News and Updates

WILL Study: Spring 2020 School Closures to Cost WI Students $7 Billion in Lifetime Earnings

WILL estimates that spring 2020 school closures and incomplete curriculums could cost Wisconsin students more than $7 billion in lifetime earnings losses. The study, that only examines curriculum completion during the spring 2020 school closures, provides a stark warning about the potential costs of learning loss due to school building closures in the 2020-21 school year.

Read more here.

Judge Orders Wisconsin DNR to Hold February Wolf Hunt

Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Bennett J. Brantmeier issued a writ of mandamus requiring the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to hold a gray wolf hunt in February 2021. Judge Brantmeier found that the Wisconsin DNR violated state law by refusing to schedule a winter 2021 gray wolf hunt when the gray wolf was delisted from the Endangered Species Act on January 4, 2021.

WILL sued the Wisconsin DNR on February 2, 2021 arguing that state law clearly directed DNR to conduct a gray wolf hunt in winter 2021.

Polly Olsen's Fight for Campus Free Speech

WILL Flashback: Polly Olsen's Valentines Victory

On Valentine’s Day, 2018, NWTC student Polly Olsen had campus security dispatched to stop her from distributing religiously-themed valentines with messages such as “Jesus Loves You.” Olsen was told that some people might find her valentines “offensive” and that she was “soliciting” on campus outside of the designated free speech zone.

WILL filed a federal lawsuit in September 2018 arguing NWTC violated Olsen’s First Amendment rights and the school’s Public Assembly Policy was unconstitutional. Judge Griesbach issued a summary judgment order in 2019 that reads in part, “NWTC had no more right to prevent [Olsen] from handing out individual Valentines than it did to stop her from wishing each individual to have a “good morning and a blessed day.”