Blaming Greek Life — the entitled party animals — was an easy avenue at the start of the pandemic. In “Greek life being Greek life,” relentless socializing spurred the foreseeable lockdown of 22 sorority and fraternity houses at the start of the 2020-2021 academic year. Presently, however, Greek life is not at fault — the blatant disregard for in-chapter sorority members are.
A new partnership with DaneMAC will allow students to access forensic tests through UHS, but more can be done to support survivors.
The biology of Sars-CoV-2 immunity, however, is the same whether you’re in Tel Aviv, Tokyo or Toronto. The pioneering Israeli work of making third doses the standard provides an instructive template for other countries to follow as quickly as possible, while also ensuring that this becomes the global standard of vaccination for everyone, no matter where they live.
-David O’Connor is professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Wisconsin
Despite Badger football games and crowded bar scenes, COVID-19 rates remain low in Madison.
Students are being tricked into paying fake ticket sellers in UW Badger Student Ticket Exchange Facebook group.
Living off campus requires early planning to ensure comfortable living situation.
For recent graduates looking for employment, the benefits of moving to a town like Fond du Lac lie in its affordability. They won’t have direct connections to the local economy — like home ownership — and can contribute most of their incentive payments to savings or paying off debt.
Written by Gregory Nemet, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs. He is a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 6th Assessment Report, which will be released by the United Nations in spring 2022. He is co-chair of the La Follette School’s Climate Policy Forum on Oct. 6.
As the House gears up for debate federal infrastructure spending to fight climate change, signs of a planetary-scale crisis are everywhere. Intense rainfall and floods, searing heat in normally cool locations, and relentless wildfires of enormous scale raging continuously.
Put simply, the COVID-19 vaccine is not everything we hoped it might be. Let me be clear: The COVID vaccine is safe and effective, and if you haven’t gotten it, you should. With that said, it is becoming glaringly apparent that the vaccinated can still contract COVID-19 and spread it to others.
The emergency pandemic aid marks UW’s first major step towards equity that universities often fail to achieve, despite groups like Associated Students of Madison previously calling for an expanded and more consistent student payment system.
Despite Badger football games and crowded bar scenes, COVID-19 rates remain low in Madison.
The phrase “never forget” is often associated with the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But what does this phrase mean for U.S. students who are too young to remember? What are they being asked to never forget?
A more cautious safety plan — perhaps not to the same extent as earlier in the pandemic, but cautious still — may very well be necessary as we continue to learn more about this insidious pathogen.
Column by Jeremy Stoddard, Professor of Curriculum & Instruction, UW-Madison, and Diana Hess, Professor of Curriculum & Instruction and Dean of the School of Education, UW-Madison.
First and foremost, I want to acknowledge the deep pain experienced by survivors of sexual assault and misconduct. As chair of the department, I am committed to fostering a safe, healthy climate and to treating reports of sexual assault and misconduct with the utmost seriousness.
You can see the face of college football changing right there in the Wisconsin starting backfield this Saturday when the Badgers take on Penn State.
I’ve been warned about rapists – one is even a part of the UW-Madison theatre department. And this year, I’ve written this in response to UW-Madison theatre’s sexist play Rashomon as it ultimately supports this rape culture I’ve run from.
Is the vaccine wearing off? It’s an exhausting thought for those of us who believed the battle against covid-19 would be won once enough needles plunged into enough arms. But outbreaks of the delta variant have blossomed even in places with high levels of vaccination, including Israel, Britain and my own home of Madison, Wis. Recent reports from Israel that nearly 60 percent of people hospitalized with severe covid-19 were fully vaccinated raised particular alarms about the limits of the protection that vaccines provide.
–Jordan Ellenberg, a math professor at the University of Wisconsin, is the author of “Shape: The Hidden Geometry of Information, Biology, Strategy, Democracy, and Everything Else.”
To help evaluate the options for incoming freshmen, Em-J Krigsman and Ian-Michael Griffin — the opinion editors on behalf of the Daily Cardinal — have offered their perspectives on their polar opposite freshmen living experiences. Em-J resided in the largest on-campus dorm and Ian-Michael selected a one-bedroom, off-campus apartment.
Letter to the editor: Before people nominate UW System President Tommy Thompson for a “Profiles in Courage” award for his refusal to let the Legislature in effect run the UW System, let’s consider the following. If Thompson is correct that UW has the right to determine how to manage its own health policy (which I strongly suspect he is), he is simply doing his job by refusing to let legislators like Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, dictate whether mask or vaccine mandates can be used.
Wisconsin needs more Tommy Thompson and less Steve Nass.
Thompson, the former Republican governor, put his foot down this week when a meddlesome group from his own party tried to tell him how to run the University of Wisconsin System.
Column by Dr. Dipesh Navsaria, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
Column by interim UW System president Thomnpson: The University of Wisconsin System owns a critical responsibility to open our classrooms this September to deliver the in-person education students deserve and parents expect. And we are planning to do just that. Unfortunately, some want us to ignore our unambiguous authority and duty under Wisconsin law to protect the “health, safety, and welfare of the university.”
Ivermectin proponents haven’t been content to wait for that research. In striking testimony before the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in December 2020, Pierre Kory, a critical care physician who formerly worked for the University of Wisconsin Health University Hospital, described the “immense potency” of ivermectin, characterizing it as effectively a “miracle drug.” “All studies are positive,” he testified, “with considerable magnitude benefits, with the vast majority reaching strong statistical significance.”
Places like Chicago remain oppressive and unequal, Smith believes, because people—politicians and citizens alike—inherit systems of inequality and accept them, bereft of any vision that things could be different. But what Chicago’s politicians may be lacking in vision—beyond bovine calls to return to normal—Chicago teachers, activists, and community members have supplied in spades. They are boldly showing the way. Now it’s up to the mayor to follow.
-Eleni SchirmerEleni Schirmer, a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, studies labor movements, social movements, and public education.
When I had an opportunity to become vaccinated against COVID-19 last spring, I didn’t hesitate. The vaccine clearly was the best way for me to protect myself and the people I care about from death or hospitalization due to COVID. I was also eager to do my part to help our society beat back this insidious disease.
Why, America? More and more I have asked this question to myself as I read through the hideous headlines about COVID-19, almost all pertaining to the problem the unvaccinated have caused. It has never made sense to me, even before the pandemic, why some folks legitimately do not trust vaccines. Even with experts and statistical data affirming the vaccine’s success, anti-vaxxers consistently have an endless list of excuses to sharply defend their reservations.
Letter to the editor: I am writing with regard to the removal of the Chamberlin Rock from Observatory Hill on the UW campus, because it is regarded as a racist symbol. Yes, the 1925 Wisconsin State Journal article describing its installation uses an exceedingly racist noun to describe the rock. Regrettably, that term was common in American lingo for generations, as a descriptor for such rocks. I heard it while growing up in Iowa in the ’40s and ’50s but never used it.
Letter to the editor: So Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, thinks he knows more than both interim University of Wisconsin System President Tommy Thompson (a very well-respected former Republican governor) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when it comes to keeping our college students safe during this uptick of the pandemic.
Sami Schalk, an associate professor of gender and women’s studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said Cornell’s protocols are “great safety measures that will protect probably the vast majority of their campus. But there are many disabled folks or immunocompromised people who have been pretty hyper-isolated over the past year and a half. To force them out, it’s just unconscionable.”
This August, faculty, staff, and more than 160,000 students at the 13 University of Wisconsin campuses are hard at work, getting ready for a new academic year. Wisconsinites are justifiably proud of the UW System, and with good reason. Our public university system, built on the foundation of the Wisconsin Idea, truly serves every corner of the state.
At the University of Wisconsin, Madison, a master’s in economics costs $38,917 a year in tuition and fees. This isn’t chump change, but the skills it provides are versatile and valued in the marketplace. According to PayScale, the median salary of economics M.A. graduates in the U.S. is $114,000 across a range of careers. Given the expected payoff, an economics graduate degree is worth the cost.—Sarah Eckhardt, University of Wisconsin, Madison, economics
“What happens to him at CNN is less important to me than what happens to all the other journalists whose ethics will be questioned and whose bond of trust with the citizens they serve could be damaged by the choices he made,” wrote Kathleen Bartzen Culver, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics and a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication in an opinion piece for USA TODAY published this week.
Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, is insisting that universities seek approval from him and a handful of his skeptical colleagues for masking, vaccine and testing requirements on state campuses. Never mind that University of Wisconsin System schools have adopted and adjusted similar rules for more than a year now, which helped control COVID-19 among students, staff and surrounding communities.
Written by Kathleen Bartzen Culver, James E. Burgess Chair in Journalism Ethics, an associate professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communications and director for the Center for Journalism Ethics.
I’m not here to convince you to get the vaccine. That’s not my job. What I am here to do is to explain to those of us who trust science how UW-Madison can get more people vaccinated while awarding those of us who took the opportunity when we could.
Classrooms ideal places for discussions about race, offer students chances to share perspectives outside social media.
Letter to the editor from Patrick Kass, director, transportation services, UW-Madison: Recently, we’ve had over 4,000 employees enroll in flexible parking options that allow them access to campus parking facilities without a commitment to purchasing a dedicated space for a full year. Combined with a robust bus rapid transit (BRT) system, these policies can build a network of transportation options that will allow our employees to access campus in convenient, cost-effective and more environmentally friendly ways.
Written by Jordan Ellenberg, a professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin and the author of Shape and How Not to Be Wrong.
Written by Susan Yackee, director of the La Follette School of Public Affairs and a Collins-Bascom Professor of Public Affairs and Political Science at UW-Madison.
Noted: Dr. Luke Funk is an associate professor of surgery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Srividya Kidambi is an associate professor and chief in the Division of Endocrinology and Molecular Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin/Froedtert Hospital. Dr. Christopher Weber is an obesity medicine specialist practicing in Milwaukee.
When we hire graduate assistants at the University of Wisconsin at Madison Graduate School, we expect them to do a deep dive into graduate education administration — but what often surprises students is how much the experience prepares them for future careers.
Column by Dr. Dipesh Navsaria, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
In a welcome change, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway unveiled plans last week to “likely” remove city buses from the lower half of State Street in Downtown Madison. Doing so would make way for a true pedestrian mall with cafes, public art, live music, trees, kiosks and fun events — without any motorized vehicle traffic. The street is already off-limits to most cars and trucks, but not buses.
States around the country are gearing up for projects that could pair engineering schools and industry, but the dean of UW-Madison’s College of Engineering warned this week the state will be at a disadvantage unless there’s more investment in infrastructure needed to compete. “If we don’t act soon, we’re going to lose out,” said Ian Robertson, dean of Madison’s 4,500-student engineering college. “Others are going to get ahead of us. They’re all gearing up to go after the Endless Frontier money. It’s that simple.”
Noted: Rabbi Ben Herman is Rabbi of Bet Shira Congregation in Pinecrest, Florida. He received a BA in History, Hebrew and Jewish Studies with Comprehensive Honors from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Rabbinic Ordination with an MA in Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Maybe now, half a century later, it’s finally time to end the war on drug users—repeal the heavy penalties for possession, pardon the millions of nonviolent offenders, replace mass incarceration with mandatory drug treatment, restore voting rights to convicts and ex-convicts alike, and, above all, purge those persistent stereotypes of the dangerous Black male from our public discourse and private thoughts.If only…
Alfred W. McCoy is the J.R.W. Smail Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
As a former biosafety officer for UW-Madison, I am extremely interested in the debate about the origin of the COVID-19 virus pandemic.
Written by Jordan Ellenberg, a math professor at the University of Wisconsin and author of “Shape: The Hidden Geometry of Information, Biology, Strategy, Democracy, and Everything Else.”
The Wisconsin Idea, a fundamental philosophical pillar of the University of Wisconsin, charges the system with serving all parts of the state.
But the system has fallen short in its most populous region — Milwaukee.
Written by Sarah Halpern-Meekin, an associate professor at La Follette School of Public Affairs and the School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Some in Madison are criticizing the UW athletic department for hiring the well-qualified Chris McIntosh as the new athletic director because he is white. This is an insult to both McIntosh and the selection committee.
When we learned last fall that Alvarez might be retiring, we were concerned that the University would again engage in a process that would result in another applicant being chosen for the AD position that would not be a person of color, regardless of how credentialed and experienced such applicants might be.
The university subjected their students to restrictive policies that had little room for flexibility based on the public health standards at the time.
The nurses at UW Hospitals and Clinics have been among the greatest heroes of the coronavirus pandemic that is finally beginning to ease after an often overwhelming year of infection and death, testing and treatment, recovery and vaccination. Nurses have been widely praised for their humanity, for their caring, for their sacrifices. We have no doubt about the sincerity of those words. But now it is time to honor these heroes with something more than words. They need a place at the bargaining table.
Knowing geometry protects you: Once you’ve experienced the sharp click of an honest-to-goodness proof, you’ll never fall for this trick again. Tell your “logical” opponent to go square a circle.—Mr. Ellenberg is a professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin. This essay is adapted from his new book “Shape: The Hidden Geometry of Information, Biology, Strategy, Democracy and Everything Else,” which will be published May 25 by Penguin Press.
Alyssa Huglen’s May 17 story in the Journal Sentinel highlights a problem that has long concerned us at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: Students with limited financial resources take longer to graduate and are less likely to graduate than their peers, and many struggle with debt from college loans. But what the story did not address are the extensive efforts UWM is making to help students from low-income families.
The driving question that launched my career in psychology nearly four decades ago feels especially salient in this moment: Why are some people more resilient to life’s slings and arrows than others?
Written by Dr. Richard J. Davidson, founder and director of the Center for Healthy Minds.
