UW System Clipsheet

March 13, 2009

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On Campus

"Full courtpress: Lobbying begins as UWM pushes for $240 million," Business Journal of Milwaukee, March 13.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee officials and a slate of community leaders have begun lobbying state officials to include $240 million in Gov. Jim Doyle's upcoming capital budget to pay for a major expansion of the university. UWM officials recently submitted a $240 million application to the state Building Commission for the expansion project...portions of the $240 million would be distributed over the next six years and would include funding for the School of Freshwater Sciences and the School of Public Health in downtown Milwaukee, and the UWM Engineering College campus in Wauwatosa...

"UW-L on-campus housing crunch coming," La Crosse Tribune, March 13.

Living accommodations at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse will get worse before they get better. Residence halls have been over capacity for about 35 years. Students living in study lounges and sharing rooms with resident assistants have become the norm. But that situation will become tighter this fall, as UW-L loses about 400 beds due to the demolition of two residence halls to make way for the new Centennial Hall academic building...The UW-L bed shortage won't be relieved until a new residence hall is built, likely in summer 2011...

"UW-River Falls listed on president's honor roll," River Falls Journal, March 12.

The Corporation for National and Community Service honored UW-River Falls with a place on this year's President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for exemplary service efforts and service to America's communities...

"New biotechnology center opens at UW-River Falls," Student Voice, March 12.

UW-River Falls biology students, professors and doctors from across the region gathered in the University Center Ballroom on Monday for the symposium and opening event of the new Tissue and Cellular Innovation Center (TCIC)...

"Misconduct code changes draconian," Column, Badger Herald, March 12.

Let me start by saying I'm not someone who refuses to compromise on rights...Having said this, I have to go on to say something simply has to change about the proposed revisions to UWS Chapter 17. It is, to say the least, a proposed change which carries with it the potential for absolute, unchecked power over individuals with almost no identifiable net benefit for our community. At best, these changes are a foolhardy mistake; at worst, they are a malicious attempt to circumscribe the rights of students...

"Students respond to current and proposed smoking laws," The Pointer, March 13.

Governor Doyle wants people in Wisconsin to stop smoking, immediately. He wants a statewide, no-exemption, workplace smoking prohibition enacted as soon as possible...For some students at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point the possibility of a statewide smoking ban is a pleasant one...

"Students devise new way to honor professor," Stevens Point Journal, March 13.

College students have plenty of opportunities to honor a professor, including through positive comments on a review or a high mark on www.ratemyprofessors.com. But a group at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point has taken it to the next level. Pi Sigma Alpha, the political science honor society, is selling T-shirts as a tribute to Dennis Riley, a popular and well-respected political science professor...

"Students push for UWM name change," WTMJ-Radio, March 12.

Five members of The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Student Association Senate have had it with being lost in the shadow of The University of Wisconsin Madison. They want to change their school's name to The University of Milwaukee...

"Violence doesn't deter spring break trips to Mexico," Leader-Telegram, March 13.

...For the past 10 spring breaks, Rita Sperstad, a clinical instructor at UW-Eau Claire, has taken eight nursing students to work at a birth center in Weslaco, Texas, about 10 miles north of the Mexican border. "We usually go into Mexico," Sperstad said. "And we are taking some extra precautions this year"...

State

"Governments face opportunities, difficulties," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 12.

High above Madison in state government's administration tower, two men you've likely never heard of are working feverishly to turn the riches of federal stimulus into economic salve for ailing Wisconsin residents. "There is a drinking-out-of-a-fire-hydrant feeling about this," said Alan Fish, a top University of Wisconsin official appointed by Gov. Jim Doyle along with Madison energy executive Gary Wolter to run a temporary unit dubbed the Wisconsin Office of Recovery and Reinvestment, which will close up shop in six months. Across Wisconsin, from company conference rooms to union halls, from tiny town governments to the state's urban enclaves, officials are scrambling to compete for the windfall that is spread over 130 programs. The stakes are high and although the rules of the game are still murky, the lobbying has begun...

"MATC poised to train tomorrow's stem cell scientists," Wisconsin Public Radio, March 12.

A Madison tech school is excited about President Obama's lifting of a funding ban that had been in place on certain types of embryonic stem cell research. Madison Area Technical College (MATC) is the only two-year college in the U.S. that is licensed to do lab work training with human embryonic stem cells...

"Cole sues MATC over dismissal, plans two other claims," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 13.

A lawyer for ousted Milwaukee Area Technical College President Darnell Cole on Thursday launched the first move in a promised three-pronged legal attack against the board that fired Cole last month after his drunken-driving arrest...

National

"Education Secretary defends Obama's budget at congressional hearing," Chronicle of Higher Education, March 13.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan defended President Obama's education budget for next year in an appearance before members of Congress on Thursday, arguing that making Pell Grants an entitlement would encourage more low-income students to attend college... (paid subscription required)

"Obama ed budget passes first test," Inside Higher Ed, March 13.

The higher education agenda that President Obama outlined in his 2010 budget blueprint and a speech this week contained several proposals that, in normal times, might have started a war on Capitol Hill. Just ask his predecessors: Previous proposals to end the lender-based guaranteed student loan program bruised President Clinton; President Bush was repeatedly pummeled for daring to mess with the Perkins Loan Program; and many a president has taken a pounding for seeking to expand federal entitlements, as Obama has done by calling for making Pell Grant funding mandatory and ensuring annual increases tied to inflation...

"Reorganizing, not reinventing," Inside Higher Ed, March 13.

Chancellor Robert Holub announced a major reorganization of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst Thursday, but his decision to leave some things just as they are may have the greatest impact. Holub, whose institution is facing a $46 million deficit next year, laid out a plan Thursday that will merge two colleges into one, creating a central hub for various natural sciences departments and slicing administrative costs by an anticipated $1 million. He declined, however, to create a new College of Arts and Sciences, saying that the massive unit would dwarf the rest of the campus and create potential turf wars with other colleges and the central administration...

"U of M won't use Duluth alcohol policy at Twin Cities campus," Associated Press, March 12.

The Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota has no plans to implement a new policy at the Duluth campus for those who call for help in alcohol emergencies. Under UMD's new practice, students who call 911 for themselves or others will be given special consideration when police decide whether to write a ticket...