🧱 Brick brouhaha causes university to change course

🧱 UW Relents on Alumni Brick Plan

• The University of Wisconsin is backing off its plans to disassemble a walkway near the Camp Randall Athletic Center that featured commemorative bricks purchased by alumni.
• UW officials now say that fans who bought the bricks will have the option of reclaiming the bricks, or leaving them to be part of a new display near Camp Randall.
• Some fans came down like a ton of you-know-what on the university for its original plan to not preserve the bricks, saying it was disrespectful to the tradition and history of Badger alumni.
• Related: We dug into this topic and more on a recent podcast, check it out. [WPR, WSJ, 🎧 City Cast Madison]

⛲ Fountain at Vilas Park Vandalized

• The historic Annie C. Stewart Memorial Fountain near Henry Vilas Zoo was damaged Thursday night by an intoxicated individual who was “taking out his frustrations” on the fountain, according to Madison police.
• The fountain has been located at Vilas Park since 1925, making it the oldest commissioned art piece in the city.
• A working group of community residents had been trying to determine what to do to preserve the decaying fountain. A consultant told the group in 2023 that it would cost $900,000 to partially preserve and replicate the fountain. [MPD, WSJ]

✍🏽 Meet Madison’s New Youth Poet Laureate

• The Madison Arts Commission will induct the city’s third Youth Poet Laureate, Justin Festge Russell, at a reception Tuesday in Room 206 of the Madison Municipal Building.
• Russell is a recent East High School graduate who just joined the First Wave program as a freshman at UW-Madison.
• Russell says, “I desire to share the stories of the people and speak for those who are afraid. I truly believe in the power of the youth and must contribute to it as best as I can. For we are the future.” [City of Madison]