In the Media

The Salish Sea is truly a wonder. On a daily basis, we see orcas, salmon, eagles and many other species travel up and down its coasts, taking advantage of the remaining healthy habitats for feeding and refuge. None of them take notice of the international boundary running through the middle of the sea and the different governments managing these waters. Just as these species travel freely across the border, so does the water and any pollutants they may be carrying. 

Western Washington University will host a prestigious annual discussion of antisemitism amid a national spike in hate against Jews and a school year that has seen bigotry against several minority groups on campus. Focus of the event is how the Nazi Party forced schools to teach its racist ideology, a topic that’s increasingly in the headlines as U.S. states such as Florida censor what students can learn about American history.

It’s not a trick of the light and you are not going crazy, pink snow does exist. In the spring and summer months, snow in Whatcom County’s mountains can turn pink. The color comes from an algae that can be found in alpine regions across the globe, and is more common than people think, said Robin Kodner, associate professor of environmental science at Western Washington University. Pink snow is more than interesting, it can be dangerous for the climate.

“Snow algae are just one of the many threats to snowpack and glacier systems worldwide, including Washington state,” Kodner said. “White snow is very reflective, so it reflects solar radiation, but when you darken the snow’s surface, it absorbs solar radiation and increases the rate of snowmelt.”

A research institute at Western Washington University is partnering with two Canadian universities to study several cross-border topics in the Cascadia region, including the impacts of pandemic travel restrictions.

WWU’s Border Policy Research Institute (BPRI) and Simon Fraser University will partner on “Pandemics and Borders,” a two-year project that will look at the impacts of travel restrictions during the pandemic with the goal of preventing future inequities. Researchers will examine travel restrictions, quarantine, testing and vaccine requirements, according to a BPRI news release.

The research will address a critical gap in knowledge on pandemic travel restrictions, according to BPRI. BPRI director Laurie Trautman said it may be the first study to bring together public health and border policy expertise at the U.S./Canada border. 

“It’s an opportunity to hopefully make a strong case that these border restrictions were impactful and were measures that should not be implemented quickly or easily next time,” she said. “We should be cautious and careful on how we restrict cross-border mobility because it impacts people’s lives and livelihoods.” 

For months, Western Washington University Philosophy Professor Dennis Whitcomb worked with co-authors Joshua Habgood-Coote and Lani Wilson to develop their latest article: "Can a good philosophical contribution be made just by asking a question?"

So what followed the title? Nothing ... but a blank empty page. 

The rest of the article lives within the minds of readers as they think and mentally respond to the question presented.

“One of the reasons that the Gulf of Maine is warming so rapidly is because of where it sits in the North Atlantic with regards to ocean circulation,” said Nina Whitney, an adjunct scientist at WHOI and research assistant professor at Western Washington University who was the lead author of the 2022 WHOI paper. “Anthropogenic — or man-made — warming is causing ocean circulation to change.”

Every earthquake gives rise to aftershocks, their strength proportional to the magnitude of the initial shaking. In the case of the back-to-back quakes in Turkey, many of the ensuing aftershocks have been large enough to cause additional damage and casualties.

“The likelihood of aftershocks becomes smaller with time, as does the likelihood of large, and potentially damaging events,” wrote Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a seismologist at Western Washington University, in a message to The Post. “That said, these sequences can go on for months or even years.”

by Johann N. Neem

In the fall term, I often teach an introductory, general education course called “Going to College in America.” Although grounded in my discipline—history—the assigned readings draw from economics, philosophy, sociology, and other fields. My goal is to allow students, often in their first term in college, to reflect on why they’re in college and what they want out of their four years on campus. Students have been told again and again—by parents, by teachers and counselors, by political and business leaders—that they must go to college. And my students have followed that advice. They have done what they’ve been asked to do. They are here. But they don’t know why.

I teach at a regional public comprehensive university, the workhorse of public four-year education. My students come from diverse backgrounds. Many are first generation. They’ve been told that a college degree is essential to succeed in today’s workforce. Their goal is to get a degree, often in a major that is directly tied to a job. And yet they find themselves spending the bulk of their first two years taking general education courses in subjects like history, political science, geology, and biology. I hear them complain. I hear them wonder why they need humanities or science if they don’t intend to do anything with them.

My goal in the class is not to brainwash my students into agreeing with me. I teach readings that I disagree with, and I do my best to help students understand authors’ arguments on the authors’ terms. I also make sure to assign readings that contradict each other. But both through the readings and by modeling intellectual curiosity in the classroom, I want my students to see that there are purposes to their education that are not just instrumental. I want them to at least be aware that there are internal goods to a college education if they choose to pursue them. I want to open them up to the idea that a good college education can matter on its own terms, and not just for the piece of paper at the end or the job that you get.

“In the Republican Party primary, the base tends to be more conservative, and we know that those voters tend to have gender and racial stereotypes that paint women candidates, and people of color, as more liberal,” said Catherine Wineinger, an expert on gender and politics at Western Washington University who has studied women in the Republican Party. “They’re really having to work harder to prove their conservative credentials to their party.”

If there are any leaks in the pipes, the substance leaking out is simply water or steam, and there is no hazardous waste, Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a professor of geology at Western Washington University, told ABC News.

Other than the land use and the environmental damage done by the initial construction, there are no other hazards, Caplan-Auerbach.

"There are no refineries that need to be built or shipped to," she said. "There's no gas station on the corner that you need to develop to sell the product."