Category: Opinion

Column by Owens, a political science professor at UW-Madison and acting director of the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership.

Important information was misstated or left out altogether in a recent opinion piece by Jonathan Anderson and David Pritchard about the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s response to requests for information on sexual harassment allegations against faculty, staff and students.

Far from generating crime, this group appears to suppress it. A groundbreaking new state-by-state study covering 1990 to 2014 by sociologists Michael Light of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Ty Miller of Purdue in the journal Criminology concludes that “undocumented immigration over this period is generally associated with decreasing violence.”

Important information was misstated or left out altogether in a recent opinion piece by Jonathan Anderson and David Pritchard about UW-Madison’s response to requests for information on sexual harassment allegations against faculty, staff and students.

Imagine my surprise at finding a fair and balanced article on the recent talk by conservative commentator Dennis Prager at UW-Madison. It was a breath of fresh air among all the usual anti-Trump/anti-Walker diatribes.

If you follow the various paths of University of Wisconsin First Wave Program graduates — as teachers, social workers, attorneys and all forms of artists — these hundreds of students have made a difference in Madison, the state, and across the country.

Gordon Giampietro is qualified. He deserves a hearing and a vote by the Senate to determine whether he ought to be confirmed.

Recent displays on our very own Bascom Hill should be addressed constructively, not aggressively.

On this week’s episode of “Center Stage, with Milfred and Hands,” State Journal editorial page editor Scott Milfred and editorial cartoonist Phil Hands endorse autonomous vehicles, following a demonstration of the technology on the UW-Madison campus.

Vel Phillips, the first African-American to serve on Milwaukee’s city council, in 1962 proposed an ordinance banning racial discrimination in the sale or rental of housing. Her aim was to end practices that prevented blacks from moving to better neighborhoods. Her proposal was defeated 18-1.

The criminal charges filed by the Wisconsin attorney general’s office against the former chancellor and vice chancellor of UW–Oshkosh have the smell of prosecutorial overreach, scapegoating and missing of the mark.

I know where my anxiety comes from. Last year, I had a paper come out (V. L. Butitta et al. Ecosphere 8, e01941; 2017). It was well received and got a lot of attention on Twitter. It was the first time I felt like I was actually doing science, not just playing a part. But then, everything died down. Sometimes I go online to get a figure from my paper, and see that there aren’t any new citations. I feel like I’m shouting into the void. (Butitta is a PhD student in limnology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.)

Freedom of speech not good enough excuse to target already marginalized groups.

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.)

Letter to the editor: I am impressed with UW’s measured and reasoned response to revelations about Ku Klux Klan activities in the 1920s. A knowledge of this local history can be a powerful weapon in combating bigotry.

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.

There seems to be almost nothing about which we can reach consensus in the United States. In our polarized political climate, everything feels like a wedge issue — from immigration to education to campaign finance.

But just as they’re doing now, students stood up for themselves and forced administrators into reconsidering their proposal. Students demanded more transparency in the future and proved just how important a well-rounded and truly liberal arts education is to them.

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.

Since 1973, State of Wisconsin and UW employees have donated nearly $77 million to umbrella charity groups and their 520 charities.

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.

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.

Our Wausau campus provides an affordable pathway to degrees at other universities throughout the UW System. Almost 60 percent of the students attending UWMC are the first in their families to attend college.

UW is making incremental improvements to locally source its food, a continued move in a positive direction.

Students must stay engaged, energized to continue recently galvanized movement of political activism.

Medication may not always be perfect solution, but luckily, UW provides many alternate resources.

While UW has made great strides in fostering an atmosphere of accessibility, there is still room for improvement when making sure that all students are given the right to an equal chance at success.

History has shown effective movements are result of unified student body.

Letter to the editor by Gregory A. Moses, professor emeritus, UW-Madison Department of Engineering Physics.

Fees unfairly force students to pay for amenities they may not use, such as UHS, gym.

This innovative program mutally benefits both sides, builds positive relationships.

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?

Business School Interim Dean Gerhart invited student leaders, including the Undergraduate Business Council President, the ASM Business School Council Representative, and myself to a follow up meeting regarding a student advisory committee. Our voices were not respected in this meeting.

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.

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.

Ultimately, the course feels like an interactive parody of a very special episode of Dawson’s Creek.

With elimination of 13 major programs, expansion of 16 others, Wisconsin university put in unique position of criticism.

As the #MeToo movement and stories of high profile perpetrators of sexual assault fill our Facebook and Twitter pages, we must ask ourselves why reports of sexual assault on college campuses have been, and continue to be, so low.