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One of UWT’s core values is community engagement, so it is inspiring to see students put this value into practice.
Last December, the Tacoma City Council formed its once-a-decade Charter Review Committee. Among 52 applicants for 6 open positions, the Council selected UWT student Lok Yin Wu (Economics and Policy Analysis) to serve on the committee.
The city’s Charter Review Committee (CRC) reviews and proposes amendments to the city’s charter. In this critical process, the CRC examines features in the charter, such as the city’s governance structure, police accountability, the ability of citizens to vote directly on policies, and the term limits of Tacoma’s elected officials. The Committee’s task is to make recommendations to the City Council for changes to the charter that it would like the Council to put to a public vote.
The review process is a long one. This year it began in January and will end in May; it has required committee members to devote an average of ten hours of work per week. Of the 15 committee members, Lok is by far the youngest, reflecting an intentional effort on the part of City Council to involve young adults in the charter review process. Says Mayor Victoria Woodards:
“Children are not our future, but our present and we need to be engaging them now in the decisions that will impact them. There is no better example of this than the Charter Review Process and having youth participate in conversations that will shape the next decade of our community.”
Stephen Wamback, the chair of the review committee, agrees: “I’m appreciative that our City Council appointed Lok to represent the voice of youth. Active participation from younger generations is an important part of making sure we do this work right.”
Katie Baird, Lok Yu Win, and Nicholas Carr
Lok herself has found this opportunity to be “a breakthrough experience” for her. She especially appreciated how much she has learned: “It has deepened my understanding of the structure of the City of Tacoma and its progressive goals. I appreciate how passionate so many individuals are for making positive changes.”
In addition to Lok, UWT is well represented on this year’s Charter Review Committee. Prof. Katie Baird (PPPA) was also selected by the City, as were Andre Jimenez (Law & Policy, 2022), and Nicholas Carr (PP&E, 2012).
The Washington Bus is offering an interesting paid summer internship opportunity.
The Washington Bus is a statewide non-partisan movement-building organization that seeks to increase the political power and participation of young people across Washington State, while developing the next generation of leaders and organizers.
The Washington Bus is now recruiting Summer Fellows for a ten-week paid political, social justice, political power-building, and organizing program for young people. The Fellowship is part-time and is open to 18-25-year-olds in Washington state. Fellows spend the summer organizing young people, working on issue campaigns, turning out the youth vote, and learning about social justice, power building, and politics in Washington state. Fellows leave the program having made an impact on Washington Bus campaigns, with the skills to make real change in their communities, and a network of Bus family and friends to support them beyond the program.
The Washington Bus Fellowship is a 20-hour-a-week, 10 weeks long program starting the week of June 11th, 2024. This program is based in Seattle and housing will be provided for folks who aren’t from the Seattle area or can’t commute regularly. The priority consideration deadline is Wednesday, April 3rd, and the final application deadline is Saturday, April 20th at 11:59 pm. Fellows are paid $20 per hour throughout the program, or can opt to use that money as scholarship funds towards higher education (to be paid directly to the college/university).
For more information and the link to apply, visit: 2024 Summer Fellowship Application (google.com)
If you have any questions, please feel free to email Edgar Espino at edgar@washingtonbus.org or text at 360-567-5109.
Two PPPA faculty members, Prof. Etga Ugur and Prof. Sana Khalil, will be offering public presentations in the coming months as participants in the World Affairs Council Speaker Series. The public is invited to these free talks.
Dr. Etga Ugur, Associate Professor of Comparative Politics at UWT, will lecture on “Israel-Palestine In Context: A Regional Political Perspective.” His talk will offer a political and historical context to recent events in Israel and Palestine. The event will be held at the Connelly Center at Bellarmine Preparatory School at 7PM on Thursday February 8th. More details about the event, and a link to RSVP, can be found on the World Affairs Council’s website.
On April 24th at 6:30pm, Dr. Khalil, Professor of Economics at UWT, will lecture on “Climate Change: Costs and Consequences”. Her talk will explore the economic dimensions of climate change and the broader consequences for individuals and societies. This event will be held at the Wheelock Library in Tacoma. More details about the event, and a link to RSVP, can be found on the World Affairs Council’s website.
Invited to UWT’s Alumni Speaker Series, two PPPA alums recently returned to campus to discuss their personal stories, along the way providing students with college and career advice.
On January 11th, Dee Sonntag, who was recently elected to the Tacoma Municipal Court, visited us. Dee graduated magna cum laude in 2013 with a degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics. While a student, she started the Pre-Law Society, then was selected to be her class’s Commencement Speaker. Post graduation, Dee attended the University of Washington School of Law, then worked for both the Seattle City Attorney’s Office and the Pierce County Department of Assigned Counsel. A year ago she was elected to the Tacoma Municipal Court.
Prior to Dee’s visit, last November 16th, NIck Brooks came to campus to talk with the UWT community. Nick graduated a couple of years ago with a degree in Politics Philosophy and Economics. Before UWT, Nick served in the Air Force for 21 years. Since graduation, he’s been active in the non-profit community, and has served on community boards such as with the Tacoma Pierce County Black Collective, and the historical preservation group Buffalo Soldiers of Seattle. Nick also has long experience as a entrepreneur and property developer. Nick is also active as a father of five, and a coach of various youth sports teams.
It’s always great to see our former students back on campus!
Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) is seeking applicants for the Spring 2024 internship program in his Washington D.C. office. The paid in-person internship will run from January through May. Internship duties will include (but are not limited to): leading tours of the Capitol, answering phones, attending briefings, conducting legislative research and other tasks to assist staff. The ideal candidate for this internship can carry out independent research and has strong written and verbal communication skills and attention to detail. Interns must also have a positive and collaborative attitude. The internship will offer students and young professionals invaluable experience on our nation’s legislative process. Ties to Washington state are preferred, but not required. Women, people of color and LGBTQIA+ persons are strongly encouraged to apply. All interested applicants should email their resume and cover letter in a single PDF to Danielle Hall at Danielle.Hall@mail.house.gov<mailto:Danielle.Hall@mail.house.gov> with the subject line “Spring 2024 Internship”. Please indicate availability in your application. Deadline November 20th but applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Best, Danielle Hall (She/Her) Staff Assistant Rep. Rick Larsen, WA-02 Danielle.Hall@mail.house.gov
Thinking of graduate school? Consider applying to the Public Policy and International Affairs’ (PPIA) Junior Summer Institute, which is a new summer program at the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy. The application closes on November 1, 2023.
The PPIA program promotes the participation of underrepresented groups in domestic and international public service. This program is fully-funded, with a curriculum that includes economics, policy analysis, implementation, quantitative methods, and community engagement – all designed to sharpen students’ quantitative, analytic, and leadership skills. You’ll also gain exposure to public service in the Pacific Northwest through experiential learning opportunities, mentorship, field trips, and engagement with community-based practitioners, regional leaders, and elected officials. This institute offers a terrific learning opportunity as well as enhances your credentials for graduate school in a public policy field.
What: Junior Summer Institute (JSI)
Who: Rising seniors of all majors
When: June 19-August 2, 2024
BENEFITS
REQUIREMENTS
INTERESTED?
There will be a PPIA Program JSI Informational Webinar on Friday, October 6th from 9am – 10:30am (Pacific Time – Los Angeles). Use the following link to RSVP. https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://bit.ly/JSI2024Webinar__;!!K-Hz7m0Vt54!j5yxBbnZzzd-3kTgKy5BFR1GfZ2zVwhHRrPNLphlaqgRUC0aH1_nEyNVgt4rfbqjL6HabwxAdNr8$
This is a follow-up guest post from UWT Alum Lucas Waggoner
On February 28, Ed Winters, or Earthling Ed, gave a talk here at the University of Washington Tacoma. He spoke on veganism and ethics.
Winters discussed how animal rights are about the acknowledgment of rights related to non-human animals. He argued that non-human animals are “deserving of applicable and relevant rights” directly related to the nature of animals, rather than simply applying broad human rights to animals.
One of the more compelling points Winters raised was the way in which broad categorization is employed to alter the reactions people have to animal suffering. He explained that we “assign traits” to make it appear that all animals of a certain kind “are the same.” That way, we don’t think of an animal on an individual level, even if interacting with that animal. We deny animals the right to be viewed or perceived as individuals, despite the fact that no two animals are truly the same.
This act of categorizing animals and denying them individuality helps make their suffering more “palatable” to humans. Despite humans lacking the capacity to truly know what any given animal experiences in life or how it experiences events, distinctions are made regarding consciousness. And the distinctions between which animals it is moral to harm, or under what circumstances harm is accepted, quickly become — according to Winters — arbitrary.
One example he offered was how people tend to respond to animal abuse. A person kicking an animal is typically met with disdain, regardless of a person’s stance on either animal testing or animal consumption. However, when people subject animals to similar levels—or often drastically worse levels—of suffering for animal testing or animal consumption, the responses are not as overwhelmingly against the actions. And the “arbitrary distinctions” people are left with, he argued, lack any coherent moral distinction.
Lucas Waggoner is a UWT alum, writer, and English teacher at the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland
A guest post from UWT Alum Lucas Waggoner
Ed Winters — known worldwide for his extensive efforts as a vegan educator, an author, and as a public speaker — is giving a talk on ethics and veganism. Presented as part of the guest speaker series for TPHIL 361 Ethics in Society, the talk will be held virtually at UW Tacoma on February 28, 2023 (Zoom link), starting at 8:00 am.
An outspoken advocate for animal rights, “Earthling Ed,” has spoken across the globe and on virtually every platform imaginable. While he found popularity and notoriety initially through his early lecture called “You Will Never Look at Your Life Again,” he has since taught ethics courses at Harvard University and given numerous Ted talks.
Most of his work follows a consistent and steady theme: evaluating the classical arguments given opposing veganism as a philosophy to test their merits. One-by-one, he presents each argument against veganism. He then examines it to determine whether, under proper scrutiny — often by way of analogy — the argument possesses real merits. Through this method, he has led countless people in his audiences to accepting a vegan lifestyle.
Ed Winters is also well-known for his extremely successful 2022 book, This Is Vegan Propaganda: (And Other Lies the Meat Industry Tells You). Beyond challenging common misconceptions about veganism, the book also discusses an element of the production of meat and other animal products that is rarely discussed in conversations about veganism: the human cost in production. This includes issues such as dangerous working conditions, pollution in primarily lower-income areas, and all manner of abuse from supervisors.
The book, like Winters’ other work, is deeply rooted in ethics. “Veganism”, he explains, “is an ethical stance against needless animal exploitation — it’s not specifically about diet.” It is more of “a social justice issue that recognizes that non-human animals deserve autonomy, moral consideration and the recognition that their lives are far more valuable than the reasons we use to justify exploiting them” (p. 12). Every dimension of Winters’ work highlights questions of a person’s ethical obligations to both animals and nature. Typically, when trying to expose any flaws in the logic for anti-vegan argumentation, he questions whether the positions they hold are viable in a moral sense.
One of his more compelling arguments is the connections he draws between the aforementioned human cost and the nature of animal suffering within the factory farm system. Namely, he discusses how both the exploitation and abuse of humans working at farms, like that of animals, is systemic. The abuses aren’t isolated cases — they aren’t mere aberrations. The suffering is inherent to the way the system functions. The modern system of factory farming exists because of the suffering of both the animals being bred and slaughtered, as well as the humans abused and exploited in those processes.
I encourage you to take the opportunity to hear this provocative and engaging speaker.
Lucas Waggoner is a UWT alum, writer, and English teacher at the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland