Are you c
onsidering voting for a third party candidate in the 2016 Presidential election, but aren’t sure if its the right choice to make? Come listen to seasoned debaters take on the topic. Members of the Pacific Lutheran University Speech and Debate team will partner with local policy experts, including our own Prof. Ben Meiches (left) to publicly debate the question “Is a vote for a third party a wasted vote?” on. Oct. 4.
Democratic Communication Specialist Aaron Sherman and student debater Mariah Collier will speak for the yes side of that proposition, while Prof. Meiches and student debater Tate Adams, will argue for the no side.
“I think that the viability of a third-party vote is one of the most important problems that we face, as Americans, in the context of this upcoming election,” Adams said. Prof. Meiches commented that he is “looking forward to this opportunity since the debate format encourages members of the audience to participate. We rarely get the opportunity to openly discuss different strategies of voting and party support in this kind of competitive, but inclusive forum.”
Event Details: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2016 at Eastvold, Karen Hille Phillips, Pacific Lutheran University. Admission is free, and the program also will be streamed live online via www.plu.edu/lutecast.
Postscript: Read about the debate in the News Tribune!
ts and opponents of Sound Transit 3 (ST3) teed off Monday night in a two-hour debate over this November’s ST3 ballot initiative. 
election-related events that Politics Philosophy and Public Affairs (PPPA), a Division within UWT’s School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, is
Is torture ever legal? Is poverty a violation of human rights? Who is responsible when terrorists violate rights? This fall quarter, PPPA offers an advanced course on the law and politics of international human rights by engaging these and other fundamental questions. Taught by Dr. Elizabeth Bruchs, T LAW 424 The Politics and Law of International Human Rights (M/W 1:30) offers in-depth examination of core rights protected by international and regional human rights treaties, and the mechanisms for enforcing those rights. Students will develop research and writing skills by engaging in projects focused on contemporary human rights controversies – climate change and environmental rights, indigenous groups and minority rights, and migration and refugee flows. The class will also make use of documentary films, practitioner perspectives, and a UWT colloquium on human rights held on campus this October, which covers immigration and cosmopolitanism. The course is designated as a W (writing) course, and PPPA students may also use it to meet their capstone requirement. Please contact Dr. Elizabeth Bruch (embruch@uw.edu) for additional information.
n Beaudoin is coming to PPPA from Colgate University, where he spent the 2015-16 academic year as a visiting faculty member after completing his PhD at the University of California, Davis in 2015. Justin obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of British Columbia. Prior to beginning his doctoral studies at UC Davis, he worked for two years as an economic consultant in Toronto, Canada, with an emphasis on projects relating to transportation issues for the Canadian Federal and Provincial governments.
I’m sure that legions of students hold Rob Crawford in the highest regard as a teacher whose dedication to their learning was truly remarkable. Rob put an enormous amount of time and energy into making his classes work. He did not shy away from assigning difficult reading and holding students accountable for making a good faith effort to confront tough political, philosophical and moral questions. As a scholar, Rob produced innovative and influential work on the politics and philosophy of health care delivery. He helped show that the definition of “health” is a contested one, often grounded not in simple biological measures but in the arena of conflicting and changing cultural values.
high school he was a member of mile-relay team which for a time held the national record. When he graduated from college he rode a motorcycle from California to Illinois to attend graduate school at the University of Chicago. He taught for a while at Chicago State University, a school located in the heart of the South Side with a predominantly African-American student body. As an avid backpacker Rob has made several 
excursions into the Grand Canyon and has multiple times camped solo in off-trail sites on Mt. Rainier. For the last fifteen years, Rob has pursued his love of jazz by taking piano lessons from a well-known musician in Seattle. (I can attest to the fact that Rob’s pretty darn good.)
On Tuesday May 31st, US Rep. Derek Kilmer visited UWT to spend 90 minutes with students in Prof. Katie Baird’s Economics of Public Policy class. Conversation between students and the Co
ngressman covered a range of policy issues, including the cost of higher education, the need for campaign finance reform, the shortage of beds for those with mental health problems, and
placed. Rep. Kilmer also commented on the divided and divisive nature of politics today, but urged students to remain engaged. Ending on a hopeful note, he remarked that “This isn’t the first time in our country’s history that our nation has been so divided. And in all times but one–the Civil War–we have always managed to work together to find a solution.”
On Friday May 27th, students from two PPPA classes displayed class projects at the quarterly UWT Undergraduate Showcase event held in William Philip Hall. Nearly a dozen students from Prof. Katie Baird’s TPHIL 251 Data and Discourse class presented Posterboards of their project examining alternative ways to measure trends in inequality in the US.
r four students from Prof. Baird’s TECON 410 Economics of Public Policy class presented posterboard versions of class essays. Katherine Daniels (right) analyzed land usage 
policies in Gig Harbor. Melissa Amaya (left) examined the impact of Community Truancy Boards. Annika Nelson argued for labeling all foods containing GMOs, and Doug Nelson wrote about recent controversies over Louisiana’s prison system. Congratulations to all the participants and kudos on their good work.
