Category: Opinion

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.

Column by Dr. Dipesh Navsaria, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

These measures make public investments in children’s economic well-being, adding to those made for them in health care and education. The nation and our state are sure to be better off.

Tim Smeeding is the Lee Rainwater Distinguished Professor of Public Affairs and Economics at the La Follette School of Public Affairs and former director of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The skulls of living cats are drilled with holes to screw metal strainer posts into their heads, then steel coils are implanted into their eyes and finally, the cats are deafened in “sound localization” animal experiments. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals describes the horrific details of this inhumane experiment conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and adds that the lead experimenter did not expect to produce a clinical treatment or cure from their tests on animals.

Letter to the editor: Thompson is no “place holder.” He is a dynamic leader who is proving his value to UW System during these challenging times. Also, with Regent membership and leadership change underway, it seems advisable to retain Thompson’s steady hand and not dive into another national search now.

Without this student newspaper, I probably would be on my way to finishing out a god-awful stats degree (sorry stats majors).

Is the Madison Police Department finally taking a step that all police departments should also take? The short answer is yes. The long answer is not so simple.

Mifflin party events shows double standard policing, failure of UW to protect students, enforce regulations.

Entering the school year, students and faculty alike were anxious for how the semester would look.

“Really interesting how a Black man gets a chance and y’all are rushing to take it away,” UW BIPOC Coalition says.

UW-Madison and Madison need a return of fans in stands this year to make money. May I humbly suggest the university immediately announce that only fully vaccinated fans will be allowed at its venues such as Camp Randall, the Kohl Center, the Field House and the LaBahn Arena.