Finding your place on campus
By Grace Wallner | Sep. 5, 2018The transition into college can have major effects on students' mental and physical health, but there are resources on campus to help.
The transition into college can have major effects on students' mental and physical health, but there are resources on campus to help.
Many potential college students are worried they won't be able to afford an education. Bucky's Tuition Promise is new a program meant to help solve the problem.
UW-Madison students and faculty are fighting to eliminate stigma and raise awareness about mental health on campus.
The number of students registered with the McBurney Office who suffer from mental illness has skyrocketed since 2008, when there were only about 15 cases, according to Mari Magler, the director of the McBurney Disability Resource Center. Last year, 4,672 students sought mental health services at University Health Services.
Under a proposed change, graduate workers will be required to pay segregated fees before receiving any paychecks from the university. If a graduate worker cannot pay, an installment plan is offered for an extra charge.
The number of formally reported cases fluctuates from year to year. It rose from 107 to 177 from 2010-’11 to 2013-’14, only to drop back to 126 by 2015-’16. In 2016-’17, it was back to 152, according to the Academic Integrity Annual Report.
Every year, a panel of 15 students allocates $51 million dollars to services around campus. Of that $51 million, more than $1.3 million is given to student organizations that are a part of the General Student Services Fund. This year, the Student Services Finance Committee, which allocates those funds, was criticized for not being accessible to all students.
Significantly fewer items are usually recycled than thrown away. In comparison to 5,165 tons of trash sent to the landfill in 2017, 3,010 tons of materials were recycled. This means the university has not yet accomplished its goal of zero waste. Additionally, trash disposal still costs more than the extra revenue that recycling adds.
“Not only do women make great farmers, but they also bring innovation, new ideas and hard work into this industry,” said Association of Women Agriculture Media Relations spokesperson Emily Matzke.
Farmers rise with the sun, sometimes as early as 3 to 5 a.m., labor in the fields or work with livestock for the entire day, and end their day around 8 p.m.
The UW-Madison Adapted Fitness program aims to help some of those seeking alternatives to a standard fitness center. The program is operated by the university’s kinesiology department. Tim Gattenby, a faculty associate for the program, expanded it in 1986 to provide an inclusive, recreational exercise space for people of various abilities.
Where rows of books once rested, shelves are beginning to collect dust in the Science Hall Geography Library. Tom Tews, campus geography librarian, has spent the last three months dismantling the collection he’s maintained over the last 30 years of his career.
UHS plans to move to an informed consent model of transgender health care, a shift LGBT Campus Center Assistant Director Charek Briggs said gives patients agency in their own medical care. Informed consent allows patients to make decisions about their own health care after being fully informed of benefits and consequences by their medical provider.
Only 10 of the people UW-Madison sophomore Demko Montgomery-Elm graduated middle school with now attend post-secondary schooling. The decision to quit schooling is not uncommon for many students in districts near tribal communities of northern Wisconsin similar to the one she attended in Minocqua, Wis.
Of 192 students that died from 1998 to 2017 while enrolled at UW-Madison, one-third did not have causes of death recorded in data collected by University Health Services. Now, UHS staff is in the process of obtaining formal documents to reveal these missing causes. Adequate data will allow them to identify trends and determine if actions can be taken to prevent numbers of certain causes from rising.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 7.1 percent of college-aged individuals used vapes in 2015 — this number rose to roughly 16 percent in 2016. Additionally, 2016 records show 3.1 percent of the Wisconsin adult population vapes.
UW-Madison Police Department’s definition, WiscAlerts — UW-Madison’s emergency notification system — aim to warn people of potentially dangerous situations promptly so the community can take action to stay safe without creating unnecessary panic. WiscAlerts are sent to every “wisc.edu” email address and any registered phone numbers, according to UWPD’s website.
Audre Lorde — a co-op queer and transgender people of color call home — lost all but one of its members after a series of events caused residents to question the Madison Community Cooperative organization.
Current and former UW-Madison students — including Ald. Zach Wood, President of the Board of Education for the Verona Area School District Noah Roberts and Hayley Young, a member of the Dane County Board of Supervisors — studied and worked while also running campaigns to win elections for the local government seats they currently hold.
Programs created through collaboration between Madison Metropolitan School District and UW-Madison address the “achievement gap” exists among high school students of color have historically been given fewer educational resources — and some students are left behind with an “educational debt,” compared to advantaged peers. She said we can’t assume it is the student’s responsibility to catch up, but rather society's responsibility to invest in education for students of color.