UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank told a faculty committee during a Monday meeting that she didn’t know what percentage of the campus community is boosted beyond those who received it at University Health Services. The university will be encouraging students and staff to report if they have been boosted off-campus to get a better picture of booster status across UW-Madison.
January 14, 2022
Top Stories
Research
Opinion | Some Antiracist Books Aren’t Very Good. Do I Still Have to Read Them to My Child?
The progress made in children’s book publishing has been encouraging and certainly necessary. According to the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the numbers of children’s books written by Black, Indigenous, Asian and Latino authors have all significantly increased in the past 20 years.
Higher Education/System
COVID-19 cases spiking at largest UW campuses ahead of spring semester
The three largest University of Wisconsin System campuses are reporting spikes in positive cases of COVID-19 weeks before the start of spring semester classes. While some of the state’s smaller, private colleges push start dates back, UW campuses say they’re starting on time and in-person.
GOP bill setting free speech rules, punishing colleges that violate them moves forward
A bill aimed at punishing colleges and universities for violating free speech and academic freedom rules set by Republicans has passed a legislative committee by a party-line vote. This comes after a GOP author amended the legislation to remove provisions that were potentially unconstitutional.
Campus life
UW-Madison expecting COVID-19 testing for all students before start of semester
UW-Madison announced Thursday that they are expecting all students who have not had a positive PCR test in the last 90 days to get tested before coming to campus. However, the announcement does not state that students need to report their tests or results.
UW-Madison sends email to students laying out COVID-19 expectations for returning to campus
The university is strongly encouraging all students to get COVID-19 booster vaccines as soon as possible. It also encourages students who are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms to delay their return to campus, recovering instead at their current location.
Community
Will Green, Vanessa McDowell, and Michael Johnson to be honored with City-County Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Awards
In July of 2017, Vanessa McDowell became the first Black woman CEO in YWCA Madison’s 112-year history. She attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology.
Business/Technology
Madison’s Exact Sciences to invest $350 million in city campus additions, 1,300 jobs
Construction crews will erect the research facility next to Exact’s corporate headquarters on 5505 Endeavor Lane inside University Research Park on the West Side. The lab and warehouse are additions to Exact’s Discovery Campus on 1 Exact Lane, which is located between Schroeder Road and the Beltline on the Southwest Side.
UW Experts in the News
How the Post Office Could Sabotage Biden’s Billion-Test Goal
“Besides keeping them in cold cars while moving them around, we don’t have any experience testing in extreme cold or extreme heat,” said Dave O’Connor, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Wisconsin. “My guess—but it is purely a guess—is that freezing of the liquid could cause performance issues if it thaws and isn’t mixed thoroughly.”