The Michigan Legislature, like the U.S. Senate, is a safe space for right-wing groupthink. That’s the conclusion I’ve drawn from a recent flurry of activity on the manufactured crisis of “campus free speech” in Lansing and Washington, D.C.
It is clear that lawmakers in Wisconsin and elsewhere are attempting to achieve politically neutral college campuses in the name of “protecting” free speech — campuses where all speech is considered equally valuable, no matter how morally repugnant, intellectually empty and psychologically dangerous.
President Trump and Senate Democrats are steadfastly opposed to one another over judicial nominees. Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Gary Peters, D-Mich., are now threatening to “blue-slip” Trump’s nomination of Joan Larsen to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. Other senators are making similar threats. With Republicans poised to reform the blue slip, now seems an appropriate time to discuss what it is and how it works in practice.
Letter to the editor: Any claims that UW is partisan are just reactions to something the critics don’t want to hear.
Letter to the editor: Given the high status and high salaries of many of these positions, the new preferred hiring pool would likely be heads of major corporations, who would expect CEO-type salaries when they become provosts and chancellors. This is a dangerous path.
Letter to the editor: Oscar Mayer allowed UW departments to collect tissue samples that led to innovation. An example was the use of pig heart valves to pioneer “bird cage” heart valves for humans. The company’s unpublished discoveries and inventions have been applied throughout the meat industry.
Column: Right now there there are 664 African-Americans out of 31,407 undergraduates at UW-Madison. In the entire UW System, there are 4,640 African-Americans out of 151,895 undergraduate students. Yet rather than asking why the percentage of African-American students is so alarmingly low, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, is fast-tracking a bill to create safe spaces on Wisconsin campuses for right-wing purveyors of racism, misogyny and xenophobia.
Of course, Tommy Thompson deserves to be honored with a University of Wisconsin center that is named for him — and that explores his fascination with politics and the innovative policymaking that can and should extend from the electoral process. But the center must not get bogged down in the petty politics of the moment.
As a person of color studying at the overwhelmingly white University of Wisconsin-Madison, I believe policymakers also ought to hear my story and consider my experience, and the stories and experience of other students of color, before telling us whose voices are and aren’t being heard.
For more than a half century, the United States has operated what might be called a “Miracle Machine.” Powered by federal investment in science and technology, the machine regularly churns out breathtaking advances.
Video: In “Two Minutes with Mitch” local radio personality Mitch Henck gives his two cents on the debate over free speech on University of Wisconsin campuses.
Being called out of one’s names is not only about calling out racist, sexist, or homophobic slurs. It is about the power and control to chart one’s own destiny.
Free speech on Wisconsin’s college campuses has been getting a lot of attention at the State Capitol recently.
Among the many examples of the Wisconsin Idea in action in our state today, one we find especially valuable is the University of Wisconsin-Madison partnership with Literacy Network to help immigrants achieve U.S. citizenship.
Letter to the editor: I am extremely proud of the Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly, which passed the Campus Free Speech Act last week. I earned my master’s degree from UW-Madison in 1973 and lived through many violent protests during my time there.
A crowd of 200 dairy-involved attendees participated in the “Dairy Summit” hosted by the University of Wisconsin held at the Alliant Energy Center June 19, 2017. A host of speakers described everything from research to milk production, and dairy marketing to the future of dairying in Wisconsin.
The Capital Times has defended campus free speech since the days when U.S. Sen. Robert M. La Follette and Capital Times founder William T. Evjue were burned in effigy by pro-World War I militarists at UW-Madison.
The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee should be commended for approving a much-needed raise for state employees — and for including University of Wisconsin System employees.
State Journal editorial from a century ago: The University of Wisconsin’s own catalog lists 27 teachers in the department of German. And it was only a short time ago when every student at the university, regardless of what course be pursued, was compelled to study German. …That compulsory regulation has been eliminated. But German is still the language urged on our students. The German department has 27 instructors compared to 25 in all other modern languages combined.
Letter to the editor from Matt Kussow, executive director of Badger Advocates.
Wisconsin’s economy is providing an interesting combination of positive and negative news.
This happens to be her last month at the helm of the Wisconsin Alumni Association, the super-active organization that serves the more than 400,000 UW-Madison alumni around the world.
Martina Kunovic is a PhD candidate in the department of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was a visiting researcher at the Instituto Cubano de Investigación Cultural Juan Marinello in Havana in 2015-16.
After thinking that interest in and excitement about massive open online courses had faded to the background of the higher education landscape, I was surprised to see a recent flurry of news media coverage of MOOCs.
Noted: Finally, Kremer is proposing to protect speakers on UW campuses by prohibiting students and faculty from protesting. In my opinion, every speaker should be heard respectfully, but responsible free speech by the audience should also not be curtailed. If, in rare instances, students or faculty see a speaker as lying, grossly misrepresenting the facts, or advocating discrimination, they should be allowed to protest, even if that means that views that Kremer might value are exposed to ridicule. That is democracy.
Noted: Jordan Ellenberg is the John D. MacArthur and Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of “How Not to Be Wrong.”
You’d think I’d be in favor of the “campus free speech” bills the Wisconsin Legislature is considering. I’m a strong proponent of free speech on campus, and I believe that our students benefit from being exposed to all kinds of views, even those that mock or directly attack the values they were raised with by their families.
The state’s retirement system was one of the things that brought me to Wisconsin.
Noted: That’s the conclusion of a new article in the New England Journal of Medicine identifying four Trump appointees as carriers of the disinformation virus. What makes them especially dangerous, says the author, bioethicist R. Alta Charo of the University of Wisconsin law school, is that the “alternative facts” they’re purveying could influence an entire generation’s attitude toward contraception, for the worse.
A couple of weeks ago collaboration by several schools and colleges at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, UW System and UW Extension focused on helping every child thrive.
Noted: Insight from UW’s Tamara Jeppson, Greg Tripoli and Harold Tobin.
Noted: Erica Kanesaka Kalnay is a former early childhood teacher. She is currently a doctoral candidate in English literary studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
A couple of reports from two of the University of Wisconsin’s most influential thought and research centers allow for some cautious optimism about the battle to reduce poverty in Wisconsin, while also offering evidence of the need to step up the fight.
Noted: In Wisconsin, we are fortunate to have researchers who study effective ways of reducing crime at the Remington Center at UW Law School and at Marquette University Law School.
Noted: Dr. Dipesh Navsaria, MPH, MSLIS, MD, FAAP, is an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and also holds master’s degrees in public health and children’s librarianship. Engaged in primary care pediatrics, early literacy, medical education, and advocacy, he covers a variety of topics related to the health and well-being of children and families.
The right-wingers who control state government these days are determined to pass blatantly unconstitutional laws to limit protest on the UW’s campuses and “protect” conservative speakers from unruly protesters.
Dave Zweifel column: It’s unlikely that any of these modern-day speech police have ever bothered to read any history about protest and free speech controversies in our higher education system. It’s been the case throughout the UW’s history and in many cases, it was the conservatives who were shutting down the liberals.
The Governor’s Steering Committee on Autonomous and Connected Vehicle Testing and Deployment will advise Walker on how best to advance the testing and operation of self-driving vehicles in Wisconsin. It will include a mix of industry, technology, regulatory and academic members, and build upon the selection of the UW’s Traffic Operations and Safety Laboratory as a test bed.
By the standards of the politically charged Wisconsin inhabited by UW-Madison administrators and Republican leaders of the state Legislature, the creation of a Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership is a sublime kind of genius.
Letter to the editor: UW Chancellor Becky Blank and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos are fooling no one.
Letter to the editor: Anyone who thinks that the proposed Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership at UW-Madison “is a fine idea,” as Friday’s State Journal editorial contended, should read Jane Mayer’s “Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right.”
A UW-Madison research center named after Wisconsin’s longest-serving governor will be well worth its $3 million price tag if it improves the university’s frayed relationship with the Legislature.
The country’s most powerful engine of upward mobility is under assault. Public colleges have an unmatched record of lofting their students into the middle class and beyond. For decades, they have enrolled teenagers and adults from modest backgrounds, people who are often the first member of their family to attend college, and changed their trajectories.
Noted: Fewer people, especially fewer children, are living in poverty in Wisconsin than ever before. In fact, we’ve seen a “significant reduction” in poverty across our state the past several years. That’s the data presented in a new report from UW-Madison’s Institute for Research on Poverty.
I’m not a fan of Ann Coulter. I disagree with her on most issues and I don’t like her style. A little too nasty, even for me. If she’s coming to a venue near me, I’m not likely to be in that audience.
Quoted: “Place matters,” as UW-Madison poverty researcher Tim Smeeding puts it in the spring issue of the Stanford center’s magazine. “The poverty-generating effects of place can be reduced by moving poor children to better neighborhoods.”
Noted: Donald Downs, professor emeritus in the Department of Political Science at UW-Madison, agreed that while the end goal is good, the bill clearly goes too far, and would not be held up by the courts as currently written. He also said, however, that if universities across the country “don’t get our own house in order, we’re opening the door to this.”
It’s been interesting to follow the discussion from our legislators (mostly Republicans) related to the issue of free speech on university campuses. I applaud their support of the right of people to express their opinions, no matter how offensive, without the threat of being silenced.
Scientific breakthroughs surrounding human gene editing, for instance, have moved medical treatments that seemed science fiction just a few years ago within scientists’ reach. Today, tools like CRISPR/Cas9 allow making modifications to the human genome in ways that are more efficient and safer than ever before. And the science emerges rapidly, constantly offering new venues for treating what used to be incurable diseases.The idea of editing the human genome raises questions that science alone cannot answer.
Our UW System considers undocumented students “international students” for tuition purposes; that is, they must pay three times what resident students pay, without the ability to access any federal or state financial aid.
Letter to the editor by Tishler, a UW-Madison emeritus professor of landscape architecture
Column by Rebecca Blank, chancellor, and Marsha Mailick, vice chancellor for research and graduate education at UW-Madison.
The UW System has about 180,000 students, a number that includes young adults of all stripes. It seems politics knows no boundaries when it comes to families and higher education.
Column by Bromley, a professor emeritus of applied economics at UW-Madison.
My wife, Marianne, and I are proud investors in Wisconsin’s largest economic engine: the world-class University of Wisconsin System.
UW administrators seek to guarantee that differing views can be expressed and challenged. They stumble sometimes; but we respect their efforts to ensure that, when exchanges get intense, everyone can be heard.
In short, students who will not have to show any financial need will get scholarships, the state will pay itself for some 77,000 acres of land it hasn’t been able to sell to anyone else, and money to buy more desirable land will be reduced — and taxpayers will, actually, pay for all of it.
UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank got a couple of tough questions about free speech during an hour-long conference call with more than 6,000 alumni Monday. Her responses were impressive and should reassure conservatives that the state’s flagship university is committed to encouraging diverse views on campus.
No one who appreciates the high value Wisconsin has historically placed on academic freedom can accept the restrictions state Rep. Jesse Kremer, R-Kewaskum, state Sen. Leah Vukmir, R-Brookfield, and their co-authors have proposed in a pair of speech-code bills that outline schemes for punishing students and restricting the ability of the UW and its administrators to take stands on major issues.
Letter to the editor: UW System has policies that protect free speech and ensure discipline for students who violate free speech. The Vos and Kremer legislation demeans one of the greatest institutions of higher learning in the country.
