As diversity, equity and inclusion programs face increasing scrutiny and cuts across campuses nationwide, students at the University of Wisconsin are confronting a growing sense of uncertainty — not just about resources or representation, but about their mental health and sense of belonging in a predominantly white institution.
University of Wisconsin System President Jay Rothman continued to push for an increase in state funding, defending the system’s 2025-27 biennial budget request at a committee hearing Thursday while impending federal funding cuts cast a long shadow over higher education in Wisconsin.
In a column published in the Wisconsin State Journal, Mnookin addressed the recent visa terminations of UW-Madison students and alumni. As of Tuesday, the university is aware of the termination of 27 total records, which includes 15 current students and 12 alumni.
UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin discussed the many issues facing the university, including concerns over federal investigations, funding cuts, and international student visa revocations, as well as the 2025 state budget cycle.
Dr. Kathy Cramer, a political science professor at UW-Madison, told the Cardinal institutions like UW-Madison have become more strict with pushing back on student activism in recent years.
“I think it’s part of a broader public trend where there’s just so much less trust in political institutions and institutions across the board,” Cramer said. “I think students feel that, too.”
Anthony Gitter, a computational biologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, had a grant about using deep learning for protein modelling flagged by the Cruz report. It contained a single sentence about offering summer research opportunities to underrepresented minorities as part of the broader impact statement. The Cruz report “plays into the narrative that universities are these elitist places that harbour out-of-touch academics that are no longer doing science,” he says. “But it’s out of touch with the data.”
UW-Madison officials’ sense of relief Thursday was almost palpable at the official groundbreaking for the new engineering building.
Universities of Wisconsin students will pay a couple of hundred dollars more, on average, to live, eat and use campus services and activities next year.
Northland College’s board has hired an appraiser as it seeks to sell the Ashland campus and other real estate once the college closes this spring.
More than 250 people gathered on campus to rally against the Trump administration and demand action from UW-Madison higher-ups. The local unions representing university faculty, academic staff, and graduate students organized the demonstration, joining countless others today across the country as part of the National Day of Action for Higher Ed.
Federal funding cuts and national culture war politics cast a long shadow over a state legislative committee hearing Thursday as Wisconsin’s higher education leaders asked lawmakers for additional investments in the next state budget — warning that disinvestment by the state could damage public universities’, private nonprofit schools’ and technical colleges’ ability to serve students and the state.
Over 100 faculty members, teaching assistants and activists rallied Thursday on Library Mall to oppose the Trump administration’s attacks on higher education, demanding the University of Wisconsin-Madison provide support for international students facing visa terminations and join other Big Ten universities to pool money for a shared defense fund.
Campus leaders and Gov. Tony Evers broke ground Thursday on a new engineering building at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, after long delays and a protracted political funding battle.
A panel of University of Wisconsin-Madison professors and academic experts discussed the significant challenges facing higher education Wednesday in the wake of the Trump administration’s sweeping budget cuts, emphasizing the critical role of federal funding in public health and scientific advancements.
With the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs under fire and its chief diversity officer position vacant, the university has created a new position: special advisor to the chancellor and provost.
There have been at least 58 visa terminations at Wisconsin colleges and universities as of April 17. The terminations include current students as well as alumni who were legally working on their student visas after graduation through a program called Optional Practical Training.
Officials at UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee said they did not believe the terminations at their schools were related to free speech or protests. Some other students nationally have been targeted for their participation in pro-Palestinian protests last year.
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the cancellation of a 21-year-old University of Wisconsin-Madison undergraduate student’s visa and any actions in relation to that by the Trump administration.
Recent visa terminations are making international students in Wisconsin worry about their future, and take precautions like removing social media and not participating pro-Palestinian organizing.
When former University of Wisconsin-Madison director of tribal relations Aaron Bird Bear was hired in 2003, he was shocked at the lack of representation and resources for Native American students. He saw Native American students’ need for support.
The Universities of Wisconsin is set to pay a consulting firm $395,000 after a diversity leader at the system’s flagship campus was demoted over financial concerns.
The 18 universities part of the Big 10 academic alliance include the University of Illinois, Indiana University, University of Iowa, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, University of Oregon, Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, University of California Los Angeles, University of Southern California, University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The confession hung in the air between us, startling in its honesty. My sister—a college senior at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and one of the most hard-working people I know—wasn’t joking. We were sitting at the kitchen table late one night, sipping tea, when she said it. She stared into her mug. “AI is replacing my critical thinking skills,” she admitted quietly. “I know it’s not ideal, but it’s so tempting.”
A federal judge has barred the Trump administration from deporting a UW-Madison international student whose student visa was canceled April 4 just weeks before he was set to graduate.
Liz Haynes, an biologist in the Department of Cell and Regenerative Biology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, also got a tattoo to mark a pivotal moment in her scientific career. The image, of the plant she studied in her undergraduate laboratory, serves as a reminder of the positive experience and the lessons she learnt from her mentor at the time.
“One of the things that I took away was that I really wanted to be that for someone in the future, help show them the pathway on this career, help guide them into grad school, influence them positively and really give them a home in the lab,” she explains.
At Wisconsin Sea Grant, the program’s director Christy Remucal said NOAA funding is the largest source of revenue for the program that’s operated for 57 years on state and federal support. Federal funding makes up 32 percent of the program’s funding, or $2.4 million. Wisconsin Sea Grant and its 30 staff support conservation of Great Lakes resources and communities through research, education and outreach.
“We have staff that are working directly with communities and really making a difference on so many different things whether it’s flooding or clean marinas or invasive species,” Remucal said.
A federal judge barred the government from taking any action against a University of Wisconsin-Madison engineering student from India, delivering a temporary blow to the Trump administration’s sweeping campaign to revoke international student visas.
A federal judge has put a hold on immigration officials’ move to deport an international student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
On Tuesday, a federal judge in Wisconsin issued a similar order, ruling the government could not take steps to detain or revoke the visa of a University of Wisconsin-Madison gradate student.
A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily halted the removal of a University of Wisconsin-Madison student from India whose visa was terminated from the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVIS) database.
Co-authored by James H. Stein, MD and Robert Turell Professor of Cardiovascular Research at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and Chad Alan Goldberg, PhD and the Martindale-Bascom Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Pioneering doesn’t always come with a lot of flash.
In a darkened auditorium on the UW-Madison engineering campus Friday, a bright green laser beam shone over a model airplane wing.
Nearly a hundred students and community members protested the federal government’s termination of University of Wisconsin-Madison student visas and alumni visa employment extensions in a protest on Library Mall Saturday, urging the university to do more to protect its students.
At an April 1 hearing, in a sign of what the most contentious issues will be in this year’s state budget, the Republican-controlled budget committee only heard from two state agencies: Corrections and the Universities of Wisconsin system.
International students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison say many of them are still trying to figure out why their visas are being terminated by the government and how to protect themselves.
The University of Wisconsin will implement fiscal controls for the remainder of the 2025 fiscal year including hiring reviews, reductions in non-essential spending and the development of 5% and 10% budget reduction scenarios for fund 101 — a fund dedicated to state tax, federal indirect cost and tuition allocation.
Republican-ordered audits released Friday found that Wisconsin state agencies and the University of Wisconsin system have failed to track the millions of dollars they spent on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, making it difficult to fully assess the initiatives.
A highly anticipated state audit found University of Wisconsin System campuses do not track how much they spend on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, or whether the millions spent on these initiatives pay off.
Wisconsin is home to one of the best college towns in the U.S., according to a recent report from RentCafe.
State agencies and the University of Wisconsin System failed to adequately track millions of dollars spent on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, according to audits released Friday, fueling ongoing Republican efforts to dismantle such programs.
The University of Wisconsin system and several state agencies failed to specifically track spending on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, Wisconsin’s Legislative Audit Bureau (WLAB) recently revealed.
At least 40 student visas have been revoked at schools within the University of Wisconsin school system, with more than two dozen from UW-Madison alone.
A spokesperson from UW-Madison wrote, “As of April 9, UW-Madison is aware of the automatic sevis termination of 26 total records. This includes 15 current students and 11 recent alumni on employment authorization … A sevis record termination generally means that a nonimmigrant individual no longer holds lawful nonimmigrant status and should depart the U.S. immediately.”
At least 40 student visas across the UW System have been terminated as of April 10, according to university officials. The number has doubled since April 7.
The number of University of Wisconsin students whose visas were canceled by the Trump administration has risen.
According to a spokesperson for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as of April 9 a total of 26 students have now had their visas revoked. Fifteen current students and 11 recent alumni on employment authorization were impacted.
More than $12 million in research grants destined for the University of Wisconsin-Madison have been cut by President Donald Trump’s administration, according to a lawsuit filed by Wisconsin and 15 other states. Democratic state Attorney General Josh Kaul says the administration is “sabotaging medical and public health research.”
Between cuts to research funding and crackdowns on students participating in campus demonstrations, some international students at University of Wisconsin-Madison plan to find education elsewhere.
University of Wisconsin-Madison engineering students are inviting the public to learn more about the field at the upcoming Engineering EXPO 2025.
As the number of international students facing visa terminations swells this week, student leaders at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are growing more concerned.
At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a student one month away from graduating seemingly had her visa revoked for a previous traffic violation. In Florida, a student from Colombia was taken into custody by immigration agents after he was stopped by Gainesville police with an expired registration and driver’s license. He signed his self-deportation and returned home.
Michael Wagner, who leads the Center for Communication and Civic Renewal at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said that universities could make a greater effort to get the work of misinformation researchers into the public’s hands.
Universities must do “a more aggressive job of promoting the work, even when it highlights partisan asymmetries, even when it highlights other kinds of things that might leave universities open to attack from those who don’t like the fact that universities exist,” said Wagner, who noted that his center has been subpoenaed by Congress. “[That] is something they need to do a better job of, to help the researchers who are trying to do this stuff get their work out there to folks so that they can engage with it and decide how they want to incorporate that information into how they live their lives.”
The recent visa record terminations of six University of Wisconsin students and seven alumni have caused concerns regarding international students.
The Wisconsin Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union Senior Staff Attorney Tim Muth says it is unclear what allowed the federal government to terminate these visas.
UW-Madison has found 13 more international student visas canceled by President Donald Trump’s administration, bringing the total number up to 40 announced across the Universities of Wisconsin this week.
The University of Wisconsin student organization VOCES, Voices of Courage, held a “Know Your Rights” panel for professors and students Tuesday. The panel focused on how to navigate potential U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement situations on campus.
In March 2025, the University of Wisconsin announced that over the summer it would work to move individuals who work in human resources, finance and research administration out of their individual departments. These individuals will be moved into new administrative regional teams which will serve all units within the College of Letters & Science, according to The Cap Times.
The University of Wisconsin’s School of Education graduate program has been ranked No. 1 for the second year in a row, according to the U.S. News & World Report.
The University of Wisconsin Office of Human Resources (OHR) will no longer host gatherings and events intended to aid retention of people of color on staff and faculty through community building, according to an email obtained by Madison365.
This is especially challenging when “there are a number of cases around the country which people are being deported who profess to have no idea why,” Howard Schweber said.
Schweber, a constitutional law expert and professor emeritus from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said, “The Trump administration is using laws in ways they’ve never been used before, for purposes which they’ve never been used before.”
The Trump administration is revoking visas for international university and college students across the country. Now, some international students at the Universities of Wisconsin have gotten their visas revoked.
There are now more than two dozen current and former University of Wisconsin students on the list of students who’ve seen their visas revoked by President Donald Trump’s Administration.
Over a dozen current and former international students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have had their visas revoked by the Trump administration.
Members of the UW-Madison community gathered Wednesday morning in Washington, D.C. ahead of their lobbying day on Capitol Hill.
“The reality is we’re certainly facing some interesting, challenging times here at the federal level,” said Craig Thompson, vice chancellor of university relations at UW-Madison. “There’s obviously potential cuts to research and other programs, and there’s just a great deal of uncertainty on campus.”
