For Immediate Release – January 27, 2012
Contact: Jill Mackie
206/464-2028
jmackie@seattletimes.com
An unprecedented conversation on higher-education funding in Washington
The Seattle Times, together with Town Hall Seattle, will host an unprecedented conversation on
February 1, from 7 to 9 p.m. with all six of Washington state’s public university presidents on
the risks of continued cuts to higher education. The conversation, which will be held at Town
Hall at 1119 Eighth Ave., is open to the public and will also include key business leaders. The
discussion will be moderated by Seattle Times Editorial Page Editor Kate Riley and Times
business columnist Jon Talton.
The forum is an extension of The Greater good Campaign, a year-long public service campaign
launched by The Seattle Times in September 2011. The campaign’s objective is to reinforce the
broad positive contributions of Washington state’s higher-education system on Washington’s job
creation and quality of life.
Panelists at next week’s forum include the following university presidents: Michael Young
(UW), Elson Floyd (WSU), Bruce Shepard (WWU), Les Purce (The Evergreen State College),
James Gaudino (Central Washington University), Rodolfo Arévalo (Eastern Washington
University), and corporate leaders Sally Jewell (President and CEO, REI), Brad Smith (General
Counsel and Executive Vice President, Microsoft), and Laura Peterson, (Vice President for NW
State & Local Government Operations, The Boeing Company).
Tickets are $5 and are available through Brown Paper Tickets or 800/838-3006, and at the door
beginning at 6 p.m. Full ticket proceeds will be donated to the College Success Foundation
scholarship fund.
“High quality public education – including at the university level – is essential in a free and
economically viable society. It is essential if Washington state is to come out of the great
recession as one of the winners. Our hope, in building strong public awareness of the broader
public good of our higher-ed system, is that citizens will actively engage in advocating for stable
higher-education funding as among the highest state budget priorities,” said Frank Blethen,
Publisher of The Seattle Times. “State disinvestment in our universities is eroding job creation
and damaging our economy. At the University of Washington alone, every dollar invested
creates $22 in economic activity and $1.48 in tax revenue.”
For more information and tickets, please visit http://townhallseattle.org/six-presidents.
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The Seattle Times is a 115-year-old locally owned journalism and community service company. Founded
in 1896 by Alden J. Blethen, The Seattle Times is a fourth and fifth generation family business. The
family's flagship newspaper, The Seattle Times, is the largest daily newspaper in Washington state and
the largest Sunday newspaper in the Northwest. The flagship website, seattletimes.com, is the largest
local news information web site in the Northwest. Other Blethen-owned newspapers in Washington are
the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, the Yakima Herald-Republic, The Issaquah Press and its affiliated
community newspapers: the Newcastle News, the Sammamish Review and the SnoValley Star.
More company information, including links to the newspaper websites, is available at
http://www.seattletimescompany.com.
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