Free Republic

Functional Family: Mock theta mystery solved Erica Klarreich A pair of mathematicians has solved a problem that had tantalized number-theory researchers for more than 8 decades. It is the so-called final problem of the legendary Indian mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. In the years before his death in 1920, Ramanujan studied theta functions, which are numerical relationships that show special symmetries. On his deathbed, Ramanujan wrote a letter to his British collaborator G. H. Hardy, in which he listed 17 complicated formulas for new functions. He called them mock theta functions because they had some properties similar to those of theta...

The University of Wisconsin-Madison doctoral program in second language acquisition recently held a virtual lecture on “Undoing White Supremacy in the Language Disciplines.” Professor Mary Bucholtz from the University of California-Santa Barbara spoke as a guest at the virtual lecture. Bucholtz identified herself as being “racist” because she is “a White American.”

The student newspaper at the University of Wisconsin-Madison refused to publish an op-ed that arguing against the “defund the police” movement over the fear of backlash. The op-ed was penned and submitted by Tripp Grebe, who worked as a conservative columnist for the student paper, called the Badger-Herald. In it, Grebe criticized calls to defund and abolish police departments. The paper’s initial response: At the beginning of the fall semester, Samira Bhushan, an opinion editor at the paper, sent an email to Grebe, informing him that his stance too controversial and might invite “backlash.”

A woman was caught on video assaulting a pro-life activist, as well as spray painting one of his signs, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The assailant later admitted to police that she had premeditated the act of vandalism after becoming angry over the pro-life signage. An individual at the University of Wisconsin-Madison — later identified by police as Sasha Timofeeva — is facing two charges after shoving a pro-life activist and spray painting his sign, according to the group Created Equal, which describes itself as “a social action movement seeking to end the greatest human rights injustice of our time...

As a veteran of the global smart phone wars, Apple is used to courtroom battles with fierce competitors such as Samsung and Nokia. This week, however, a federal jury returned a verdict against Apple in a lawsuit brought by a different kind of adversary: a public university. The University of Wisconsin-Madison's licensing arm, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, convinced a jury that Apple had infringed its patent for improving chip efficiency when the company incorporated the technology into some of its phones and tablets. Research institutions and universities have not traditionally been major players in patent litigation, and even now...

Sara Goldrick-Rab, a sociology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, caused a firestorm last month when she publicly compared her governor, Republican Scott Walker, to Adolf Hitler in a tweet. She poured fuel on the flames by tweeting at incoming freshmen who were Walker supporters, encouraging them not to attend the school because of Walker’s education funding policies. Then, she apologized. Now she’s promoting a class she’s teaching this fall on “scholar activism.” The graduate seminar will “explore the biographies and narratives of a diverse array of scholar activists, examine the sociopolitical and economic forces shaping their work, and consider...

One of the leading lights of Marxism on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison brings home a sweet salary of $170,000 per year. The well-heeled sociology professor is Erik Olin Wright .. The tenured, capitalism-hating professor’s annual salary of $170,000 is $117,587 greater than the household income of a typical Wisconsin family and is in the top 2 percent of all Americans. Whil an average middle-class family in Wisconsin survives on $4,368 per month, the Marxist professor enjoys a cushy monthly income of $14,166. He will teach exactly two courses in the fall semester for this princely sum. ......

Gov. Scott Walker has appointed the son of a president of a foundation that supports tea party causes to the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents. The board oversees the University of Wisconsin system, setting policies and approving budgets, among other vital regulatory duties. Walker appointed Mike M. Grebe, son of Michael W. Grebe, president and chief executive of the Bradley Foundation, to the board. The foundation is an essential part of Walker’s “brain trust.” It’s poured millions into promoting such right-wing policies as busting unions, expanding voucher schools and eliminating social welfare programs. In addition to his association with...

There’s no danger that the tax subsidy granted to donors to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation will be used to benefit conservatives. Not if the new president of the 2-billion-dollar slush fund foundation has anything to say about it. The Daily Caller reports: The outgoing University of Miami president tapped to head the Clinton Foundation once tried to block a conservative group founded by four female students from organizing on campus. Donna Shalala, who also served as former President Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, was recently hand-picked to take over as CEO of the Bill,...

......UW officials say that Walker's proposal to end funding for the bioenergy program would cripple broader energy-development research that is receiving $25million annually from the federal Department of Energy."I can't honestly say how we would replace it at this point,"said Michael Corradini,director of the Wisconsin Energy Institute at UW-Madison,which derives 90% of its funding from the bioenergy program...In 2007,Wisconsin landed the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center—the first federal research center the state had attracted in decades. The center received an initial five-year,$125 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.It was part of a $375 million package by the administration...

Neatly hidden in his new budget that slashes hundreds of millions of dollars from the public university system, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has proposed that universities no longer be required to report the number of sexual assaults on campus to the Department of Justice. It also includes language to, “Delete the requirement that any person employed at an institution who witnesses a sexual assault on campus or receives a report from a student enrolled in the institution that the student has been sexually assaulted report the assault to the dean of students.” No explanation for the deletions is given.

Five days after an open letter was posted online, the number of people at University of Wisconsin -- now including not only faculty, but staff, students and alumi -- demanding that UW System president Ray Cross oppose Gov. Scott Walker's plan to restructure UW in his budget rose to 484. Some 88 of them were at, or graduated from UW-Madison, where faculty were scheduled Monday to vote on a resolution asking Cross to delay restructuring. Seventy-four University of Wisconsin faculty members from campuses across the state signed an open letter to UW System president Ray Cross, “insisting in the strongest...

(Aug. 23) -- Forty years ago Tuesday, a van loaded with explosives rocked the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, killing one person and wounding three others -- all part of a protest against the war in Vietnam. It was also the biggest domestic terrorism attack until the Oklahoma City bombing 25 years later. Three of four of the anti-war culprits were captured and served time in prison. But 40 years later, the hunt for the fourth suspect -- Leo Burt, a student and aspiring journalist at the time -- continues. "We're still pursuing leads like he's still alive," Bruce Carroll, a...

Madison, WI -- A University of Wisconsin Stevens Point student government leader is coming under fire for allegedly trashing a pro-life display on campus. Student senator Roderick King is said to have vandalized a display featuring crosses erected by the campus pro-life group to memorialize those babies killed in abortions. Full story at: http://www.lifenews.com/state3207.html

Hired by the University of Wisconsin to teach “Islam: Religion and Culture,” this fall at the Madison campus, Kevin Barrett believes that the 9/11 attacks on America were planned and executed by the U.S. government and not the work of terrorists. Barrett co-founded Muslim-Jewish-Christian Alliance for 9/11 Truth. Barrett’s views have caused a divide in Wisconsin. Barrett and university officials have stated that Barrett’s personal views will not be discussed or taught in the class. Supporters of Barrett argue that he has the right to academic freedom. Some state legislatures called for the university to fire Barrett immediately. So which...

US scientists have found that all modern varieties of potatoes can be traced back to a single source - a spud grown in Peru over 7,000 years ago. It had been believed potatoes had a much wider region of origin, stretching from Peru to northern Argentina. The team, led by Dr David Spooner of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, analysed the DNA of about 360 potatoes, both wild and cultivated. Some 300 million tonnes of potatoes are produced around the world every year. The study was sponsored by the US Department of Agriculture. Dr Spooner, a professor of horticulture, said archaeological...