There was a time when University of Wisconsin coaches would tell you their biggest fear was getting that middle-of-the-night telephone call, the one all but guaranteed to have bad news coming from the other end. Somebody got arrested. Somebody is in detox. Somebody is in the emergency room.
That universally dreaded 3 a.m. wakeup call now has some company.
Have you seen that stuff on the Internet, coach?
WISCONSIN RAPIDS (AP) – A University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point student faces six counts on accusations he had sex with a 14-year-old rural Marshfield girl he met on the MySpace.com Web site.
Jesse W. Cahn, 22, was charged Tuesday in Wood County Circuit Court with two counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child, one count of attempted sexual assault of a child, two of child enticement and one of using a computer to facilitate a sex crime.
Over the past few weeks, the student government has been battling the University of Wisconsin-Madison administration over the allocation of segregated fees, a student tax that funds student service organizations.
It has become apparent that Chancellor John Wiley believes the system is significantly flawed and perhaps in need of an overhaul or even a dismantling. Much of the debate pertains to the use of segregated fees to fund a religious entity, the University of Wisconsin Roman Catholic Foundation.
Based on state statutes and policies, UW students across the state have a right to administer and distribute segregated fees as they see fit. But at UW-Madison, that student autonomy is at risk.
College graduates are landing fat salaries and signing bonuses again as a stronger economy leads to the best college hiring market in years.Employers expect their college hiring for 2005-06 to surpass that of the year before by nearly 14%, according to a study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).
In some UW-Madison dorms, speaking English might get you a talking to or a blank stare.
In the past, students learning German, Spanish, Italian or Japanese have had the chance to live in dorms where their second language is spoken most of the time.
And now, the university hopes students will learn Arabic the same way.
Dear Editor: There is an abundance of mopeds around UW-Madison, and whether many of the drivers of these little scooters are suitable for the road is questionable.
….After living on the UW campus for a year, I have realized the extent of these scooters’ dangers. Many of today’s mopeds can exceed 40 mph and they drive them like they own the road.
MADISON, Wis. — Thousands of UW graduates walked across the stage during graduation ceremonies Sunday in Madison, but their minds will soon be on job hunting.
Job prospects for graduates are the best they’ve been in six years, since the dot-com bust, reported WISC-TV.
MADISON, Wis. — It’s a short walk across the stage but for a posse of UW students, it’s carrying some extra meaning. This posse isn’t just a group of students, it’s a new program at the UW focused on fostering diversity.
It was probably the first time a UW Law School graduation ceremony attracted national media attention, including ABC News and Univision, but this is also the first time an exonerated felon convicted of murder left prison and went on to graduate from the law school that helped him do it.
Christopher Ochoa was convicted of raping and murdering a Pizza Hut employee in Auston, Texas. In 2001, he was freed from prison, his life sentence overturned after the UW Innocence Project and new DNA tests helped prove he was wrongfully convicted.
The sudden departure of a University of Wisconsin-Madison geneticist has meant years of lost work for her graduate students, one of those students said today.
MADISON, Wis. — In 1996, Texas prison inmate Christopher Ochoa was about to end it all. But on Friday, the first person ever exonerated by the Wisconsin Innocence Project will graduate from law school.
The feeling of despair and anxiety, the same one that pushed him to the brink of suicide while in prison, came rushing back for Christopher Ochoa.
The trigger this time was not the sheer anguish of an innocent man languishing in prison. This time, it was receiving poor grades while in his first semester in law school three years ago.
18ââ?¬â??years ago he was accused of rape and murder.
16ââ?¬â??years ago he began serving what he thought would be a life sentence.
Tomorrow, he graduates from the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Christopher Ochoa spent 12 years in prison for a rape and murder he did not commit. Now, he hopes to help others.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison continues to investigate activities by an associate professor of genetics who resigned in February.
Ten years ago, Chris Ochoa was contemplating suicide in a Texas prison cell, serving a life sentence for a rape and murder he confessed to, but did not commit. Today, the 39-year-old Ochoa is free, exonerated and about to embark on his first career.
When he gets his law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School on Friday, after giving one of the commencement speeches, Ochoa will become only the second man in America to be freed from prison by DNA evidence who went on to earn a law degree.
WHITEWATER (AP) – His 12 years as an undergraduate have made Johnny Lechner a celebrity of sorts, so why not go for 13?
Lechner was expected to graduate at last from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater this spring, but instead he withdrew his application for graduation five days before commencement.
“I realized that if I went one more year, I could study abroad,” Lechner said. “That’s one thing I haven’t done.”
Madison’s police chief says a recent spate of violent downtown robberies may be tied to a gang initiation rite.
“The way these robberies are taking place, as far as multiple suspects making multiple robberies, it does have the feel of sort of gang initiation or gang tactic,” Chief Noble Wray said. “At this point, this is only one investigative avenue and we have not drawn any conclusions yet as more information is being obtained.”
Five people reported being beaten and robbed by young men in four incidents late Friday and early Saturday.
About the time Johnny Lechner was picking up his cap and gown for his graduation this Saturday from UW-Whitewater, it occurred to him there was a hole in his college record.
The number of mumps cases in Iowa has topped 1,600, but the spread of the virus has slowed and health officials say they are cautiously optimistic that the worst of the biggest mumps outbreak to hit the state in two decades is behind them.
College admissions officials seeing large drops in average scores for the critical reading and math sections of the new SAT college entrance exam say they are concerned about the drops and want to know why they’re happening.
Some colleges are reporting double-digit drops in the average SAT scores of applicants this year, even as other credentials, such as class rank and college-prep coursework, remained similar to or grew stronger than last year’s.
Ending a rash of bar-time beatings and robberies downtown has become priority No. 1 for downtown police as concern increases among residents, students and business owners.
Ald. Mike Verveer said the vicious attacks over the past several weeks, four of them last weekend alone, threaten the perception of safety in the downtown area.
The University of Wisconsin Athletic Board overhauled Friday the much-maligned student-athlete discipline policy, which even board chairman Walter Dickey referred to as an “unmitigated disaster.”
The revised policy, which was unanimously approved and will go into effect immediately, attempts to do a better job at fact finding for each case.
Dawn Cherek, who owns a chain of hair salons in the Madison, Wis., area, was having trouble drawing student customers to her newest salon, just blocks from the University of Wisconsin campus. A friend suggested she contact the university to see whether there were any marketing majors who could hammer out a plan to lure those potential customers.
MADISON, Wis. – Four violent muggings were reported in recent days, adding to about a dozen similar attacks reported in the last two weeks, police said.
The attacks occurred downtown near the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison but it’s unclear whether the attacks are related to each other or to previous muggings, authorities said.
In 1940, James Bryant Conant, then president of Harvard University, laid out his vision of an egalitarian society, a classless culture based on educational opportunity, not chance of birth.
The nation had the duty “to afford all an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race of life,” Mr. Conant said in the speech at the University of California.
Madison police reported four more attacks Downtown and near UW- Madison Friday night and early Saturday, most of the victims young men walking alone
UW-Madison is celebrating 10 years of progress in its main alcohol-abuse prevention program even as the university’s student body finishes one of its booziest years on record.
IT WASN’T until her elderly parents died a few years ago that Arlene Rothschild was able to begin coming to terms with what happened that terrible May day in Madison 38 years ago.
“I was unable to grieve,” Rothschild said from her home in Chicago this week.
She said she is grieving now, and as part of that process, Rothschild is hoping to spark new interest in the unsolved murder of her sister, Christine Rothschild, who was an 18-year-old UW-Madison freshman when her body was found in a clump of bushes in front of Sterling Hall on campus on the evening of Sunday, May 26, 1968.
Citing an ineffective and cumbersome student-athlete discipline policy, the University of Wisconsin Athletic Board voted unanimously Friday to approve a revised policy that it believes will be fairer and easier to understand.
That revised policy, which Athletic Board chairman Walter Dickey said will be implemented immediately, narrows the number of disciplinary committee members from six to four. It also gives that committee a more flexible range of measures to discipline student-athletes.
….Take a casual glance into the hordes of students walking across campus, and chances are you’ll notice a large number of them wearing a pair of cords around their neck. According to a survey last year by the Division of Information Technology, 35 percent of University of Wisconsin-Madison students own some kind of an MP3 player.Along with changing their musical habits, the devices are also changing the way students interact with each other.
Students on the UW campus are preparing for final exams.
And what could be better than man’s best friend for support?
About a halfââ?¬â??dozen canines visited Library Mall today to help students who are passing from class to class.
….From diploma frames to class rings to travel expenses, graduation can be another financial burden for students, and their families.
“I just don’t think the costs are worth it,” said Avi Galali, a UW-Madison senior who is graduating with a business degree. For Galali and her family, graduation is a time for family and not excessive celebrations.
However, the costs required to bring her family together from Minnesota will be significant, what with the price of gas, plus meals and hotels. Also, two of Galali’s grandparents are flying in from Israel, which will cost them over $2,400.
On April 4, 2004, Sara, an 18-year-old UW freshman, says she was sexually assaulted by two members of the crew team.
….On Wednesday, the UW Police Department referred the case to the District Attorney’s Office, where prosecutors will consider criminal charges. But last month the Dean’s Office closed the case, saying there was not enough evidence to impose sanctions against the student.
Dean’s Office officials say that because Sara was drunk and flirting with one of the men, they can’t prove that the sex wasn’t consensual. They also say that because Sara took more than a year to report the case to them, there is no physical evidence or eyewitnesses to back her allegation.
If the University of Wisconsin’s diversity challenges were a pass-fail course, then “we failed,” said Vicki Washington, UW System assistant vice president for multicultural affairs.
“We have not yet achieved the goals of Plan 2008,” she said in a presentation this (Thursday) morning, pointing to small successes over the last decade, but showing vast lingering gaps between the graduation rates of minorities and white students.
UW System President Kevin Reilly said pre-college programs appear to be successful, but require more money that UW doesn’t currently have.
While students prepare to celebrate the end of the year, the UW-Madison Carillon Memorial Bell Tower will play host to a more somber event. The tower�s 56 bronze bells will play a concert Thursday in honor of the UW-Madison students who passed away during the 2005-�06 academic year.
Two 20-year-old male UW-Madison students were arrested at College Library Wednesday afternoon for selling and possessing prescription drugs, according to Lt. Eric Holen of the UW-Madison Police Department.
Beginning fall 2006, a brand new Park Street residence hall will provide some freshmen with an upscale dorm experience. Though Smith Hall will represent a more luxurious housing option, it will not alleviate the crunch on freshmen housing in the long run.
There are those who say universities are festering grounds for liberal propaganda, places where teachers regularly try to indoctrinate students ââ?¬â? covertly or openly ââ?¬â? with their radical leftist viewpoints.
As classes once again draw to a close, we look back and recount the events that shaped Spring 2006 for the University of Wisconsin. To be sure, this term had its ups and downs, but, on the whole, we believe the semester brought a positive turn in what has been a troublesome year for UW.
While extensive summer construction may bring headaches to those staying in Madison, when University of Wisconsin students return to campus and downtown areas this fall, they will notice many changes.
The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents is set to meet today and tomorrow, hosting Gov. Jim Doyle in open session Friday.
MILWAUKEE – The number of confirmed mumps cases in Wisconsin has nearly tripled over the past week, state health officials said Wednesday.
More than a third of the state’s counties have reported at least one confirmed case of the mumps, according to the Department of Health and Family Services.
Surrounded by friends and colleagues Wednesday, Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, celebrated 50 years of service in the Wisconsin Legislature, becoming the longest serving state lawmaker in U.S. history.
Excessive drunkenness at Badger football games could lead to more than just a boot out of Camp Randall depending on a vote from the University of Wisconsin athletic board tomorrow.
MADISON, Wis. — Fewer tickets were doled out but more people were arrested at the Mifflin Street Block Party this past weekend, according to Madison police.
(MADISON) The Chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has approved funding a campus group that has sparked debate about separation of church and state. (Second item.)
Community members and students joined forces on Tuesday to showcase the history of one of Madison�s oldest and most well-known neighborhoods.
The recent outbreak of mumps at UW-Madison continued Tuesday, when a female undergraduate Witte Hall resident was confirmed to have the virus.
As Plan 2008, a UW System-wide effort to create a more diverse campus, enters its final years, the opinions of administration and students voice glaringly different definitions of diversity. This distinction may be hindering the success of Plan 2008 and the future expansion of a more diverse campus.
Diversity, diversity, diversity. For some on this campus, the word is little more than an ambiguous rallying cry whose intentions harm more students than it helps. Furthermore, such critics say affirmative actions programs, like the University of Wisconsin�s Plan 2008, are held to contain dubious value in terms of widening racial gaps and tensions.
University of Wisconsin students and staff rallied at Library Mall Tuesday afternoon to raise awareness for lung cancer.
The number of mumps cases at the University of Wisconsin continued to rise Tuesday with the confirmation of another student contracting the highly contagious virus.
After a year of planning and weeks of so-called ââ?¬Å?teaser adsââ?¬Â promoting a big announcement, the University Bookstore unveiled a new program allowing University of Wisconsin students to buy textbooks online for a reduced price.
After announcing a new transfer agreement Apr. 19, University of Wisconsin Chancellor John Wiley said Tuesday he is disappointed with the reaction of some UW students.
After all that has occurred in the past two years, one might expect Paul Barrows to hold a deep-seated resentment against the University of Wisconsin.
According to Barrows, however, the exact opposite holds true.
An official at a campus area Catholic organization said he’s glad it appears his organization will receive student funding for the upcoming school year.
But the battle over using student funds for religious purposes is far from over, said Tim Kruse, development director for the UW Roman Catholic Foundation. The foundation owns St. Paul’s University Campus Center, located on Library Mall.
Dear Editor: Once again, the city of Madison has compensated for its inability to control a minority of the yearly Halloween crowd by cracking down on the Mifflin Street Block Party like overprotective chaperones at a middle school dance.
The pettiness of 267 arrests and thousands of dollars in anticipated fines for a subdued and shortened event with no serious incidents is ridiculous. Underage drinking should not be a campus issue. College students are adults, and the absurd drinking age forced down Wisconsin’s throat by the abstinence-obsessed Reagan administration deserves repeal.
The question of whether student fees can be used to fund religious activities at Wisconsin’s public universities landed in the lap of the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents on Tuesday after UW-Madison’s chancellor reluctantly agreed to fund UW Roman Catholic Foundation activities that he previously called into question.
