Category: Opinion

The new, 542-page independent review commissioned by the ethics committee of the American Psychological Association has generated considerable attention, replete with a front-page story in The New York Times. Documenting the alleged involvement of some of the nation’s leading psychologists in enhanced interrogations conducted by the military and intelligence agencies in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on America, the report accuses some association leaders of using their positions to protect the interrogation program from critics within the Central Intelligence Agency. Furthermore, it concludes, the APA itself “chose its ethics policy based on its goals of helping DOD, managing its PR, and maximizing the growth of the profession.”

Not being rich, our family has allocated much of our financial resources to sending our children to UW schools. But we’re not the only ones who put up dollars. Every Wisconsin taxpayer did also.

Ten of my family members with degrees work in Wisconsin. They pay taxes, buy homes, bring up families and contribute to life here as pharmacists, nurses, teachers, computer specialists and accountants. The taxpayers investment pays off.

A key talking point in the Obama Administration’s efforts to convince Congress and the public to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)—a proposed trade and investment treaty between the U.S. and 12 nations in the Asia Pacific region, now being negotiated—is that the U.S. needs to “write the rules” of trade in the Asia Pacific region before China does. Obama warned in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal that China would be able to “muscle other countries in the region around rules that disadvantage us” if the United States fails to participate in the TPP.

This interview, the sixth in a series on political topics, discusses philosophical issues concerning economic policy. My interviewee is Daniel Hausman, professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of “Preference, Value, Choice and Welfare.” — Gary Gutting

The subject of quotas for Asian American students in higher education is making news as groups of Asian Americans file lawsuits against Harvard and other elite universities.

What is it about the long-time favorite television show, Sesame Street, that has allowed it to influence generations of viewers?

Next week, Scott Walker is expected to announce that he’s running for president. When he does, he’ll give voters a decision many have never faced in their lifetimes: should you vote for someone without a college degree for President of the United States?

We do this because we care about our students, many of whom first-generation college students. Higher education is one of the few vehicles for social mobility, and we want to give them the best possible boost for their futures.

A number has a way of ending an argument. What can you say to it? There’s no nuance, no room for interpretation—it is what it is.

We’ve introduced legislation to decrease tuition debt for higher education. They’ll be passing a budget with a $250 million cut to our University of Wisconsin system.

It’s common to fret over unintended consequences. But what about intended consequences?In Wisconsin, lawmakers are debating a proposed change to state law that would weaken tenure protections at the University of Wisconsin system’s schools . If it passes, faculty could be terminated whenever “such an action is deemed necessary due to a budget or program decision.” Twenty-one scholarly associations, including the American Historical Association, the Association of College & Research Libraries and the Modern Language Association, denounced this effort for its threat to shared governance and academic freedom. And, to be sure, those are threats not to be minimized. In the age of “safe spaces” and “trigger warnings,” academic freedom is under siege.

In the fall of 1986, I was one of a group of young upstarts who thought we would take on one of the oldest student newspapers in the country.

On Thursday, Pope Francis issued his newest encyclical, “Laudato Sii” (Praised Be To You), making the case that the environment is a moral issue. Catholics, and all people of good will, are asked to care for creation as God’s gift and to preserve a quality of life for future generations. Francis believes we are in danger of losing sight of the giftedness of creation. He is concerned that while Genesis commands humankind to “till and keep,” it has become clear that we have “tilled too much” and “kept too little.”

Walking through Chicago’s Green City farmers’ market in the heat of August, it’s hard to overlook the abundance of heirloom tomatoes, in colors ranging from near black to pink or green, filling plastic bins and laid out on tables. Some are small as marbles, others large and lobed, almost like bell peppers. Their skins are often fragile, prone to splitting and poorly suited to lengthy journeys in refrigerated trucks.

Closed to the public. That’s the sign that state officials apparently want to hang on the selection process for top leaders at the University of Wisconsin System.

Last month, the Joint Finance Committee struck tenure for University of Wisconsin faculty from state law.

Letter to the editor from University of Iowa associate professor emeritus. “When a top-tier university such as UW-Madison abandons tenure, other universities can almost overnight build stellar departments by hiring departing UW-Madison faculty.”

Letter to the editor from parent of incoming freshman from New Jersey.

Column by Kirstie K. Danielson, who received a Ph.D. from UW–Madison and is currently an assistant professor in the Division of Transplant Surgery at the University of Illinois–Chicago, and Scott Wittkopf, who attended UW-Madison and is a political communications consultant and co-founder of public policy think tank Forward Institute.

Letter to the editor from Madison resident Teloh, professor emeritus from Vanderbilt University.

Regardless of what you think about the current struggle for power over the University of Wisconsin, it is sending messages about our state and especially its flagship campus across the country and even internationally. American citizens and big media outside Wisconsin have become embroiled in our UW Badger Civil War.

The University of Wisconsin System’s tenure policies would more make sense if every university professor were like the one this newspaper profiled on its front page on Sunday.

Re “Unions Subdued, Walker Turns to Tenure at Wisconsin Colleges” (front page, June 5):