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Alexander Meiklejohn's Experimental College, inaugurated in 1927, was a short-lived but very influential educational experiment at the University of Wisconsin. It was one of a number of attempts to present the liberal arts as a unified whole, with emphasis on the direct reading of original sources. It can be broadly consider as part of the "Great Books" movement, which lives on in its purest state today at St. John's College in Annapolis, and in an attenuated form at WIsconsin as the Integrated Liberal Studies program.<ref>[http://www.wisc.edu/ils/Meiklejohn.html Meiklejohn's Experimental College], University of Wisconsin ILS website</ref>

Alexander Meiklejohn's Experimental College, inaugurated in 1927, was a short-lived but very influential educational experiment at the University of Wisconsin. It was one of a number of attempts to present the liberal arts as a unified whole, with emphasis on the direct reading of original sources. It can be broadly consider as part of the "Great Books" movement, which lives on in its purest state today at St. John's College in Annapolis, and in an attenuated form at WIsconsin as the Integrated Liberal Studies program.<ref>[http://www.wisc.edu/ils/Meiklejohn.html Meiklejohn's Experimental College], University of Wisconsin ILS website</ref>

The university's radio station, WHA, was an important pioneer in broadcast radio, and claims to be "the oldest station in the nation"<ref>[http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/WIReader/Images/WER0607.html "The Oldest Station in the Nation"], photograph of historical marker</ref><ref>[The Wisconsin Idea&mdash;In Broadcasting]. At the plaque dedication ceremony "When Mr. [C. M.] Jansky, Jr. was asked about the facts in the WHA 'oldest station' claim, he remarked, 'Not only do I think this is correct in respect to WHA; but since it is well recognized that regular broadcasting started in the United States, WHA may also be credited with being the oldest broadcasting station in the world.'</ref> The physics department began experimental transmissions in 1900, received experimental license 9XM in 1915, began voice transmissions in 1920, and received its current call letters, WHA, in 1922.

The university's radio station, WHA, was an important pioneer in broadcast radio, and claims to be<ref>The rival claimant is Pittsburgh's KDKA. Randall Davidson, WHA announcer and author of a book on 9XM/WHA, was said in 2007 to be "pretty convinced that, if you're talking about a station broadcasting by radio, for the public, on some sort of regular schedule, Pittsburgh's KDKA wins the prize by going on the air on Nov. 2, 1920. The official record says 9XM didn't start its regular weather forecasts until about two months later." [http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/tct/2007/02/28/0702280463.php Madison Capital Times, Feb. 28, 2007]: "History On The Air"</ref> "the oldest station in the nation"<ref>[http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/WIReader/Images/WER0607.html "The Oldest Station in the Nation"], photograph of historical marker</ref><ref>[The Wisconsin Idea&mdash;In Broadcasting]. At the plaque dedication ceremony "When Mr. [C. M.] Jansky, Jr. was asked about the facts in the WHA 'oldest station' claim, he remarked, 'Not only do I think this is correct in respect to WHA; but since it is well recognized that regular broadcasting started in the United States, WHA may also be credited with being the oldest broadcasting station in the world.'</ref> The physics department began experimental transmissions in 1900, received experimental license 9XM in 1915, began voice transmissions in 1920, and received its current call letters, WHA, in 1922.

During the late 1960s, students at the University of Wisconsin became radicalized by the Vietnam war, and the university was a center of campus unrest. One protest focussed on the presence of Dow Chemical Company job recruiters&mdash;Dow being singled out as a manufacturer of napalm, a weapon thought to be particularly cruel. Others centered on the military-funded Army Mathematics Research Center (AMRC) which performed a mixture of published and secret research, with the university emphasizing its theoretical studies, while campus radicals suggesting it also did work with direct, practical military use. In 1970, Karleton Armstrong and three other students constructed what would now be called a "car bomb," filling a stolen van with a mixture of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, a home-made explosive familiar to farmers, and exploded it outside the Sterling Hall building which housed the AMRC.<ref>[http://www.madison.com/library/LEE/sterlinghall.html Sterling Hall Bombing], Madison library website</ref> The explosion killed a graduate student. The ensuing shock and revulsion, and the winding down of the Vietnam war, brought a steep decline to the period of campus radicalism.{{fact}}  

During the late 1960s, students at the University of Wisconsin became radicalized by the Vietnam war, and the university was a center of campus unrest. One protest focussed on the presence of Dow Chemical Company job recruiters&mdash;Dow being singled out as a manufacturer of napalm, a weapon thought to be particularly cruel. Others centered on the military-funded Army Mathematics Research Center (AMRC) which performed a mixture of published and secret research, with the university emphasizing its theoretical studies, while campus radicals suggesting it also did work with direct, practical military use. In 1970, Karleton Armstrong and three other students constructed what would now be called a "car bomb," filling a stolen van with a mixture of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, a home-made explosive familiar to farmers, and exploded it outside the Sterling Hall building which housed the AMRC.<ref>[http://www.madison.com/library/LEE/sterlinghall.html Sterling Hall Bombing], Madison library website</ref> The explosion killed a graduate student. The ensuing shock and revulsion, and the winding down of the Vietnam war, brought a steep decline to the period of campus radicalism.{{fact}}