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Nearly 1 in 4 college women say they have been sexually assaulted, survey finds

Inside Higher Education

Nearly one-quarter of female undergraduate students who responded to a survey created by the Association of American Universities said they have experienced a sexual assault of some kind since enrolling in college. While the survey includes a broader definition of sexual assault than some researchers on the topic advocate using, it also breaks down types of sexual assault and found that 11 percent of female students reported that the sexual assault involved penetration.

Survey: More than 1 in 4 UW women sexually assaulted

Channel3000.com

More than one in every four undergraduate women (27.6 percent) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison report being a victim of sexual assault, according to a new survey released Monday morning by the Association of American Universities (AAU). That’s a higher rate than the 23.1 percent of female undergraduates who reported being victims in the survey conducted by 27 universities nationwide.

The data comes from a questionnaire that was sent by email to UW students in April and May. Roughly 22 percent of the undergraduate population answered the questions in the survey. It also found that of those students who were sexually assaulted, only 26.1 percent reported the incident to authorities.

In Wisconsin, an early clash over fetal tissue

Science

A conflict is escalating over U.S. researchers’ use of human fetal tissue. Legislators in Wisconsin last week advanced a bill that would make it a felony for scientists working in the state to conduct studies using tissue or cells obtained from recently aborted fetuses. The measure, approved by a committee of the Wisconsin State Assembly, has drawn opposition from universities and research groups, who say it will stifle important disease studies. The bill is likely just the first of many similar state-level efforts, science policy observers predict.

Blank warns fetal tissue ban could be devastating for UW

Wisconsin Radio Network

Proposed legislation banning research using tissue from aborted fetuses would have a devastating impact on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. That was the warning of Chancellor Rebecca Blank on Friday, who told the UW System Board of Regents that the restriction currently being considered by the Legislature could have potential impacts on the university that are “greater than anything we have discussed around budget cuts.”

Save Fetal Tissue Research, and Save Lives

New York Times

The scurrilous attacks on Planned Parenthood — based on hidden-camera videos falsely purporting to show that it illegally sells fetal issue — have turned into attacks on fetal tissue research in Congress and in several state legislatures.Various bills now threaten to curtail or eliminate research that has already benefited millions of Americans and is poised to benefit many more.

UPDATE: Wisconsin Assembly committee passes fetal tissue ban

NBC15

A Wisconsin state Assembly committee has passed a Republican-backed bill opposed by the University of Wisconsin that would prohibit research using tissue obtained from aborted fetuses.

Wednesday’s vote makes the bill available for a vote by the full Assembly as soon as later this month. It’s unclear whether the measure has enough support to pass the Senate, where Republican Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald has not commented on its chances.

UW Madison researcher studies fossil remains of mankind’s closest cousin

WKOW TV

Buried deep inside a cave in South Africa, researchers have discovered the remains of what scientists are calling mankind’s closest ‘cousin.’ University of Wisconsin researchers are part of an international team investigating the discovery of homo naledi fossils.

“We have a new species of Homo, with all of its interesting characteristics,” John Hawks, a University of Wisconsin-Madison paleoanthropologist said.

New species of human found in South African cave

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The excitement had been building for weeks, first as Alia Gurtov responded to a Facebook post seeking skilled and “skinny” paleontologists, then as she learned she was one of six women chosen, and finally now, as she crept through a South African cave, approaching a new chamber believed to hold clues to our earliest history.

Remains of Humanlike Ancestors Found in South Africa

Wall Street Journal

Researchers in South Africa discovered extensive remains of a previously unknown humanlike species in a subterranean boneyard, highlighting an early offshoot of humankind and raising questions about the origins of ritual burial and self-awareness, the scientists announced on Thursday.

This Face Changes the Human Story. But How?

National Geographic

A trove of bones hidden deep within a South African cave represents a new species of human ancestor, scientists announced Thursday in the journal eLife. Homo naledi, as they call it, appears very primitive in some respects—it had a tiny brain, for instance, and apelike shoulders for climbing. But in other ways it looks remarkably like modern humans. When did it live? Where does it fit in the human family tree? And how did its bones get into the deepest hidden chamber of the cave—could such a primitive creature have been disposing of its dead intentionally?

Fossils found in African cave are new species of human kin, say scientists

The Washington Post

The two amateur cavers had to feel their way along the cave’s winding passages, crawl on their stomachs through an opening less than 10 inches high, ascend a jagged wall, cross a narrow ledge dubbed the “Dragon’s Back,” and make a 400-foot descent, sideways, through a vertical crack before finally arriving at the prize: a 30-foot-long chamber probably between 2 million and 3 million years old.

Proposed fetal tissue ban raises alarm for Wisconsin researchers

Science Magazine

A Wisconsin bill that would limit the research use of fetal tissue from abortions is gaining momentum, over the protest of scientists who say the measure would stifle progress in disease research. The bill, approved today by a committee in the state assembly and expected to win the support of the full assembly this fall, is the first in what many predict will be a series of battles waged at the state level against the distribution and use of fetal tissue.

Morgridge matching gift to UW exceeds expectations

Wisconsin Radio Network

A $200 million gift to the University of Wisconsin-Madison will help to attract and keep top-quality faculty, and has grown larger and faster than expected. UW alumni John and Tashia Morgridge put up $100 million dollars last year and urged UW supporters to match it. They figured that would take up to three years, but it only took seven months to raise an additional 125-million.

Faculty members think massive donation will help retain top professors at U of Wisconsin Madison

Inside Higher Education

Facing what is sure to be a difficult retention season, given this year’s battles over the future of higher education funding and tenure in Wisconsin, the University of Wisconsin at Madison is today announcing the results of a massive donation-matching campaign aimed at recognizing top faculty members with endowed chairs.

Couple donates $10M to UW

WKOW TV

The head of a big Wisconsin paper company is donating $10 million for scholarships and faculty support at the University of Wisconsin.

Tom Falk and his wife Karen are both UW alums and have donated in the past.

Couple donate $10 million to UW-Madison

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A couple who worked their way through the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the 1970s are donating $10 million to their alma mater for need-based scholarships and endowed faculty positions in the schools of education and business to help future students get a similar education.

UW campus officials prepare for new year after tumultuous summer

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

After a summer of turmoil over budget cuts and tenure protections, chancellors in the University of Wisconsin System now must convince faculty and staff that all is not doom and gloom as a new academic year begins this week.

A defiant UW-Madison Chancellor Becky Blank, who won’t address her faculty in person until Oct. 5, has vowed to do everything possible to fend off competitors who attempt to lure away her best and brightest researchers. Wisconsin’s higher education woes were widely broadcast to a national audience as Gov. Scott Walker launched his presidential bid while he and state lawmakers were cutting education spending.