News

International Huskies, if you are in Seattle, you probably have seen other students wearing the Husky PACK Pledge masks. Earlier in the year, CIRCLE helped the UW distribute masks to students who were in Seattle either through an in-person distribution or by mailing to your home. Next week, we will help one last time to get these masks to UW international students. This is your opportunity to get your masks!

A few things about the spring 2021 distribution:

• These masks are intended for students who were not in Seattle for the autumn 2020 or winter 2021 quarters. We were not able to mail the masks internationally.
• We will only do in-person distribution between May 24th and May 26th. The in-person distribution will take place on the HUB Lawn.
• We are unable to mail masks this time.

To sign up for a time slot please complete this very short survey. We are asking students to sign up for a time to pick up their masks to allow for physical distancing. The survey will ask you to log in using your NetID and will take 1 minute to complete.

If you have any questions about the mask distribution, please contact uwcircle@uw.edu. The survey will be open until May 23, 2021.

Complete the Survey

A message from the CIRCLE staff

The murders that took place on March 16th in Atlanta are a sad addition to the growing list of racist and xenophobic incidents that members of the Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander communities have experienced in Seattle and the rest of the country. Our thoughts are with those who lost their loved ones and with the individuals who have been targets of these insidious events.

As a University, we must continue to speak out against hate, racism, and xenophobia to show that they have no place in our community. Sadly, if these incidents occur and are not reported, it makes it difficult for the UW to take action. If you witness a bias incident against a peer or a colleague, report it. The UW has a bias incident reporting tool that is confidential and anonymous. By speaking out and reporting incidents of bias, we can show that hate has no home here.

If you witness incidents of anti-Asian discrimination outside of the Seattle campus, the UW School of Social Work has created a list of ways to report the incident. This page also has resources available for bystander training and social commentary.

We echo President Cauce’s words that we must not let racism and anti-Asian hate threaten our community. As we wrap up winter quarter and start spring break, CIRCLE staff and UW resources will continue to be available if you want to reach out. Please remember to be safe and stay vigilant.

It has come to our attention that there is a new scam targeting international students. There have been TWO reports of UW students falling victims to this scam. We are sharing this information so that you can protect yourself. This is what we know:

1. Students received a call from “U.S. Border & Customs” warning that they “found a package with drugs in it with the students’ name on it.” The cell numbers linked to this call are “206-209-6215” and”206-209-8147.”
2. Soon after, same students received an additional follow up call from “U.S. Border & Customs,” who was a different voice stating that during “investigation,” sees your bank account is linked to past known drug deals/ers. The cell number linked to this account is “929-269-1517.”
3. Both students were asked to withdraw $2,500.00, put on various dollar value gift cards, then gave all the codes to the caller. The cash is now gone and cannot be retrieved.

Please remember that ICE or any other government official will never call you and ask for money, money wires or gift cards for payment. Scammers tend to use official terms that will it seem that they are a government agency, which is why students believe them—this is not the case.
If you receive a call like this, please do the following:

• Hang up immediately.
• Report the call to the anonymous ICE tip line at 1-866-347-2423.
• Report the call to the UW Police Department (UWPD) at their non-emergency line, (206) 685-UWPD (8973).
• Reach out to the ISS Office if you want to confirm your student status or to ask any questions that you might have.

Please stay alert and be safe.