University of Wisconsin-Madison
Thursday, March 13, 2025
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DEAR JOHN TONJE
PLACENTAL PROGRESS
After a rough end to the regular season, how can the Badgers turn it around as they enter tournament play?
Successful growth hormone treatment in rhesus macaques leads to a healthy placenta, fetus and mother.
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Laid off faculty push for more support from UW System By Sonia Bendre STAFF WRITER
Many faculty members spend their academic careers in pursuit of academic tenure, a lifelong guarantee of job security and a shield for academic freedom. But recently, the promise of tenure has proved tenuous for University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s College of General Studies (CGS) professors, 35 of whom were laid off in August. In August, the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents unanimously approved the dissolution of CGS, formerly UW-Milwaukee at Waukesha, effec-
tively laying off at least 35 tenured faculty — the first such firing of tenured faculty in the UW System since a 2015 law weakened tenure. CGS will close after this spring, UW-Milwaukee announced last March, citing declining enrollment and decreased revenue. UW-Milwaukee is required under Wisconsin law to use its “best efforts” to assist faculty in securing alternative employment, as well as provide readaptation where it is feasible. Although over half of formerly tenured professors have retired or found alternative employment, many are
still searching. “We roughly had 64 faculty this time last year, and we are down to about 26 or 27 who have not yet found alternative employment,” Ron Gulotta, interim dean of UW-Milwaukee’s College of General Studies, told The Daily Cardinal. “I am not aware of any initiative coming from the Regents or from the University of Wisconsin System to assist faculty.” When the layoffs were first announced, a number of CGS professors raised concerns the Board of Regents and UW-Milwaukee were violating the state statute. But UW
Activists gather at Library Mall in support of Mahmoud Khalil
EMMA SCHIEFFER/THE DAILY CARDINAL
By Zoey Elwood COPY CHIEF
Around a hundred University of Wisconsin-Madison students and community members gathered at Library Mall Tuesday for a walkout in support of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and pro-Palestine protest leader who was arrested by immigration officials in New York over the weekend. Attendees at the walkout, organized by UW-Madison’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Advocates for Immigrant Rights, warned of the implications of Khalil’s arrest on student protesters and demanded respect for free speech and protest. Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the United States and a negotiator for Columbia’s pro-Palestinian student encampment last year, was inside his universityowned apartment when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents entered and detained him, stating that they intend to revoke Khalil’s green card. The legality of Khalil’s detention and potential green card revocation — which President Donald Trump said would be the “first of many” — has been heavily criticized by civil rights organizations and freedom of speech experts. “We’re calling on UW-Madison to respect the rights of students to speech, to not comply with order to crack down on the student protests. We’re here in solidarity for
Mahmoud Khalil against his illegal arrests and the stripping of his green card,” Mac, an SJP member, told The Daily Cardinal. At the demonstration, Palestinian music played from speakers while activists held pro-Palestine signs and waved the Palestinian flag. Speakers stood on the steps of Memorial Library, leading chants and delivering statements in support of Khalil and Palestine. “We need to keep showing up in order to fight for justice, to fight for our rights and for the rights of Palestinians and for the rights of people everywhere,” SJP member Dahlia Saba said during a speech. Saba underscored the implications of Khalil’s arrest on student protesters, calling it a tactic to intimidate activists into “submission.” She highlighted the importance of continuing to speak out and stand in solidarity with Palestine. “This is a bellwether for what is acceptable in this country. Do we live in a country where it is acceptable to kidnap a man in the middle of the night because he protested in support of Palestine or not? Because I think that if we live in the former, which we do apparently, then we do not have rights in this country,” Saba told the Cardinal. Saba also referenced the U.S. Department of Education’s announcement Monday it would investigate 60 colleges and universities, including UW-Madison, over anti-
semitic discrimination and harassment complaints. The agency warned of potential repercussions, such as the loss of federal funding, if institutions do not intensify their crackdown on student protests. Student activists also said how Khalil’s arrest was another indicator of Trump’s image for America’s future. “It shows that Trump was not lying,” UW-Madison senior Mia Kurzer told the Cardinal. “I don’t think he has lied once in his campaign trail, other than saying Project 2025 wasn’t his, but this was all laid out in the stuff that he said he was going to do. It’s imperative that we acknowledge what is happening and how this is against what America should be, not what it is, but what it should be.” Kurzer and Saba stressed the importance of contacting local representatives and raising awareness about Khalil’s case, urging that the conversation must continue. “We will not be intimidated into being quiet. We will not be silenced by the threat of deportation of student conduct investigations. We are here because the fight for justice in Palestine is the fight for justice everywhere, and we will not go away,” Saba said. The activists continued their demonstration with a march through Library Mall to the front of Bascom Hill, yelling chants, holding protest signs and waving Palestinian flags.
System Media Relations Director Mark Pitsch told the Cardinal UW-Milwaukee and the UW System have followed the statute. “UWM has been assisting the faculty who received layoff notices with finding other positions, within UWM and externally,” Pitsch said. “Several faculty have found other positions at UWM and other institutions through outreach and priority hiring programs. Eligible faculty were also offered retirement incentives, which 10 faculty accepted.”
+ UW System page 2
New apartments proposed By Audrey Lopez-Stane STAFF WIRTER
Kenosha-based developer Bear Real Estate Group is looking to build an affordable housing development just five blocks from the Capitol. The proposed seven-story development will be 223 units, including 12 studios, 184 one-bedrooms and 27 twobedrooms, along with 68 parking spots in a lower-level garage. Construction is expected to begin by late 2025 or early 2026, with completion targeted for 2027. Developers plan to demolish the current building on the lot, located on 501 East Washington Ave., which has been occupied by the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) since the 1980s. WMC will relocate to 2 Bu ttonwood Court, more than seven miles away from its current location on Washington Avenue. The planned apartments will be rent- and income-restricted, meaning the rent will be based on a percentage of a tenant’s income. Units will be reserved for tenants earning 50 to 80% of the area’s median income, District 6 Ald. Marsha Rummel told The Daily Cardinal. Madison’s rent prices increased 14% in 2023 and another 15% in 2024. The city has one of the lowest rental vacancy rates in the country, increasing demand for housing. At the same time, the city’s downtown area has seen the growth of “luxury” housing developments, which are often difficult for low-income residents to afford. Rummel said she hopes the new development will help residents in the city not have to “worry about making rent each month.” Bear Real Estate’s Vice President of Development Adam Templer told The Daily Cardinal the company has built over 4,000 affordable housing units in the last 15 years across five states. The company’s most recent Madison development is The Flats at 402 on West Wilson Street, with a one-bedroom apartment starting at $1,102, more than $400 below the Madison average. Templer said they are in the early stages of this project and will hold public meetings for feedback. They are also developing The Intersect at 808 Melvin Court targeted for launch in spring 2026. The new building on Washington Ave. will face South Blair and South Franklin streets. It will also be on Madison’s Bus Rapid Transit Route A, which runs from the far west side of Madison to Sun Prairie.
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”