rights Consortium Molly Glasgow, a regional organizer and UW student, says Adidasâ?? disregard of workerâ??s rights makes it clear the University should cut ties with the manufacturer immediately. She says she realizes the university is in a very tough position, but so are the workers. She says she thinks itâ??s the Universityâ??s responsibility because theyâ??re in a position of power to change something now.

The number of reported robberies in Madison reached a new high last year, climbing above 400 for the first time.

In its 2006 Uniform Crime Report – a yearly tabulation of crime that police departments are required to submit to the FBI – Madison police reported 435 robberies, a 31.8 percent increase over last year’s 330. Street robberies, by far the most common type of robbery, saw an increase from 185 to 240, a 30 percent increase.

UW-Madison was recently notified by the Recording Industry Association of America that it would receive settlement letters targeted at individuals who have allegedly participated in illegal music file sharing and copyright infringement.

Incumbent mayor Dave Cieslewicz and his opponent Ray Allen debated Sunday night in the Red Gym to discuss a number of issues facing the city and the university.

With less than three weeks remaining until the spring election, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and candidate Ray Allen shared their views on issues like the Alcohol Density Plan and campus safety in a debate Sunday.

A rally and march to protest the U.S. war and occupation in Iraq will begin at 12:30 p.m. today at Library Mall. The rally observes the fourth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Members of the Madison Area Peace Coalition say the rally will include music, spoken word performance and street theater. The march will leave Library Mall at 1:30 p.m. This event is being held in conjunction with other anti-war demonstrations around the state and country.

The University of Wisconsin went against the national trends Friday by warning students about its policy regarding illegal file sharing but refusing to forward settlement letters to violators from the Recording Industry Association of America.

Some student groups are still concerned UW-Madison is not taking enough action to confront Adidas on sweatshop abuses, even after the university agreed Wednesday to investigate first-hand the treatment of workers making UW gear.

With summer just a few months away, the question on many studentsâ?? minds is how to find a summer internship.

UW has been combatting underage and binge drinking for years. Now administrators say their next effort may target student organizations. The University wants to revise its risk-management policy to reinforce the idea that student groups are liable if their members overdrink.
Right now, student groups could lose their status if they serve alcohol to underage members.

(MADISON) Officials at the University of Wisconsin-Madison vow to check out alleged worker rights abuses at an apparel factory in El Salvador. Although the Adidas subcontractor shut down in 2005, reports persist of corruption and mismanagement that took place while the factory made uniforms and athletic gear for the University.

Complaints filed through the Workers Rights Consortium say when Hermosa Manufacturing closed, 260 employees were dismissed without receiving $285,000 in back pay or severance packages. Also, nearly 60 unionized workers were allegedly blacklisted, keeping them from finding jobs at a neighboring plant.

Currently the UW-Madisonâ??s contract with Adidas, which generates more than $1 million annually, lasts through 2011.

Now that the UW Roman Catholic Foundation has increased student membership of its leadership board under the orders of a federal court, UW-Madisonâ??s Student Organization Office should grant the foundation Registered Student Organization status â??very soon,â? according to UWRCF Director Tim Kruse.