Category: Opinion

Proposal that does not consider marginalized identities in financial aid decisions reinforces inequitable systems in higher education.

Column by Larry Gallup, audience growth editor for USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin.

Guest column by state Sen. Melissa Agard, D-Madison.

For decades, Wisconsin prioritized funding the UW System, knowing that it was the most important thing we could do to develop our workforce and innovate for our future. Our public universities attract people from the Great Lakes region and beyond because our institutions offer quality educational opportunities and affordable tuition.

According to the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau, Senate Bill 571 would “afford certain rights and protections to student journalists who are public school pupils or students enrolled in a University of Wisconsin System institution or technical college.”

UW-Madison students are frustrated with classes held until the day before Thanksgiving.

In the 2011 decision Snyder v. Phelps, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that hateful speech, on its own, is protected under the First Amendment. The Snyder ruling, however, does not extend to speech that involves illegal action. For example, hateful speech that incites violence, communicates true threats or rises to the level of a hate crime is unprotected.

Letter to the editor: Speaker Vos and every American elected official should be actively supporting the diversity, equity and inclusion of every American citizen in all public and political activities. The self-governing democracy we have developed over the centuries demands this.

That’s not a debatable point. That’s a fact, as Wisconsin business leaders are explaining in a new campaign that expresses deep disappointment with the decision of the Republican-controlled legislative Joint Finance Committee to refuse to fund the state’s portion of the $347 million College of Engineering expansion project as part of the 2023-25 capital budget.

Amid budget battles over faculty pay raises, UW should also champion fair pay for student employees.

Letter to the editor: Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is insisting that the University of Wisconsin System end their diversity, equity and inclusion programs that serve “students of color, student veterans, women seeking degrees in male-dominated disciplines and students with disabilities” (“UW System pay hikes may be at risk,” Sept. 20).

Budget cuts threaten comprehensive institutional support for underrepresented students.

Bill to end scholarship displacement could benefit students with financial need, but unrealistic without sufficient funding for the Universities of Wisconsin.

UW-Madison has become increasingly more selective with the student body they admit. The university’s acceptance rate has fallen from 67% to 49% in the past decade. This number takes an even steeper drop when you take into account the out-of-state acceptance rate falling to roughly 18%.

If there’s one thing Madison can thank COVID-19 for, it’s canceling Freakfest.

Letter to the editor: Vos and his Republican friends constantly say they represent the hardworking taxpayers of Wisconsin. How does keeping money from middle-class working people meet that slogan. Vos keeps claiming that diversity at the Universities of Wisconsin is a bad thing. When I attended a UW school in the 1950s, we saw almost no diversity.

While many Wisconsin state employees received pay increases from the state government Tuesday, employees within the Universities of Wisconsin were left out. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos claims he will continue to withhold pay increases from these employees until the UW-System gets rid of all programming related to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Letter to the editor: Tom Still’s column last Sunday, “Remove barriers to UW projects,” neatly summarized the baffling behavior of the Legislature toward UW-Madison and UW-La Crosse.

Graduate students begin programs because we want to learn. We have a passion for a subject area and we want to contribute to a solution. I am constantly in awe of my friends and lab mates, the dedication and creativity they pour into their degrees. But we are more than just students.

Letter to the editor: The same university that opens its mouth to speak on countless social issues and found it necessary to remove a “racist” rock suddenly finds itself unable to comment on students supporting terrorists who murder children.

Rebranding of University of Wisconsin System is unnecessary change that will likely not have intended impact.

Conservatives have been claiming for decades that the University of Wisconsin-Madison is brainwashing young people to make them liberals. The problem with that claim is that some of the most right-wing figures in American politics are UW grads.

Letter to the editor: As a UW-Madison alum, I read with embarrassment the article “Profanities, lewd behavior mar conference livestream.”