University of Wisconsin-Madison Archives - The Wisconsin Daily Star

University with Gender Clinic Funds Study to See if Puberty Blockers Causes ‘Lasting’ Brain Changes for Kids

December 25, 2023 Wisconsin Daily Star Staff

The University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) approved a $600,000 grant for a study hypothesizing that puberty blockers used on children will lead to “lasting changes” in the brain, according to documents obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

In 2018, an American Academy of Pediatrics committee, which included a member of UW’s faculty, released a policy on transgender hormone treatments claiming that the effects of puberty blockers are reversible, a claim that has since been widely echoed by trans advocates. The university’s gender clinic already offers hormones to minors, but new documents obtained by the DCNF reveal that the study, which was approved for a $600,000 grant in July, hypothesizes that “short-term” transgender treatments will have “lasting changes” on the brain, internal organs and behavior.

Doctor Asked for Grant to Study Trans Hormones on Rats, Admits ‘Severe Lack’ of Research, Emails Show

October 16, 2023 Wisconsin Daily Star Staff

Dr. Walid Farhat, a professor of Urology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, applied in April for a grant to study the impact of cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers on prepubescent rats, acknowledging the research on the potential side effects is “severely lacking,” according to emails obtained through a Daily Caller News Foundation Freedom of Information Act request.

Farhat, who is also chief of the division of Pediatric Urology at the UW’s School of Medicine and Public Health, applied to the Wisconsin Partnership Program (WPP) for a research grant to study the potential side effects of cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers on “prepubertal male and female” rats into adulthood, according to an April email. The application claimed that the study would help close the gap in research on minors receiving transgender hormone therapy, which Farhat maintained was “relatively safe,” and criticized the attempts to withhold access to the medication.

Red Flags Rise over UW-Madison Get-Out-the-Vote Initiative with ‘Zuckerbucks’ Feel

February 10, 2023February 9, 2023 M.D. Kittle

The BadgersVote initiative “strives to provide University of Wisconsin–Madison students with everything they need to know in order to participate in their elections,” according to organizers. But is the campus-wide “public service” campaign really just a Democratic Party Get-Out-the-Vote effort underwritten by a taxpayer-funded university, a nonprofit research center, and liberal activist groups?

For some, the university-nonprofit partnership feels a lot like the Zuckerbucks scandal of 2020.

Socialist Students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Demand On-Campus Abortion Services

November 1, 2022October 31, 2022 Admin

The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s (UWM) Young Democratic Socialists for America (YDSA) chapter sponsored an online petition by co-chair Nathan Schilling which demands the University Health Services (UHS) provide abortion services.

The petition, which has amassed more than 300 signatures, specifically addresses Associate Vice Chancellor and Executive Director Jake Baggott, Associate Executive Director and Director of Operations Carol Griggs, and Director of Medical Services Aruna Josyula.

New Wisconsin Chancellor Under Scrutiny for Pro-CRT Views

August 1, 2022July 31, 2022 Wisconsin Daily Star Staff

After naming Jennifer Mnookin the new Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, Madison (UW-Madison), the system’s Board of Regents is facing backlash from prominent Wisconsin lawmakers.

Rebecca Kleefisch, former Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin and current GOP gubernatorial frontrunner, tweeted on May 16 that the “decision to hire a woke radical like Dr. Mnookin is infuriating. Our universities need to focus on building a strong economy and workforce — not force-feeding liberal ideology to Wisconsin students.”

Republicans Criticize New University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor, Threaten University of Wisconsin Funding

May 19, 2022May 18, 2022 The Center Square

Republicans at the Wisconsin Capitol are not happy with the new choice for chancellor at UW-Madison.

Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, who is the vice chairman of the Senate’s committee for universities and technical colleges, called Dr. Jennifer Mnookin a “ridiculous choice.”

‘Only Socialism Can Defeat COVID’ Flyers Found on University of Wisconsin-Madison Campus

March 7, 2022March 6, 2022 Wisconsin Daily Star Staff

Flyers posted around University of Wisconsin-Madison promising that “Only Socialism Can Defeat COVID” were promoting a Feb. 11 event held by the Madison, WI branch of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT).

According to the flyers, “capitalism offers no solutions” to COVID-19 and only makes things worse, as the organization criticizes solutions that involve “get[ting] back to work.”

As Campus Reform previously reported, The IMT is an organization that supports a “socialist transformation of society.” They have branches across the U.S. and other parts of the world.

University of Wisconsin Police Department’s ‘Equity Dashboard’ Tracks Arrests, ‘Use of Force’ Incidents by Race

February 21, 2022February 20, 2022 Wisconsin Daily Star Staff

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department (UWPD) maintains an “Equity Dashboard” that tracks law enforcement encounters by race, ethnicity, and gender.

“This dashboard is the result of more than a year of collaboration through our Racial Equity Initiative,” the police department states on its website.

The dashboard launched Dec. 9 as the result of the university’s “Racial Equity Initiative,” which the institution announced in June 2020 following the death of George Floyd.

Commentary: Pro-Government Zealots Remove Statues on Campus – Just Like China in Hong Kong

January 17, 2022 Admin

When students, faculty, and university administrations pull down statues on campus in an effort to censor history, they are engaging in the same authoritarian politics that characterize China’s control over Hong Kong.

Within 48 hours, Hong Kong University (HKU), the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), and Lingan University witnessed the removal of artwork commemorating the 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square.

At HKU, “the Pillar of Shame” was an apt name for the monument that memorialized the atrocity as an example of Chinese government oppression that the communist regime is now trying to whitewash.

Parents of Two Wisconsin College Students That Died from Fentanyl Overdose: ‘It’s a Public Health Crisis’

December 24, 2021December 23, 2021 Hayley Feland

The parents of two Wisconsin college students who died from fentanyl overdoses are speaking out, calling it a “public health crisis.” The two students who died in unrelated incidents were freshmen, living in the same dorm at the University of Wisconsin (UW) Madison.

Pro-Abortion Protest Groups Clash with One Another at Wisconsin State Capital

October 5, 2021October 4, 2021 Hayley Feland

Three protests all with different perspectives on abortion clashed at the Wisconsin State Capitol on Saturday. The pro-abortion marches appeared to have been fueled by recent decisions in Texas, banning abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat.