Letter to the editor: Election season is over, so what useful things are our Wisconsin legislators doing now? Well, Rep. Dave Murphy (Greenville) is getting himself all worked up about a course offered at UW-Madison. It’s a course about race and culture called “The Problem of Whiteness.” Murphy seems to think this course is a personal insult to him, as a white person.
UW-Madison officials are hoping to tamp down concerns among students that under incoming President Donald Trump, their peers living in the country without legal permission could be snatched from campus lecture halls and deported.
State Rep. David Murphy, R-Greenville, is the latest in a line of state legislators to get his tighty whities in a bundle over a class going on over at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
UW-Madison’s spring course guide has been available for more than two months, but some legislators recently raised concerns about next semester’s offerings, particularly about an African languages and literature class called “The Problem of Whiteness.”
UW-Madison’s spring course guide has been available for more than two months, but some legislators recently raised concerns about next semester’s offerings, particularly about an African languages and literature class called “The Problem of Whiteness.”
State Rep. David Murphy, R-Greenville, is the latest in a line of state legislators to get his tighty whities in a bundle over a class going on over at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The hand-wringing time for higher education is over. The economic realities that shaped the 2016 election also apply to students on our campuses.
Republican state legislators, led by Rep. Dave Murphy, Greenville, and Sen. Steve Nass, Whitewater, are threatening to withhold funding from the University of Wisconsin-Madison if it doesn’t kill the course “The Problem of Whiteness” and dismiss the professor who teaches it (Dec. 21 Tribune). I’m not surprised by this news, but I am, sadly, reminded again how little these lawmakers seem to understand about what makes a university work.
Guest column in Gannett’s “Degrees of Debt” series by a Concordia University student: Eighty-eight thousand dollars. As I cross the stage at my college graduation, my tuition will have totaled approximately $88,000.
Community columnist Tom Clementi: If you’re a football fan, 2016 has been a wonderful year. … These accomplishments help us get through a cold winter. What is baffling, however, is that when it comes to the academic funding side of these, and other state, universities, they somehow become our favorite whipping boys.
If the day of the week ends in “y,” odds are that someone in academia is being silly. A recent example is a course in “The Problem of Whiteness” at the University of Wisconsin-Madison taught by a professor named Damon Sajnani. Two GOP legislators have called for the course to be cancelled or Sajnani to be fired. I think that they are wrong to do so, but let’s first consider why they are upset.
Guest column by Larry Shapiro, a professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he has been on the faculty since 1993.
Letter to the editor: There are some excellent, high-quality, lower-cost college options that will allow students to reduce or eliminate college debt. While tuition at Lawrence University in Appleton is $44,544 and Marquette University is $38,000 per year, Wisconsin resident tuition is significantly lower. Tuition and fees at the University of Wisconsin-Marathon County are $5,162 annually. Tuition at the four-year campuses is also significantly less, for example it is $7,672 at UW-Stevens Point and just more than $10,000 annually at UW-Madison.
Letter to the editor: To end the year on a positive note, I’d like to express my gratitude to UW for offering the senior guest auditor program.
As state budget writers wrap up their draft of a two-year spending plan to be unveiled early next year, the University of Wisconsin System will once again face stiff competition for public dollars.
Seems to me that the clowns who wore a Barack Obama costume with a noose attached to it to a Badgers game this fall could use a course that explores the issue of racism. But GOP legislators, with Rep. Dave Murphy of Greenville leading the charge, think that a University of Wisconsin-Madison course dealing with racism and titled “The Problem of Whiteness” should be canceled and the professor teaching it fired.
If I were Santa Claus, my Christmas gifts to Republican state Rep. Dave Murphy and Republican state Sen. Steve Nass would be vouchers to enroll in the UW-Madison class “The Problem of Whiteness.”
The University of Wisconsin in Madison has always been a bit strange. I ought to know. I was there during the wave of radicalism that crested in the Sixties; I watched as demonstrators carrying North Vietnamese flags stormed the school’s administration buildings, burned this country’s flag and finally closed the place down to protest the Vietnam War and just about everything else Americans value.
As state budget writers wrap up their draft of a two-year spending plan to be unveiled early next year, the University of Wisconsin System will once again face stiff competition for public dollars.
Letter to the editor: Some things never change: taxes, gravity and the annual attack by Republican legislators on university course content.
Letter to the editor: Once again, UW-Madison has drawn the ire of a state legislator over the content of one of its courses, this one entitled “The Problem of Whiteness.” Judging by its description and reading list, this course sounds more like ideological brainwashing (based on the shaky premise that every institution and white citizen in America is permeated by racism) than an exercise in critical inquiry.
Sen. Steve Nass is developing a reputation for acting more like the Thought Police than a legislator in his dealings with UW-Madison.
Column by Caroline Levine, former chair of the English department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison, long one of the nation’s most highly regarded research institutions, is a little less well-regarded these days. For the first time in 44 years, UW-Madison fell out of the top five U.S. research universities.
Letter to the editor from Virginia Tech assistant prof.: News about the Wisconsin Legislature introducing a concealed-carry policy at University of Wisconsin campuses sends fear through me.
Wisconsin State Journal editorial: A chief asset is our university system. About 4,500 foreign students attend UW-Madison. Statewide, the total is more than twice as large. That’s brainpower that could fill and create jobs in the state. One of every eight STEM workers in Wisconsin with an advanced degree is already an immigrant.
Letter to the editor: My dilemma now is: I’m having trouble making my (fairly meager) annual contribution to the UW Foundation or any other UW-related fund.My feeling is, with people like budget-cutting Gov. Scott Walker, Paul Ryan, Ron Johnson and Reince Priebus as the state’s standard-bearers, and Wisconsin voting red, don’t come around to blue-state outsiders like me to make up the budget difference. I wonder if other alumni feel the same way?
There’s an inherent dilemma in effectively managing cybersecurity: IT organizations must dedicate the time and focus required for long-term strategic planning while maintaining the agility to meet evolving threats and take advantage of emerging technologies. Add in the ongoing need to review and revise strategic plans to reflect those changing risk and technology landscapes, and the task can seem herculean.
Noted: Julia Sherman is the coordinator of the Wisconsin Alcohol Policy Project at the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Dietram Scheufele: Truth seems to be an increasingly flexible concept in politics. At least that’s the impression the Oxford English Dictionary gave recently, as it declared “post-truth” the 2016 Word of the Year. Many scientists and science communicators have grappled with disregard for, or inappropriate use of, scientific evidence for years – especially around contentious issues like the causes of global warming, or the benefits of vaccinating children.
Excessive force by police against minorities, especially African-Americans, is nothing new in America. But now video evidence verifies the lethal violence occurring to our fellow Americans.
I am alarmed and disappointed by reports Rep. Jesse Kremer, R-Kewaskum, acting on the wishes of his pro-gun campaign contributors, will again introduce concealed-carry legislation bringing handguns to a University of Wisconsin System campus near you.
Choosing where to go to college is a huge choice. It’s an even bigger deal for me because of the amount of debt I’ll be taking on.
It is not obvious to me that Chinese leaders are very angry over President-elect Donald J. Trump’s phone call to President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan. It’s not even obvious to me that Taiwan is a top priority for the Chinese Communist Party, but the United States is.
Truth seems to be an increasingly flexible concept in politics. At least that’s the impression the Oxford English Dictionary gave recently, as it declared “post-truth” the 2016 Word of the Year. What happens when decisions are based on misleading or blatantly wrong information? The answer is quite simple – our airplanes would be less safe, our medical treatments less effective, our economy less competitive globally, and on and on.
Justin Sydnor is a UW-Madison business professor specializing in risk management and insurance.
I’ve often been asked what the difference between Milwaukee and Madison when it comes to the world of startups. Madison and the UW system represent one of the greatest intellectual brain trusts on the planet; backed up by world-class research.
Letter to the editor: Now, after many successful seasons and a 2016 year where the Badgers were outstanding, the State Journal comes up with the headline: “Cotton Bowl serves as consolation prize.” Consolation? The Cotton Bowl is one of the biggest prizes among the many bowls.
It’s slow going, but the campaign to highlight censorship on campus may be getting somewhere. That’s the message of a new report from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (Fire), which tracks the speech bullies in academia.
Maybe you’ve heard someone say, “My wife has cancer, and her treatment isn’t working.” Or, “I need equipment that performs better in my plant and saves me time and money.” “My child has autism, and I need better ways to help him.”
State legislators should fully support the moderate and reasonable budget request submitted by the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison recently slid two spots in the national rankings for total research funding. The shift is a troubling indicator for our state’s economic future. While this prestigious flagship university is certainly capable of a rebound, these are signs of things to come and no one should be surprised.
The conservative website, professorwatchlist.org, claims its list comes from credible sources, but the website’s entry portraying a UW-Whitewater professor as a left-wing radical smacks of fake news.
State lawmakers should fully support the moderate and reasonable budget request submitted by the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents.
“Person on the street” interviews.
Letter to the editor: Players participating in this sort of activity need to understand it’s a protest witnessed only by their teammates, since the television network has no interest in being the conduit for their “statement” to the viewing public.
No insult is too marginal, anonymous or stupid, apparently, to garner the condemnation of some of Madison’s brightest minds, who emphasize the need for a welcoming campus “climate,” emotionally safe for students.
Thanks to the efforts of Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, a recount is underway in Wisconsin. It is highly unlikely to change the outcome — as Hillary Clinton’s campaign has stated — but it is much more likely to overturn some conventional wisdom about counting votes. In particular, we may learn, yet again, that computers are better than humans at counting ballots.
The simmering frustration from in both rural and urban areas has boiled over. This turbulence, whether evident through community demonstrations or election results, conveys an urgent message of discontent rooted in social and economic inequities that result in health disparities.
Letter to the editor: The governor and the Republican Legislature threaten to further reduce state funding of UW-Madison until it meets unspecified criteria. Evidently “world-renowned research” is no longer on the list.
The news that the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s ranking for research activity dropped from fourth to sixth in the nation is just jaw-dropping.
Now-retired UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley would often say that it took well over 100 years for the people of Wisconsin to build a world-class university, but it won’t take but a few years to tear it all down.
For the first time since records have been kept, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has fallen out of the nation’s top five universities in terms of dollars spent on research and development.
Letter to the editor: A protest about very real racial injustices should not be interpreted as unpatriotic. It shows that Hayes cares about the direction this country is going. I would call that good citizenship, especially when it has required such bravery.
Letter to the editor: As a city taxpayer, I question the spending of $160,000 for a project that is essentially a gift to UW. The universtiy surely has resources (art students or instructors who could create a sculpture for a lot less) or finances to get their own public art.
For the first time since records have been kept, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has fallen out of the nation’s top five universities in terms of dollars spent on research and development.
The news that the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s ranking for research activity dropped from fourth to sixth in the nation is just jaw-dropping.
No American principle is more important than the right of dissent against what is percieved as an unjust government.
As a community of college-educated citizens, we are doing ourselves a disservice if we are not informed in the field of environmental sustainability. The environment provides us with all of the base resources we need to survive. Humans will never be able to synthetically produce all the goods and services that the environment gives us, and yet we are destroying it as though we are losing nothing; in fact, we are losing everything.
In the late 1960’s, then-law professor Robert Bork noticed an amusing phenomenon on the Yale University campus. Student protesters would notify the media of an upcoming demonstration, but if no television cameras appeared, the protest would be canceled on the spot. As Bork wrote in his book “Slouching Towards Gomorrah,” in one instance when the media failed to show, students posted a notice reserving their right to be disruptive at a later time, “thus nicely combining the fervor of revolutionaries with the caution of legal draftsmen.”
