ASUW plans for the year ahead

Kayla Webley and Garrett McCulloch
2005-08-17
The Daily

With the academic year still more than a month away, members of the incoming ASUW Board of Directors are already making plans for the months ahead.

Student involvement is near the top of the list of the organization’s goals for next year, whether in influencing decision-making or facilitating activities. Jon Lee, the director of faculty, administration and academic affairs, said the organization has hopes of better reaching UW students.

“Previously we’ve had this mentality of having everyone come to us, and this year one of our main goals is to reach out,” said Lee. “It’s more a reversal of roles for us this year.”

ASUW Vice President, Ashley Miller, highlighted the importance of aligning the board’s goals with that of the students in order to be most effective.

“[We want] to get as many students involved as possible,” said Miller. “I have a general idea of what students want [but] we will be doing as much outreach as possible to make sure our goals align with the rest of the student body.”
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Late-night stabbing on Ave. leaves one injured

Kayla Webley
2005-08-10
The Daily

A man was stabbed on the 4300 block of University Way Northeast early Tuesday morning.

According to Rich Pruitt, a spokesman for the Seattle Police Department, the injured party was stabbed in the lower, left abdomen and left unconscious by two unknown suspects.

The suspects were described as a black male in his 20’s wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt and a Hispanic male also in his 20’s wearing a black sweatshirt, said Pruitt.

The suspects fled westbound on foot.

UW appoints director for student-athlete academics

Kayla Webley
2005-08-03
The Daily

Student athletes have a new leader to help propel them to success — in the classroom.

Athletic Director Todd Turner named Kim Durand, head of UCLA’s athletic academic services, to the position of associate athletic director for student development at the UW last week.

Once Durand assumes the position on Aug. 16, she will be in charge of the organization, administration and supervision of the student-athlete academic-support program and student-athlete life-skills program.

The life-skills program consists of a series of programs that bring student athletes “beyond the classroom” by providing opportunities for personal development, which includes community service, leadership, career development and programs such as nutrition, said Jeff Compher, executive associate director for the athletic department.

Durand joins the UW administration after six years in a similar position at UCLA, where she served as the assistant athletic director for academic services. In the position, Durand was responsible for overseeing the academic department, which provides academic and student services for 650 student athletes in 22 sports, according to gohuskies.com.
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Biocontainment lab scrapped due to lack of finances

Kayla Webley
2005-07-27
The Daily

The UW abandoned plans to build a Regional Biocontainment Laboratory on campus due to a lack of funds and community support.

The UW had until July 23 to outline a fundraising plan to raise the $35 million needed to receive the $25 million federal grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

“We were asked to tell them if we had successfully identified the sources for the funding … and the answer was no,” said Norm Arkans, UW executive director of media relations and communications. “They want to give a grant based on the premise that you have the funds to build the building and we don’t — as a result they probably won’t give us the grant.”

The state was not a source of funding for the building, as the laboratory was not included in the capital projects budget, said Arkans.

“We were thinking maybe we could get additional money from the federal government, institutional reserves or private donations, but they didn’t come together,” said Arkans.
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UW to pay $24,000 for Napster deal

Kayla Webley
2005-07-27
The Daily

The financial details of the contractual agreement between the UW, Napster and Dell show the University will pay Napster $24,000 for student use licenses.

The $24,000 fee will cover a $2 per month academic license fee, for 8 months, for 1,500 students. Dell will also pay $24,000 for an additional 1,500 student licenses.

Dell will contribute a total of $84,087. Along with the student licenses, Dell will pay for 10 PowerEdge servers, valued at $52,887, and their installation — valued at $7,200.

In exchange for their financial contribution Dell is allowed several opportunities to market to students on campus.

Under the provisions the University must exclusively promote the Dell branded DJ, secure two Dell kiosks on campus to feature Dell products and services, facilitate a Dell launch event in the back-to-school timeframe, host Dell information on the UW website, execute an email campaign and participate in a case study.
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Napster finance details still not released

Kayla Webley
2005-07-20
The Daily

Napster and Dell have until the end of the business day today to decide whether or not to release the contractual information in the agreement between the companies and the UW.

Financial details of the agreement remain unknown until the contract is released. Dell has agreed to release the information and Napster has yet to respond.

If Napster approves the release of the information or fails to respond by today, the UW will release the information Thursday, said Norm Arkans, UW executive director of media relations and communications.

The agreement makes the UW the first university to offer a free music downloading service in coordination with a hardware provider.

Because the UW is a publicly funded institution, Washington’s open records laws state the contract must be released. However, both Dell and Napster can challenge the release in court if either company can show a substantial reason.
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UW branch campuses adjust for future freshmen

Kayla Webley
2005-07-20
The Daily

When the Legislature awarded UW’s branch campuses an increase of 600 enrollment slots, including spots for freshmen in 2006, it left the campuses a large task: accommodating for lower division students in their facilities, curriculum and services.

UW Bothell (UWB) and UW Tacoma (UWT) have both established committees to build lower-division curriculum, ensure the facilities can accommodate the increase, and expand student services and recruitment to meet the needs of first-year students.

“This is a time of great activity on both campuses,” said UW President Mark Emmert. “Both campuses are working feverishly to make sure we’re ready for those students.”

Both branches are gearing their efforts to meet the needs of the target group, those students who meet the UW’s admission standards but are denied due to limited space on the Seattle campus.

Meeting expectations

The original master plans for the branch campuses were designed to serve solely upper-division and graduate students, said UWT Chancellor Patricia Spakes.
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UW signs downloading deal with Napster

Kayla Webley
2005-07-13
The Daily

UW students will be able to legally download songs without fear of prosecution by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) — thanks to a partnership between the UW, Napster music service and Dell.

Beginning autumn quarter the approximately 4,975 residence hall students will have free access to Napster’s basic service, which allows users to listen and download all Napster music files to their computers on the UW server.

The agreement also includes the installation of 10 Dell PowerEdge servers to use solely for storing the music downloads. The new servers will take pressure off the UW computer network, by displacing student downloading to the new system, said director of client services in computing and communications, Oren Sreebny.

While Napster has similar partnerships with 13 other universities, the UW is the first university nationwide to include a hardware provider in the agreement.

Details of the contract, including how much the UW is paying in order to provide the free service to students, are unknown due to confidentiality agreements with Napster and Dell, said Norm Arkans, UW executive director of media relations and communications.
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Study locates UW alums in 130 countries

Kayla Webley
2005-06-01
The Daily

After receiving their diplomas, UW graduates have spread worldwide to more than 130 countries, according to a study released by the Alumni Association.

“It is our responsibility for keeping in touch with alumni and have them keep in touch with the University,” said Sue Brockmann, UW alumni director of marketing communications and revenue development. “We want to know where our people are and what they are doing.”

The study, designed to show how Huskies live all over the world, tabulates graduates in the nation and internationally. Usually, UW grads primarily end up on the West Coast; this year is no exception with the survey showing approximately 70 percent of UW graduates residing in Washington, California and Oregon, said Jon Marmor, communications manager for the UW Alumni Association.

“A lot of [graduates] remain in the area mainly because a lot come from this area,” said Marmor. “Washington has a great pool of people to draw from. It is a great place to live and work, I believe once a lot of people graduate and they are familiar with the area they want to stay here.”

Internationally, the majority of UW graduates spread to Canada and Asian countries, including Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.
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Basketball ticket prices to increase 10 percent

Kayla Webley
2005-05-25
The Daily

Season ticket prices for next year’s basketball season increased minimally due to extra games, team success and increase costs, said University officials.

Season ticket holders will pay $375 for 17 games — up from $300 for 15 games last year. The new ticket price is approximately $22 per game, an increase of $2 per game from this year’s ticket price.

“The majority of the ticket increase is due to the fact that we have two more home games,” said Leslie Wurzberger, assistant athletic director for marketing and promotions. “Also, our budget expenses go up every year. We thought a 10 percent increase in ticket prices was a reasonable increase to make.”

The athletic department is in a position to increase ticket prices due to an increased demand after the team’s success this season, said Wurzberger.

“It’s exciting,” said Wurzberger. “This is a different position than we have been at in the past with basketball.”
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