Category: Updates

It’s 7:45 p.m. on an October night and a sprinkle of stars can be seen in the sky above the University of Washington’s Seattle campus.

Natalie Flores, a first-year UW student who just finished work at the Husky Union Building, is concerned about walking home across campus by herself. She calls 206-685-9255 for a ride home via a UW Police Department security guard.

“It means a lot that I can call and get a safe ride,” Flores said.

Through Husky SafeTrip (formerly Husky NightWalk), UWPD security guards provide a ride at night (6:30 p.m.-2 a.m.) for students and employees from UW buildings to homes on or near campus, to parking lots and to transit (see box for service info).

The program is getting the new name to more accurately describe the service (it’s not a walk anymore). This comes at the same time that the Husky NightRide shuttle is revamping as well, with easier to see stops on campus and fully branded vans making it easier to catch the shuttle and take it where you need to go on campus or in the U District.

James Bynum, one of several security guards who work Husky SafeTrip rides over the course of a year, gives up to 40 rides a night to students like Flores and UW psychology student Emily Bu, who called SafeTrip after on-campus water polo practice because she didn’t want to walk by herself.

“I wanted to play it safe,” Bu said from the backseat of the UWPD all-electric security sedan.

Like many students, she’s called SafeTrip before. Bynum has regular riders who will join him in singing along to his SafeTrip playlist. One regular is a faculty member who calls for a safety escort from a late class.

“SafeTrip exists so she doesn’t have to get to her car on her own,” said Bynum, who was recently promoted to a UW Campus Safety Responder serving residence halls.

The secure ride program received a generous donation in 2016 to expand the service area into the University District. With ongoing contributions from students, families and alumni, the service can continue to meet the needs of students for secure rides after dark for years to come.

SafeTrip is not available for routine errands, but HuskyCards are good on transit anytime and going anywhere.

Learn more about Husky SafeTrip.

Visit the new hazing website for important information on policies, practices, services and programs to prevent hazing at the UW. Required hazing prevention training will begin for UW faculty, staff and student employees in autumn quarter 2024.

When you think about business continuity, the first thing that comes to mind probably isn’t zebrafish.

Every unit at UW from Astrophysics to Zoology has a need for continuity planning in case of severe weather or a power outage or a different type of tragedy. Knowing what to do and who to call when something goes wrong that could affect the ability to hold classes, care for patients or conduct research is the heart of business continuity at the University of Washington.

Which brings us back to zebrafish. Across the UW’s Health Sciences schools, 15 principal investigators use the tiny striped tropical fish to study everything from vision and hearing loss to cancer and toxicology. Zebrafish are crucial for scientific research because of unique qualities that make them excellent models for studying various aspects of biology and human health.

When a cyberattack shut down the zebrafish’s water system on Dec. 22, 2023, researchers and staff worked together to manually change the water and maintain the correct water quality.

Next, they reached out for help. Because the hack happened right before Christmas, most of the people they would have contacted were out of the office. Moreover, the vendor no longer provided service for the system. UW-IT wasn’t able to help because it wasn’t a UW system. Staff acted quickly to make work-arounds work, but the event was stressful for everyone and resulted in a decrease in colony size to ensure care of the fish.

That’s just one example of the many people and systems that the UW relies on every day. Having a plan for what to do if something goes awry — including at night and during holidays — reduces the impact of the interruption.

UW’s Business, Academic & Research Continuity (BARC) program can assist with building that plan. BARC helps ensure seamless and sustained UW operations during disruptive events by promoting a culture of resilience, mitigating risks and minimizing the impact of incidents. In the past year, UW’s Division of Campus Community Safety has reestablished the BARC program, which is led by Jim Tritten. BARC serves all UW units at all UW locations.

Learn more about BARC in this year’s BARC annual report and watch for a new BARC website this autumn.

UW scholars who are being targeted for harassment because of what they research, publish or say in the classroom may feel rightly anxious and overwhelmed. The online harassment can seem to come from nowhere and feel personal, even threatening. However, there are proven ways to outsmart harassers and help protect each other.

UW Professor Monica R. McLemore, PhD, MPH, RN, the director of the Manning Price Spratlen Center for Anti-Racism & Equity in Nursing and a reproductive justice advocate whose scientific research has been widely cited, has faced everything from credible death threats to social media campaigns targeting her work. She shared her strategies with her UW colleagues at a recent AAUP workshop, “Digital Alchemy: Equipping Educators with Tools to Outsmart Online Harassment.”

Her first tip: Surround yourself with other public scholars. It’s especially important to support scholars early in their careers.

One of her other tips is to ask for help when you need it. The UW has a new resource to help scholars who are experiencing harassment, developed with expertise from UW-IT, SafeCampus, Human Resources, the University of Washington Police Department, University Marketing & Communications and UW’s Privacy Office. The new webpage, “Support for UW scholars experiencing targeted harassment” includes information about ways to report abuse, documenting harassment — whether online or via other avenues — and protecting your personal information.

Most importantly, UW scholars do not need to face harassment on their own. There’s a community of Huskies who are here to help. Check out the website to learn more.

In the past few months, the University of Washington has added more than 47,000 student phone numbers to the UW Alert system, so that more people will receive a text message when an emergency happens on or near campus in Seattle, Bothell and Tacoma. If you are one of those students, welcome!

With so many students receiving their first UW Alert texts, here’s a primer on why, how and when the University sends out UW Alert and UW Advisory messages.

When does the UW send a UW Alert or UW Advisory message?

A UW Alert message is sent when we have reliable information about an emergency – a situation that poses an immediate potential threat to the health and safety of the UW community on or near campus.

Incidents that prompt an alert message could include an active shooter, other violent crimes or severe weather.

A UW Advisory gets sent the same way, but is used to make the community aware of a significant situation that does not pose an immediate threat to health and safety, but could be disruptive. These could include power outages, phone outages that could affect 911 service and suspended campus operations.

It is important to note that UW must have reliable information about such an incident before issuing a UW Alert or UW Advisory. Often, that means working with other law enforcement or fire department partners. For the UW campus in Seattle, UW spaces are patrolled by UWPD, while the neighborhoods around campus are patrolled by the Seattle Police Department. At UW Tacoma and UW Bothell, local police patrol both campuses and work in partnership with campus safety.

Who sends UW Alert messages?

Each UW campus has its own Crisis Communications Team with representatives from a variety of departments and divisions. When a potential emergency or other situation arises, that team meets by phone or video call.

For example, when Seattle Police received a report of shots fired in the 1600 block of NE 50th Street on April 16, UW Police heard the call and immediately convened the team. Fourteen members of the UW Crisis Communications Team joined a conference call within 60 seconds.

The chair of the team, in collaboration with the team members, quickly reviews event details and decides if a message will be sent. The chair (or the backup) writes the message, which is shared via email, text message, on social media, UW’s website and on the UW Alert blog for each campus. Check out the UW Alert blogs for Seattle, Tacoma and Bothell.

Once the team has reliable information these messages can be issued in a matter of minutes. An important note: If there is credible information about an active shooter, a UW Alert can be sent immediately by UWPD before the full team convenes for a call.

In Seattle, the team includes members from the UW Police Department, Communications, Campus Community Safety, UW Emergency Management, Environmental Health & Safety, Housing & Food Services, UW-IT and UW Medicine, with liaisons from UW Bothell and UW Tacoma. For UW Bothell and UW Tacoma, the teams look similar and are captained by the Campus Safety leads.

What does the Crisis Communications Team consider when deciding whether to send an alert?

UW is required by federal law (the Clery Act) to quickly share information about serious incidents that pose an immediate threat to the campus community when those crimes happen on campus or on property near campus.

The Crisis Communications Team considers sending alerts or advisories for incidents that happen on campus or within several blocks surrounding each UW property. At UW in Seattle, the team typically looks at incidents within about a five block radius of campus.

The Crisis Communications Team considers several factors before issuing a UW Alert or UW Advisory, including verifiable information, the time passed since the incident occurred, and whether there’s a significant, urgent safety risk to students, faculty and staff that may require quick action.

When students, faculty and staff need to know about a serious crime that happened on or near campus, but no immediate action is needed or too much time has passed to make a UW Alert message useful, the University of Washington Police Department will inform campus via email in what’s called a Notification of Criminal Incident. For example, a recent notification let students know about gunshots fired between University Way NE and 15th Ave. NE. No one was hurt.

It’s a lot to consider, and the team must quickly reach a decision about whether or not to issue a UW Alert or UW Advisory, often with incomplete initial information. If an alert or advisory is sent, the team will often post updates to the UW Alert blog, if they are available, and will generally send a final, closing update to let the campus community know that the immediate threat has ended.

What information is included in suspect descriptions?

When a reliable description of the person or people involved in a reported crime is available, it will be included in the UW Alert message or UW Alert blog. If a suspect photo is available and after consultation with Seattle police, that will be posted on the blog. Suspect descriptions usually do not include race because historically they’ve proven inconsistent and unreliable. Also, research shows that the inclusion of race does not increase the likelihood a suspect will be identified and can do more harm than good.¹

¹Fa-Kaji, Naomi M.; Cheng, Shannon K.; and Hebl, Mikki R. (2019) “The Impact of Suspect Descriptions in University Crime Reports on Racial Bias,” Personnel Assessment and Decisions: Number 5 : Iss. 2 , Article 12.

Is your UW Alert contact information correct?

Students and employees should check their UW Alert accounts regularly (the beginning and end of the academic year is a good time) to make sure your contact information is correct. You can add up to three cell phone numbers and five email addresses, including contact info for family members and friends who want to receive alerts. Remember to select the campuses you want notifications from.

Learn more

For more information about UW Alerts and to update your account, visit the UW Alert webpage.

The University is tracking multiple events scheduled to take place this evening that have the potential to cause additional noise and disruptions, particularly in the central part of the Seattle campus near the Husky Union Building, The Quad and the light rail station at Husky Stadium.

Our priority is the safety and security of our campus community. We recognize that tensions are especially high due to events around the world, and our hope is that people with opposing views refrain from seeking confrontations and avoid antagonizing one another. We do not detail or share security plans in advance of events, but are taking appropriate advance measures.

If there is a change in University operations or an emergency that poses an immediate potential threat to health and safety on or near campus, a message will be shared via the UW Alert system via SMS text message, UW Alert blog, on the UW website, Facebook and X. Please make sure your UW Alert account information is up to date.

UW’s Division of Campus Community Safety, University of Washington Police Department, Student Life and University leadership are closely monitoring the encampment established in part of the Seattle campus Quad.

In addressing the encampment, we will maintain our approach of a flexible, measured and appropriate response that addresses the circumstances of each situation. We will continue to prioritize protecting the physical safety of University community members and minimizing disruption to classes and other activities. Individuals and groups found to be violating laws and/or University policies are subject to discipline, following due process and in an appropriate time and manner. Situations requiring emergency action by members of the UW community will be addressed through the UW Alert system as needed.

For those unfamiliar with the UW’s Seattle campus, the historic Liberal Arts Quad is the heart of the historic campus map. The Seattle campus now stretches across more than 700 acres of classroom buildings, labs, residence halls and athletic facilities.

UW will continue to focus on our mission – educating students, conducting world-changing research, serving patients and the public – and on protecting the physical safety of our community members.

Meet Samya Murthy, REACH UW Outreach Coordinator

Seattle has for several years now been facing a deep crisis of unsheltered homelessness. The UW campus in Seattle has not been immune. This past October, UW started a contract with REACH to provide a dedicated outreach worker at the UW Seattle campus with a goal to build relationships with people experiencing homelessness and connect them with the help they need.

That outreach worker is Samya Murthy, who links people in need – people he encounters in UW campus spaces – with food, shelter, hygiene supplies and connections to mental health care, substance abuse treatment, case management and other care.

If you work on the UW campus in Seattle and want to request Samya’s help, contact the UW Police Department’s non-emergency line at 206-685-UWPD (8973). Samya works Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

We recently asked Samya about his work with UW so far.

How did you get into outreach work?

I got into outreach through kind of an unusual path. I experienced homelessness during my senior year of high school. After that, I was working at an upscale restaurant and realized that if I was going to spend a majority of my life working, it might as well be something that matters to me.

For people unfamiliar with REACH, what does the organization do?

REACH has two main groups, one being outreach, the other one being LEAD (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion) case management. For outreach, our main focus is to meet people where they’re at. It’s oftentimes hard when you’re unhoused to be able to make it to appointments or come to the office to grab supplies. So we go out and meet people and connect them with help, like shelter referrals or replacing an ID.

A good day is getting someone off of the street and into a shelter. About three weeks ago, I got a call that there was a family of three who needed help. They had an 8-year-old with them, and I was able to get them into a family shelter. I was pretty hyped about that. You can see a huge difference in someone who’s been off the street and in a shelter, even for a week or two. It can be a really quick change once you have significantly less stress.

Tell us about your work at the UW campus in Seattle. Is there such a thing as a typical day so far?

A typical day is checking in with buildings that have been flagged for me, where I know there might be some people staying or hanging out. I usually start with the HUB (Husky Union Building). I check in regularly with any buildings requesting help.

What’s your biggest challenge?

A lot of times, it’s been hard to find people. If I do get a call, a lot of times they’ve left or been asked to leave the building before I get there. If you encounter someone needing services, if possible, if they’re not disruptive, please ask the client to stay until I arrive.

What are some misconceptions you’ve encountered about people experiencing homelessness?

I’ve noticed that people have a difficult time discerning the difference between being uncomfortable and being unsafe. A lot of the time, the people they’re calling about aren’t committing a crime, they’re just sitting there.

I know substance use is a big issue and people have complaints about paraphernalia laying around. Addiction is a real challenge. It’s not that people are going out of their way to use, but they’ll get sick if they don’t. People don’t have to be clean or sober to receive our services.

When should campus people contact you (using the UWPD non-emergency phone number)?

If you see anyone on campus that seems more vulnerable. That’s our key focus — people with high mental needs or substance abuse. If they look like they need some help or just someone to talk to, I don’t mind coming to check it out.

I should add that my role isn’t crisis intervention. I’m more pre-crisis or post-crisis. My main goal is to create an environment where people who are unhoused feel safer in their day-to-day life to have someone consistent to rely on. Consistency is not something you get on the streets. It takes a lot of time to gain people’s trust, identify their goals and navigate different systems.

What are you hoping to accomplish in the next year?

My goal is to become more integrated with UW so more people are aware that I am around and willing to help if they see people that they think need it. I also want to minimize the stress between the unhoused community and the UW.

What are you happiest doing when you’re not working?

Eating. I could eat five meals a day if I had enough time. I play video games and hang out with my friends. My favorite food is ramen and Ethiopian food, but I like everything.

When you’re walking across campus, you’re probably not pausing to check your email. But right now, email is the only way most UW students receive time-sensitive information about emergencies happening on and near UW’s campuses.

To make it easier for students to receive UW Alerts via text, at the end of January UW will start adding the phone number from your UW student profile to the UW Alert system. If the number is for a cell phone, UW will send you UW Alerts via text. The messages are only for emergencies or major issues affecting the campus, such as snow, ice or power outages.

UW is the latest university to move from opt-in alerts to an opt-out emergency text message system for students. Universities that have experienced major incidents often switch to automatic enrollment for alert messages. UW is moving proactively to get UW Alerts to more students more quickly.

Division of Campus Community Safety staff have been prepping for several months with colleagues in UWIT to make this shift. When we reviewed the goals of the shift this past fall with Seattle campus student leaders and the more than 200 students and parents we met at the Division of Campus Community Safety info table during Parent & Family Weekend in Seattle, many were surprised that students weren’t already automatically enrolled in UW Alert text messages.

Many faculty and staff members were also surprised to learn that only 17 percent of UW employees have signed up for UW Alert text messages. This first phase of the shift from opt-in to opt-out does not include employee information, but that will come later this year.

Even after UW uploads student phone numbers to UW Alert, it will be important for students to check their UW Alert account to ensure that the cell phone number listed is correct and that you’re receiving messages for the right campus. Students, faculty and staff can also add or change their cell phone in their UW Alert accounts themselves at any time. In an emergency, seconds matter. You need to know what’s happening quickly and how you can protect yourself.

If you don’t want to receive UW Alerts via text, you can reply STOP to any UW Alert text message (except for students living on campus in Seattle, who must contact Housing & Food Services for account changes).

Learn more about the UW Alert update, get answers to your UW Alert questions and add up to three cell phone numbers and five email addresses to your UW Alert account at the UW Alert webpage.