Newsmakers

(Every week faculty and staff from across campus are featured or cited in newspapers, magazines, broadcasts and other media from around the country. The listings that follow represent a small selection of the many stories that spotlight UW–Madison and its people. More newsmaker listings)

Coalition coalesces
Student David Jamil Muhammad, who helped organize a conference on hip-hop art and music on campus in April, tells The Nation (May 15) his interest in music ties naturally into other social causes on campus, such as the protests against sweatshop labor that have been galvanizing many groups of students. “When I found out some hip-hop gear was being made in prisons, I was furious,” says Muhammad. His participation in both areas, some say, is emblematic of a new generation of student activists who are willing to work across ideological and identity-group barriers on a wide range of issues. “During the “80s, all too often, the white left was willing to pursue ideological purity at the expense of ground-level realities of what things meant for black students. Interracial coalitions became very, very difficult,” says Craig Werner, a professor of music and Afro-American studies who participated in the hip-hop conference. “It is much better now … for once, we’ve got the feminists, the Nation of Islam and the lefties all working together. And Lord knows, we need it.”

Cable to short-circuit?
Cable television has been moving from a regulated industry into the no-holds-barred world of free competition, and many cable companies are now positioning themselves to compete directly against one another in markets across the country. But Cable World (May 12) says analysts are starting to wonder if there’s enough money around for more than one or two cable operators to survive in any given market. “If the air is let out of the balloon on Wall Street, as appears to be happening now, new service providers may not look as attractive to investors,” says Barry Orton, a professor in the Division of Continuing Studies and a telecommunications expert. “Some will find themselves on the sales block or forced to shut down.”

Grads poised to earn
A strong economy and an already tight labor market has given new college graduates an early graduation present: an almost unprecedented job market, where many first-time job seekers are attracting multiple offers and high starting salaries. Business and engineering graduates are receiving offers of $50,000 a year and more, and even liberal-arts graduates are drawing more lucrative salaries. The average starting salary for a liberal-arts grad is now $29,105, more than 5 percent above last year’s class. “That’s a pretty good indication that the job market is pretty healthy,” Ann Groves Lloyd, director of career services for the College of Letters and Science, tells Fox Market News (May 10). “With labor trends the way they are, students with liberal-arts [degrees] are very marketable right now.” She notes that employers have been particularly hungry for liberal-arts students who have some knowledge of technology.

Fans: Pained over “Stain’?
Reviewing Phillip Roth’s newest novel, “The Human Stain,” for the New York Times (May 7), English professor Lorrie Moore contemplates the fickle nature of fandom. By producing three outstanding books in the early 1990s, Roth has earned a cache of devoted fans, which can be both rewarding and frustrating, Moore notes. “The fan’s admiration may grow proprietary, neurotic and fussy,” Moore writes, “no longer conducted in the language of love but in the unattractive tones of disappointed connoisseurship. Such a condition, with time, resembles something vaguely if unilaterally marital, replete with dashed hopes, eccentric pronouncements, insincere forgiveness, nagging, muttering and some occasional really extremely minor drinking.” Despite all that, Moore likes the book.