Category: Campus life

Sophomore Madison Tessler is one of those students.”I think I’ve been pretty careful, and I still ended up getting it,” she said.

Jake Baggott, the head of University Health Services, warned of a “significant increase” in COVID-19 cases among students on and off campus. He says there were 112 confirmed cases reported Wednesday and 99 more on Thursday.

According to the university COVID-19 dashboard, 67 cases were confirmed among students on Friday, Feb. 19. The seven-day positivity rate for students is 1 percent. In the email, Baggot noted that 112 positive student cases were reported on Wednesday, with an additional 99 positive student cases reported on Thursday.

Through UW-Madison’s UniverCity Alliance program, local governments can tap into resources to get help with whatever they need. The program matches students and courses at UW-Madison to take on real world projects.

’I am excited for it to warm up and be spring soon so it’s not as miserable outside as it is now,’ UW student says.

The Nicholas Recreation Center is home to approximately 30,000 square feet of fitness space, including eight courts and five studios, as well as an Olympic size pool on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. But while the facility is only operating at 25% capacity, this seemingly enormous gym has proven to fill up incredibly fast, resulting in a crowded facility and long lines.

Students who do not comply with university policies will be subject to sanctions.

In his discussion, Crump talked about the racial prejudice in the justice system and in police officers. He discussed police shootings and the wrongful actions that police officers took in the Breonna Taylor and George Floyd cases. In a call to action, Crump emphasized that talking to elected officials and leaders about injustices along with correcting and punishing bad police officers is essential.

The Student Services Finance Committee discussed budgets for the Wisconsin Union, the Campus Women’s Center and the Greater University Tutoring Services Monday night.

André E. Phillips, UW-Madison’s director for admissions and recruitment, said in a news release in August that the university never used minimums or ranges for ACT or SAT scores.

Tyler Caraza-Harter, an assistant faculty associate at UW-Madison, began pointing students to publicly available local data when some asked him for independent project ideas. As interest grew, he turned it into a small class in fall 2019 called “Data Science in Madison.”

University of Wisconsin- Madison students who have been financially impacted by the pandemic started to receive a second round of emergency grant funding on Monday. The university is giving out grants by pulling from $9.89 million of the federal Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II, according to a news release.

All undergraduate, graduate students are eligible to apply for financial assistance from $9.89 million fund, UW spokesperson says.

UW-Madison students are encouraging their peers to take part in local democracy and vote in Wisconsin’s Spring Primary Election on Tuesday to determine local officials and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

McGlone pointed to UW-Madison’s testing protocols, stating “this is also why the university requires people who’ve had COVID to resume testing after 90 days.”

’I always want to invite people over to check out the house and see what we’re like, because it’s such a nice environment to be in, so hopefully soon that will be the case again,’ resident says.

’Black history is told through the generations, through family and storytelling,’ UW BIPOC Coalition co-founder says.

The Teaching Assistant Association (TAA) is working to end mandatory segregated fees for graduate and international workers by calling all graduate assistants to withhold Spring 2021 semester fees until the due date.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s student government says administrators are blocking its attempt to provide rental assistance to those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The body is pushing forward with its plans and has even hinted at legal action if it continues to face resistance from administration.

“Safer Badgers” is a key part of UW’s spring semester health and safety program. The app monitors COVID-19 test results and can either grant, or deny, admittance into campus buildings and classes.

The UW System wants to encourage Wisconsin high school students to consider a future in higher education.The system will launch a pipeline program to help guide high school students in preparing for, applying to and enrolling in one of its 13 universities.

“I like the idea behind it to ensure safety,” UW-Madison Undergraduate Student Dineo Lyle said.

Chris Pevey Harry is settling into his new role as assistant dean of precollege programs of Badger Precollege at the University of Wisconsin-Madison — and is inching closer to his goal of making the program available to every student in Wisconsin who’s interested in learning.

’We can’t have a strong state of Wisconsin without a strong UW-Madison campus,’ Badgers United board member says.

The university is not transparent about the disclosure of this information, according to UW Teaching Assistants’ Association Leader of Membership Coordination Rachel McClure. Unless they opt out, the data of university employees is shared with members of the public upon their request, McClure said.

Many 2020 grads stepped foot inside their alma mater for the last time in mid-March, with some attending online graduations and others like UW graduate Michelle Nguyen just trying to put school behind them altogether.

The Associated Students of Madison took a vote of no confidence in the University of Wisconsin Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration and passed legislation on workers’ rights, emergency housing and Student Health Insurance Plan aid restructuring at Tuesday’s meeting.

While most of UW-Madison’s traditional in-person degree programs have switched to an online format, nontraditional students will have more fully-online degree options starting in the Fall 2021 semester through UW-Madison Online.

Wisconsin residents and UW alumni are teaming up to help rebuild UW-Madison following the pandemic.

UW-Madison is offering virtual tours, rather than in-person tours. Kirstin DeMartino, Director of Campus and Visitor Relations, said virtual tours via Zoom are available on a weekly basis.

UWPD, University Housing, Dean of Students Office and UHS begin partnership to enhance mental health services, crisis response protocols on campus.

’This is an important conversation to be having,’ SSFC representative says.

’For the administration, blocking this fund is not about policy compliance, it is about maintaining their power,’ Mitnick says.

If the referendum—crafted by ASM Chair Matthew Mitnick, 10 other representatives and chairs and the UW-Madison BIPOC Coalition— receives a vote of confirmation at Tuesday’s meeting, the general student body will be able to show their support for or against ASM’s COVID-19 Student Relief Fund when they head to the student government ballots in March.

UW-Madison students welcome Side Hustle Society as a student organization on campus during the spring semester. The organization aims to facilitate a community with forums for students to discuss their “side hustles” — or extracurricular hobbies and passions that earn additional income.

UW-Madison officials called it “inclement weather,” postponing all in-person activities at the Winter Carnival. “There are the dangers of exposed skin with frostbite,” Joe Webb, the director of Outdoor UW, said. “More or less it’s just not comfortable. These events are supposed to be fun.”

Krista Nagel, a senior undergraduate at UW-Madison, said she thinks increased testing is a smart idea. However, Nagel said getting tested twice a week seems like “overkill,” and she feels that weekly testing would be sufficient.

Heller says that along with legal issues, there are also challenges concerning the income taxes that students who benefit from the relief policy would have to pay, along with employer payroll taxes and fringe costs that ASM would be responsible for.

The land, established as an outdoor laboratory to investigate the repair of damaged ecosystems in the 1930s, was added to the list last month.

Administrators opposed the legislation, saying it violates UW System Policy 820’s approved uses for segregated fees. The policy prohibits lump sum payments to student organizations or “direct financial aid” to individual students, except for certain situations including employee wages and scholarships or stipends to student government leaders.

The Associated Students of Madison unanimously passed legislation to create mask ambassador positions intended to aid students in receiving funds from segregated fees.

The Arboretum plays a large role in the Madison community for both students and the public.

UW-Madison has also seen an upgrade in surveillance with the Safer Badgers app for the 2021 Spring semester, but in an email statement Chancellor Rebecca Blank has promised, “the app does not track your current or location history in any way, on or off campus.” Instead, UW-Madison has offered Bluetooth exposure notifications that notify students in extended periods of contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19. “Participation is optional but strongly encouraged,” said Blank in a Jan. 13 update.

The Associated Students of Madison (ASM) continued to fight for approval of their COVID-19 Student Relief Fund at an emergency meeting on Tuesday night. The student council voted unanimously to pass legislation creating the Mask Ambassador position — opening a possible loophole for the fund to be enacted despite university concerns over its legality.

UW-Madison says the Arboretum earned the designation for a “period of national significance” that stretches from the 1930s to the 1960s in which the first forest plantings were made and experiments were conducted to study the ecosystem.

The designation is based on the Arboretum’s work in restoration ecology, its place in the history of conservation, and its commitment to Aldo Leopold’s land ethic, UW-Madison said in a press release Tuesday.

The National Park Service has officially designated the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Arboretum as a National Historic Landmark. The arboretum gained landmark status last month when the park service named the 21 newest locations. In all there are over 2,600 national landmarks across the country, according to the NPS’ website.

In an interview with the Daily Cardinal, Thompson Center Executive Director Ryan Owens said the center “absolutely” stands by the methods and findings of the report. Owens, who is also a professor in the university’s Political Science department, argued that the survey results were consistent for questions on other, less vague beliefs like climate change denial.

QLaw, a student organization that advocates for LGBTQ rights, claimed WLF supports transphobic policies and that the UW Law School should remove WLF from their interview program.