This might sound like we’re straddling the fence here, but the facts are some things worked at Saturday’s Mifflin Street block party, and some didn’t. So while we’d like to claim the party a success or a disaster, and there is evidence for both, like so much of life the day was more complicated than that.
A triumvirate of Democratic Madison state legislators introduced a plan to increase student financial aid and freeze tuition for lower-income in-state students throughout the University of Wisconsin System Monday at the Red Gym.
Dear Editor: Personally I’m fed up with Madison being a playground for out-of-towners (including many UW-Madison students) who want to party, vandalize and riot without a moment’s concern for the city of Madison residents who must bear the burden of police and cleanup costs. It’s time our city put a stop to this sort of thing.
As it is, why does the binge drinking capital of the United States need to perpetuate yet another event focused on drinking alcohol?
Matt Hoffman, Madison
University of Wisconsin running back Booker Stanley was arrested and charged with four misdemeanors stemming from a disturbance Saturday night during the Mifflin Street block party.
Stanley, 22, was charged with two counts of battery, and one count each of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest during a party at 522 W. Mifflin St. He posted $950 bail and was released.
It began as an initiative to save tax dollars for prisons has become a potentially major headache for UW students. Due to the success of prisons that do not purchase foods together in bulk, Gov. Doyle felt that implementing a similar plan in the UW System would allow for the same control and a decreased budget
Three Madison police officers were injured Saturday trying to break up a fight during the Mifflin Street block party. Otherwise, the legendary, 36-year-old festival was chilly and uneventful this year. In terms of crowd size and number of arrests, the event was comparable to last year’s, said Police Chief Noble Wray.
“There were some areas where we had dramatic improvement,” he said, noting that there was compliance on the one-day bottle ban.
Hey guys, how hearty did you party at the Mifflin Street Block Party this weekend? No more than a 12-pack?
Bad idea. Drinking even that much can hurt you.
onsidering that amid much controversy, students were left guessing when the official Mifflin Street Block Party would be until April 22, the end result was a testament to the understanding developed between the city, police and partygoers.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Norway’s peaceful separation from Sweden, and both countries’ ambassadors visited UW-Madison to share experiences of foreign affairs Friday.
UW-Madison Dean of International Studies Gilles Bousquet introduced Knut Vollebaek and Jan Kenneth Eliasson, Norway and Sweden’s ambassadors, to the United States.
Contract negotiations between the UW-Madison Teaching Assistants’ Association and the Wisconsin Office of State Employee Relations were stymied again Friday when state representatives rejected the TAA’s request for an independent mediator.
Even a late date change and months concern over the level of police enforcement could not taint the Mifflin Street Block Party, as 20,000 people packed into the 400 and 500 blocks of Mifflin Street Saturday to celebrate the annual spring bash.
The University of Wisconsin�s journalism program has much to celebrate as it concludes this academic year. This year, 2005, marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the journalism program at UW, which was one of the first institutions to recognize students should be equipped with special reporting training before graduation.
The University of Wisconsin�s Morgridge Center for Public Service announced a new chief Friday, one who will take over current Director Mary Rouse�s position after she retires this June.
After last Wednesday�s request by the Teaching Assistants� Association to hire a mediator to help resolve the long-running dispute of their 2003-05 contract, state of Wisconsin negotiators rejected the labor union�s request Friday.
JUNEAU ââ?¬â? Chalk up another victory for the Wisconsin Innocence Project.
The project, an initiative of the University of Wisconsin Law School, helped win the freedom of its third client Friday: former La Crosse resident and former Augusta police officer Evan Zimmerman, whose murder charge was dropped by prosecutor Richard White in Dodge County Court.
Between the Crazylegs Classic and the Dane County Farmer�s Market, the city of Madison was bustling this weekend while more than 15,000 people celebrated the annual Mifflin Street Block Party.
The smell of beer lingered along the 500 block of West Mifflin Street Sunday, and stacks of trash bags filled with empty bottles and cans lined the curb.
But little other evidence remained of the 20,000 people who packed the 400 and 500 blocks on Saturday for music, drink and revelry at the annual Mifflin Street block party.
Sunday, many Madison residents joined police and city officials in breathing a collective sigh of relief following another installment of the traditional celebration. Now, concerns turn toward next weekend’s traditional celebration schedule. (Video.)
Thanks in part to the efforts of UW-Madison professors and students, a group of citizens held a press conference at the capitol Thursday to present recommendations on the development of nanotechnology after spending a month learning about the rapidly advancing field and discussing it among themselves and with experts.
UW-Madison students are beginning to organize against proposed legislation that would ban University Health Services from distributing the morning-after pill.
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz delivered an emphatic announcement promising to restrain and subdue revelry on the upcoming 2005 Halloween weekend.
Sunday will find Mifflin Street disheveled and coated with countless beer cups and waste from Saturday’s annual bash, but the Mifflin Street Co-Op, 32 N. Bassett St., is ready to act.
This is the 10th year the co-op will aid with the block party, providing trash and recycling bags as well as free coffee donated by Just Coffee, 100 S. Baldwin St.
UW-Madison students critiqued the implementation of Plan 2008 in a question-and-answer session with Chancellor John Wiley and Provost Peter Spear as part of the Plan 2008 Diversity Forum Thursday in Bascom Hall.
We appreciate very much the sentiment of your Wednesday editorial (ââ?¬Å?Failing Laundry 101ââ?¬Â), which calls out some of our colleagues for pulling a cheap political stunt at the expense of students by asking that the Associated Students of Madison be sent the bill for policing the Mifflin Street block party this weekend.
City of Madison Police Capt. Mary Schauf, accompanied by Chief Noble Wray and other members of the police force, addressed crime issues at a Capital Neighborhood Association monthly program at the Concourse Hotel Thursday night.
More than 20 representatives from the police departments, the University of Wisconsin and the local business community met with Madison Police Chief Noble Wray, Captain Mary Schauf and Mayor Dave Cieslewicz Thursday afternoon, pushing the upcoming Mifflin Street Block Party aside to discuss Halloween 2005.
University of Wisconsin Chancellor John Wiley and Provost Peter Spear met with students during the Plan 2008 Student Forum Thursday to address possible solutions to problematic diversity issues within the campus community.
UW-Madison chancellor John Wiley fielded questions from a hostile student body last night… talking about race relations and minority achievement at the University. (Middle of page.)
It may only be spring, but there’s already talk about Halloween. Madison leaders held a heated discussion Thursday on how to keep State Street safe this year. (Video.)
Large state universities are spending more time thinking about how to engage undergraduates, and one issue receiving increasing attention is time: When are students in class?
This week’s Someone Special volunteers are two women who help at the UW Hospital and Clinics Poison Prevention and Education Center. They are Amanda Sweet and Jessica Vande Burgt.
Both are poison outreach specialists, presenting programs to teachers, parents and elementary school children as well as helping with health fairs and other events. They volunteer despite carrying full academic loads in the UW School of Pharmacy.
Eleven members of the Madison City Council have suggested that the student government of the UW-Madison should chip in to help cover the costs of policing the Mifflin Street block party this weekend. On the surface, that sounds like a reasonable proposal, since Associated Students of Madison pushed for changing the date of the annual party from the traditional first Saturday in May to April 30.
….To pressure ASM to help pay for the party at this late date would strain relationships, and potentially upset the delicate balance that seeks to ensure the street partying is orderly and does not spill over to the following weekend. The precise amount of a contribution to the management of the event by ASM is also complicated by the fact that the party attracts a great many nonstudents.
Finals are upon us; impending doom is less than a week away. During such times of crisis, it can be just as easy to reach for a bag of chips or cookies as it is to lug out that twenty-pound physics book. Crunching on junk food, however, will not only add weight to the waistline, it will agitate your nervousness and increase your stress even more.
For many students, the significance of the daily thrust-and-parry of the political process is not a high priority. The Capitol building, despite its location at the other end of State Street, might as well be another universe. However, its relevance has never been greater.
The Dean of Students Office’s possible reorganization of student services and student development programs has raised serious concerns among the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community at UW-Madison.
The UW-Madison Safe Arrival For Everyone taxi-service program was created to provide students with a way out of potentially dangerous situations, but some find it difficult to actually get a ride.
Many students seeking to avoid contact with UW-Madison police officers may only worry about hiding open intoxicants and loud music.
However, UW-Madison police look for much more than this on a typical shift.
Every year at the Mifflin Street Block Party, residents’ items are stolen and their property is damaged because they are not able to control who enters their house. Even if nothing is stolen or damaged, a rowdy crowd can attract police attention and result in a fine for house occupants for selling alcohol without a license. Many blame the wild atmosphere and occasional disorderly conduct on people who are not actually UW-Madison students.
UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley said Wednesday he is committed to working with peer universities to protect workers’ rights by pressuring apparel manufacturers to adopt stricter disclosure policies.
Vietnam spurs the Birth of Mifflin Street Block Party: 1969
The Mifflin Street Block Party began in 1969 as a street dance to celebrate community spurred by demonstrations taking place all over the country in response to the Vietnam Conflict. It ended as a confrontation between students and police to show the independence of the ââ?¬Å?Mifflandââ?¬Â area and the student distaste of the war.
A cold front did not stop the Madison Warming Center Campaign from holding a sleep-out on Library Mall Monday and Tuesday nights to gather more than 900 signatures for a petition and raise awareness of the need for a wet shelter in Madison at their ââ?¬Å?Falk-Lewicz-Villeââ?¬Â campsite.
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz unveiled his ââ?¬Å?Imagine Madisonââ?¬Â initiative, encouraging discussions of the cityââ?¬â?¢s future, through a mid-term speech at a Downtown Rotary Club meeting at the Edgewater Hotel Wednesday.
The University of Wisconsin Labor Licensing Policy Committee met with Chancellor John Wiley to further discuss current issues surrounding UW merchandise production and workers� rights Wednesday.
Milwaukee’s Violent Femmes, a popular 1980s band, will headline this year’s student-planned All-Campus Party. The “Badger Blowout Concert” will be from 7 p.m. to midnight Friday on the Memorial Union Terrace.
“The Violent Femmes are wild, experienced performers with a classic and upbeat style – a perfect fit” for this year’s party, said co-director Kris MacDonald.
By changing the date of the Mifflin Street block party, students hope to avoid a finals-week hangover. But a group of Madison alders wants to hand students a different kind of rude awakening.
Eleven of 20 City Council members sent a letter Tuesday to Mayor Dave Cieslewicz asking that an itemized bill be sent to Associated Students of Madison for the cost of moving the Mifflin Street block party from May 7 – the Saturday before finals week – to April 30.
Since UW-Madison’s first class met Feb. 5, 1849, the university has only grown-in square feet, students, faculty, majors and public involvement. Growing is still the top priority, according to UW-Madison Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities Planning and Management Alan Fish and Director of Planning & Landscape Architecture Gary Brown, as they unveiled the draft of the UW-Madison Campus Master Plan Tuesday at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
The Campus Natural Areas Committee held an open input session Tuesday to solicit public opinion on the group’s struggle to maintain and protect campus natural areas in its master plan.
Ald. Zach Brandon, District 7, wrote a letter to Mayor Dave Cieslewicz demanding that the Associated Students of Madison foot the bill for the cost of the Mifflin Street Block Party April 30.
Enforcement of city drinking ordinances at Saturday’s Mifflin Street Block Party will mirror that of prior years, city officials said Tuesday night.
The University of Wisconsin Campus Natural Areas Committee held a public meeting Tuesday night to hear views on the future of the campus natural areas.
In preparation for the second-largest bash of the year in the city, a group of Madison officials and Mifflin Street residents gathered Tuesday night to discuss logistics of Saturday�s Mifflin Street Block Party.
A draft of the Campus Master Plan was presented Tuesday detailing the next 20 years of construction on University of Wisconsin campus buildings, transportation, utilities and green space.
More than half of City Council members co-signed a letter addressed to Mayor Dave Cieslewicz Tuesday asking him to send the Associated Students of Madison a bill for the costs of this weekend�s Mifflin Street Block Party.
A number of big events this weekend will draw plenty of crowds, and the more people, the more need for police.
At University Avenue Liquors, calls for kegs pour in come time for Mifflin Street’s infamous party.
City officials gave their words of warning Tuesday night to Mifflin Street residents who are preparing to host thousands of party-goers Saturday.
Boston University built a pool with a wave machine. The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh offers massages in the student union. The University of Houston has a hot tub and rock-climbing wall. Duke University gave all of its freshmen iPods.
Even the intensifying rain outside could not dampen the optimistic mood surrounding UW-Madison’s presentation of its Campus Master Plan to the Joint Southeast Campus Committee Monday night.
Mifflin Street residents and interested UW-Madison students have one last chance to hear police lay down the law regarding Mifflin Block Party expectations before the Saturday festivities. At a meeting tonight, city officials will clarify the ground rules for the Mifflin event, as well as hammer out concerns with students.
The U.S. Education Department’s new way of determining a student’s need for financial aid will disqualify 81,000 students from receiving Pell Grants, the Government Accountability Office said in a report last week, a conclusion that confirmed earlier predictions by many higher-education lobbyists.
After the controversy settled on the date for the Mifflin Street Block Party, city and university officials are informing residents of final plans, safety issues and expectations necessary for the success of the annual revelry.
