One of the most chronically repeated maxims about the University of Wisconsin holds that this institution, ostensibly renowned worldwide as a model for public higher education, is simply an “economic incubator.” This is a convenient way for technocrats in Bascom Hall to explain to their counterparts down State Street what… Read more »

After four years at the University of Wisconsin and 18 years before that as a child of two American parents, I’ve heard the word “privilege” with a steady degree of regularity. Its use starts as a warning like, “Having your toy is a privilege, not a right,” and in an… Read more »

Late last year, this newspaper announced it would cease publication on Fridays with the goal of giving reporters and editors an opportunity to experiment with online publication models. As the year comes to a close, I am pleased to announce that The Badger Herald will continue this march into… Read more »

Two stories have so far defined this semester at the University of Wisconsin: an important search for the institution’s new leader and a much less important debate over someone who believes he holds control over the entire UW community. But the university’s search for a new chancellor, possibly the most… Read more »

… Read more »

One of my strongest hopes for what President Barack Obama will introduce in tonight’s State of the Union address — a renewed commitment to the green jobs agenda — is highly unlikely to even receive lip service when he steps onto the House floor. Green jobs became the Achilles’ heel… Read more »

Newspapers cover anniversaries too often. This is a painfully common sentiment among media critics and the paper-reading public; at some point a momentous event becomes impossible to eulogize or commemorate without seeming repetitive. This week marks two years since the beginning of “the protests that changed Wisconsin forever.” The occasion… Read more »

I feel lucky The Badger Herald has employees like Design Director Gus McNair, whose commitment to free speech principles is so steadfast he’s willing to publicly challenge the final decision I made to pull a comic by Vincent Cheng. But I stand by the decision I made along with my… Read more »

Ugh. This guy again. This will be my fourth semester on The Badger Herald’s Editorial Board, which makes me now the most seasoned member of a board of unseasoned journalism veterans. My friends and readers know me for my love of infrastructure investment, the way I mention I grew up… Read more »

My suspicions tell me that, if polled, most undergraduates would list the cold period between New Year’s Day and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as the year’s most boring. Those lucky enough to remain in Madison stay in an unusually sleepy town — downtown merchants curtail their hours and few… Read more »

At the beginning of this semester, I welcomed readers to our newspaper with a message previous Badger Herald editors never would have imagined writing: “This might be the last point in our lives in which we have the privilege of either working for or reading a traditional newspaper without paying… Read more »

Media personalities are noted for their egos, and even local journalists are susceptible to an annoying lack of humility. Talk radio has always been the most attractive outlet for egomaniacs. Rush Limbaugh, Vicki McKenna (a fellow Hononegah High School graduate!) and Glenn Beck are among the most infamous ultraconservatives who… Read more »

For centuries — and decades, in this publication’s case — newspapers have played a critical role in the emotional and physical connection Americans have with society and their communities. Reading my dad’s copy of the Chicago Tribune every Sunday growing up remains a uniquely nostalgic routine of my childhood because… Read more »

Most political enthusiasts, especially the Democratic ones, prefer to see their presidents carry out some sort of major legislative accomplishment that was previously deemed impossible. This is what made President Barack Obama’s success with the Affordable Health Care Act so spellbinding and surprising. But this focus on major legislative accomplishment… Read more »

If the inevitability of a close presidential election has a silver lining, it’s that Gov. Mitt Romney might win the popular vote and lose the electoral college. The hypothetical is enough to make small-D democratic purists wet their pants at the possibility of a nation united against the antiquated constitutional… Read more »

Throughout the last 24 hours, I have received several inquiries about the use of the term “undocumented” — in place of “illegal” — to describe a subgroup of immigrants in the U.S. in a story about a visit earlier this week from immigration activist and journalist Jose Antonio Vargas. Concerns… Read more »

As I get older, I become more convinced of several things. One is that bluegrass is America’s most underrated folk art form. Another is that Sim City is the most important game ever made. When I was younger and played Sim City 2000 on an eMachine running Windows 98, I… Read more »

“What are you going to do with your life?” Journalism students are, at least theoretically, trained to ask questions. But thanks to a polar shift in the media industry, we’ve found ourselves tuning our canned answers to that loaded, never-ending question. However, the media industry has already decided what the… Read more »

I have no doubt that Capitol Police Chief David Erwin is the worst kind of police officer. In the last several weeks, he has over-exercised his power and needlessly picked on Madisonians who do not deserve his attention. But applying a general judgement to the constitutionality or necessity of Erwin’s… Read more »

Brace yourselves. With another year of hardship and austerity ahead of us, we’re about to hear the term “student power” repeated incessantly thanks to the good people in our student government.  This time last year, I stepped into the Associated Students of Madison’s office in the Student Activity Center and… Read more »

The Badger Herald’s office is a sight to behold this time of year. In the last several months, we have removed doors that refuse to shut, picked a broken desk apart by the legs and, as I write this, we continue to endure the August heat in an office that… Read more »

Congratulations on making two very wise decisions. You have elected to attend one of the world’s greatest universities and you have begun reading one of the nation’s best student newspapers. That type of ego-inflating rhetoric is common at any university or at any student newspaper. But you will soon find… Read more »

The journalism world has undergone a monumental change for the last several years. But you already know this. The Badger Herald’s history as a student newspaper consistently defies conventional media wisdom. We are accustomed to shifts in the media world. Not only does our staff switch over on a semesterly… Read more »

Wisconsin politics was boring as hell in 2010. Tommy Thompson refused to run against Russ Feingold for the U.S. Senate. The tears streaming down the faces of Feingold’s supporters in Middleton became election night’s top story, and the symbolism behind Sen. Ron Johnson’s status as a “plastics manufacturer” was a… Read more »

Twenty-five journalists from Gannett newspapers signed petitions to recall Gov. Scott Walker. So did I. Oops. Since I am a journalist — or at least am in training to be one — I can sympathize with the Gannett employees who were revealed to have signed petitions earlier this week. According to… Read more »

Northwestern has Dillo Day. Illinois has Unofficial Saint Patrick’s Day. Indiana has the Little 500. In an especially obnoxious display of aristocracy, Virginia students drive to a horse track wearing seersucker and fancy hats to spend a day drinking at the Foxfield Races.The University of Wisconsin, in the truest display of Wisconsin exceptionalism, has… Read more »

As soon as the ticking clock that signals the end of Invisible Children’s newest 30-minute documentary hit the zero mark, I realized a few minor things in my life inevitably would change between March 6 and April 20. Primarily, I realized my social media feeds would be cluttered with good-intentioned… Read more »

In 2009, 364 people were the victims of a robbery within Madison’s city limits, and 28 were forcibly raped. For a city of about 230,000, those numbers do not amount to a very high crime rate. The idea of Madison as a crime-free haven, of course, is misguided. Unfortunate things… Read more »

By the end of this month, Chancellor David Ward might be lucky enough to receive a freshly-baked cake from his friends at the Student Labor Action Coalition. It’s all part of the cyclical relationship between SLAC and the University of Wisconsin: Licensed company does something bad, SLAC raises a fuss,… Read more »

Madison is an innovative and creative city. Perhaps you have already heard this. The University of Wisconsin and the city of Madison share a rare relationship, unique among college towns and the institutions that call them home. For the last decade or two, this has been the result of an… Read more »

The news of former Chancellor Biddy Martin’s departure from her post was a fitting and predictable ending to a tumultuous academic year in Madison. Upon announcing her decision, Martin insisted she was not leaving because of the political failure of the New Badger Partnership, but the deflated atmosphere that her… Read more »

Hey, have you heard? Gov. Scott Walker is probably on his way to facing a Democrat in a recall election. After a year of governing Wisconsin more controversially than anyone in recent memory, Wisconsin liberals appear to be on their way to forcing Walker into an election. Surprise! Do not… Read more »

Herald Ed Board at the WSUM Presidential Debate… Read more »

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to meet José Antonio Vargas, the Pulitzer Prize-winning former Washington Post reporter who revealed himself to be an undocumented immigrant in a moving New York Times Magazine essay this summer. Vargas said something that struck a chord with me: “Only white people… Read more »

When participating in stereotypically Madisonian activities like riding a community bicycle, strolling around Capitol Square during a farmers market or drinking a hazelnut latté, I often wonder how the most conservative politicians in Wisconsin deal with spending such a significant portion of their lives in the Midwest’s cesspit of sin… Read more »

I like Chris Christie. There, I said it. Chris Christie, the overweight, much-maligned and confrontational anti-union governor of New Jersey actually seems to be a good guy committed to the best interests of his state. And even though I’ll almost surely vote for President Barack Obama in 2012, I’m still… Read more »

The promotional material for this fall’s “Occupy Wall Street” protests in New York City appeared more like the lead up to a blockbuster movie than a mass demonstration. A poster for the event created by Adbusters, one of the organizations that called for the protest, shows a woman dancing atop… Read more »

One thing every good Badger Herald employee learns when they step into our humble office is that we are, have been and will continue to be an experiment. Experimentation is the force that drives the University of Wisconsin to greatness and recognition around the world. Although UW is often derided… Read more »

Sometimes, I have to swallow my pride, get rid of my mostly fabricated Philadelphia accent and tell the truth: I grew up near Rockford, Ill. After splitting my two years in college between Madison and suburban Philly, far away from the city that has grown to embody recession-era America, I’ve… Read more »

For years, Don Lemon has been a diamond in the rough at CNN. The dying cable news network, plagued by irrelevancy and low ratings for years, found a steadfast anchor with integrity in Lemon, who anchors a newscast and interviews newsmakers from CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta. This summer, Lemon announced… Read more »

In all political movements or campaigns, rule number one is not to lose a message. Barack Obama’s 2008 message, “Change we can believe in,” trumped John McCain’s infighting with Sarah Palin. John Kerry’s scattershot 2004 campaign covering multiple issues wasn’t enough to beat George W. Bush’s national security message. I… Read more »

For a city renowned for its permanent drunkenness, Madison’s policymakers and public affairs wonks aren’t exactly representative of Wisconsin’s beer-drinking population. In my experience at endless city meetings about the Alcohol License Density Ordinance, which restricts bars and taverns in the downtown core, the only spectators with the perseverance to… Read more »