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Category: Opinion

Haynes: What Walker says, and what’s really happening with the Wisconsin economy

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: To find out, I got in touch with Prof. Steven C. Deller at the University of Wisconsin-Madison-Extension, who has followed the state’s economy closely and who dug up a wide range of data for me to review. I also took a close look at a recent Politifact Wisconsin report by Tom Kertscher that rated Walker’s statement — “Wisconsin’s economy is in the best shape it’s been since 2000.” — as only half true.

Op-Ed: How Badger Promise could have helped me

Wausau Daily Herald

A few weeks ago I accomplished one of my dreams, successfully defending my Ph.D. dissertation in biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It was a goal I didn’t even realize I could have as a high school student. I grew up on a farm near Marathon City in central Wisconsin. My roots are working-class — Dad grows ginseng and Mom works in a cheese factory.

Weimer: Repeal and replace the tax on corporate profits

The Hill

The U.S. corporate income tax wastes resources: avoidance distorts business decisions, compliance imposes administrative costs, and very interested parties fight vigorously over its details. Its complexity enables some profitable corporations to avoid taxes altogether and it increasingly provides a smaller share of federal revenue, falling from about one-third in the 1950s to about a tenth today. Its complexity obscures transparency and provides opportunity for various interests to seek and obtain favorable treatment.

Scheufele and Brossard: Can Bill Nye – or any other science show – really save the world?

The Conversation

Netflix’s new talk show, “Bill Nye Saves the World,” debuted the night before people around the world joined together to demonstrate and March for Science. Many have lauded the timing and relevance of the show, featuring the famous “Science Guy” as its host, because it aims to myth-bust and debunk anti-scientific claims in an alternative-fact era.

This weekend, I’ll be marching for science. Will you?

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Driving me to ballet, my mom would describe how she expected the world would have mirrored “The Jetsons” by then — a futuristic utopia with breakfast at the push of a button and families buzzing around in spaceships. Stuck in traffic, we laughed. No flying cars in sight.

UW Colleges fees support campus life

Appleton Post Crescent

The mix of activities and programs and the amount of funding varies by campus because students decide for themselves what to support.

These fees fund what we call “campus life,” as they extend and enhance the college experience in valuable ways, especially on smaller UW campuses such as UW-Marathon County. Making allocable segregated fees optional would very likely devastate the programs they support and reduce, if not eliminate, extracurricular opportunities to live and learn on our campuses.

Eric Wendorff: Scott Walker’s budget shorts education

Capital Times

Letter to the editor: The University of Wisconsin is a vital resource for all Wisconsinites. Through educating our citizens and conducting important research, the university lays the foundation for a bright future for Wisconsin. While doing so, it creates thousands of jobs and millions of dollars of income. But because of budget cuts over the past decades, it has become increasingly difficult for young people to afford a UW education, and the university has slipped out of the top five research institutions in the country. To secure Wisconsin’s future, more money must be allocated to the University of Wisconsin.

Kelleher: How Judge Gorsuch’s views on “natural law” could shape his opinions on the Supreme Court

Vox

As the confirmation hearings for Judge Neil Gorsuch were getting underway, the University of Wisconsin philosopher J. Paul Kelleher explored, in Vox, an important aspect of Gorsuch’s view of the world. Gorsuch has praised the late Justice Scalia’s “originalist” approach to interpreting the Constitution. But he has also been influenced by the concept of “natural law” — and even studied under a famous natural law theorist at Oxford. In this excerpt from that Vox piece, Kelleher explains natural law theory, and why it’s important for the senators voting on Gorsuch to consider its implications:

Fontes: The American Dream Meets a Central American Nightmare

New York Times

It is an unprecedented time in a nation’s political history. A neophyte politician — a man famous for lowbrow TV antics who has never held political office — is vying to become president. He feeds on simmering discontent about the corruption of the political establishment and mainstream politicians. Backed by extreme right-wing elements, he makes vague promises and trumpets his lack of political experience as a reason to vote for him. His competition is a former first lady married to a left-leaning ex-president. She is an altogether polarizing figure considered by a large portion of the electorate to be deeply corrupt.

McCoy: The bloodstained rise of global populism

Asia Times

In 2016, something extraordinary happened in the politics of diverse countries around the world. With surprising speed and simultaneity, a new generation of populist leaders emerged from the margins of nominally democratic nations to win power. In doing so, they gave voice, often in virulent fashion, to public concerns about the social costs of globalization.

W. Nathan Green: Microfinance and poverty

Phnom Penh Post

On March 13, the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) announced that it will cap interest rates on microfinance loans at 18 percent per year starting April 1 in order to help growing numbers of Cambodians struggling with over-indebtedness. After this announcement, leaders and experts of the microfinance industry responded that this government intervention is merely a political gesture that will backfire and hurt the rural poor even more.

Editorial: We need to end silence on sexual assault epidemic

WISC-TV 3

Our sexual assault agenda item is another issue that could be affected by budget decisions here and in Washington. In particular we’re concerned about a Walker budget proposal that could result in cuts to the services the Rape Crisis Center offers on the UW-Madison campus.

Editorial: The Trump Administration’s War on Science

New York Times

“Think of the marvels we can achieve if we simply set free the dreams of our people,” President Trump said in his speech to Congress last month, after summoning a list of technological triumphs from America’s past. “Cures to illnesses that have always plagued us,” and “American footprints on distant worlds.”

Carpenter: How to Protect our Disappearing Bumble Bees

Scientific American

On March 21, the rusty-patched bumble bee, Bombus affinis, officially became the first bumble bee listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act. This designation recognizes this important pollinator’s precarious position in the face of multiple threats to its survival. It also provides some of the tools necessary to begin to reverse its decline.

Susan Carpenter: How to Protect our Disappearing Bumble Bees

Scientific American

On March 21, the rusty-patched bumble bee, Bombus affinis, officially became the first bumble bee listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act. We must take action now to prevent the extinction of the rusty-patched and other imperiled bumble bees and foster native pollinators to maintain agricultural productivity and healthy ecosystems. It is still found in southern Wisconsin, including at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum, where our restored prairies, savannas, and woodlands provide the diverse native plant habitat they need to survive.

Start on career path with UW Colleges

Marshfield Herald

Students at UW-Marshfield/Wood County and those at our 12 other campuses in the state want a smaller, more personal educational environment to start, with University of Wisconsin coursework taught by University of Wisconsin teachers. Some want to get acclimated to college and learn better study habits. Some want to get more hands-on help to ensure success in their careers. Others want the reassurance of an environment where they won’t get lost.

Kelleher: Neil Gorsuch’s “natural law” philosophy is a long way from Justice Scalia’s originalism

Vox

When Antonin Scalia’s death was announced, Neil Gorsuch was on the ski slope. Checking his phone halfway down the hill, tears welled up as he read the news, he has said. According to Gorsuch, who is President Trump’s nominee to replace Scalia on the Supreme Court, Scalia was “a lion of the law” whose judicial philosophy was exactly right: A judge must apply the law as it is, and never as the judge prefers it to be.

Diversity initiatives at UW have a long way to go

Badger Herald

Letter to the editor: As a freshmen in the fall of 2015, I did not anticipate encountering so many issues related to diversity on the University of Wisconsin campus. Having grown up in a predominately white town in Wisconsin, I was excited to come to a university that people and advertisements told me was very diverse. Little did I know that when trying to navigate this large university, campus sometimes can feel unwelcoming to minority students.

Choosing to opt out of segregated fees endangers our sexual health resources

Daily Cardinal

Allocable segregated fees—the approximately $90 each UW-Madison student pays along with their tuition every year—go toward funding many clubs, resources and services across campus. However, according to the new budget proposal from Gov. Scott Walker, these fees will be made optional for students. While saving money may sound appealing, the loss of segregated fee income could be catastrophic for our campus community.

A cultural shift is required to fix or change rape culture

Daily Cardinal

Rape and the fear of rape is a part of the American college experience for women. On American college campuses, one in four undergraduate women will be sexually assaulted or raped by the time they graduate. Indicated by UW-Madison’s Association of American Universities Sexual Misconduct and Sexual Assault Climate Survey, our precious UW-Madison is no exception, with 27.6 percent of undergraduate female students reporting experiencing nonconsensual penetration or sexual touching.

William Cox: Debunking The ‘Gaydar’ Myth

The Huffington Post

Kids are often told that you can’t judge a book by its cover. Even so, people often believe they can rely on their gut to intuit things about other people. Stereotypes often influence these impressions, whether it’s that a black man is dangerous, a woman won’t be a good leader or a fashionable man is gay.

Wisconsin men’s basketball: Nigel Hayes to leave lasting legacy after senior season

Sconnie Sports Talk

Nigel Hayes is a name that will be remembered on the UW-Madison campus for years to come. A hard working, charming and bright young man, Hayes has made a lasting impact both on and off the court during his four years at Wisconsin. Entering tonight’s tournament game vs. Virginia Tech, Nigel will know that it could be his last game as a Badger. Whether Hayes walks off the court a winner or loser, boasting a great performance or not, every Badger fan ought to appreciate the things he has done during his time in Madison.

ASM’s ‘Cognitive Dissonance’ legislation is justified, but unreasonable

Badger Herald

For a student government so avowedly committed to creating a welcoming campus atmosphere for students of color, this legislation may be a counterproductive move. Black students already experience some measure of harassment because of stereotypes surrounding race, affirmative action and scholarship money. Imagine the hostility they as a group would face if every black student did not pay tuition, and nearly every white student did.

Paul Fanlund: Defending science, without picking fights

Capital Times

The city’s University of Wisconsin campus has more than 1,200 faculty in the biological and physical sciences, plus an uncounted number of academic and university staff who are scientists, according to UW spokeswoman Meredith McGlone. And as of last fall, there were more than 19,000 students, including graduate students, in those sciences out of a total of some 43,000. These days, it occurs to me that most of those scientists and science students might be inclined to take to the streets.

Teaching how to do research takes time — Robert Greenler

Wisconsin State Journal

Letter to the editor: Students don’t come to a program understanding how to do research. Research involves many challenging skills, such as collecting and interpreting data, writing and presenting reports, publishing the results, getting funding for research, and identifying commercial possibilities. All this is learned only by a student’s active participation in the research process.

Opt out clause proves once again Walker doesn’t value UW students

Badger Herald

Gov. Scott Walker has done it again. This man continues to attack the University of Wisconsin System, interfering with business that should not be messed with. If the $250 million in cuts to the UW System in the 2015 budget weren’t enough, he now wants the UW System to allow students to opt out of allocable segregated fees, which will have detrimental effects on our schools.

Jeffrey Tambor: It all started in Milwaukee

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: Now in “Transparent,” I’m still putting lessons learned at the Rep to work on the show. I also can’t seem to get away from people with connections to the Badger State. I’ve reunited with Judith, and our cast includes two graduates of UW-Madison, Jill Soloway and Amy Landecker, as well as Madison native Brad Whitford. Now if they’d only bring brats and cheese curds to the set, I’d be one happy guy!

Crime warning emails perpetuate racism and negative stereotypes

Daily Cardinal

On Feb. 27, UW-Madison community members received a familiar “Timely Warning” email that highlighted the ongoing threat of burglary on campus. UW-Madison is obligated to send these emails under the Clery Act, which requires campuses to report specific crimes, such as homicide, sexual offenses and robbery. While these emails often describe the alleged perpetrator, rarely do they include identifying photographs like the one circulated on Monday.

UW System Needs More Funding

Stevens Point Journal

We are all doing well in our golden years and enjoying our retirements; two here in Wisconsin and one in Illinois. I can unequivocally state that the reason why we are doing well is the education we received from this great university.

Letter to the Editor: Optional allocable fees will harm UW education

Daily Cardinal

While these allocable segregated fees are only 17 percent of the total of segregated fees students pay, amounting to $88.98 per student each semester, according to UW’s Office of the Registrar, these fees fund a multitude of on-campus services. These services include, but are not limited to: the bus pass, the Rape Crisis Center, Tenant Resource Center, Badger Catholic, Sex Out Loud, SPILL, VETS Support, GUTS Tutoring and various grants for student org operations.