Category: Opinion

Sometimes research takes on a life of its own and becomes more like a Rorschach test for a national policy controversy. That?s what?s happened to a review of the literature on the critical information needs of American communities that I and colleagues from around the country conducted for the Federal Communications Commission in July 2012. The recommendations of the review informed a proposed pilot study in Columbia, S.C., of what, if any, critical information needs citizens have and whether they are being met in our rapidly changing media environment.

Noted: Kelsey Mullane is a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying art history and history. After graduation, she hopes to go on to graduate school and pursue a PhD in American history.

Noted: Bruce Barrett is a tenured professor and practicing family physician with the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Margaret Mooney, Pam Kleiss, Dick Smith and Madeleine Para contributed to this op-ed, which is dedicated to physician-activist Jeff Patterson, who died on Jan. 24.

Noted: James J. Shaw, PhD, of Lake Mills is an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the retired superintendent of the Racine Unified School District.

Some of the smartest thinkers on problems at home and around the world are university professors, but most of them just don?t matter in today?s great debates.

I for one will no longer call myself an alumni. Can I get my tuition back?

Noted: Ken Mayer and Barry Burden, professors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and redistricting experts, also are expected to speak.

I disagree with the Jan. 27 letter to the editor objecting to the UW-Madison Student-Athlete Performance Center.

The annual State of the State address delivered by Gov. Scott Walker was given amid news that the Wisconsin state budget, like those in many other states, is projected to run a surplus. But for too many hardworking Wisconsin family budgets, there?s not the same good news ? and the $1.2 trillion student loan debt crisis is the reason for hundreds of thousands of us.

Everyone knows the University of Wisconsin-Madison doesn?t do much to work with companies and institutions in Milwaukee, and its relationship with UW-Milwaukee is practically nonexistent. Right?Wrong.

Nearly every medical advance from the last century is a product of responsible animal research, and animal models will continue to be important to medical progress.

Long live UW-Madison professor Harold Scheub and his African stories. He was featured in Monday?s story about his retirement.

Dear Editor: I commend my friend and former colleague at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Rev. Alex Gee, for his powerful and accurate analysis in the Cap Times about how we, many Madison residents, are failing the members of our African-American community. Yes, he is not politically correct; he is simply correct. I have two points to make:

Noted: According to the University of Wisconsin-Madison-based Center on Wisconsin Strategy, a nonpartisan national think tank that promotes “high road” solutions to social problems, about 8,000 workers in Milwaukee County would get higher wages as a result of the living wage. For the vast majority of those workers, their standard of living would rise. This would lift them out of a vicious cycle of being part of the working poor who work hard to make a living but still rely on public assistance to keep ahead of the bills.

Column is by John Milton Cooper Jr. is the E. Gordon Fox professor of American institutions emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of “Woodrow Wilson: A Biography.”

Regarding several letters in Thursday?s paper, I understand and accept that some people object to animal research. But I?d bet that no neurologists or oncologists belong to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Madison Metro Transit shouldn?t apologize for running a new PETA bus ad showing us all what terrible things happen to animals inside the UW-Madison?s labs.

There are alternatives to using live animals for medical testing. Science has advanced so that tissues can be cultured and used. Computer modeling is also being used successfully.

Noted: Kathryn Jeffers is author of “The Long Trip To Arlington,” a personal memoir of her father’s service in World War II. She teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business in Executive Education.

My father woke at dawn a contented man on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, at Wheeler Field, 15 miles from Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

I write regarding coverage of the efforts of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to demonize research at UW-Madison, using disconcerting images of a cat given a cochlear implant.

The University of Wisconsin football team will still go bowling in Florida, it?s just that the game will probably be a few hundred miles north of the desired destination.

Dear Editor: In Pat Schneiders recent story “Unwelcome: UW-Madison has work to do in building a comfortable workplace for minority faculty,” it states that faculty can bring allegations of discriminatory activity to the Office for Equity and Diversity.

If you are paying attention to legislative debates or media reports, you may get the impression that our schools are failing and that many people have turned their backs on this uniquely American public institution.

Two weeks ago, we published an opinion piece in Crossroads on the perils of the national debt, purportedly written by a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.I?m writing today because there was a serious problem with the article: The student didn?t write it. As a result, we have removed it from our website.

We recently returned to Ohio to attend the Ohio State vs. Wisconsin football game. When we arrived at the motel, we discovered our room was surrounded by UW-Madison students, who may have been shocked to see grey-haired OSU fans in their midst.

When it comes to the unimaginative four-word, two-profanity chant common to the student section during UW-Madison football games, I can?t help but think: So what else is new?