Category: UW-Madison Related

An animal rights group is not giving up the legal fight to build a museum exploiting primate research right between two UW Primate Research buildings.

MADISON – Plans to build a museum protesting primate research on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus were blocked when a business owner backed out of a contract to sell a key piece of property, an activist testified Wednesday.

Police are trying to figure out what prompted a man to attack a young woman early this morning at her campus area apartment building.

The 20-year-old woman told police she was walking in the 100 block of Langdon Street about 1:15 a.m. when she noticed a man watching her. She avoided the man and crossed the street to get to a better-lighted area, then went to the apartment of a friend.

About 20 minutes later, she was again walking on Langdon Street. She didn’t see the man and safely entered her apartment building but, as she went up the stairs to her apartment, the man ran up behind her and punched her in the face several times.

This year has seen a rash of thefts of electronics equipment, cash and other items at the UW-Madison Medical Sciences Complex and the Red Gym.
“To our knowledge, at this point it doesn’t appear any sensitive records were compromised,” said Sgt. Benjamin Newman of the UW-Madison Police Department.

Letter writer says people are not going to become more multicultural because their lab partner is Native American, because they stand next to a Hispanic student in choir or because an extra African-American student lives on their dorm floor. Would college students at Grambling or Morehouse become more multicultural because they helped pay to have 100 white students show up for classes this fall? Not a chance.

Increasing the number of minority students at University of Wisconsin schools is a noble and necessary goal.

But it shouldn’t be done on the backs of the same students who are already paying more each year for a college education and, in many cases, struggling to do it.

MADISON, Wis. — A new initiative targeting underage drinking is launching in Madison but has drawn criticism from tavern owners.

Badger fans will be able to park behind Randall Elementary School – a stone’s throw from Camp Randall Stadium – this football season, but spaces are likely to become fewer after that.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department is investigating a series of thefts and burglaries that have happened on campus at The Medical Sciences Complex and more recently at the Red Gym.

There have been more than thirty thefts or burglaries since the first of the year, totaling a loss of more than $40,000 in cash and goods.

Halloween is still two months away, but Madison’s Parks Department is gearing up to sell tickets to the celebration on State Street.

Parks superintendent Jim Morgan says the city council still needs to approve plans to close State Street. That vote is expected on September 5th. Meantime, the department is preparing to sell about 50-thousand tickets.

Chancellor Carlos Santiago is trying to transform the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee from its long-time image as a commuter school into a more traditional college setting, where many of the students live on campus.

To improve the school and extend its impact on the community, Santiago wants to increase UWM�s annual spending on research from about $30 million now to about $100 million by 2015. However, instead of trying to duplicate the bio-technology research done at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Santiago says he is more interested in partnering with Milwaukee area businesses, focusing on research that can be used by existing corporations.

MADISON, Wis. — University of Wisconsin police are investigating a series of burglaries at campus buildings in recent months.

There have been 31 separate reports of theft since the start of the year, police said. Most of the incidents were reported in the medical sciences complex, where a total of $38,000 worth of property has been stolen, WISC-TV reported.

There is little doubt that the University of Wisconsin System needs to increase the diversity of its campuses. But a plan approved by the system’s Board of Regents last week represents a surrender flag of sorts.

How has it become the students’ and families’ responsibility to make sure the University of Wisconsin schools have diversity? (“Regents OK tuition raise for diversity,” Aug. 18)

Dear Editor: As the TAA representative who signed the open letter to Mayor Dave Cieslewicz regarding his proposed plans for State Street on Halloween that was discussed in your Aug. 9 article “Halloween plan gets thumbs up,” I must clarify that the Teaching Assistants’ Association has taken no position on Mayor Dave’s Halloween plans.

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/politics/15306672.htm
MADISON, Wis. – University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee won approval on Friday to sell its historic but aging chancellor’s residence rather than pay for a costly upgrade.

On Thursday, the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System approved a plan that would increase tuition for all students at the university�s La Crosse campus by a total of $1,320 over three years to diversify the student body there.

Madison – The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse would charge students $1,320 over three years on top of annual tuition increases to expand and diversify its student body under a pilot program approved Thursday by the UW System Board of Regents.

Gardeners have traveled back in time in preparation for Saturday’s public open house at the large and lush UW-Madison experimental plots.

Vegetables grown from seeds handed down from native people in the arid Southwest are among the crops on display at the West Madison Agricultural Research Station.

MADISON – University of Wisconsin leaders laid out a wish list on Thursday that includes increasing enrollments and improving research while holding the line on tuition.

University of Wisconsin System regents voted 15-2 on Thursday to approve a two-year budget request that would add 2,000 students to the 160,000 student system, increase tuition by an average of 2.5 percent each year and fund goodies such as a new research initiative at UW-Milwaukee.

University of Wisconsin Regents were poised today to approve what officials called the smallest tuition increase in the past 25 years, but students say it’s still too much.

“We’re fired up, can’t take it no more,” chanted a group of about 35 UW students from the Oshkosh, Madison and Milwaukee campuses as they held signs outside Van Hise Hall this morning.

Dear Editor:

….Farrell, who previously endorsed Barrett as being qualified to teach his course despite his beliefs, now states that he sent Barrett a letter warning him to stop associating himself with the school while promoting his beliefs and to stop seeking publicity for his views. Farrell said he will reconsider his decision to allow Barrett to teach unless Barrett complies with his requests.

….I certainly hope the University of Wisconsin is not succumbing to the pressure from some nervous individuals to suppress one of its most fundamental assets, the freedom of its employees, from the president to the dustman, to express their views on matters of public interest.

The university is a place where all ideas are welcome and subjected to the scrutiny of all who care to engage in debate. The University of Wisconsin prides itself in its commitment to “sifting and winnowing.” Anything that stands in the way of this can only be considered a negation of freedom of speech and thought. Nothing could be more stifling in an intellectual environment.

Record $165 million donation has Oklahoma State buzzing with excitement, feeds concern about one alum’s influence.

Giving big: Largest gifts to colleges
Donations to colleges of at least $150 million since 1967

Milwaukee, Wis. – When it comes to finding information technology workers, Bruce Maas feels the pain of his private-sector counterparts, but his very public employer has found a way to address the problem – embracing diversity.

A University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and physician with ties to the entertainment industry is developing a software product to train medical students. The ultimate objective of Fred Kron, proprietor of Medical Cyberworlds, is to transform the doctor-patient relationship.

Dear Editor: It is with great sadness that I write this letter in honor of the passing of professor Leon Epstein. I was struck with great pain that his obituary read he left no survivors. Although Epstein may not have had any biological heirs, he certainly had many survivors who fondly remember his magnificent teaching ability.

….Epstein was one of the many people at the UW-Madison who had a great effect on me. With their influence, one cannot help but develop a great affection for such a great institution of higher learning.

I am Langdon Divers, a 104-year-old Fond du Lac native. I recently saw on television the show “History Detectives,” in which they showed the man that made the engine that powered the Spirit of Saint Louis across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris on May 21, 1927.

One of the most promising developments in the Collaboration Council’s move toward a regional economic development entity is the engagement of a broad spectrum of partners in the process. For example the U-W’s influential Center on Wisconsin Strategy has had a seat at the table and has made a significant contribution.

UW-Madison journalism alumnus Cliff Behnke returned to his student paper, The Daily Cardinal, in a new role in the 1990s, joining the board after the paper encountered a financial crisis. Behnke and others tackled the demanding and time-consuming job of restoring the Cardinal to stability and assuring its future as a training ground for college journalists, said Jeff Smoller, a fellow board member. “The Daily Cardinal is there today in large part due to Cliff Behnke’s steadfastness and caring,” he said.

When six members of the UW-Madison student government denounced Mayor Dave Cieslewicz this week for violating students’ First Amendment right to freedom of assembly, were they:
A. Angry that the mayor had denied a permit for an anti-war march down State Street?

B. Upset that police broke up a demonstration against tuition increases?

C. Mad that they cannot use the Monona Terrace Convention Center to rally against world hunger?

The answer is “none of the above.” The reason the student leaders got their dander up was — They don’t want to pay $5 a head to get into the annual Halloween bash on State Street.

Dear Editor: Your recent articles on Kevin Barrett fail to address the issue of what really happened on 9/11 and contribute to the practice of vilifying anyone who dares challenge the so-called official story put out by the administration.

While I appreciate the State Journal’s attempt to present both sides of the MATC-to-UW transfer agreement debate, I believe that Forum columnist Mac Verstandig’s opinions demonstrate an academic elitism that ill serves UW-Madison and Wisconsin as a whole.

Let�s suppose for a moment that the United States was behind the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, as a few theorists want us to believe. As awful � and crazy � as such a suggestion might sound, it does take a complex geopolitical problem and turn it into a much simpler narrative: corrupt and self-serving politicians.

MADISON, Wis. — Downtown Madison business leaders were given a chance on Tuesday to chime in on the city’s plan for Halloween on State Street and some expressed concerns.

Dear Editor: The current controversy over development within the Arboretum has created a surge of emotions and opinions regarding what should be done with the land. If people are concerned with development within this local greenspace, they should do some fact checking so that they can efficiently stop the development with due process.

According to a recent survey more than one in three Americans believe the 9/11 attacks were the result of a U.S. government conspiracy of one sort or another. The most popular of these theories has it that neoconservatives in the Bush Administration who wanted to start a war in the Middle East arranged the hijackings and bombings.

MADISON, Wis. — The first weekend of a new police crackdown on downtown violence had Madison police officers dealing with both a stabbing and large crowds around bar-closing time.

An armed man robbed a Madison woman near Henry Vilas Zoo early Sunday morning.Madison police responded at around 2:40 a.m. to the robbery.

According to police, the 22-year-old victim was walking on the 300 block of South Randall Avenue when a man exited a dark-colored, newer vehicle and ran up to her. He displayed a handgun and took her purse before returning to the vehicle to flee the scene. The victim was uninjured.

THE BATTLE LINES already are being drawn. Gov. Jim Doyle is asking the University of Wisconsin system to hold tuition increases at or below the prevailing rate of inflation over the next budget period. That would be quite a change from the double-digit increases of recent years.

In the big picture, $8,427 is not a lot of money, especially to a governmental agency like the University of Wisconsin Extension, which manages hundreds of millions of dollars. The amount has a greater value as a symbol, which is why the Ozaukee County Board voted to cut that many dollars out of its funding for UW Extension next year.

There have been several letters supportive of Professor Kevin Barrett’s right to promote his agenda at University of Wisconsin- Madison at taxpayers’ expense.

Dear Editor: Grad student Patrick Michelson’s July 13 guest column denouncing instructor Kevin Barrett is perfectly indicative of the myriad challenges facing the 9/11 truth movement.

His ridiculous statement that Barrett’s assertions “have no grounding in reality, forensic evidence or common sense” is precisely the sort of inane drivel that we most often hear from those who have (quite obviously) never examined the arguments behind this growing viewpoint.

Kevin Barrett hasn’t exactly endeared himself in Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin-Madison instructor’s conspiracy theories behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks appear to defy reason.

In the big picture, $8,427 is not a lot of money, especially to a governmental agency like the University of Wisconsin Extension, which manages hundreds of millions of dollars. The amount has a greater value as a symbol, which is why the Ozaukee County Board voted to cut that many dollars out of its funding for UW Extension next year.

The future of the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha campus is being scrutinized anew in an effort to compare the costs of various options for expansion or transformation.

The UW Board of Regents on Wednesday backed Gov. Jim Doyle’s call to hold down tuition increases to below the rate of inflation for the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 school years.

Brian C. Carley, 30, was charged Wednesday with 27 misdemeanors – nine counts of disorderly conduct, nine counts of bail jumping, five counts of lewd and lascivious behavior and four counts of fourth-degree sexual assault. At least one reported incident occurred at UW-Madison’s Union South.

It’s been a while since Noble Wray has worked the streets like a regular cop, but one thing is clearly different, he said.
On Downtown ride-alongs he took this summer to get a handle on rising crime, the Madison police chief spotted something out of place: groups of older teens, too young to drink, milling around the bar area late at night with no apparent destination or purpose.

Proposed rules meant to speed up the firing of University of Wisconsin System professors charged with serious crimes were developed without the mandatory approval of faculty groups, faculty leaders complained Wednesday.

Paul Barrows was among those honored at a diversity program recognition banquet at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

On Friday, the PEOPLE program celebrated the more than 1,000 students who have participated. The program, also known as Pre-College Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence, helps the state’s young people of color earn high school diplomas and go on to college.

Meteorologists called it “A 100 year event”. About 5 inches of rain fell near the campus area in Madison in just a matter of hours. At Park Terrace West, a three year old luxury apartment building, the underground parking garage filled floor to ceiling with water and the garden apartments were under up to five feet of water.

It appears that academically qualified students are not finding space in the University of Wisconsin System schools, especially at the Madison campus. This situation will only become worse once the new diversity criteria are fully implemented. It remains to be seen how many in the new diverse student body will actually complete a degree.

A man suspected of exposing himself to several women in the Madison area was being held today on 22 criminal charges.

Brian C. Carley, 30, was arrested after checking himself into the Veterans Hospital Friday. He was charged with four counts of lewd and lascivious behavior, four counts of fourth-degree sexual assault, seven counts of disorderly conduct and seven counts of bail jumping. Police spokesman Mike Hanson said Carley fought briefly with officers during the arrest.

Poor leadership, a lack of planning and bureaucratic infighting plagued University of Wisconsin System’s failed project to install a new payroll management system, according to critiques by private consultants.
The two assessments, obtained by The Associated Press after an open records request, detail widespread mismanagement of the project that cost $26 million before the System canceled it earlier this month after eight years of planning and attempted implementation.

In sweltering heat that made his face glisten beneath a large sombrero embroidered in gold, 9-year-old Marco Hernandez performed a ceremonial dance used by Aztecs to give thanks each year for the sun, the moon and the universe, and their connection to them.
His sister, Adriana, 6, also performed a traditional Mexican dance in the children’s area at Saturday’s Fiesta Hispana in Warner Park, along with other girls wearing brightly colored dresses with long, full skirts that fanned out when held up at their sides with outstretched arms.

“I feel very proud of them to show our culture,” said their father, Martin Hernandez, who plans to return to his native Mexico with his family after completing a Ph.D at UW-Madison.

A suspected serial stalker has been seen driving a 2004 red Chevy Avalanche pickup truck with a Wisconsin license plate that bears, in part, “AD29,” according to Madison police. The incidents have taken place in the State Street and Langdon Street area, and at East Towne and West Towne.

….Professor injured: A UW-Madison engineering professor sustained serious head early Thursday morning when his motorcycle crashed on Haight Road in Madison.

….Intruder: UW Police are investigating an intruder who broke into a woman’s bedroom Thursday at the university’s family housing facility.

The Madison City Council will shape the mayor’s controversial plan to gate State Street, charge $5 admission and provide entertainment there on the Saturday before Halloween.
Meanwhile, some UW- Madison students have started planning to move the party to nearby Langdon Street.

A violent storm that dumped 3 to 5 inches of rain in 90 minutes in parts of Madison Thursday flooded streets and damaged 30 buildings on the UW-Madison campus, where the Fluno Center was evacuated.

….Barrett’s association with the university should be discontinued, not because he speaks from an irrational political position, but because he demonstrates an astounding degree of intellectual poverty that offends the morality of U.S. citizens who lost loved ones in 9/11.

Our university officials erred in their decision to continue Barrett’s appointment because they were incapable of recognizing the enormity of the crimes against humanity that was evidenced in both the Holocaust and 9/11. Perhaps if they “had been there and done that,” their decision might have been correct.

Paul Grindrod Madison