Category: Campus life

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.

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.

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.

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.

….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.

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.

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.

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.)

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.

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.

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.

Students from an interdisciplinary service learning course took time off from their hectic end-of-semester schedules Monday to show off their help to local nonprofit organizations.
ePICS, short for e-Projects in Community Service, is designed as a learning community in which students can develop professional skills in a way that fosters civic engagement.

MADISON – A Catholic group could use University of Wisconsin-Madison student fees to print religious booklets and support religious activities under a recommendation by the school’s chancellor on Tuesday.

Chancellor John Wiley said he would endorse $145,000 for the UW Roman Catholic Foundation even though he has concerns it may violate the separation of church and state.

Statistics show the only group whose smoking rates are increasing is college-age women. Now there’s an effort to reverse that trend at U-W Madison.

Bucky wants you to quit smoking. Liz Ledvina of the “Kick Your Butt” campaign says they’re putting on an event Tuesday on Library Mall, targeted toward college women. Ledvina says the U-W Cancer Center and University Health Services are working with them on the campaign, and Tuesday’s event will encourage college age women to quit now. She calls the trend towards smoking by her peers a disturbing one.

With the end of the semester approaching, nearly 5,000 undergraduate and professional students are planning to graduate. But before a single cap is tossed in May�s graduation ceremonies, students must ensure that they have met the necessary degree requirements.

While the hype surrounding Saturday�s Mifflin Street Block Party winds down, several houses are still in the process of receiving citations and fines.

Last week, the residents at 518 W. Mifflin St. were pumped for the street’s annual block party. But today, after police shut down their backyard house party – featuring a live band and a pig roast – they were feeling a little deflated.

“We were kind of bummed after that happened,” said Ted Horstick, one of the organizers.

Sometime this week, 11 people who organized the party are expected to be handed fines totaling thousands of dollars for a variety of municipal violations, including procuring alcohol for minors, dispensing alcohol without a license, and knowingly allowing underage persons to consume alcohol.

Erin Hatton knows that Jamie Peck is unusually devoted to his work.

Last summer, Hatton needed to defend her dissertation so she could move to Buffalo, N.Y. Her dissertation was in Peck’s area of expertise, so his participation was necessary, she said.

But there was a problem: Peck, an avid cyclist, was seriously injured May 22 when a drunken driver hit him and fled the scene. Nevertheless, Peck honored the late July appointment, even meeting with her ahead of time to talk about the project, Hatton said.