Category: Campus life

University of Wisconsin fraternity members and the Madison Police Department kicked off their new neighborhood watch program Friday in an effort to keep the Langdon Street area safer.

Alarmed by a rise in crime too close to home, UW- Madison’s Greek organizations are stepping up to help improve safety with a new neighborhood watch program designed to put more eyes – and feet – on Langdon Street.

(PORTLAND, OREGON) Many college students may be left ill-informed about safer sex and more at risk for STDs and unintended pregnancies because of a lack of access to information about sexual health at some schools. Thatââ?¬â?¢s one conclusion of the newly-released ââ?¬Å?Sexual Health Report Card.ââ?¬Â The survey by Sperlingââ?¬â?¢s Best Places is the first that grades the sexual health of colleges and universities across the country. However, many schools were found to be doing a good job of providing essential information to students about sexual health.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison was ranked 21st among the 100 universities surveyed. It received grades of ââ?¬Å?Aââ?¬Â for website information, access to contraception, and testing for HIV and STDs. However, it only received a ââ?¬Å?Cââ?¬Â for sexual assault services, a ââ?¬Å?Dââ?¬Â for lecture and outreach and an ââ?¬Å?Fââ?¬Â in the category for access to a sex advice column in the school paper.

It was a brief, spontaneous gesture at the end of a long night.

But those who witnessed it say that when mounted police officer Joe Volz picked up a string of beads that had been tossed at him and playfully draped it over his neck in front of dozens of drunken revelers on State Street last Saturday night, he may have prevented an ugly repeat of Halloweens past.

As support for the University from the State of Wisconsin continues to wane, resulting in hefty increases in tuition, the University of Wisconsin Foundation is challenged to increase gift support for need-based student financial aid. Contrary to the beliefs of some, the Foundation receives very little unrestricted support that can be channeled to this purpose. Donors invariably designate their gifts for specific goals and activities.

National accolades were delivered to another University of Wisconsin organization this year, though this time for efforts outside of academia.

It’s not exactly whistle while you work. It’s more like study while you walk.

So the student you see walking on the Library Mall wearing earbuds could very well be listening to a podcast lesson from a UW course.

“It’s the idea of reaching students informally through something they are already doing (i.e. using iPods and listening to podcasts),” said Jan Cheetham, e-learning coordinator at the UW’s DoIT academic technology center.

High textbook costs may be leading to an increase in the use of online readings by UW-Madison professors for their courses.

As University of Wisconsin students begin to scrutinize next semester�s timetable, a website recently launched for the campus could cut down the time spent adjusting � and readjusting � their schedules.

The Madison Police Department is investigating a residential burglary and alleged sexual assault that occurred near campus early Wednesday morning.

Expensive textbooks: They�re a fact of life that all college students have to face at the beginning of each semester.

In response to the drastic rise in crime on and around the University of Wisconsin campus last spring and this fall, the UW Greek system plans to kick off a neighborhood watch program Friday.

Hoping to capitalize on insatiable late-night cravings, newly opened Madtown Munchies is being welcomed by University of Wisconsin students with arms wide open.

“It’s a hard issue to go through on your own and just to know that there’s people around campus that you can contact and get with”, Lisa Noe said.

It’s a student lead class, teaching members the definition of sexual assault and what to do should it happen.

The UW-Madison Greek community has started a new initiative to combat the growing problem of muggings near State Street in Madison.

Some of the Langdon Street fraternities and sororities are forming a neighborhood watch program.

With less than a week left before the midterm elections, political student organizations are busy campaigning by dropping literature in campus lecture halls, such as 3650 Humanities.

This campaigning was considered acceptable until the Student Organization Office and Elton Crim, UW-Madison associate dean, brought university policy regarding leafleting in campus buildings to the attention of political student organizations.

A two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and University of Wisconsin alum will be sharing his experiences and knowledge with students next week.

FBI analysts will review the La Crosse police investigation report into the most recent alcohol-related drowning death of a University of Wisconsin-La Crosse student, although no foul play is suspected in his death, police said Tuesday.

A University of Wisconsin summer intern has traded a comfortable life and advanced study abroad for Beirut and the burden of rebuilding a country ravaged by war.

When Lebanese student Samer Sobh traveled to Madison July 9 to participate in the UW College of Engineering summer research internship program, he left behind a country poised to capitalize on a booming tourist season.

He returned three months later to a land seeded with cluster bombs and its economy in ruins.

Despite a few problems at Freakfest 2006, the new State Street Halloween festival will largely remain the same next year.

While most University of Wisconsin students have already put Halloween behind them until next year, city officials are just beginning to dissect and discuss the details of the successful event.

Past Halloween celebrations in Madison, Wis. have been notorious for arson, looting and drunken brawls, sometimes instigated by students singing the Minnesota Rouser.

But this year�s festivities were much different.

MADISON, Wis. — Madison city officials said Monday that they were pleased with this weekend’s Halloween celebration on State Street, calling this year’s “Freakfest On State Street” an overwhelming success.

With attendance topping 35,000 and fewer arrests and damage reported than in previous years, city leaders said they met all their goals for the new “Freakfest,” which was a city-spearheaded attempt to corral the sometimes infamous annual event near the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

Arrests were down, goals were met, and no one left State Street choking on pepper spray. Now there’s already talk of again charging for Halloween 2007.

Cold weather helped to keep a reduced crowd chilled to good behavior during this weekend’s Freakfest, although it could have been scarier when raucousness briefly roiled on State Street.

(This contains links to a series of articles.)

I want to thank UW students. This weekend�s Halloween celebrations on State Street were peaceful and fun. Arrests were down by more than half, the level of serious over-consumption of alcohol was noticeably reduced and we recovered some of the costs through the $5 tickets.

Halloween in Madison is more than just a party. It�s a phenomenon.

Despite pre-party grumblings from disgruntled veterans, $5 seemed to be a reasonable price to pay for controlled revelry that stopped short of destroying the city itself Saturday night.

Freakfest 2006 wrapped up peacefully early Sunday morning, marking the first time in five years Halloween has ended without pepper spray.

I want to thank UW students. This weekend�s Halloween celebrations on State Street were peaceful and fun.

University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh police are investigating a death threat against the school�s College Republicans chair.

Bar patrons still talk about Luke Homanââ?¬â?¢s drowning. Students patrol Riverside Park. But the more things change, the more they stay the same when it comes to downtown La Crosse’s bar scene.Erin Tapper left a downtown bar early Oct. 15 after six hours, six mixed drinks and four beers. She headed west down Pearl Street.

Halloween is an excuse for many to put on a costume, be someone or something they�re not. For the City of Madison, it is no different.

After months of planning, the annual Halloween celebration on State Street ended peacefully for the first time in four years Saturday, finally allowing the city � and University of Wisconsin students � to breathe a sigh of relief.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Jon Stewart and staff from Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” fielded questions from Ohio State University students at a special appearance Saturday, but the comedian also had a query of his own.

“A buckeye is a gay acorn, right?” Stewart asked about 12,000 people gathered at Value City Arena.

The popular news parody is gearing up for a week of broadcasts from Ohio for its “Midwest Midterm Midtacular.” The appearance, not planned for broadcast, was added after spaces for the four nights of tapings at the university’s more intimate Roy Bowen Theatre filled up.

The crowd was a lot smaller, but so were the problems, at an annual Halloween party that ended without violence or the use of pepper spray as it had in recent years.

MADISON, Wis. — A group of UW Madison journalism students will cover the Halloween celebrations in Madison this weekend.

During the last hour of the city’s first Halloween party to end peacefully in five years, drunken revelers who had been chanting “we want tear gas” seemed to lose their edge and mellow as they petted the police horses that stood among them.

Initially, the mounted Capitol Police officers seemed to further incite an already rebellious crowd as they strode through a mosh pit on the 500 block of State Street shortly before 2 a.m. Daylight Savings Time.

As the early Halloween crowd began to trickle up and down State Street Friday night, most of the costumed young women looked cold dashing between bars while others warmly welcomed whatever this weekend will bring.

Tom Meersman and Mike Boyle, two students visiting Madison from the University of Illinois, said the draw of the Halloween party on State Street brought them to town, even though they aren’t sure whether they’ll have a place to stay.

No tricks this year.

For the first time in four years, Halloween revelers were cleared from State St. at the end of the annual party without the use of pepper spray. Because of a significantly smaller crowd, police said they could clear the street with a horse patrol instead of the spray.

MADISON, Wis. — The months of planning by city leaders and students appears to have paid off as the annual Halloween party on State Street concluded early Sunday morning without the riots and mayhem that marred the event in past years.

MADISON, Wis. — Former UW football player Levonne Rowan was arrested Saturday night following a disturbance on the UW campus.