Message to Gregoire: Don't coldcock Western Washington University

Instead of flying off on a trade junket to Europe -- Dublin was Thursday's stop -- Gov. Chris Gregoire should have headed up Interstate 5 to Western Washington University. She chose, rather, to send (and publicize) a letter coldcocking WWU for daring to sign a contract with small salary hikes for professors.

The Governor would have learned something about how a very good university has juggled priorities to serve a state that starves it. Western is trying to deal with a clear, long-term threat to its excellence -- its professors' increasingly uncompetitive pay.