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Category: Top Stories

Chancellor Blank speaks on ‘crises’ facing UW

Daily Cardinal

UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank met with representatives of the school’s two student newspapers Tuesday afternoon to answer questions and share her views on the current semester. “We’re in the midst of three crises,” the Chancellor told the Daily Cardinal and Badger Herald, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic, the university’s financial woes and the “social revolution” brought on by the killing of George Floyd and enduring cycles of racial injustice.

Finish in sight for new Badgers pool construction, Field House exterior renovation

Wisconsin State Journal

The Nicholas Recreation Center is scheduled to open Monday with limited capacity on the site of the former Southeast Recreational Facility near the Kohl Center and LaBahn Arena. The University Recreation and Wellbeing building includes the Soderholm Family Aquatic Center that will be home to the Badgers swimming and diving teams.

Two leaders urge colleges to encourage student voting

Inside Higher Ed

Chancellor Blank and Harvard University President Lawrence S. Bacow: If you are leading a college or university right now — or if you are making the academic year possible as a member of the faculty or staff at any one of our nation’s institutions of higher education — asking something more of your students in the midst of a global pandemic may seem impractical. But one assignment cannot wait. We urge you to encourage your students to register to vote, to become informed of the issues and the candidates, and to cast a ballot

8 Wisconsin cities have some of the fastest case growth in US, per a New York Times analysis. Seven of them have UW campuses.

Appleton Post Crescent

Eight Wisconsin metro areas have landed on the New York Times’ list of places across the country where new cases of COVID-19 are rising the fastest.

La Crosse is number one on the New York Times’ list, which was updated Thursday afternoon. In third is Whitewater, and the Oshkosh-Neenah area is in eighth. Stevens Point, Appleton, Platteville, Madison and Green Bay take up the 15th through 19th spots of the list, respectively.

With the exception of Appleton, all the Wisconsin cities on the list are home to a University of Wisconsin System campus.

Dane County add 210 new coronavirus cases; second consecutive day over 200

Dane County confirmed 210 new coronavirus cases this morning, as yesterday’s Data Snapshot from Public Health Madison Dane County (PHMDC) reported 72 percent of all new cases the September 1-14 were from UW students and staff. Today’s new cases bring the total for the county to 8,461 as of this morning. There are 6,548 recovered cases while 1,872 are currently active. This brings the percentage of active cases to 22 percent.

Dane Co. average COVID-19 cases per day nearly doubles since last week

NBC-15

Noted: Just over three-quarters of those recent cases were found in University of Wisconsin-Madison students and staff, with students making up the vast majority, 1,808 to 10 for the UW staff, PHMDC data notes indicate. Nearly 1,400 of the total cases were linked to college-age housing clusters, such as forms, apartment complexes with 10 or more cases, and fraternities and sororities.

Coronavirus in Wisconsin: State reports more than 1,400 new cases as seven-day case average continues to rise

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: The new cases come as colleges and universities across the state continue to grapple with outbreaks of the virus on and around their campuses.

Nearly 90% of University of Wisconsin-Madison students who have tested positive for COVID-19 have exhibited symptoms, public health officials said Wednesday.

Big Ten Reverses Course and Will Bring Football Back in Late October

WSJ

As late as Tuesday morning, University of Wisconsin-Madison chancellor Rebecca Blank said that uncertainty over cardiac complications had driven the August decision to nix fall football, and could still lead the Big Ten to sit out.

“Until we have answers to that, we’re going to keep our season postponed,” she testified before the U.S. Senate’s health committee.

Big Ten football, pandemic and politics collide as UW’s Blank testifies before Congress

Wisconsin Examiner

University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank testified before a Senate committee Tuesday as speculation swirled all the way up to the Oval Office about the fate of the Big Ten’s football season. President Donald Trump has tried to pressure the conference — the home of several key Midwestern battleground states in the November election — to reschedule the football season this fall.

‘We’re Not Running Sports to Primarily Make Money’: NIL Hearing to Put Collegiate Revenues in Spotlight

Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated obtained the 1,700-word testimony that Blank submitted ahead of a hearing Tuesday on name, image and likeness before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. While she agrees that NIL reform is needed, Blank plans to tell senators that an unchecked athlete-compensation model could adversely impact Olympic sports and that athletes are already given a “generous package” of benefits that includes thousands of dollars in education, unlimited meals, state-of-the-art medical care and other on-campus resources—many of which normal students do not receive, she notes in the testimony. According to her written testimony, a full scholarship package at Wisconsin is nearly $87,000 for out-of-state students and more than $59,000 for those in state.

Here’s how the University of Wisconsin-Madison is limiting in-person interactions on campus in the next two weeks

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

In response to spiking COVID-19 cases, the University of Wisconsin-Madison decided to make classes virtual, restrict other in-person activities and quarantine students living in two residence halls, Sellery and Witte. The decision was made Wednesday  and most restrictions will be in place until at least Sept. 25.

UW announces two weeks of online courses, two dorms quarantined

The Capital Times

Students scrambled in and out of Witte Residence Hall on Wednesday night with their arms full of Ian’s Pizza boxes, panic-bought groceries and bags full of trash. One student entered the building announcing, “Goodbye, rain! Goodbye, fresh air!” as he prepared to enter two weeks of quarantine announced by the University of Wisconsin-Madison less than two hours earlier.

UW-Madison Students Cope With The Pandemic

Wisconsin Public Radio

With a growing number of COVID-19 cases confirmed at UW Madison, Chancellor Rebecca Blank directed students to restrict their movements. We speak with the chair of the Associated Students of Madison about how students are coping with the pandemic and what they think of the university’s restart plan.