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Category: Higher Education/System

Budget deal gives some lawmakers heartburn. Tony Evers, GOP leaders say that’s what compromise looks like

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The budget deal includes $14 million in municipal service payments — payments from the state for police, fire and waste removal services provided to state facilities by local governments — a significant chunk of which will go to the City of Madison. It also includes $194 million for projects at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which is in Roys’ district.

Gov. Evers, legislative leaders reach budget deal that includes funding increases for UW System, child care

WKOW - Channel 27

Gov. Tony Evers, Assembly Republicans, Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats say they’ve reached a bipartisan deal on the next state budget.

The announcement comes just hours before the legislative committee that writes the state budget is set to vote on funding for a slew of government agencies.

Gov. Evers, legislative leaders reach budget deal that includes funding increases for UW System, child care

WKOW - Channel 27

Gov. Tony Evers, Assembly Republicans, Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats say they’ve reached a bipartisan deal on the next state budget.

The announcement comes just hours before the legislative committee that writes the state budget is set to vote on funding for a slew of government agencies.

Negotiations change in final year of Wisconsin’s agreement with Under Armour

Wisconsin State Journal

The final year of the 10-year contract between the University of Wisconsin and Under Armour, which started Tuesday, is set to deliver $4 million in rights fees to the school and $3.05 million worth of products to outfit Badgers teams.

Whether the partnership will still be in place a year from now and under what terms are issues that’ll be resolved in the coming months.

Gov. Tony Evers and legislative leaders reach bipartisan deal on budget after months of negotiations

Wisconsin Examiner

Gov. Tony Evers and Republican and Democratic legislative leaders have reached a tentative agreement on the 2025-27 state budget, agreeing to invest hundreds of millions in the University of Wisconsin system, to create new grant and payment programs for child care facilities, further boost investment in special education and cut $1.3 billion in taxes.

Wisconsin’s Democratic governor reaches budget deal with Republicans to cut taxes, fund university

Associated Press

Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republicans who control the state Legislature announced a deal Tuesday on a new two-year budget that cuts income taxes, increases funding for the Universities of Wisconsin despite a threatened cut and raises fees to pay for transportation projects.

Aging Studies comes to UW-Madison; alcohol-related liver disease deaths increasing; The Weather Guys return

Wisconsin Public Radio

We talk about why UW-Madison will offer an Aging Studies Certificate starting this fall. Then, we’ll talk about the worrisome increase in U.S. deaths from alcohol-related liver disease. Then, the Weather Guys return after another widespread heat wave.

Here’s a sample of the common readers colleges are assigning this year

Forbes

Duke University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison are both assigning “James” by Percival Everett as their common reader. The novel is a fiercely satiric and darkly funny reimagining of Mark Twain’s American classic, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” told from Jim’s point of view. It won both the National Book Award for 2024 and the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

New UW-Madison class trains doctors on Latino cultural competency

The Cap Times

The number of Latinos affected by dementia nationwide is expected to rise nine-fold over the next 30 years, according to Dr. Mora Pinzon, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

And to meet this growing need, UW-Madison’s medical school is launching a new course to better train future doctors in culturally competent care. With around 660 students total currently enrolled, the school plays a significant role in training doctors in the state.

UW-Madison employees urge considering their voices amid budget cuts

The Cap Times

Like other universities across the country, the University of Wisconsin-Madison isn’t immune to growing financial pressures from federal funding cuts, changes and delays.

Over half of the 18 universities in the Big Ten have announced some kind of belt-tightening measures in recent months, as President Donald Trump’s administration has altered or slashed federal funding for research and higher education.

Wisconsin state budget breakthrough yields gains for UW system, special education

Wisconsin State Journal

Gov. Tony Evers and Republican leaders in the Legislature have reached a budget agreement that could give the Universities of Wisconsin its biggest boost in two decades, increase how much the state reimburses school districts for special education and continue subsidies for the state’s child care industry.

Under the deal, the UW system will get $256 million in new state aid that must be allocated under two new formulas that prioritize stabilizing campuses with declining enrollment and rewarding campuses for the number of credit hours that students complete.

Some Wisconsin men’s basketball season ticket prices jumping 46% over next two seasons

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

As the University of Wisconsin athletic department continues to seek additional revenue streams, it was only a matter of time before it looked at its season ticket prices for men’s basketball.

On June 30, UW started its ticket campaign for the upcoming season. In the process, the athletic department announced a two-year plan to raise ticket prices for 65% of its season ticket locations. The increases will be rolled out for the 2025-26 and 26-27 seasons.

For one night, international soccer game in Madison helped fans forget immigration anxiety

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Diego Adame just finished his freshman year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He’s from Monterey, so he and his dad were excited to attend the match, both wearing Tigres jerseys and calling out to players they knew.

Recently, the Trump administration tried to revoke the student visas of at least 27 Wisconsin students. Adame said his visa remained valid and he tries not to worry about what could happen.

“I just put the work in with studying and that’s about it,” Adame said. “Just stay focused on the grades.”

 

Legislature blows past budget deadline despite late-night negotiations with Gov. Tony Evers

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

In the end, at around 10:30 p.m., the committee began its meeting but scrapped votes on the most controversial areas of the budget, like the University of Wisconsin System, Medicaid funding, and whether to close the Green Bay Correctional Institution. Those areas are scheduled to be taken up Tuesday, July 1 — a day before the full Legislature is set to vote on the new budget bill.

The UW system is losing rural students’ interest. This pilot program aims to reverse course

Wisconsin State Journal

As part of a pilot program called Wisconsin Rural Scholars, high school students from seven small and rural high schools around the state spent a week at UW-Madison in mid-June aimed at introducing them to the college environment. The program is funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant and was free for students to attend.

Here’s how a $200,000 USDA grant aims to boost central Wisconsin farmers’ markets

Stevens Point Journal

The grant-funded research will also send University of Wisconsin students to farmers’ markets in Marathon, Portage, Wood, Waupaca and Adams counties this summer through summer 2027 to collect data on things like where are people visiting from, how much money do they intend to spend at the market and other area businesses, and what they love about farmers’ markets, Haack said.

 

Henry Vilas Zoo is finally naming its 20 flamingos. Why now?

The Cap Times

Henry Vilas has a pair of brother badgers named after former University of Wisconsin-Madison basketball players Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker. The stars even visited the zoo to meet their namesakes.

“Ten years later, there are still many Madison people who visit them and recognize the names on the sign. And isn’t that cool — that it’s a badger, and they have Badger basketball names?” Peterson said.

Has a Canadian journalist found bombing fugitive Leo Burt?

Madison Magazine

The bombing, an act of protest against U. S. involvement in the Vietnam War, killed a young researcher, Robert Fassnacht, and injured several others. Three of the four bombing suspects — Karl Armstrong, Dwight Armstrong, and David Fine — were captured and served prison sentences long ago.

Burt, however, has remained at large.

Statistics don’t support UW-Milwaukee shuttering materials engineering program

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Materials engineering programs typically have dozens of students, not hundreds.  To put this into perspective, however, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts an average of just 10 job openings per year for neurologists in Wisconsin. Hopefully, no one would suggest that UW-Madison should stop training neurology residents, since most of us recognize that medical specialists are essential to the kind of society we want to have.

University Research Park and Forward BIOLABS Partner to Power Madison’s Science and Tech Startups

Madison Magazine

Partnering with Forward BIOLABS — one of the many tenants that call the research park home — URP helped create a new shared coworking lab incubator in Madison. Forward BIOLABS offers turn-key life science labs, fully equipped, maintained and supported with networking, training and other growth services aimed at startups.

“With millions of dollars of shared lab equipment, Forward BIOLABS is an ideal place to get started,” said Aaron Olver, managing director of the University Research Park. “And MERLIN Mentors creates customized volunteer mentor teams to help companies achieve liftoff.”

Madison’s residency programs support creativity across disciplines

Madison Magazine

At the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Department hosts an elder-in-residence for a week each semester. Writers-in-residence at the Illuminating Discovery Hub, housed within UW–Madison’s Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, can craft anything from play scripts to music with the Institute’s support — so long as the work features or portrays science in some way.

Artists who don’t fit the bill there can consider two options at UW–Madison’s Division of the Arts: the Interdisciplinary Arts Residency Program or the International Visiting Artist Program.

Republicans set to restart work on state budget after breakdown in talks

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The state Legislature’s finance committee is scheduled on Friday, June 27, to take votes on the 18 remaining areas of the budget that have yet to be written.

The expected work comes after the committee canceled a planned set of votes on key areas, including funding for the University of Wisconsin System, amid an impasse that materialized between the two Republican caucuses and Evers.

Facing ICE detention, former UW-Milwaukee professor from China skips his sentencing hearing

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A foreign-born former University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professor who pleaded guilty to defrauding students didn’t appear for his June 12 sentencing hearing, which was a few months after federal immigration agents appeared at one of his hearings, according to federal court records.

Yue Liu, also known as Troy Liu, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and unlawful monetary transaction in 2022 after a university investigation found he netted nearly $1.2 million by swindling students.

University of Wisconsin provides nearly $136K to student sex group that gives ethical porn programming

Fox News

The University of Wisconsin–Madison has reportedly approved doling out $136,000 to fund a group that provides sexual programming, including a 90-minute “Ethical Porn” session for students.

The approved budget for the FY 2026 budget says that the Sex Out Loud club, billed as a “peer to peer sexual health resource,” requested $136,475 for 2025–2026 and was approved to receive $135,706.5

Marquette poll: Majority of voters say Tony Evers shouldn’t run for third term as governor

Wisconsin Public Radio

The Marquette survey also found most respondents favor keeping funding for state universities flat or reducing it. Among all registered voters, 49 percent said Universities of Wisconsin funding should be kept the same, 27 percent said it should be increased and 23 percent said funding should be reduced.

While the UW system requested an $855 million increase in state funding in its budget request, Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly have endorsed cutting it by $87 million over the next two years.

How a new Wisconsin coach sees his sport bringing value in changing college landscape

Wisconsin State Journal

Jack Brown is starting his first head coaching job at a time when those involved in Olympic sports are taking a closer look at their place in the NCAA ecosystem.

Brown, who’s less than a month into his role leading the combined men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams at the University of Wisconsin, understands that his sport doesn’t bring much revenue to the athletic department. The Badgers are scheduled to host only three meets in the 2025-26 season at the 1,200-seat Soderholm Family Aquatic Center.

Legal pot, special ed funds, no phones in schools: Here’s what purple Wisconsin agrees on

Wisconsin State Journal

And it appears any increase in state aid for Universities of Wisconsin campuses will be a hard sell. Across the board, 49% support keeping funding steady, with only a slight majority of Democrats favoring increasing state aid.

The UW system and Evers asked for an increase of $856 million for the next budget, but Republicans last week hinted they were considering an $87 million cut. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have said the other sides’ proposals are non-starters for them.

Former Wisconsin football player dies at 20 in South Dakota

Wisconsin State Journal

Former University of Wisconsin football player Nate White has died.

Details of White’s death have not yet been released. White’s death was confirmed to BadgerExtra by an official at South Dakota State, the program White transferred to in January. White was in Brookings, South Dakota, at the time of his death, the official confirmed.

Former Wisconsin Badgers player, Milwaukee Rufus King standout Nate White has died

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Nate White, former Wisconsin Badgers football player and Milwaukee Rufus King graduate, has died. He was 20 years old.

The UW athletic department announced the news in social media posts. Details of the circumstances of White’s death weren’t immediately available. His current program, South Dakota State University, told media outlets that he died in Brookings, South Dakota. No other information was immediately available.

Audit: UW System staffing, salaries increased as student population down 16K

The Center Square

The University of Wisconsin System has seen an increase of staff and salaries over the past 10 years while student enrollment has dropped by 16,000, according to an audit released by the chairs of the state audit committee.

Academic staff grew 33.4% with a 97.4% increase in salary costs over that time while limited appointees rose 39% with a 78.3% increase in salary costs.

Wisconsin scientists say research could suffer as funding uncertainty shrinks grad student enrollment

Wisconsin Public Radio

Earlier this year, the Trump administration had delayed grant review meetings at the National Institutes of Health and was calling for sweeping cuts to university research dollars. This left faculty scientists with limited funds to offer students.

Even though many of the review meetings are proceeding again, Wisconsin researchers said those delays have lingering effects. One of these is that fewer graduate trainees will be arriving on campus this fall.

Madison volunteers back international students amid Trump restrictions

The Cap Times

The University of Wisconsin-Madison enrolled almost 8,000 international students during its fall semester last year. As of January, about 925 international students were enrolled in Edgewood College’s graduate programs, primarily online, and around 20 were studying on campus as undergraduates. Around 200 international students are enrolled at Madison College, too.

Financial future of Universities of Wisconsin at stake in state budget negotiations

Wisconsin Public Radio

Advocates for higher education say it’s the wrong time for lawmakers to be considering a funding cut for Wisconsin’s university system.

Republicans in the state Assembly are floating the idea of slashing $87 million from the Universities of Wisconsin as part of the biennial budget. Last week, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told reporters that he supports the cut, citing concerns about “too much political correctness” within the university system.

UW-Madison and UWM order budget cuts amid state and federal uncertainty

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The University of Wisconsin-Madison and UW-Milwaukee are cutting costs over the next school year amid financial uncertainty at the federal and state level.

UW-Madison told schools and colleges to shave 5% of their 2026 budget. The administration and other units must trim 7%. Some exceptions may apply depending on a division’s financial circumstances.

UW-Madison announces cuts amid state budget and tariff uncertainties

WTMJ

Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin noted in a Monday message to UW–Madison faculty and staff that both the above issues factored into the base budget reductions of 5% that schools and colleges will be required to implement for next school year. Administrative and all other units that receive 101 funds will reduce their fund 101 base budgets by 7%.

UW–Madison faces 5% budget cuts amid federal funding uncertainty

WKOW - Channel 27

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is cutting its budget due to ongoing financial uncertainties stemming from changes to federal funding.

Schools and colleges will face a 5% base budget cut for fiscal year 2026, while administrative units will see a 7% reduction. These cuts are part of efforts to protect the university’s financial viability amid risks like potential federal funding changes and grant terminations.

Gov. Tony Evers says he won’t sign a state budget that doesn’t extend Child Care Counts payments

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

While the program was set to end in January 2024, Evers kept it afloat with emergency funding through June 2025.Evers has never vetoed the state budget in full, but he has threatened to do so in previous years over issues like funding cuts for the University of Wisconsin System.Evers said negotiations over  UW System funding levels this year are going in the “right direction” but didn’t reveal specifics, other than, “it’s a positive number.” Last week, Vos confirmed his caucus would support an $87 million cut.

Meet the ‘crunchy’ college students crusading against ultra-processed foods and forever chemicals on TikTok

New York Post

Sophie Pokela just graduated from the University of Wisconsin with an English degree — and a rigorous education in nutrition.

Pokela grew up thinking she was a healthy eater because she mostly chose foods packed with protein and fiber. It dawned on her a year into college that she didn’t actually know much about what she was consuming.