Letter to the editor: It appears they are afraid they will not be able to manipulate her and continue to destroy the university, which has been their goal.
Category: Opinion
Robin Vos should look in the mirror to see what a ‘blatant partisan’ looks like
Vos this week urged the UW Board of Regents to reconsider its unanimous decision to hire Jennifer Mnookin as UW-Madison chancellor. Vos wants her gone before she even starts Aug. 4. Why is Vos rashly prejudging Mnookin, the dean of UCLA’s law school whom he’s never met?
Tim Higgins: Hedge funds help UW students, research, pensions, nonprofits
Column from former Regent Higgins.
Michael Gableman’s vendetta over Wisconsin’s 2020 election must end – before he wreaks havoc the next one
Co-authored by Barry C. Burden, a professor of political science and director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Free speech survey plays into GOP hands
Column by David Vanness, a professor of health policy and administration at Penn State University and UW-Madison faculty member from 2003 to 2018.
Letter to the Editor: UW must take steps to restore composting program
UW’s successful composting program was abruptly halted in 2021 but relaunching program remains possible.
UW System’s treatment of free speech survey indicates hesitancy toward open learning environments
UW-Whitewater interim president Jim Henderson resigns over proposed free speech survey, but UW System must consider implications of delaying survey.
Letter to the Editor: It’s time to say goodbye to international student fees
The fees are difficult for international students to afford and prevent top academic talent from attending UW.
The Badger Herald Editorial Board: Six issues our next chancellor can’t afford to ignore
As UW prepares to welcome a new chancellor, The Badger Herald Editorial Board outlines key concerns UW’s next leader must address to succeed in the job.
Opinion: Ending access to legal abortion has potentially deadly health consequences for Wisconsin women
Co-authored by Jenny Higgins, PhD, MPH, a professor of gender and women’s studies and obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health.
UW doesn’t need free speech survey — Laurence Schiffman
Letter to the editor: After reading the proposed questions, I am convinced that UW System is more concerned with student attitudes than with educated opinions. The faculty should be able to generate a clear policy of tolerance that includes the concepts embodied in the First Amendment. There should be consequences if it is not followed.
Yes to endorsement deals, pay for grades, NCAA enforcement
Star athletes at UW-Madison are finally getting a piece of the enormous revenue surrounding Badgers sports, especially men’s basketball and football. That’s only fair. Other players with lower profiles deserve greater financial incentives, too. We love the idea, floated by the chancellor earlier this month, of offering student athletes cash awards for good grades. That will help continue Wisconsin’s strong reputation for graduating most of its players in all of its sports.
Institutionalized Islamophobia: UW fails to recognize Ramadan
My teachers asking me what Ramadan means is institutionalized Islamophobia. My classmates not knowing what Ramadan is institutionalized Islamophobia. My research lab not accommodating me is institutionalized Islamophobia.
Americans see Afghan and Ukrainian refugees very differently. Why?
Co-authored by Adeline Lo, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She researches factors that motivate or mitigate conflict between groups and designs statistical tools for prediction and measurement.
UW shouldn’t fear free speech survey
Professor Tim Shiell’s free speech survey appears straight-forward and worthy. It shouldn’t trigger outrage, much less an interim chancellor’s resignation.
Opinion: Cooperation between U.S. public and private sectors will be critical in the years ahead
Noted: Tana Johnson is a faculty member in the La Follette School of Public Affairs and the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Jamelle Bouie critiques liberals in college towns like Madison
He will speak at the Monona Terrace Convention Center on May 4 as part of a program by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs.
Opinion | Good riddance, Joe Sanfelippo
“Ernie,” as we reporters used to call him back then, was one of several GOP legislators convinced that the University of Wisconsin was being overrun by hoodlums and communists, and they demanded that UW administrators purge the school of these subversives who were railing against the Vietnam War and the direction of the country.
Opinion | Let’s make the tax system reflect our values
As we discuss questions of tax burden in Wisconsin, the Biden administration’s so-called billionaire income tax plan, or IRS reforms and funding levels, we need to view our tax system as a statement of our community’s values.
Sarah Halpern-Meekin is an associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies in the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is a member of the Scholars Strategy Network.
Opinion | Lincoln was right on ‘originalism,’ and so was Judge Jackson
But more importantly, as a law student in l969, I was taught some of the fundamental principles of statutory construction by one of the preeminent, national law professors of the 20th century, Professor J. Willard Hurst, then teaching at the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Senate republicans politicize Wisconsin higher ed by withholding confirmations of Board of Regents appointees
The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents finds itself at a standstill as a dozen of Governor Evers’ appointees to Wisconsin’s higher education management systems remains unconfirmed in the state Senate. This includes five picks for the state technical college system board and seven for the UW Board of Regents.
‘De-Ukrainization’ is genocide — Biden was right to sound the alarm
The international community must affirm that there are universal values. It must support Ukraine and call out Putin’s lies. It must act to prevent the destruction of the Ukrainian nation.
Francine Hirsch is a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of “Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg.”
UW free speech survey is flawed — Donna Silver
Letter to the editor: The proposed University of Wisconsin System free speech survey, which has already caused a UW-Whitewater administrator to resign, will likely be asking the wrong questions. Do we really want absolute free speech in the classroom?
Recent grant for UW Health highlights need for mental health support in medicine
$5.5 million grant will support integrative holistic medicine, paving way for more dynamic patient experience.
Letter to the Editor: Lack of UW campus diversity is hurting student potential
UW, while representing many minorities, is not representing them enough. The Badger undergraduate population is almost 68% white, followed by 9.4% international, 7.8% Asian, and minuscule numbers of Hispanic, Black and African-American students.
Despite challenges, America is prospering
Column by Mark Copelovitch, a professor in the UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs and Department of Political Science.
The CDC is beholden to corporations and lost our trust. We need to start our own
Josh Garoon, PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Letter to the Editor: UW must pay student employees living wage
Recent increases in Consumer Price Index make already low student wages impractical.
How the Soviet Union Helped Establish the Crime of Aggressive War
Diplomats and lawyers have been talking in recent days about convening an international tribunal on the Nuremberg model or something akin to it to try Russian President Vladimir Putin and those in his inner circle for waging a war of aggression against Ukraine. And rightly so.
Reading Russian Media Between the Lines: On Kommersant’s “Nuremberg” Photo
Francine Hirsch s Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is the author, most recently, of Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg: A New History of the International Military Tribunal after World War II (Oxford, 2020).
The Russian newspaper Kommersant quietly engaged in an act of resistance on Wednesday. The newspaper ran an interview with the director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Naryshkin, spouting all the usual propaganda. But on Twitter, alongside a link to the article, it ran a photo of Naryshkin with the word “Nuremberg” in the background.
UW ignores equity in move to demolish Zoe Bayliss Co-op
New humanities building will replace women’s housing option designed for inclusion, affordability.
Tommy Thompson: Stop apologizing, start bragging about UW System
When I left my parents’ farm in Elroy to attend UW-Madison, we were so poor that I carried my belongings in a paper bag instead of a suitcase. I went on to earn a law degree, serve in the Legislature, get elected to four terms as governor, lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as its secretary, and become president of the University of Wisconsin System.
Putin’s Revised Foreign Agent Law Could Enable Mass Repression
In the past two weeks, it has become increasingly dangerous for Russian citizens to participate in anti-war demonstrations, to express opposition to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, or to share true information about the military campaign. The Russian State Duma has introduced legislation that threatens fines, forced military conscription and prison sentences for speaking the truth.
Francine Hirsch is Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg: A New History of the International Military Tribunal After World War II (Oxford University Press, 2020).
UW driving up housing prices
Letter to the editor: Students at the university, armed with either wealthy out-of-state parents or endless supplies of student loans, have driven housing prices in Madison to the breaking point.
Now is wrong time to end UW mandate — Emma Schmeling
Letter to the editor: As a second-year undergraduate, I have never experienced college without masks. I am just as excited as anyone that the mask mandate is coming to a close. But I can’t be the only one who feels the timing of it all makes no sense.
How the Soviet Union Helped Establish the Crime of Aggressive War
Diplomats and lawyers have been talking in recent days about convening an international tribunal on the Nuremberg model or something akin to it to try Russian President Vladimir Putin and those in his inner circle for waging a war of aggression against Ukraine. And rightly so.
-By Francine Hirsch
UW students could use a snow day — Natalie Unger
Letter to the editor: More than just safety (which is still important), college students have had a tumultuous two years amid the pandemic and could use the relief of a snow day when conditions are snowy and icy. Snow days provide momentary freedom from responsibilities and allow for some well-deserved free time. We have rarely had days off (and got no spring break last year).
Why we seem mired in a time of ‘toddler meltdown behavior’
Six months into the pandemic, Christine Whelan sensed something was different. “I was noticing this odd thing, that more and more cars had taken their mufflers off, and there were more and more people gunning their engines really loudly, making a bunch of racket on the road,” said Whelan, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and expert in human behavior and cultural trends. “I couldn’t understand why I was only now hearing this, and I had this sense in the back of my mind that this had something to do with the pandemic, and with a sense of anger at the political world around us and a sense of disenfranchisement.”
Senate bills seek to push conservative agenda in higher education under ‘free speech’ guise
Republican legislation package politicizes free speech in UW System by pushing conservative agenda in education.
Richard Keller: Memorializing Death in an Age of Mass Mortality
How do we remember death when it constitutes our landscape? In an age of ubiquitous mortality—not only pandemic deaths, but also deaths from meteorological disasters, deaths of migrants seeking refuge from their war-torn homes, and the more banal declines in life expectancy in broad swaths of the United States—what kinds of death do we memorialize, and what kinds do we disappear, either actively or through habituation or an atrophy of memory?
How media changes eroded political civility in Wisconsin
The new book “Battleground” is a deeply academic dive into how Wisconsin became such an unwelcoming place for civil discourse during the past dozen years … “The decay of the traditional political communication ecology in our state has accelerated over the past decade,” said Lewis Friedland, an emeritus journalism professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and one of six co-authors, all professors. Besides Friedland, the authors are Dhavan Shah and Michael Wagner, who teach journalism at UW, Katherine Cramer and Jon Pevehouse, both UW political science professors, and Chris Wells, a former UW journalism professor now at Boston University.
A new COVID study that examined Wisconsin, Seattle, and San Francisco could help predict where caseloads are likely to be the highest
Noted: Brian Levy is an assistant professor of sociology at George Mason University. Karl Vachuska is a research assistant in the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Their study looked at data in Wisconsin, San Francisco and Seattle.
Cardinal View: Sexual assault resources need greater funding
It’s long overdue for the university to make adequate investments in survivor and mental health services.
The U.S. and Europe didn’t get what they wanted from Putin. But Putin didn’t get what he wanted from them.
Written by Andrew H. Kydd, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
‘The hope is finished’: life in the Ukrainian separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk
Co-authored by Theodore Gerber, Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Voters need to know GOP plans to cripple UW System
The 97-page Roth Report on the future of the UW System is extremely detailed and lays out several specific policy priorities for the UW System, minus UW-Madison, which “stands apart.” Because voters are busy, I thought it would be helpful to inform them of some of the more consequential elements of the Republican plan for the UW System.
UW COVID-19 policies must be weighed against other mandate-related consequences
We have experienced four school semesters tainted by COVID-19 and the policies the federal government, Wisconsin, Madison and the University of Wisconsin have put on us. If these policies are ever going to stop, they should stop now. Enough is enough.
A move in the Wisconsin Legislature to make cash bail a bigger part of the criminal justice system is unnecessary and unwise
John P. Gross is director of the Public Defender Project at the University of Wisconsin School of Law. Lanny Glinberg is director of the Prosecution Project at the law school.
Inflation is bad; the alternative would have been worse
“While the increase in inflation during the pandemic has been problematic for many reasons, it is perhaps a necessary side effect of economic aid that has helped keep Americans out of poverty and businesses solvent during an extraordinary crisis,” wrote Menzie Chinn, a professor of public affairs and economics.
Is there too much censorship on campus?
As UW-Madison professor Mark Copelovitch says in the New York Times podcast “The Argument: Is the University of Austin Just a PR Stunt?”: “We’re trying to make a commitment to sifting and winnowing … we’re scholars trying to figure out what is the, quote unquote, ‘truth’ about how the world works.”
UW, students must adjust perceptions of COVID-19 to new data
Two years into the pandemic, COVID-19 is here to stay and no longer the risk seen in 2020.
Is ‘cancel culture’ a problem at the University of Wisconsin-Madison?
Evan Gerstmann, professor of Political Science and International Relations at Loyola Marymount University, is a UW-alum who has written numerous articles on the role of cancel culture on college campuses. He believes that the phenomenon is a threat to free speech, calling it “problematic,” “unaccountable” and “anti-democratic.”
UW’s COVID-19 testing capacity is not sufficient for omicron spike
Widespread infections mean UW’s fall testing approach will no longer protect faculty, immunosuppressed groups.
Letter to the Editor: UW is falling behind in its support for survivors
Lack of available resources, active counseling leaves students vulnerable.
UW support of outdoor activities in winter could improve student wellbeing
Encouraging, putting money towards outdoor activities in cold weather could improve student health, performance.
Opinion | Bogus ‘demographic crisis’ a scare tactic to destroy UW System
Reading the Roth Report, released by the Wisconsin Senate Committee on Universities and Technical Colleges last May, one would be led to believe that the state is on the verge of collapse. There’s a “looming demographic crisis,” according to the report, which will lead to catastrophic decline.
Column: The reality of your college major
I began to define myself as a pre-business student, embedding the major into part of my personality. I was envious of every peer I met who was a direct admit to the business school and I relentlessly picked their brains in order to understand how they got in — and how I could too.
Column: ‘Are you okay?’
Let’s rip the band-aid off right now. I was sexually assaulted this past October. I’d like to share my experience in order to spread awareness for survivors of sexual assault — specifically male survivors.
Cardinal View: Opening the doors behind UW System’s new president
The Board of Regents has selected a new president to lead the University of Wisconsin System Schools — and the decision was made behind closed doors.
Letter | Disappointed in UW System pick
Dear Editor: I find it disappointing that the a Foley and Lardner lawyer was chosen as president of UW.