While universities attempt to mitigate money loss, students struggle with the idea of paying for Zoom University.
The Tuition Dilemma: students, universities grapple with budget cuts, increased tuition
Badger Herald
Category: Higher Education/System
UW-Madison chancellor orders all undergrads to restrict activities to stem increase in COVID cases
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Alarmed by a rise in coronavirus cases on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, Chancellor Rebecca Blank on Monday ordered all undergraduates to restrict their movements for the next two weeks.
‘An impossible question:’ This fall, how will colleges get students to act less like students?
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
As tens of thousands of Wisconsin students return to dorms and off-campus apartments this fall, universities have attempted to plan for just about everything.
UW- Platteville Chancellor says actions this weekend could put the semester in jeopardy
NBC-15
Chancellor Dennis Shields spoke in a video on YouTube saying the university is closely monitoring health concerns as it relates to COVID-19 with help from Grant County Health Department, the CDC and student health services.
Nearly 200 students ordered to quarantine at UW-Eau Claire after 69 students test positive for COVID-19
WEAU TV
The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire reports 69 students have tested positive for COVID-19 as of Sunday including 17 students who live on campus in residence halls and 52 students living off-campus. Classes began at the university on Wednesday.
UW System first-day enrollment for 2020 fall semester shows decrease of 1% compared to 2019
WISC-TV 3
In total, nearly 126,000 students enrolled at the universities that started on-campus instruction on Wednesday. UW System officials said the numbers are unofficial. Officials also said the numbers are fluid due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
UW-Whitewater chancellor under investigation, UW System won’t say why
WKOW-TV 27
As students traversed the UW-Whitewater campus Thursday during the second day of classes, most had their faces covered. What also remained under cover was the reason why the university’s chancellor has been placed on leave amid an investigation into his conduct.
Wisconsin universities report slight enrollment decline
Associated Press
The University of Wisconsin System on Thursday announced that fall enrollment appears to be only slightly down from last year, with nearly 126,000 students enrolled at the 10 universities that have begun on-campus classes.
UW-Whitewater chancellor put on paid leave because of unspecified complaint
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Whitewater Chancellor Dwight Watson is on paid leave pending an investigation into an unspecified complaint, according to the University of Wisconsin System.
UW-Whitewater chancellor placed on leave pending investigation into unspecified complaint
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Chancellor Dwight Watson was placed on paid administrative leave Thursday pending the outcome of an investigation into an unspecified complaint.
News 3 Now’s Chris Stanford sits down with UW System Interim President, former governor Tommy Thompson
WISC-TV 3
While Thompson has shared plans for how the UW System will handle students’ health and safety in the midst of a pandemic, he has yet to share insights on what would prompt UW schools to close down.
UW will have $10 million budget cuts, redistribute money to students
Badger Herald
The University of Wisconsin System announced Aug. 11 an untold number of employees would be laid off over the next two years resulting in a total of $10 million in budget cuts. Interim System President Tommy Thomson announced these cuts will reach across UW System Administration only.
Deborah Birx touts masks in Wisconsin as conservatives try to throw out the state’s mask mandate
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Noted: Birx was in Madison to talk to Wisconsin officials and health care representatives about COVID-19 as part of a tour of states. Among those she met with was Tommy Thompson, the University of Wisconsin System president whom she knows from his time as health and human services secretary under President George W. Bush.
“I think he has taken a very serious and public-health approach to this,” Birx said. “He has a plan for surveillance testing, he has a plan for surge testing … and I think equally importantly, he has a plan for caring for students who become positive.”
She suggested that could help UW avoid the problems of colleges that have seen clusters of cases once students arrived on campus.
Interim UW System President Tommy Thompson talks college campuses amid pandemic
WISC-TV 3
Wednesday is the first day of classes for University of Wisconsin campuses. UW-Madison has tested about 15% of its students and staff on campus for COVID-19.There have been 124 positive results, about the same number off campus.
UW System Begins In-Person Classes As Outbreaks Drive Other Major Universities Online
Wisconsin Public Radio
Tens of thousands of students started classes Wednesday at most University of Wisconsin System campuses, just months after concerns about COVID-19 led administrators to send them home to take courses online.
12 UW System professors: We condemn the shooting of Jacob Blake. Here’s how we can save more Black lives
The Capital Times
Column: Despite our challenges, the state of Wisconsin’s education system can play a role in addressing racist behavior and racial inequality in the state. However, Black faculty, administrators and students are woefully represented across the state often allowed to cycle through campuses.
Birx talks up masks; praises UW system’s coronavirus plan
Wisconsin State Journal
The coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, Dr. Deborah Birx talked up the value of masks during a visit on Monday to Wisconsin and praised the University of Wisconsin system’s plans for protecting students.
Tommy Thompson: Investing in UW System will renew the Wisconsin Idea
The Capital Times
Column from interim System President Tommy Thompson: If our great state is going to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic poised for growth, we will need to renew the Wisconsin Idea for the 21st century with a real investment in the University of Wisconsin System.
My college reopened. Now I’ve got COVID-19, along with nearly 500 other students.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
It’s been five months since the coronavirus pandemic shuttered college campuses across the country. Like thousands of other college students, I finished the spring semester on Zoom, attending classes and taking exams in my childhood bedroom in Madison.
RNC is a Trump family affair as convention frames president as empathetic to everyday people
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Noted: The experience of dairy farmers like Peterson, who also was appointed to the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker in 2018, is more complicated than the brief appearance at the convention might suggest.
Tommy Thompson, Tavern League, restaurant leaders appeal to campus businesses to take precautions
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The heads of the University of Wisconsin System, the Tavern League of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Restaurant Association sent an open letter to restaurant and bar owners Monday asking they take precautions to prevent COVID-19 spread as students start to return to campuses across the state.
UW System Interim President Tommy Thompson asked businesses to “help to encourage responsible behavior of our students,” alongside on-campus efforts to bring back a portion of some 170,000 students across 13 UW campuses.
UW System president, bar-and-restaurant groups ask Wisconsin businesses to ‘encourage responsible behavior’ amid fall return of 170,000 students
WISC-TV 3
In a letter to Tavern League of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Restaurant Association members, UW System President Tommy Thompson, Tavern League of Wisconsin Executive Director Pete Madland and Wisconsin Restaurant Association President Kristine Hillmer asked that bars and restaurants encourage student patrons to physically distance, wear masks and post signage that encourages the same.
Madison elected officials ask: Why bring UW-Madison students back when outbreak is inevitable?
Wisconsin State Journal
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
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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.
In address to UW regents, Thompson breaks down 3.5% budget increase plan
The Capital Times
Calling the process of building the 2021-23 biennial budget “one of the most significant actions” in the University of Wisconsin System’s history, interim President Tommy Thompson delivered a State of the University address Thursday that urged support for higher education and a reconsideration of System priorities.
UW Regents approve budget with tuition-forgiveness program
Associated Press
The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents on Thursday unanimously approved a state budget request that would increase spending by 3.5% in each of the next two years, create a new program to cover the tuition of lower-income families and borrow up to $1 billion to mitigate losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Students, families try to make decisions about coming back to college despite endless questions
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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.
Tommy Thompson seeks 3.5% UW System budget increase to expand Bucky’s Tuition Promise, fund other initiatives
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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.
Free Tuition Program For Lower-Income Students Would Expand Under UW System Proposal
Wisconsin Public Radio
A program that guarantees free tuition to lower-income students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison would be expanded to all UW System universities under a budget request unveiled Tuesday.
Study: UW-Madison is 32nd best school in the world
NBC-15
According to the study released by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy on Saturday, the UW-Madison came in at 32 out of the top 50 universities.
UW-Oshkosh removes name of Klan member from theater
Madison365
UW-Oshkosh Chancellor Andrew Leavitt announced Tuesday that the Frederic March Theatre would be renamed the Theatre Arts Center due to March’s membership in a fraternal organization called the Ku Klux Klan while a student at UW-Madison.
Thompson to request 3.5% budget increase for UW System in next biennium
The Capital Times
Interim University of Wisconsin System President Tommy Thompson will request a 3.5% operating budget increase for the 2021-23 biennium, alongside ten key initiatives to be presented to Gov. Tony Evers Thursday.
UW System wants to cover tuition for in-state students from families below median income
Wisconsin State Journal
The University of Wisconsin System wants nearly $100 million more in the next state budget to cushion COVID-19’s financial blow to campuses and cover tuition for Wisconsin students whose families earn less than $60,000 a year.
Millions of students are returning to US universities in a vast unplanned pandemic experiment
Nature
And for universities that opt to hold only virtual classes, revenue from dining halls, housing, gyms, parking and other facilities that charge fees will drop precipitously. University presidents have been projecting massive budget shortfalls: $96 million at Boston University in Massachusetts, $100 million at University of Wisconsin Madison, $120 million at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, $375 million at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
As Colleges Move Classes Online, Families Rebel Against the Cost
The New York Times
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?”
Coronavirus Testing, Kamala Harris, Summer Cocktails: Your Weekend Briefing
The New York Times
3. With campus life diminished, why pay for “glorified Skype?”That’s how one incoming freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison put it as he starts his fall semester remotely. With in-person learning put on hold for many, college students and their parents are demanding tuition rebates, increased aid and leaves of absence. Above, a deserted Northwestern University.
A Guide to Getting an Education Without Going to College
Vice
Whatever you decide is perfectly fine, but it will inform your approach in different ways! If you’re not sure: Despite its focus on online teaching, this guide to figuring out learning objectives from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is a clear and helpful way of identifying a purpose and direction for your studies, no matter what they are.
Pandemic resurgence forces universities to cancel rescheduled commencement ceremonies
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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.
Will the rapid saliva COVID-19 test approved by the FDA eventually allow all college athletes to compete in 2020-21?
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Noted: University of Wisconsin researchers have been testing volunteers this summer with a saliva test.
UW athletic director Barry Alvarez, speaking to reporters during a Zoom session last week, acknowledged the current inability to secure rapid test results played a role in the Big Ten’s decision to shut down fall sports in 2020.
UW schools navigate new, controversial Title IX changes
Wisconsin State Journal
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.
Here’s what we know and what we don’t about Wisconsin universities’ COVID-19 testing plans for fall
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Over the past two weeks, Wisconsin universities have revealed more information about their plans for COVID-19 testing.
Evers has about $300 million more in federal aid he can spend to fight COVID-19
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Noted: University of Wisconsin System: $32 million. Evers recently allocated these funds for additional testing and protective equipment so UW campuses can conduct some classes in person.
Wisconsin colleges’ fall plans hinge on testing thousands of students for COVID-19. Will it be enough to keep campuses open?
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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.
Coping with campus coronavirus: U.S. fraternities, sororities give it the old college try
Reuters
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.
How Universities Are Increasing The Utility Of The Humanities
Forbes
Noted: The School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison offered its first business-focused, business-led FIG last fall, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities granted in partnership with UW’s College of Letters and Science. The lead course, “The Sociology and History of American Marketing and Consumer Society,” was taught by Thomas O’Guinn, former chair of Wisconsin’s Department of Marketing, and the Thomas J. Falk Distinguished Chair in Business.
“The first-year interest group is designed to immerse students in marketing, sociology, and history, and most importantly, how they interact. Marketing, and the consumer culture it helped produce, isn’t just about some bag of commercial techniques; marketing was made by, and in turn made, the character of contemporary society. You can’t adequately teach our history without some deeper recognition and understanding of marketing. This class does that, and does it within a supportive, cross-disciplinary learning environment,” according to O’Guinn, who also told me that one of his inspirations for teaching the course was the formative experience he had as a University of Texas freshman in an integrative nine-credit course, “The American Experience.” “That course meant a lot to me, and I wanted to offer something similar to my students,” he said.
UW-Madison Chancellor: ‘We’re in a real financial crisis’
Associated Press
University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank delivered a sobering message Wednesday about the state’s flagship campus as the fall semester looms, saying “we’re in a real financial crisis” due to the coronavirus pandemic.
UW-Madison Chancellor Blank on comprehensive plan to restart [WTMJ Roundtable]
WTMJ
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 System will cut $10 million in two years, create new diversity scholarship
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The University of Wisconsin System will reduce central office spending by $10 million over the next two years in an effort to streamline administration and refocus resources on students, its leader announced Tuesday.
UW System Administration announces layoffs, other cuts as COVID-19 losses grow
Wisconsin State Journal
Bracing for more financial losses associated with COVID-19, the University of Wisconsin System announced on Tuesday a series of additional cost-cutting measures for its roughly 600 administrative employees, including some layoffs.
UW System administration announces layoffs, other cuts
WISC-TV 3
The layoffs Thompson announced Tuesday affect employees of UW System Administration only. The system’s 13 universities are making their own reductions that were necessary due to a loss in revenue and state-ordered cuts due to the coronavirus pandemic.
UW System announces $10 million in cuts, investment in underserved students
WKOW-TV 27
The University of Wisconsin System announced a series of cuts expected to save millions of dollars over the coming years.
Reports: Big Ten Expected To Cancel Fall Football Season
Wisconsin Public Radio
The Big Ten is likely to cancel fall sports, including football, over coronavirus concerns, according to several reports. A formal announcement is expected Tuesday.
College students who planned to be at the Democratic National Convention sidelined
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Noted: Lauren Yoder, vice-chair of the College Democrats chapter at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has more of a formal role with the convention, as a delegate.
Yoder, who is 19 and going into her second year at UW-Madison, said that before the pandemic hit “there was a lot of interest in volunteering … because we are in such close proximity to Milwaukee, being only an hour and a half away, we were definitely planning on getting people together … to bring together a lot of these young, progressive voices in one spot.”
UW-System prepared to test 350,000 students for COVID-19 during fall semester
WISC-TV 3
The UW-System says it is prepared to test up to 350,000 students for coronavirus during the fall semester, following the allocation of $32 million from the office of Gov. Tony Evers.
UW System to test more than 350,000 students for COVID-19
WKOW-TV 27
The University of Wisconsin System be testing hundreds of thousands of students during the fall 2020 semester, thanks to $32 million from the office of Gov. Tony Evers.
UW System to receive $32 million to help test students for COVID-19
NBC-15
The UW System and UW-Madison will receive another $32 million in CARES Act money to help the system test students when the school year begins.
UW System ordering more than 350,000 COVID-19 tests for fall semester
Wisconsin State Journal
Interim System President Tommy Thompson said on a media call with reporters Thursday those tests will be used to test students showing symptoms of COVID-19, and provide tests every other week for students living in residence halls. The System also will hire about 52 people to administer tests across UW campuses.
As part of effort to get campuses reopened, $32 million headed to UW System for COVID-19 testing, protection
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Gov. Tony Evers has allocated about $32 million to University of Wisconsin System schools for COVID-19 testing and protection — a significant savings from the original request — based on the availability of a rapid, less costly test.
UW approves narrower Title IX sexual assault rules to comply with new federal regulations
The Capital Times
The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents unanimously approved emergency rules Wednesday to comply with new federal regulations on sexual assault and harassment, which will be effective Aug. 14 pending the governor’s approval.
UW System to comply with new federal Title IX regulations
NBC-15
Additionally, the board ensured the continuation of federal funding of nearly $1 billion Wednesday.