Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday that a University of Wisconsin-Madison class titled “The Problem is Whiteness” is “goofy” and “unusual,” but he stopped short of saying offering it should put UW’s funding in jeopardy.
Category: Top Stories
Lawmakers critical of UW-Madison ‘Problem of Whiteness’ course
Wisconsin Radio Network
The University of Wisconsin Madison is being called on by two state lawmakers to cancel a course planned for next semester titled “The Problem of Whiteness.”
Republican Legislators Take Issue With New UW-Madison Race Relations Course
Wisconsin Public Radio
State legislators are taking issue with a new race relations course called “The Problem of Whiteness” being offered at the University of Wisconsin-Madison next semester.
Legislators threaten funding, professor over ‘The Problem of Whiteness’ class
Daily Cardinal
Wisconsin legislators have come out strongly against a UW-Madison class called “The Problem of Whiteness,” suggesting it may impact the university’s upcoming budget if administrators don’t take action.
Legislators criticize UW-Madison professor’s course on race, tweets about shooting of officers
Wisconsin State Journal
A Republican lawmaker called for UW-Madison to cancel a planned course on racism and fire its professor for posting tweets the legislator said condoned violence against police officers, warning Tuesday that the class could affect the university’s funding in the next state budget.
Republicans Legislators Object to Course on Racism
Inside Higher Education
Two Wisconsin Republican legislators have threatened to withhold state funds from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in relation to a planned course on racism called The Problem of Whiteness. State Representative Dave Murphy has also called on the university to fire the professor in charge of the course over his tweets, saying that some condone violence against police officers.
UW-Madison says state cuts threaten research stature
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Even as it was losing its stature as one of America’s top five research schools, the University of Wisconsin-Madison had begun lobbying aggressively for state funding to attract more of the kind of high-caliber faculty who drive the nation’s greatest research institutions.
Apollo 13 astronaut headlines UW-Madison winter commencement
WISC-TV 3
A retired astronaut famous for his role in the 1970 Apollo 13 mission headlined UW-Madison’s winter commencement ceremony for graduates Sunday morning.
Astronaut James Lovell speaks at UW-Madison’s winter commencement
NBC-15
Astronaut James Lovell returns to Madison to speak at UW-Madison’s winter commencement.
University students around the area celebrate their graduations
WKOW-TV 27
UW Madison students are looking ahead to a new chapter, after getting their diplomas Sunday. More than 1,000 students gathered at the Kohl Center bright and early for winter commencement, receiving their diplomas, and getting the once in a lifetime opportunity to hear Wisconsin astronaut and UW Madison Alum, James Lovell speak.
Jim Lovell returns to Madison where he washed dishes, cared for lab rats and began heroic career
Wisconsin State Journal
Jim Lovell brought a love of model rocketry, the rank of Eagle Scout, few finances and hopes of becoming a pilot when he came to UW-Madison in the fall of 1946 for the start of his freshman year.
Nicholas UW-Madison gift inspires $100 million scholarship endowment
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A $100 million vision that nationally known Milwaukee money manager Albert “Ab” Nicholas and his college sweetheart wife Nancy put forward more than a year ago has been realized four months after his death.
UW-Madison ranks 3rd for Ph.D.s awarded in 2015 | Higher education
Capital Times
UW-Madison ranked third in the nation in 2015 for the number of Ph.D. degrees awarded, according to a federal survey.
UW Chancellor visits Dells, calls for investment
Wisconsin Dells Events
Investment in the University of Wisconsin is paramount for the state’s institutions of higher learning maintain their quality of education, the chancellor of the state’s flagship university told a lunch-time gathering in Wisconsin Dells Tuesday.
UW System To Offer Sexual Violence Prevention Training For All Students, Employees
Wisconsin Public Radio
In an effort to address alarming statistics both nationwide and across state campuses, the University of Wisconsin System will soon offer sexual violence training for all employees and students.
UW Regents approve tuition changes
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — University of Wisconsin System officials Thursday approved raising tuition for out-of-state, graduate and professional school students by hundreds of dollars at more than a half-dozen campuses as they grapple with a Republican-imposed freeze on in-state undergraduate tuition.
UW System Regents OK Salary Increase Request To Lawmakers
Wisconsin Public Radio
University of Wisconsin System leaders have approved asking legislators for an additional $78 million to bulk up employee raises over the next two years.
UW regents weigh more power in hands of chancellors
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents on Thursday will consider adding stronger language to a policy that faculty members already believe takes power out of their hands, and concentrates it in the hands of campus administrators.
Rebecca Blank and Marsha Mailick: Drop in research ranking signals need to reinvest in UW
Wisconsin State Journal
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.”
Editorial: Time to invest in University of Wisconsin again
WISC-TV 3
Earlier this year a prominent Republican business executive said to me that even as a conservative he recognized it was time to once again invest in the University of Wisconsin.
UW Madison students reveal award winning technology design
NBC-15
Earlier this year, the Badgerloop team, a group of more than 100 undergrad students at UW Madison, won third place in the world, beating out nearly 1,200 other teams, in a design competition put on by SpaceX. The technology company asked students around the world to bring their Hyperloop travel concept to life.
UW campuses seeking nonresident tuition increases
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Six University of Wisconsin campuses — including UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee — will seek permission Thursday from the Board of Regents to raise tuition for nonresident undergraduates and some graduate and professional programs.
‘Hyperloop’ pod built by UW students goes on display tonight
Capital Times
Anyone interested in catching a glimpse of what entrepreneurs say could be the future of mass transportation should head over to the Discovery Building at 330 N. Orchard St. tonight.
UW System to require sexual misconduct training for all students, employees
Wisconsin State Journal
Employees and new students throughout the University of Wisconsin System will soon have to take part in mandatory training on preventing sexual assault and harassment.
UW-Madison activist wins prestigious scholarship; follows becoming Rhodes finalist
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison student activist Deshawn McKinney has been named a winner of the prestigious Marshall Scholarship, awarded to 40 American students each year to attend graduate school in any field in the United Kingdom.
Wisconsin regents set to increase out-of-state tuition, OK pay raises
AP
University of Wisconsin System officials are poised to raise out-of-state and graduate tuition rates again to help offset Gov. Scott Walker’s resident undergraduate tuition freeze and give their employees raises for the next two years.
UW System Regents To Consider Employee Raises
Wisconsin Public Radio
University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents will consider two years of 2 percent raises for UW System employees at its meeting Thursday. The increases are an effort reduce the faculty turnover rate.
UW System looks to standardize sexual assault training across institutions
Badger Herald
University of Wisconsin System became among the first in the nation to recommend a systemwide sexual violence and harassment training for all employees and students Monday.
Activists look to re-shape UW-Madison through student government
Wisconsin State Journal
During the last school year, student activists calling for changes to improve the experiences of minorities at UW-Madison disrupted the University of Wisconsin System’s governing board to get their message out and covered the statue of Abraham Lincoln on Bascom Hill with a list of demands for change.
Out-of-state tuition at UW-Madison to rise $4,000 under proposal
Wisconsin State Journal
Out-of-state students at UW-Madison would see their tuition bills rise by $4,000 over the next two years, while costs for the university’s business, medical and other professional schools could rise by about 10 percent or more annually, under a plan officials announced Monday.
New Wisconsin Institute for Discovery director sees a ‘hunger’ for change at UW
Capital Times
Jo Handelsman describes herself as a “changemaker.” Judging from her dossier, the incoming director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery is not wrong.
Partnerships in health care could help heal rural, urban discontent
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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.
UW Chancellors urge lawmakers to restore and boost funding in
WFRV-TV, Green Bay
Leaders of two U-W System schools, including U-W Oshkosh, hope lawmakers will consider the benefits of increased funding for the system. Last budget cycle, the U-W System had to cut spending by $250-million. U-W-O Chancellor Andrew Leavitt and U-W Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank say they’ve made the cutbacks work. But they say the time has come to look at state funding of higher education as an investment for the state.
What I Found in Standing Rock
The Players' Tribune
Near the edge of the Standing Rock camp in North Dakota, about 50 yards from a tributary of the Missouri River, there’s a basketball hoop. It’s one of those worn-out outdoor hoops that leans forward a little bit, almost as if the wind had bent it.
Chancellors talk budget woes
The UW-Oshkosh Advance-Titan
UW Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank and UW Oshkosh Chancellor Andrew Leavitt met with officials and alumni on Wednesday to discuss the Wisconsin state budget and its role in public higher education.
UW System officials express concerns over upcoming budget
WBAY-TV, Green Bay
Chancellors within the UW System are expressing concerns over the upcoming budget. They’re asking state legislators for more money after years of seeing cuts.
UW System president makes case for $92.5 million budget increase
LaCrosse Tribune
University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross made the case Tuesday for more funding at a higher education forum on the UW-La Crosse campus.
Still: UW-Madison’s R&D ranking is cause for concern
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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.
Editorial: UW’s drop in research rankings may be sign of state support
WISC-TV 3
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.
Man involved in costume depicting Obama in a noose apologizes for ‘poor judgment’
Wisconsin State Journal
One of the men who wore a costume depicting President Barack Obama in a noose to a UW football game last month apologized and said that “there was no racial intent” behind the costumes.
UW-Madison opening new center for black students in Red Gym
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison will open a center for black students early next year inside the university’s historic Red Gym, in a move administrators say shows they are taking action in response to complaints from minority students about their experiences on campus.
New UW-Madison financial aid director wants to work with students before college
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison wants to serve more low-income and first-generation college students, says Derek Kindle, the university’s new director of financial aid.
UW-Madison slips in ranking as research spending declines
Wisconsin State Journal
Spending on research at UW-Madison declined by more than $100 million between 2012 and 2015, leading the university to fall from the top five of the National Science Foundation’s ranking of research institutions for the first time in more than four decades.
UW-Madison falls from nation’s top five research universities
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
For the first time in nearly 45 years, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has fallen from its standing among the nation’s top five research universities, according to data from the National Science Foundation.
UW to lose two major research professors at end of semester
WISC-TV 3
Husband and wife team Constance Steinkuehler and Kurt Squire are leaders in the field of video game development. In a matter of weeks, the two are taking their talents to California due to what they say is a very unsupportive environment on the UW campus.
UW-Madison drops out of top five research universities for research funding
WKOW-TV 27
For the first time in 44 years UW-Madison is not a top-five research university and school administrators say state budget cuts are to blame.
Trump could reverse Obama’s actions on college sex assault, transgender rights
Washington Post
President Obama has wielded civil rights enforcement powers aggressively in the education arena for the past eight years, pushing colleges to toughen policies on sexual assault and schools to eliminate racial bias in student discipline. His administration also declared that transgender students must be allowed to use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity — a question now before the Supreme Court.
Five UW professors elected as fellows into science society
Wisconsin State Journal
Five UW-Madison professors have been elected as fellows into the world’s largest general scientific society.
Discrimination reports rise after election at UW-Madison
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison received a surge in discrimination reports after Donald Trump was elected president, campus officials say, adding the university to a growing list of colleges and communities across the country experiencing a rise in tensions and troubling behavior since Election Day.
Disappearance of two Madison airmen in 1953 remains a mystery
Madison Magazine
A remarkable story that I encountered out of the University of Wisconsin–Madison earlier this month reminds me about one of the most vexing mysteries that I’ve encountered as a journalist.
How Wisconsin Badgers linebacker Vince Biegel went from a cranberry marsh to mashing QBs
ESPN.com
WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wis. — A year’s worth of careful preparation has distilled into the final few frantic days, and Rocky Biegel has disappeared again behind the wheel of his red pickup truck, flecks of dirt spraying as he fades into the distance toward a water reservoir.
UW-Madison student works to expand diversity in agricultural career field
Daily Cardinal
UW-Madison fifth-year student Donale Richards is one of the few students of color who majors in biological systems engineering. He has made it his goal through his involvement in various groups that focus on the use of natural resources to change this and spark interest in incoming students of color of agricultural majors.
Residents: UW-Madison failed to act on chipping paint until child suffered lead poisoning
Madison.com
The residents of a UW-Madison apartment complex where a young child was diagnosed with lead poisoning earlier this year had complained to housing officials about chipping and peeling paint outside their apartments for a decade before the girl was poisoned, records obtained by the Wisconsin State Journal show.
Wisconsin Sees Nearly 6 Percent Increase In International Students
Wisconsin Public Radio
Upwards of 1 million international students studied in the United States last school year; and more than 13,400 of them were in Wisconsin, an increase of about 6 percent, according to the 2016 Open Doors report from the Institute of International Education.
UW System launches climate task force after student demonstrations
Wisconsin State Journal
At the first meeting of a University of Wisconsin System task force that will examine the climate on UW campuses, Regent Eve Hall had a message for students who pushed for changes by protesting and disrupting System meetings over the past year.
UW student activists encounter Homecoming Parade, block campus traffic
Capital Times
Over 60 students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, along with community members, took to the streets around campus on Friday afternoon to respond to, what organizers called, “blatant support of acts of white supremacy.” The protest was organized by the Black Liberation Action Coalition (BLAC,) a group formed by UW-Madison student organizers and Madison-based community activists, Freedom Inc.
Records detail range of incidents students reported to UW-Madison discrimination team
Wisconsin State Journal
One person reported watching people in a passing car shout a racial slur at a group of high school students.
Protests disrupt UW-Madison homecoming parade and traffic near campus
Wisconsin State Journal
Protesters starting at Bascom Hall moved toward the UW-Madison homecoming parade route Friday, halting the parade momentarily and disrupting traffic in the area, university police said.
After Trump’s win, hundreds of students march to Capitol in solidarity
Daily Cardinal
Following Donald Trump’s presidential win, nearly 2,500 students and community members stood in solidarity with historically marginalized groups at the steps of the Capitol Thursday night.
Students protest Trump’s presidency, proposed policies
Badger Herald
More than a thousand University of Wisconsin students and Wisconsin residents gathered at the Capitol Thursday evening to protest sexual assault, President-elect Donald Trump’s marginalization of minority communities and neglect of women’s reproductive rights.