Written by Sarah McKinnon, faculty director of Latin America, Caribbean, and Iberian studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and member of the Migration in the Americas Project.
This State Journal editorial ran on March 30, 1925.
Written by Devin Mehta, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying finance.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield will speak at the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison April 1 where she’ll share insights from her experience in foreign policy and how it applies to modeling respect and compromise in policy making. The event is free and open to the public.
Letter to the editor: As President Donald Trump tries to cut diversity, equity and inclusion programs, the UW-Madison DEI efforts serve up the perfect target for DEI critics.
Letter to the editor by Prof. Matthew Hora, Departments of Educational Policy Studies (School of Education) and Liberal Arts & Applied Studies (Division of Continuing Studies).
When one writes a weekly column for over 15 years, one notices patterns. The one I see today is at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I sense an atmosphere of caution — and deep sadness — more pronounced than at any time in my decades observing and writing about the state’s flagship university.
My confusion arises because the Legislature also required UW-Madison to create an endowed chair for a “conservative” professor. To me, that sounds exactly like DEI. Were Vos and colleagues requiring the university to potentially choose a less-qualified person as a professor because that person was “conservative”?
Co-authored by Paul Wilson, the Grainger Professor of Nuclear Engineering and the chair of the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s department of nuclear engineering and engineering physics, and Michael Corradinia, a former member of the U.S. Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, a former president of the American Nuclear Society and a professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Letter to the editor: It was interesting to read that our state GOP lawmakers are demanding that UW-Madison establish an endowed professorship focusing on conservative politics and thought.
Written by Mariel Barnes, an assistant professor with the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Written by Jonathan Patz, the Vilas Distinguished Professor & John P. Holton Chair of Health and the Environment at the Nelson Institute & Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Co-authroed by Susan S. Engeleiter Professor of Education Law, Policy and Practice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Letter to the editor: From disrupting the day-to-day work of UW-Madison researchers who are working to find cures for cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes, to harming the livelihoods of real people across Wisconsin and the country, these caps will affect all of us.
Some background: The city of Madison, specifically the University of Wisconsin, is a long-established hotbed for Peace Corps recruitment. The campus produced more volunteers than any other American university in 2023, and Dane County has a huge concentration of returned Peace Corps volunteers, second only to Washington, D.C. among U.S. cities. Since the Peace Corps was founded 64 years ago, UW-Madison has produced 2,766 volunteers, second-most nationally.
At the University of Wisconsin-Madison — the sixth largest research university in the country — this cap would translate into an annual loss of approximately $65 million in research funding. The nationwide impact is even more staggering, amounting to billions of dollars in cuts for institutions that rely on NIH grants to support their research infrastructure. The hardest hit area would be indirect costs, or Facilities and Administrative (F&A) costs, funds that cover essential expenses like laboratory equipment, research facilities and staff salaries.
Co-authored by Suzanne Eckes, the Susan S. Engeleiter Professor of Education Law, Policy and Practice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Written by Xueli Wang, the Barbara and Glenn Thompson Endowed Professor in Educational Leadership at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. With a focus on community colleges and postsecondary STEM education, her research examines educational practices, structures and policies that promote students’ holistic well-being and equitable access, experiences and outcomes.
Peter Rickman is the president of the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Organization now, but in 2011 he was a grad student and a member of the Teaching Assistants’ Association at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He remembers it was a Thursday when the governor “dropped the bomb”—which is what Walker himself called his bill dismantling unions. Rickman was in a meeting with other organizers at the time: “We all sort of looked around at one another and were like … this is our fight.” After all, teaching assistants were state employees, too.
It is beyond comprehension that any responsible American policymaker would take actions that might undermine — or even destroy — efforts that have already yielded tremendous progress for ailing Americans. And that have the potential, in relatively short order, to make historic breakthroughs in the fight against diseases and conditions that have caused immense pain, heartbreak and death.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is a key partner for USAID’s Feed the Future Innovation Lab, helping train agricultural researchers around the world and research new seeds. In the past decade, Feed the Future has reduced hunger and poverty by 20 to 25 percent in targeted areas, with over 6 million producers newly using better agricultural practices in 2023 alone.
Of course, these innovations not only support communities abroad, but can also be put to use right in UW-Madison’s backyard to make farmers more resilient to increasing hazards such as heatwaves and extreme precipitation.
American universities are spending far too much on consulting firms. Recent investigations reveal staggering numbers: $51 million at the University of Wisconsin, $4.7 million at the University of Florida, and similar seven- and eight-figure contracts across the nation.
These up-front losses generate much greater future value of nonmonetary as well as monetary kinds. Look at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Harvard University, et al. in Table 22 above. The sector spent nearly $28 billion of its own money generously subsidizing sponsors’ research, including by subsidizing the federal government itself.
Letter to the editor: I read in the Wisconsin State Journal about football player Nyzier Fourqurean, who had used up his eligibility. But because he had played for a Division II team earlier in his college career and was not paid, he petitioned a court to allow him one more year of eligibility.
Op-Ed by John Gross,a clinical associate professor of law at University of Wisconsin Law School and director of the Public Defender Project.
Column by UW-Madison student Devin Mehta: At a state school such as my own, the wide range of political beliefs, backgrounds and ideas creates wide-ranging discussions and open worldviews. DEI initiatives are valuable on campuses because they force constructive dialogue that challenges existing viewpoints.
Letter to the editor: The college football national championship recently concluded with Ohio State (oops, forgot the “The”) winning the championship.
Finding the best student organizations on campus begins with stepping outside of your comfort zone.
Letters to the editor: When I look around campus, the most pleasing views include the oldest buildings, or those with some stylistic consistency with their neighbors.
Letter to the editor: The proposal to detach UW-Madison from the other Universities of Wisconsin system campuses smacks of elitism.
The plan will offer direct admission to UW-Madison for students placing in the top 5% of their Wisconsin high schools.
Written by ostdoctoral Research Associate in Microbial Genomics and Systems Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dorm life is unforgettable, unfortunately so is rest of housing process for freshmen.
Despite losing 14 seats in the fall election, GOP legislators still feel empowered to hold the state’s largest economic engine hostage to the whims of its most petty members. Republicans on the state Building Commission ganged up on UW-Madison last week and threw another obstacle in the path of the long-awaited and already-approved new engineering building.
When UW leaders asked for $845 million, a fraction of the total amount cut from the UW budget under his watch, Assembly Speaker Vos said, “I just know that some of these numbers, where they ask for the moon, are unrealistic.”
When Vos graduated from UW-Whitewater in 1991, Wisconsin’s higher education appropriations per student were $11,028. In 2023 it was $9,277. So the “moon” was realistic when he personally benefited from taxpayer support, but is unrealistic when it is your turn to benefit?
UW scientists study how methamphetamine affects body, probe legal, medical, societal implications of drug.
I would be correctly described as a member of that committee with a partisan background. I did not, however, vote in “lockstep” with other members who might also be so categorized. Furthermore I would suggest many of the questions were more nuanced than the authors claimed. Additionally there were members of this committee (including some UW employees and past Regents ) who did not show, nor do I believe they have, strong partisan leanings. Instead their clearly expressed concern was for the future of the system. That was also my concern.
Written by Sarah Halpern-Meekin, director of UW-Madison’s Institute for Research on Poverty and a professor of public affairs with the La Follette School of Public Affairs and the Vaughn Bascom Professor of Women, Family, and Community in the School of Human Ecology.
This is no time to be downgrading one of the world’s most important systems of public universities. UW System President Jay Rothman, UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin, and Gov. Tony Evers have all publicly opposed this splitting off of UW Madison, a fugitive relic of the Walker years.
Everyone else should too.
Letter to the editor: According to Open Seat Food Pantry, a student organization at UW-Madison that seeks to address food insecurity, it is estimated that 12% of UW-Madison students are food insecure. The Office of Student Assistance and Support houses Badger FARE, a program that only provides $75 per academic year for those who meet the criteria. The school additionally provides frozen meals, but distributes them through churches, limiting its effectiveness.
On the flip side, John Lucey, a professor of food science and the director of the Center for Dairy Research at University of Wisconsin-Madison, told The Washington Post that drinking raw milk is “a really stupid, bad idea,” adding: “It’s almost like a doctor shouldn’t wash their hands before they go into an operating room.”
Letter to the editor: I am writing to argue that the issue of divestment raised by the protesters should be taken seriously by the board.
Letter to the editor: I am reaching out today from the standpoint of a concerned student at UW-Madison.
Having a city situated between two lakes has its advantages, but also its consequences. I’d like to express my concern and bring awareness to our area lakes, specifically their water quality.
Republicans have long urged government to run more like a business.
Well, the Universities of Wisconsin are doing just that, under the leadership of President Jay Rothman. The GOP-controlled Legislature should appreciate and reward his effort with greater funding in the state budget.
Why UW-Madison students, especially women, are instead choosing to walk home alone at night.
UW’s CS department is packed — there’s no doubt about it. The department has had to adjust to a meteoric rise in popularity among undergraduates, and yet, unlike many of their peers, they have not instituted a limited-access model.
Written by Theresa Delgadillo, a professor of English and director of the Chican@ and Latin@ Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and co-editor of Latinx Talk.
The Badgers are inconsistent and underperforming, does the problem run deeper than Luke Fickell?
UW-Madison would greatly benefit from a program similar to Carroll’s Wellness Advocate initiative. 43% of UW students were positive for significant symptoms of anxiety and depression, according to the university’s 2022 Healthy Minds survey.
Co-authored by Amber Wichowsky, an associate professor with the La Follette School of Public Affairs and holds the Leadership Wisconsin Endowed Chair for the Division of Extension at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Allison Keeley who is pursuing a master’s degree in international public affairs at the La Follette School.
Letter to the editor: This is a violation of freedom of speech and UW-Madison traditions. The university would not permit a history or chemistry professor or others to silence their students and not permit any discussions.
Written by Alfred McCoy, the J.R.W. Smail Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Put him to work — sorting clothes at the Dane County Free Clothing Center. Who knows? He might even find something to wear.
I am a co-president of my graduate student labor union, the Teaching Assistants’ Association. We represent Teaching Assistants (graduate workers who teach classes, grade papers, lead discussion sections) and Research Assistants (graduate workers who do research, often in a laboratory setting) and all other graduate workers.
Co-op programs offer early step into workforce, create hands-on opportunities for students in chosen fields.
Digitization of coursework, growth of artificial intelligence, changing norms create gap between how professors design courses, how students approach them.
Written by Susan Webb Yackee, a professor of public affairs and director of the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison.
It is difficult for me to imagine being prouder of my fellow UW students or more embarrassed by my university than I have been over the past six months.
Meta’s poor customer service, cost-cutting layoffs cause real harm to businesses, organizations depending on its platforms.
Patent law “march-in” rights: Some say the federal government should be allowed to appropriate products patented by universities and developed with private money if the underlying research received any federal funding and if the products are deemed unreasonably priced. In patent law-speak, that’s called “march-in” rights. It would be a major departure from the bipartisan 1980 Bayh-Dole Act, which was silent on what constitutes “reasonable” price and which has been credited with spurring innovation at major universities nationwide.
