Wednesday, March 12, 2025
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Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Milwaukee Press Club 'Excellence in Wisconsin Journalism' 2020 & 2021 Award Winners

UW-Madison Blacked Out Admissions Criteria in Response to GOP Legislator’s Concerns

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UW-Madison blacked out lengthy sections of its admissions criteria in response to an open records request from a Republican legislator who is now trying to change state law to mandate that the flagship university admit Wisconsin students in the top 5% of their classes.

UW-Madison’s freshman class was 8,628 students back in September of last year. The UW’s own numbers show that about 45% of that class is from Wisconsin; the rest are from other states or other countries. Sixty percent of Wisconsin freshman applicants who applied to UW-Madison last fall were accepted.

On Thursday, in the wake of the United States Supreme Court decision striking down affirmative action in university admissions at two prominent schools, Wisconsin Right Now obtained the blacked-out documents that were sent to state Rep. David Murphy in September 2021. In the wake of the Court decision, UW-Madison admitted, “We have considered the race of applicants as one factor in a holistic admissions process that focuses first and foremost on candidates’ academic strength.”

UW-Madison told Murphy it redacted the documents to protect “trade secrets” and because “release of such information would harm the public’s interest.” The university was also concerned that employees could face “reprisal” if their names were released.

READ THE REDACTED DOCUMENTS HERE:

Undergraduate Admissions Holistic Review – Freshman Applicant Evaluation Page 2021-2022 FINAL (002)_Redacted[40]

Undergraduate Admissions Holistic Review – Additional Training 2021-2022 DRAFT_Redacted[89]

Letter to Rep. Murphy re Records Request 2021.09.17[17]-1

Transfer Applicant Evaluation Page 2021-2022 FINAL (002)_Redacted[6]

Undergraduate Admissions Holistic Review – Principles 2021-2022 FINAL (002)_Redacted[71]

Undergraduate Admissions Holistic Review – Guidelines 2021-2022 FINAL_Redacted[14]

The group of Republican lawmakers, including Murphy, on Wednesday, introduced legislation that would guarantee a seat at UW-Madison for any Wisconsin high schooler who graduates in the top 5% of their class.

The action also came after Wisconsin Right Now published a series of stories from family members who were upset that high-achieving Wisconsin students were being turned away by UW-Madison.

“With the amount of money that we as taxpayers [pay] for K-12 and University of Wisconsin System, is it too much to say ‘We want that top 5%?’” Rep. Jerry O’Connor, R-Fond du Lac, asked reporters on Wednesday.

O’Connor said the numbers leave Wisconsin kids left out.

“[There] seems to be an institutionalized brain drain, sending some of our best people to other states,” O’Connor said. “And guess what happens when they graduate from the University of Minnesota, or Iowa, or Indiana? They make that their home. They don’t come back.”

But legislators have had trouble getting information about how UW-Madison decides which students to admit.

Murphy, R-Greenville, said getting any answers about UW-Madison’s admissions is a part of the problem.

“As chairman of the Colleges and Universities Committee, my office asked for UW-Madison’s admissions policy. We got a more than 50-page document that is about 90% redacted,” Murphy added.

Specifically, when it came to the open records request, UW-Madison claimed that releasing the redacted information would “undermine the significant public interest in maintaining the competitive position of UW-Madison – vis-à-vis its peer institutions – when recruiting and evaluating students.”

It would also “have a deleterious effect on the puplic’s interest in maintaining a fair and equitable application review process,” the university wrote.

The letter continues that releasing the information “would likely have the effect of harming those applicants who did not or could not access such information, which would place those applicants at a significant disadvantage when applying to UW-Madison.”

The university added, “Information contained in these documents can directly or indirectly identify UW-Madison employees who review admissions applications. Due to the highly competitive nature of college admissions, UW-Madison has redacted any information that may directly or indirectly identify these employees in order to protect them from potential reprisal by applicants who are not granted admission to the university.”

The letter was signed by Nancy K. Lynch, the vice chancellor for Legal Affairs.

One partially redacted document was called Undergraduate Admissions Holistic Review: Principles for the 2021-22 enrolling class and was stamped “for internal use only.”

The document says UW-Madison uses a “holistic, competitive and selective admissions review process that aligns with our mission. Our goal is to recruit, admit and enroll a high quality and diverse incoming class.”

The academic record comes first, but UW-Madison also considers written essays, extracurricular activities, leadership involvement, letters of recommendation and standardized test scores when required or provided, the document says.

“Our primary commitment is to residents of Wisconsin. We seek students who will add unique perspectives to the educational environment of UW-Madison, including members of historically underrepresented ethnic and racial groups those from rural Wisconsin farm backgrounds, first-generation college students, veterans and those currently serving our country in the armed forces, women interested in STEM majors and international students,” the policy says, adding that UW-Madison was also looking for students with “special talent in music, dance, art design, athletics or other areas of institutional need.”

Generally students who earn As and Bs in rigorous courses are considered competitive, and class rank is also considered, the policy said.

Under college record, a passage was blacked out. Sections under essays were blacked out, including common app essay prompts. Students may be required to submit a standardized test score to demonstrate English proficiency, the policy says.

Sections under non-cognitive competencies were also blacked out.

The policy discussed “higher predictors of success in college for non-traditional students than either GPAS or SAT-ACT scores.” But what those are was blacked out.

The university lists diversity as a consideration and says that Madison desires “to enroll more students from a variety of cultures from across the US and around the world. We also seek to enroll students who identify with race and ethnicities who are underrepresented in the population of the State of Wisconsin,” listing African-American, Hispanic, American Indian, Southeast Asian. Madison strives to enroll students “from every county in the state of Wisconsin, all 50 states and a range of countries worldwide.”

Whole sections under the admissions policy for transfer students and new freshmen were blacked out, including rating value for college academic rigor, indicators of college-ready writing, and the rating value given to positive campus contributions.

Wisconsin students “who have good grades and are taking competitive course work based on what’s available to them at their high school are likely to be admissible,” the policy says.

Rewriting the Admission Formula

O’Connor’s plan would require the UW System to rewrite its admissions formula and share with schools, parents, and teachers more of what it takes for students to get into UW-Madison.

The UW has said it shares the lawmakers’ goal of keeping Wisconsin’s “best and brightest” in the state and at a UW school. But the university didn’t specifically comment on the requirement that the Republicans are pursuing.

O’Connor said he hasn’t spoken to the university about the requirement but did say “this issue has been brought up to the university previously, and they’ve made no changes.”

There are fewer than 70,000 high school graduates in Wisconsin each year. Five percent of that comes to about 3,500 kids. UW-Madison accepts about 3,600 Wisconsin students each year.

“So the idea that we are going to push somebody else out, I don’t buy that,” Murphy said.

Any changes to UW admissions will come later, however. Lawmakers in Madison are due to wrap up their session for this year by the end of the week.

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rebecca cooke

Cooke Announces Another 3rd Congressional Bid Against Rep. Derrick Van Orden

(The Center Square) – Democrat Rebecca Cooke announce Tuesday she intends to run against U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Third Congressional, in 2026.

Van Orden defeated Cooke with 51.4% of the vote in the western Wisconsin district by a nearly 11,200 vote margin. The district includes La Crosse and Eau Claire.

“Last November, we won the trust of voters across the party spectrum and nearly sent a farm kid to Washington,” Cooke said while announcing she would run. “We need more working class voices like ours who will fight like hell to build back the middle class.”

Van Orden was a Navy SEAL and senior chief petty officer during his 26 years of service and recently received the 2025 Congressional award from the Veterans of Foreign Wars for his advocacy for veterans.

“Two-time loser Rebecca Cooke is making a third attempt at running for Congress after losing to Derrick Van Orden. 2026 will be no different — Western Wisconsin voters will reject two-faced Cooke’s radical far-left views,” Wisconsin GOP Chairman Brian Schimming said in a statement.

The National Republican Congressional Committee noted several stories about Cooke showing that she did political work before she ran for Congress, saying she claims to be a political outsider but is not.

“Certified loser Rebecca Cooke was already rejected by Wisconsinites twice and will lose again in 2026,” NRCC Spokesman Zach Bannon. “Voters are well aware that she is nothing more than a sleazy political activist who remains out-of-touch with Western Wisconsin.”

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$128 Million in Federal Grants Spent on Gender Ideology

More than $128 million of federal taxpayer money was spent on at least 341 grants to fund gender ideology initiatives under the Biden administration, according to an analysis of federal data by the American Principles Project.

In, “Funding Insanity: Federal Spending on Gender Ideology under Biden-Harris,” APP says it “found how the federal government has been spending hundreds of millions of YOUR MONEY on the Gender Industrial Complex!”

APP says it identified the grants by searching the USA Spending database. The data, which is available for free, is categorized by federal agency; notable grants are highlighted.

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department awarded the greatest amount of funding totaling nearly $84 million through 60 grants.

The Department of State awarded the greatest number of grants, 209, totaling more than $14 million, according to the data.

Other agencies awarding taxpayer-funded gender ideology grants include:

U.S. Agency for International Development, nearly $18 million through 8 grants;National Endowment for the Humanities, more than $2.6 million through 20 grants;Department of Justice, $1.9 million through three grants;Institute of Museum and Library Services, $1.87 million through 13 grants;Department of Education, $1.67 million through two grants;Department of Agriculture, $1.6 million through five grants;Department of the Interior, more than 1,000,000 awarded through two grants;U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, more than $548,000 through 4 grants;Inter-American Foundation, more than $490,000 through two grants;National Endowment for the Arts, $262,000 through 13 grants.

APP also identified 63 federal agency contracts totaling more than $46 million that promote gender ideology. They include total obligated amounts and the number of contracts per agency.

The majority, $31 million, was awarded through USAID. The next greatest amount of $4.4 million was awarded through the Department of Defense.

The Trump administration has taken several approaches to gut USAID, which has been met with litigation. The Department of Defense and other agencies are also under pressure to cut funding and reduce redundancies.

Notable grants include:

$3.9 million to Key Populations Consortium Uganda for promoting “the safety, agency, well-being and the livelihoods of LGBTQI+ in Uganda;”$3.5 million to Outright International for “the Alliance for Global Equality and its mission to promote LGBTQI+ people in priority countries around the world;”$2.4 million to the International Rescue Committee for “inclusive consideration of sexual orientation, gender identity, and sexual characteristics in humanitarian assistance;”$1.9 million to the American Bar Association to “shield the LGBTQI+ population in the Western Balkans;”$1.4 million for “economic empowerment of and opportunity for LGBTQI+ people in Serbia;”$1.49 million to Equality for All Foundation, Jamaica to “Strengthen community support structures to upscale LGBT rights advocacy;”More than $1 million to Bandhu Social Welfare Society to support gender diverse people in Bangladesh.

One of the grants identified by APP, which has since been cancelled, was $600,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to Southern University Agricultural & Mechanical College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to study menstruation and menopause, including in biological men.

According to a description of the grant summary, funding would support research, extension, and teaching to address “growing concerns and issues surrounding menstruation, including the potential health risks posed to users of synthetic feminine hygiene products (FHP);” advancing research in the development of FHP that use natural materials and providing menstrual hygiene management; producing sustainable feminine hygiene sanitary products using natural fibers; providing a local fiber processing center for fiber growers in Louisiana, among others.

It states that menstruation begins in girls at roughly age 12 and ends with menopause at roughly age 51. “A woman will have a monthly menstrual cycle for about 40 years of her life averaging to about 450 periods over the course of her lifetime,” but adds: “It is also important to recognize that transgender men and people with masculine gender identities, intersex and non-binary persons may also menstruate.”

All federal funding was allocated to state agencies through the approval of Congress when it voted to pass continuing resolutions to fund the federal government and approved agency budgets.

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Audit: Wisconsin Voting Machines Has Zero Errors in 2024 Election

(The Center Square) – An audit of Wisconsin’s 2024 general election found no errors from its electronic voting system.

The audit included a review of 327,230 ballots statewide, around 10% of the total votes, that were counted by hand to ensure the electronic system had accurately counted the votes.

Previous audits included counting 145,000 ballots from the 2020 election and 222,075 from 2022.

The audit began immediately after the 2024 election.

“The municipal clerks, county clerks, election inspectors, and volunteers who completed these audits should be commended for their work and for their continued dedication to secure and accurate elections,” said WEC Administrator Meagan Wolfe.

The audit concluded that there were no issues in the ballot counting.

“They found no election equipment changed votes from one candidate to another, incorrectly tabulated votes, or altered the outcome of any audited contest,” the audit said. “Additionally, there was no evidence of programming errors, unauthorized alterations or hacking of voting equipment software, or malfunctions of voting equipment that altered the outcome of any races on the ballot.”

The audit found that there were five errors on the machines that had to be corrected throughout the state with three creases and a tear near an oval in Franklin being read as overvotes along with one smudge apiece in Antigo and Mukwonago leading to an error for an overvote.

“In total, 593 human errors were recorded in the administration of the 2024 post-election voting equipment audit,” the audit said. “While human factors may not be relevant to the federal definition of an error, they still inform the WEC of opportunities for improvement through additional training, procedural changes, or other actions.”

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WATCH: Trump Says Men Will No Longer Be Able to Play in Women’s Sports

President Donald Trump Tuesday night told the story of a young woman who was severely injured by a transgender male athlete when he hit a volleyball into her face so hard it caused brain damage.

The young girl, Payton McNabb, was present as Trump’s guest at his address to a joint session of Congress.

“Payton, from now on schools will kick the men off the girls team or they will lose all federal funding,” Trump said, calling his policies a “common sense revolution.”

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National Sheriffs Association Says About 700,000 ICE Arrest Warrants Nationwide

State and local law enforcement are being put in harm's way with Illinois’ migrant sanctuary policies, the Illinois Sheriffs Association says.

Association Executive Director Jim Kaitschuk said the National Sheriffs Association put out a note to their state partners that there are 700,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement administrative arrest warrants that are active. But, that doesn’t matter in Illinois.

“Illinois law enforcement is precluded and prohibited from participating in any activity that is solely related to civil enforcement,” Kaitschuk told The Center Square.

Illinois law, through the TRUST Act and The Way Forward Act, prohibits state and local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration officials if a civil detention order is the only thing ICE has against someone.

While Kaitschuk said they can cooperate when there are criminal orders, law enforcement not being able to cooperate with civil warrants can still cause security concerns.

“Unfortunately things do go wrong, right, and then we’re in a situation where you may not know anything about what’s occurring,” Kaitschuk said. “So, we’re kind of blind in those cases.”

Daily immigration arrests nationwide haven’t been comprehensively published, but some estimates are more than 21,000 immigration detentions across the country since Jan. 20, when President Donald Trump took office.

Last week, state Sen. Omar Aquino, D-Chicago, told a group of immigration advocates that Illinois will stand strong.

“You are not going to come into our house and just try to take people and separate families in this state,” Aquino said. “People have rights. They are human rights.”

Illinois law also limits ICE from using local county detention facilities. Kaitschuk said the state’s sanctuary policies prohibit police from even knowing whether they have a suspected illegal immigrant in their jail.

“And [ICE] they’re having to go to people’s houses and at the point in time, the problem then is that you may be subjecting people then that weren’t involved in any other criminal activity other than being here … not legally and open them up to being subjected to ICE at that point in time in that residence, as opposed to if they were at the jail, where they wouldn’t have been,” Kaitschuk said.

Illinois and Chicago officials are on the other side of the U.S. Department of Justice in litigation over migrant sanctuary policies. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is due in front of the U.S. House Oversight Committee Wednesday to discuss the city’s migrant sanctuary policies.

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