Skip to main content

Category: Opinion

Editorial: Recognizing our roots

WISC-TV 3

This week, UW-Madison took some small steps to change that narrative with the dedication of a new heritage marker on Bascom Hill that recognizes the historical significance of the campus as the Ho-Chunk’s ancestral home.

Editorial: Combat Blindness International

WISC-TV 3

For 35 years Combat Blindness International, headquartered here in Madison and founded by UW ophthalmologist Dr. Suresh Chandra, has been restoring sight to more than 360,000 people in five countries.

Monkey Cage: Why Facebook is pushing Libra

The Washington Post

Facebook is issuing Libra, a new electronic currency, and everyone is rushing to explain it; perhaps the best overall explanation comes from Bloomberg’s Matt Levine. Most of the commentary focuses, unsurprisingly, on the economics. Yet there is also a very important political economy story. Here’s what you need to know about the politics of Libra.

Editorial: Birdies for Health

WISC-TV 3

The idea is simple: You make a pledge for every birdie made during the tournament to support The UW Carbone Cancer Center, American Family Children’s Hospital, Imitative to End Alzheimer’s, Department of Ophthalmology, or Transplant and UW Organ and Tissue Donation. American Family will match your donation up to $100,000.

Editorial: Freshwater is smart strategy

WISC-TV 3

In addition to addressing one of the most important human health and environmental issues of our time, creation of the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin is a smart economic development strategy for the UW System and for the state.

Editorial: Madison’s transplant pioneer

WISC-TV 3

MADISON, Wis. – Madison certainly has its share of unsung heroes; people who have made a profound difference in the world yet remain unrecognized or at least underappreciated here in their hometown.

How Korea was divided and why the aftershocks still haunt us today

Washington Post

New missile tests in North Korea have put the region back in the spotlight. The tests portend trouble ahead for President Trump’s extremely ambitious Korean agenda no matter how much confidence he has in Kim Jung Un.

–David P. Fields is the associate director of the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin and the author of “Foreign Friends: Syngman Rhee, American Exceptionalism, and the Division of Korea.”

Megan Waltz: UW Health remains committed to local vendors, products

Letter to the editor: I was dismayed to see Lindsay Christian’s May 16 article “UW Health shifts focus from local food” since I have been in charge of food operations for six years and there has been no shift away from using local products, nor any change in our commitment to a local spend of at least 20 percent of our total food budget.

Dairy research could be bipartisan — Donald Miner

Wisconsin State Journal

It may be that more money needs to be appropriated to research at University of Wisconsin System campuses to help the struggling dairy industry. But state Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, and 27 other Republicans have taken a partisan path to address the problem.

Be prepared for life

Wilmington News Journal

Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt delivered the commencement address at the University of Wisconsin-Madison over the weekend, and delivered what I thought to be a brilliant message to 2019 graduates.

Ray Cross: UW System is delivering more graduates, deserves strong state support

Wisconsin State Journal

UW System president’s column: An investment in UW System will help us continue these successes and generate more graduates — especially in high-need areas such as nursing, engineering, business, computer science, information technology and data science. Across the System, our campuses have plans to expand these vital areas through our 2019-21 state budget capacity-building initiatives.

Nerissa Nelson: UW-Stevens Point’s plan to keep majors is a pyrrhic victory

My campus, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, has had a tumultuous year of dealing with a projected budget deficit of $8 million over the next three years. It started as an announced administrative “document/plan” to cut 13 liberal arts majors, followed by a “reduced plan” to cut six majors and tenured faculty, and then ultimately a “pulled-back plan” to not cut those majors or lay off tenured faculty.

Pete Buttigieg doesn’t speak seven languages. I know, because I do

The Daily Caller

Noted: I discussed the matter with one of the nation’s experts Dr. Dianna L. Murphy, who directs the Language Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She pointed out that people can have a variety of language strengths and weaknesses; and rather than treating language competency as a “switch yes or no,” learners can tell more of a story about their abilities.

Tom Still: Idealism or inevitable? Greening of America well underway

Wisconsin State Journal

The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, part of the UW-Madison Energy Institute, launched in 2007 to focus on sustainable production of fuels and chemicals from non-edible plant materials such as corn residue, poplar and switchgrass. It is one of four such labs in the country and was recently renewed – with an increase in federal dollars – by the Trump administration.

Earth Day 2019: Find common ground on conserving our environment

USA Today

It’s kicking off at the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which hosts an annual Earth Day Conference conducted in the spirit of the original 1970 “teach-in.” The event is called Imagine and Adapt: Possibilities in a Changing World.

Human viruses threaten the future of Uganda’s chimpanzees

My colleagues and I recently analysed two outbreaks of respiratory disease in two different chimpanzee groups, both located in Uganda’s Kibale National Park…Initially, we feared that the same virus caused both outbreaks, which would mean a single virus had been rapidly transmitted throughout the forest. But our team leader, Dr Tony Goldberg of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, tested samples, and we learned that the outbreaks were caused by two different viruses commonly found in humans.

Reflecting on 30 Years of Forgiveness Science

Psychology Today

It was great to be able to share our knowledge on the science of forgiveness, which we began to examine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1985, to aid in the advancement of this important area of research.

–Robert Enright, UW–Madison

Editorial Agenda 2019: Trees in the city

WISC-TV 3

A new study, co-authored by a UW Madison professor, finds trees play a big role in keeping towns and cities cool. That’s important for humans, but it’s also important for other organisms essential to life.

David Ward: Congress should invest more in ag research to keep US ahead of China

Wisconsin State Journal

Since 2014, Wisconsin universities have received 74 AFRI grants totaling $38 million. These grants have gone to projects such as studying the impact of climate change on dairy production at UW-Madison and research on improved food access for rural, low-income communities at Northland College in Ashland. Locally, this means we are improving an industry that is a cornerstone to our economy. Globally, this allows us to maintain food-supply chains and remain a world leader in agriculture.

Arboretum deserving of honor — Donna Silver

Wisconsin State Journal

Letter to the editor: Congratulations to the many people over the years who have created the UW Arboretum on Madison’s West Side. This Wisconsin treasure has recently been added to the National Register of Historical Places.