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Category: Opinion

Cleary: Ways to Address the Opioid Crisis

New York Times

Your editorial about the opioid crisis brought to mind the words of the great American journalist H. L. Mencken: “For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong.” (Writer is Jim Cleary of SMPH.)

Dr. Dipesh Navsaria: Reading programs are really about supporting strong parent-child bonds

Capital Times

Recently, I encountered a new-to-Wisconsin mother and toddler who had left behind a not-so-good environment. As we established trust with one another, it came out that she was concerned about her child’s mild speech delay. The upheaval in their lives meant they hadn’t been able to find a primary care clinic and schedule his regular checkups yet. What could I do that might offer some immediate benefit for them?

Editorial: The lie of immigrant crime

WISC-TV 3

MADISON, Wis. – Most thinking people knew the depiction of immigrants to this country as violent criminals was both ignorant and unfair. One need only look around one’s community to understand that. But now the fallacy of that claim is supported by research and data.

It’s Up to Republicans to Legalize Marijuana

Bloomberg News

Noted, Diop is an assistant professor at the Wisconsin School of Business: A second paper, by economists James Conklin, Moussa Diop and Herman Li, used a very interesting method to evaluate one aspect of legal weed’s impact — they looked at house prices. When recreational cannabis was legalized, many medical marijuana dispensaries converted to retail marijuana stores. Conklin et al. found that near these stores, housing prices almost immediately rose by about 8 percent relative to houses in other areas.

The Future of College Looks Like the Future of Retail

The Atlantic

Online learning has come a long way since the turn of the millennium. It certainly hasn’t displaced traditional colleges, as its biggest proponents said it had the potential to, but it has gained widespread popularity: The number of students in the U.S. enrolled in at least one online course rose from 1.6 million in 2002 to more than 6 million in 2016.

Why hating Facebook won’t stop us from using it

Reuters

Quoted: Some researchers theorize that we can benefit from interacting with this better, shinier self. “Yes, we filter and lie by omission on Facebook,” said University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Catalina Toma. “But we tell the truth, too. A person can’t say they just got engaged if they didn’t just get engaged.” Toma’s research has found that when people spend five minutes viewing their own Facebook profile, their feelings of self-worth are boosted. Like an Oprah-endorsed gratitude journal, Facebook’s pristine rendering of our past can remind us of what’s good in our lives.

Invest in undergraduate research

La Crosse Tribune

While the state’s doctoral universities are the main sources of research activities, the 11 comprehensive campuses also are churning out ideas – including some that display commercial and company creation potential.

Is a Modern Chinese Navy a Threat to the United States?

The Nation

Indeed, if war were to break out among the major powers today, don’t discount the possibility that it might come from a naval clash over Chinese bases in the South China Sea rather than a missile strike against North Korea or a Russian cyber attack.

Alfred W. McCoy is the J.R.W. Smail Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

It’s time to re-examine diversity and inclusion programs to make real progress

The Hill

The stakes are high. Surveys of Black and Latino students as well as non-white faculty reveal the impact of such broad regimes of whiteness. One need only consider recent climate studies at universities such as the University of Michigan, Northwestern, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison to see the impact of stymied efforts at limiting the reign of whiteness in the academy. While things have changed to a considerable degree these studies reveal many of the very same concerns that animated a previous generation.

Who’s going to win the Amazon hustle?

Chicago Tribune

“He is one of those executives who wants to be remembered as being on the right side of history,” said Thomas O’Guinn, a marketing professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison School of Business. “Part of the quid pro quo is there will be none of this stupid gender bathroom stuff. They are going to demand that the city do everything it can to fight voter suppression. They are going to demand high attention paid to meaningful spending on the environment and more efficient greenhouse reductions.”

All students need the humanities — Darcy Becker

Wisconsin State Journal

I would like everyone to know that students majoring in accounting cannot become successful in any career (including accounting) unless they also study the humanities in college. Without English, history, psychology and all of the other fields, students won’t develop as thinkers, communicators and worthwhile citizens.

Tom Still: Wisconsin shouldn’t ignore liberal arts

Chippewa Herald

What’s missing in the UW-Stevens Point conversation, which has attracted notice nationwide, is an honest assessment of what employers expect from college graduates they hire. Do they want an emphasis on STEM disciplines — science, technology, engineering and math — or a liberal arts background that may be more adaptable?

Campus budget-cutting is more science than art

Chippewa Herald

Stevens Point leaders figure focusing on high-demand courses of study, ones with clear career paths, will put them back in the black. New degrees would be created in fields where the university already has a national reputation.

The University of Wisconsin’s Thompson Center gives conservatism a voice on campus

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

In an era where truly unbelievable poll results are released every week, one result stands as one of the most surprising. In a Pew Research poll released in July of last year, 58% of Republicans said they believed American universities actually have a negative impact on the U.S.  As recently as 2010, only 32% of Republicans thought colleges did more harm than good — but that number has spiked sharply since 2015.

Losing access to weather data means the next storm could be a lot more deadly

A set of new satellites will capture and send, with unprecedented timeliness, weather data and imagery that meteorologists, emergency managers, government agencies, universities, and companies use to minimize the role of the weather on transportation and commerce, ensure planes land safely, and protect Americans from severe weather. But this satellite data relay is in serious risk.

Bill Berry: Walker and Legislature have bled UW System dry

Capital Times

The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, founded 123 years ago and the pride of this community, has been taking heat in recent days for unveiling a proposal to scale back its majors in some areas while increasing emphasis in others. In particular, attention has focused on the proposal’s impact on humanities programs like English, history and political science.

Tom Still: In Wisconsin’s quest to produce more workers and startups, don’t forget liberal arts

Wisconsin State Journal

What’s missing in the UW-Stevens Point conversation, which has attracted notice nationwide, is an honest assessment of what employers expect from college graduates they hire. Do they want an emphasis on STEM disciplines – science, technology, engineering and math — or a liberal arts background that may be more adaptable?

The ‘Wisconsin Idea’ Is More Important Than Ever In Higher Education

Forbes

In a nutshell, the Wisconsin Idea, having emanated from the Madison campus, provides “a learning environment in which faculty, staff and students can discover, examine critically, preserve and transmit the knowledge, wisdom and values that will help ensure the survival of this and future generations and improve the quality of life for all. The university seeks to help students to develop an understanding and appreciation for the complex cultural and physical worlds in which they live and to realize their highest potential of intellectual, physical and human development.”

Guest Post: Jon Loomis on the Changing Idea in Wisconsin Higher Ed

Inside Higher Ed

What of the founding mission of Wisconsin’s regional comprehensives, which, we once believed, was to bring actual, high quality, liberal-arts-based higher education to every corner of the state, from Wisconsin’s industrial south, to the great Northwoods, to the shores of Lake Superior, at bargain-basement rates—roughly the same kinds of educational opportunities enjoyed by the elite moneyed classes at Ivy League schools and the big R1s, albeit with fewer amenities.

Family Harmony of the Musical Kind

New York Times

Noted: “They took him to the hospital in the country town in Wisconsin where we grew up, where he was evaluated and then raced to the University of Wisconsin’s state of the art hospital in Madison.”

Most major outlets have used Russian tweets as sources for partisan opinion: study

Columbia Journalism Review

In a new study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, we look at how often, and in what context, Twitter accounts from the Internet Research Agency—a St. Petersburg-based organization directed by individuals with close ties to Vladimir Putin, and subject to Mueller’s scrutiny—successfully made their way from social media into respected journalistic media.