Noted: Protests in Wisconsin’s capital city started around 9 p.m., drawing out hundreds of protestors who were largely peaceful. The group marched up and down State Street and other streets near the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, drawing students into their ranks, according to tweets from Emily Hamer, a reporter with the Wisconsin State Journal.
Category: Campus life
GALLERY: Changes come to UW–Madison in preparation of students’ return to campus
In anticipation of students returning to the classroom on Sept. 2, University of Wisconsin–Madison staff members are preparing campus with increased safety in mind.
Madison elected officials ask: Why bring UW-Madison students back when outbreak is inevitable?
Some Madison-area elected officials are sounding the alarm on UW-Madison’s reopening plan, alleging weak enforcement plans for students to follow public health guidelines and an “inevitable outbreak” on campus that may lead to larger community spread of COVID-19.
State lacks ideal coronavirus testing capacity for reopening of college campuses, schools, top health official says
Wisconsin doesn’t have the capacity to process the number of coronavirus tests health officials ideally want available when schools and college campuses reopen, Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm said Friday.
Half a century ago, Sterling Hall bombing left its mark on Madison and the world
Fifty years ago, a bomb blasted through a UW-Madison building in the early morning, reverberating across the city, killing a university researcher, injuring several others and forever changing the anti-war movement.
50 years after the Sterling Hall bombing at UW-Madison, questions remain. The biggest: What happened to Leo Burt?
It was 50 years ago, but Bob Shaffer hasn’t forgotten. It’s not something anyone who lived through could forget.
UW campuses forge ahead in reopening this fall despite growing COVID-19 concerns
University of Wisconsin campuses plan on welcoming students to dorms and classrooms in mere days even as colleges across the country watched their own reopening plans collapse amid rising COVID-19 cases.
‘Very historic’ Natatorium on its way out at UW
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is starting the process of tearing down the Natatorium recreational building this fall, as part of a multi-year, campus-wide recreational facelift.
Redefining legacy: A historic boulder’s controversial history at UW-Madison
Over the course of three days in October 1925, a crew of men equipped with horses and steel cables pulled a giant boulder out of the side of Observatory Hill on the UW-Madison campus.
UW-Madison addressing restart
UW-Madison students are beginning to return to campus, and campus leaders are addressing how they are restarting the school year.
Teaching assistants march to UW Chancellor’s house, challenge safety of fall semester restart plan
Protesters from the TAA gathered at Engineering Mall yesterday evening to protest the UW Smart Restart plan for the fall semester amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The crowd of around 30 people started the protest by stating their concerns about spreading the virus to the broader Madison community.
UW- Madison makes SAT/ACT test scores optional for applicants for two more years
University of Wisconsin- Madison announced Thursday it will not require undergraduate applicants to send their standardized test scores as an admission requirement for the next two years.
Survivor of Sterling Hall bombing looks back, 50 years later
Buried under rubble for three hours, he somehow survived.
UW students skeptical of “Smart Restart”
Madison365 talked to some of the students who are returning to campus to learn their perspective on how they feel about the ‘Smart Restart’ plan. They were randomly chosen students and have suggested that UW-Madison should reconsider its reopening plan by either making the campus, dorms and classrooms safer for students and workers, or moving classes entirely online.
Metro Transit to increase service, resume taking fares
Starting Sunday, service will increase by about 300 bus hours a day, from 700 to approximately 1,000, not including UW-Madison campus circulators or service for the Madison School District, Metro spokesman Mick Rusch said. The pre-COVID-19 level was about 1,300 bus hours a day. The increased service levels are expected to match current staffing levels and minimize overtime.
Students, families try to make decisions about coming back to college despite endless questions
Laurie and Scott Dubin, along with their daughter Lindsay, stood outside a rented RV last Saturday with a heap of luggage.
They were about to start the 2,000-mile drive from the San Francisco Bay Area to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where Lindsay would start her freshman year at her dream school in the middle of a pandemic.
“I hope school isn’t canceled from Saturday until then,” Laurie Dubin had said earlier that week.
Owner proposes housing above popular campus-area tavern on Regent Street
A developer is proposing to add housing above and behind a popular brewpub and restaurant on Regent Street near the UW-Madison campus.
Avoiding a COVID outbreak at UW-Madison: Doctors say the ball is in students’ court to act responsibly
Students say they’ve been seeing a lack of social distancing and a disregard of public health guidelines as many start to move back in to student housing.
Called to change: Student activists influence campus communities, fight for BLM, BIPOC justice
Spurred on by widespread civil unrest in wake of George Floyd’s death, Madison activists organize to raise awareness, force changes to campus.
Tommy Thompson seeks 3.5% UW System budget increase to expand Bucky’s Tuition Promise, fund other initiatives
The head of the University of Wisconsin System will propose its Board of Regents support a 3.5% increase to its 2021-23 state budget in the hope of funding several new initiatives, including a statewide free tuition scholarship program for some Wisconsin students.
Some university-affiliated in-person meetings, gatherings permitted under new guidelines
New policy follows guidelines set in place by Smart Restart, CDC, PHMDC.
2020 DNC: Michelle Obama urges people to vote for Joe Biden ‘like our lives depend on it’
Noted: The College Democrats of the University of Wisconsin-Madison are hosting a series of remote, online watch parties this week for the convention with a plethora of political guests.
On Tuesday night, the group will be joined by former state Senate District 26 candidate Nada Elmikashfi and Madison Ald. Max Prestigiacomo, who is also a UW-Madison student.
Langdon student apartments developer to appeal Plan Commission denial
Core Spaces, the development team behind the proposed Hub 2 apartment building on Langdon Street, has decided to appeal the Plan Commission’s July decision to deny its application for conditional use and bring its proposal before the Madison City Council.
Wisconsin’s political geography: Understanding a state that is shifting but still close – Washington Post
The fastest-growing part of the state is also its most reliably liberal, with a genuinely left-wing political culture growing up around the state capital and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. When Scott Walker referred to D.C. as “68 square miles surrounded by reality,” he was taking a phrase he’d applied to Madison and updating the area size.
As Colleges Move Classes Online, Families Rebel Against the Cost
Will Andersen, an 18-year-old incoming freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, put it this way: “Who wants to pay $25,000 a year for glorified Skype?”
Welcome Back? College Students Anxious, Excited About Return to Campus
Lauryn Azu is a WDET intern who’s headed back to University of Wisconsin-Madison. She echoes those thoughts and says she hopes the university will be able to provide free testing for students. “I’m just hoping for the best and hoping people have sense, and hoping that they’re going to ramp up the testing that they’ve already started to organize for students that is completely free. So hopefully people are going to take advantage of that so they at least know their status when they’re going out in the world and doing whatever.”
Pandemic resurgence forces universities to cancel rescheduled commencement ceremonies
Noted: UW-Madison had a virtual commencement this spring. It featured video appearances from administrators, students, athletes and author James Patterson, as well as a Camp Randall lights display and a carillon rendition of “On Wisconsin.” The university hopes to host a physical winter commencement in December and a larger in-person ceremony once the state emerges from the pandemic.
UW-Madison researchers working on a faster, simpler COVID-19 test that uses spit, not swabs
In a shaded parking lot on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, so-called spit concierges guide volunteers though giving a saliva sample. On the other side of the parking lot is a pared-down biology lab where scientists test the spit-filled plastic vials for the virus that causes COVID-19.
They’ll have the results within one or two hours.
The wildcard in UW-Madison’s reopening plan: Student behavior
The scene looked like it always does this time of year when tens of thousands of UW-Madison students’ off-campus leases turn over.
UW schools navigate new, controversial Title IX changes
UW-Madison students and employees face a sweeping new process to report sexual misconduct on campus under rules that narrow the definition of harassment and bolster protections for the accused.
UW staff protest campus reopening plans
A group of UW-Madison staff members are demanding what they call “a moral restart” amid the pandemic.
UW-Madison starts early move-in
Starting Saturday, students living in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois can drop off their stuff in dorms ahead of move in, which is not until the end of August.
Protesters say safety demands UW rescind in-person instruction plans, go virtual
The Friday protest was organized by United Faculty and Academic Staff (UFAS), the Teaching Assistants Association (TAA), AFSCME Local 171, and AFSCME Local 2412.
How Wisconsin got the nickname ‘Badgers’
There’s only one “Badgers” nickname in NCAA Division I college athletics, and it belongs to the University of Wisconsin. The name has deep ties to the state, dating back roughly 200 years.
Here’s everything we know about Wisconsin’s mascot and nickname.
Here’s what we know and what we don’t about Wisconsin universities’ COVID-19 testing plans for fall
Over the past two weeks, Wisconsin universities have revealed more information about their plans for COVID-19 testing.
Wisconsin colleges’ fall plans hinge on testing thousands of students for COVID-19. Will it be enough to keep campuses open?
Colleges and universities across Wisconsin have developed a patchwork of plans to prepare for what at its core is an unknown: How to reopen campuses safely during a pandemic.
Quoted: Testing students every week or two will provide a gauge of whether the virus is taking hold on campuses. Many physicians stress this so-called surveillance testing is the only way to identify students and staff who are infected but don’t have symptoms.
“I don’t see how one can not do it,” said Nasia Safdar, an infectious disease physician at UW Health.
The mystery of the missing UW Sterling Hall bomber
It’s been called one of Madison’s greatest unfinished stories of the last half of the 20th century.
What happened to Leo Burt? Three of the four bombers of UW-Madison’s Sterling Hall in 1970, were caught and sent to federal prison. But Leo Burt, the fourth bomber, 22 years-old at the time, is still wanted by the FBI.
His whereabouts remain a mystery.
Coping with campus coronavirus: U.S. fraternities, sororities give it the old college try
Sixteen gallons of hand sanitizer sat in the foyer of the Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority house at the University of Wisconsin as house mother Karen Mullis reconfigured tables in the dining room to maintain social distancing.
UW-Madison plans testing for fall to track COVID spread on campus
The university is providing free COVID-19 testing for students, faculty and staff. It’s set up on Henry Mall, between University Avenue and Linden Drive.
UW-Madison Chancellor Blank on comprehensive plan to restart [WTMJ Roundtable]
Quoted: No plan for opening a university can be fool-proof, which leads to UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank being both confident in her campus plan and concerned about the things she – and any university’s chief executive – cannot control no matter how comprehensive a plan’s framework is.
“I admit I am both optimisitc and worried. I think we’ve done everything we need to do. We’ve got a lot of moving parts,” Blank told WTMJ’s John Mercure during Tuesday’s WTMJ Cares Special Roundtable.
UW rolls out first on-campus coronavirus testing site on Henry Mall
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s first on-campus COVID-19 testing location is now operating on an appointment basis, with at least two more sites expected to open for the fall semester.
Badgers fans weigh in on Big Ten’s decision to punt on fall sports amid ongoing COVID-19 concerns
Wisconsin State Journal reporter Jim Polzin asked Badgers fans on Twitter what they thought about the Big Ten Conference’s decision to cancel fall sports amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
Graduate students advocate for online classes, more protections for teaching assistants
’I don’t want to have to choose between being safe and having no income, or a disease that has really long terrible health implications even if I survive it,’ graduate student says
Reports: Big Ten Expected To Cancel Fall Football Season
The Big Ten is likely to cancel fall sports, including football, over coronavirus concerns, according to several reports. A formal announcement is expected Tuesday.
Reported Big Ten football cancellation deals economic blow to Badger-reliant businesses
An already-battered Madison hospitality industry could take another hit worth tens of millions of dollars if the Big Ten Conference ultimately decides to cancel the fall football season because of the coronavirus pandemic.
University Labor Council lists demands in response to UW-Madison’s restart plans
First, the council demands moving all courses online until there are zero new cases of COVID-19 in Dane County for 14 consecutive days.
Some Wisconsin Universities Require Students, Staff To Sign COVID-19 Pledges
Aside from the campuses in Eau Claire, Green Bay and Platteville, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and University of Wisconsin-Madison have introduced required pledges for students too.
UW grad students, labor groups demand online learning, improved COVID policies
A newly formed coalition of University of Wisconsin-Madison worker unions released a statement Wednesday demanding COVID-19 policies that include fully online coursework, payment continuity and hourly student wages.
Wisconsin Badgers football schedule released
If the college football season is able to be played this fall, the University of Wisconsin football team now knows who it’ll face and when.
Metro Transit to boost service as COVID-19 pandemic continues
Service will increase by approximately 300 bus hours a day, from 700 to approximately 1,000, not including UW-Madison campus circulators or service for the Madison School District, Metro planning manager Drew Beck said. The pre-COVID-19 level was about 1,300 bus hours a day.
UW-Madison launches in-person absentee voting at four campus locations
Students who want to vote via an in-person absentee ballot can do so from noon until 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday at several sites on the UW-Madison campus.
In-person absentee voting begins on UW campus
Based on the advice of Public Health, voting will take place in tents on Engineering Mall, Library Mall, by the Kohl Center, and near the Natatorium.
Early voting available outdoors on UW campus
In-person absentee voting on campus began Monday at Engineering Mall, Library Mall, near the Kohl Center, and by the Natatorium.
In-person absentee voting begins at UW-Madison for fall elections
Voters in the city of Madison can complete their absentee ballots in person for the fall elections throughout UW-Madison’s campus as of Monday, according to the city clerk’s office.
The future of dining halls: reservations, delivery, and robots
Restaurant-reservation software company OpenTable is one vendor that’s seen increased demand, according to COO Andrea Johnston. Schools like Cornell University and University of Wisconsin-Madison have already signed on to use the service to handle dining hall capacity.
Plan Commission’s denies Langdon apartment project
Core Spaces, the development team behind a controversial Langdon Street apartment development, is “disappointed” following the Madison Plan Commission’s denial of its application for demolition and conditional use earlier this week.
Q&A: UW’s Jonathan Temte on status of a coronavirus vaccine and how it will be distributed
If anyone in Wisconsin was poised to play a part in the coronavirus pandemic, it was Jonathan Temte. A physician and associate dean with the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Temte is also an expert in vaccine and immunization policy who sat on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for eight years and is currently a member of the ACIP COVID-19 Vaccine Work Group, a panel that will help inform the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determine how a COVID-19 vaccine will be deployed.
Students applying to UW-Madison this fall will not need ACT or SAT score
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has joined all other UW colleges in waiving its test score requirements for fall 2021 admission as students nationwide struggle to access the ACT and SAT during the pandemic.
UW-Madison journalism student featured on Today show
Gracie Lund made her first Today show debut when she was just a child. She is now working remotely as an intern for the show.
UW-Madison students concerned about university’s reopening plan
A new survey, conducted by the United Faculty and Academic Staff and the Teaching Assistants Association, shows 86.4 percent of UW-Madison workers are uncomfortable with the university’s reopening plan. Most responses came from graduate student workers and faculty, but some undergraduate students feel the same