UW-Madison’s corporate partnerships raise revenue and ethical questions

Nico Savidge:

The line to enter a pastel pink Google “Donut Shop” on UW-Madison’s Engineering Mall one cloudy morning earlier this month snaked around the grassy quad, filled with students and others who wanted to experience the pop-up promotion for the tech giant’s smart speaker.

“The new #GoogleHome Mini is the size of a donut, with the powers of a superhero,” @WisconsinUnion, the official Twitter account of UW-Madison’s student unions, wrote to its nearly 30,000 followers. “Get a taste today from 10-6. #ad #sponsored @madebygoogle.”

The Google event was the latest in a string of highly visible corporate partnerships at UW-Madison — others have included an Amazon location in a dorm and a campaign promoting Mentos Gum at the start of the fall semester — in which the university’s physical and digital spaces have been used as platforms for businesses.