Forward Willow Cabe scored a game-high 26 points as nationally ranked Western Washington University defeated Saint Martin's University, 77-64, in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball contest Saturday on campus. On the men's side, forward Rory Blanche came off the bench and hit his first nine shots from the field in scoring a team-high 20 points as nationally ranked WWU defeated Saint Martin's University 88-68.

Western Votes and the Associated Students of Western Washington University are planning a holding a walk-out and rally until 1:30 p.m. today, Feb. 5, in the Performing Arts Center Plaza on campus.

”In this rally it is our goal to educate the public about what it would mean to have the state's budget for higher education cut and inspire the student body into taking action to inform their legislators that they do not agree with the governor's new budget and proposed cuts to higher education,” said Western Votes member Heather Siddiqui.

During the rally, which is open to students of both Whatcom Community College and Western Washington University, booths are set up to help students contact their legislators through phone calls and letters. The event also is an opportunity to gather student testimonies that will be sent to the state legislature.

“Feb. 5 is the statewide day of action. Universities across the state will be taking some sort of action to help get their student body involved and to let their voices be heard by the Legislature,” Siddiqui said. “Together we can make a difference and prevent substantial cuts to work study, financial aid and cuts to higher education.”

Jane Vroman, who works in the Office of University Relations at Western Washington University, spoke in Olympia on Thursday, Feb. 4, regarding House Bill 3059.

A brief summary of the bill:

Requires all teacher preparation programs to administer a new evidence-based
assessment of teaching effectiveness to all preservice candidates beginning in
2011-12.

Directs the Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) to revise program
approval standards and accept...

Western Washington University students studying abroad for a semester in the Dominican Republic last week worked to pack more than 5,000 emergency care packets headed to neighboring Haiti; each packet is designed to feed a family for a week.

WWU’s Larry Estrada, a professor in the Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies who is in charge of the University’s program in the Dominican Republic, said the students worked with the emergency-relief arm of the German government, GTZ, to help assemble the packets. He also said they will continue to work in the coming weeks to aid Haitian immigrants and displaced individuals as a result of the Haitian earthquake by organizing blood drives and volunteering at local hospitals.

WWU student Nora Hughes of Bellingham is keeping a blog of the activities of her and her classmates in regards to Haitian relief; view it at http://intercambiohispaniola.wordpress.com.

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski pays tribute to Bill Demmert from the senate floor on Feb. 1.

Demmert, who passed away on Jan. 19 at age 75, retired from his position as professor of education at Western Washington University in 2008. He first came to WWU in 1992.

Of Oglalla Sioux and Tlingit heritage, Demmert received his doctorate in Education from Harvard in 1973. While attending the university, he worked in the U.S. Senate for Senators Ted Kennedy and Walter Mondale on the original Indian Education Act.

Over his career, Demmert has made extensive contributions in the areas of higher education, research and policy, advancing public understanding of issues related to Indigenous education and his extensive research into indigenous languages.

David Curley, chair of the Liberal Studies Department at Western Washington University, will give a lecture titled “About Afghanistan—or, Can We Learn Anything Useful from History?” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 3, in the Bellingham City Council Chambers in downtown Bellingham.

In his talk, which is the winter 2010 installment of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean’s Lecture Series, Curley will discuss how a better historical perspective might help us to form clearer alternative policies and perhaps also help us to evaluate those policies more objectively.

“Most of us have heard people tell us that ‘history proves’ something is the right thing to do,” Curley said. “I have to say, on the contrary, good history can do no such thing. I think wanting ‘proof’ from history about the right thing to do helps create bad history, by which I mean history with the untruthful simplicity of character and plot to be found in advertisements for bad movies.”

Curley will approach Afghanistan’s history using the basic tools of telling a story, laying out the important characters, scenes and plots. His lecture will cover:

• What are history’s claims?
• Are there good reasons to be skeptical?
• Storytelling for the past and future: Resources of scene, character and plot.
• Scene: Poverty, society and the traditional state.
• Fundamental...

The 82,000-square-foot Biology Building at Western Washington University houses the Biology Department -- specifically, the department's programs in cell and molecular biology, ecology, marine biology and organismal biology. Let's take a look inside. Photos by Michael Leese | University Communications intern