I want to begin by stating this will not be a normal practice of mine to lob a Beehiv into the eithers of the Interweb for the sake thereof. But when I see clear gaps of justice and journalism, I am going to bang something out to meet the moment. Especially when the matters of higher education student journalism (I was one 23 years ago at a different school), open courts (a matter of concern) and antisemitism (I have Jewish relatives & pals) all collide thanks to the UW Daily student newspaper coverage of the UW33 student disciplinary hearings & protest by a pro-Gaza, & arguably antisemetic student group demanding the University show lienency after several prolific “Super UW” disruptions, incluidng one of the Board of Regents.

I want to be clear at the outset that I am very pro-Israel with Jewish family & friends plus being a student of history. Israel was wrongfully attacked on October 7, 2023 by cowardly, malicious Hamas terrorists who attacked overwhelmingly civilians and committed the double war crime of launching rockets from Gazan cities to attack Israeli cities. These events are well documented - and not just by The New York Times (gift link) but also by the book “While Israel Slept” among others, and the Israeli government’s graphic website full of Hamas webcam footage & more of the atrocities. Then there is among other documentaries, “Screams Before Silence” about October 7:

Israel rightfully struck back, and while doing so attempted to evacuate Gazans from the fighting areas. However, it is undeniable truth that most of Gaza is in ruins and tens of thousands of Gazans are dead in a war Gaza under Hamas leadership started, many Gazans collaborated in, many Gazans cheered on, and at least several thousand Gazans actively participated in.

I’m going to be fair use quoting from University of Washington Alumnus Heather “Newsbrooke” Brooke, Ph.D. quite a bit from her public writings on open government. Dr. Brooke with her prolific Substack was not consulted about this piece in any way.

With that, we have issues of open government to attend to. The first from the aforementioned UW Daily article comes from the fact the student discipline hearings that came after emergency explusions for around $1 million in damages are done without any public oversight. Below is a YouTube by KOMO about the protests and resulting damage:

One should note the lack of responsiveness to the media about this violent incident at the time. So one should not be surprised that the University of Washington is not having a live feed from the student discipline hearings. As I’ve covered before, the University of Washington is governed by a Board of Regents that has a transparency problem.

I quote Heather “Newsbrooke” Brooke, Ph.D. - former University of Washington alumnus, court reporter, open government advocate/campaigner, and also a former journalism professor of the UK’s City University - to you here:

I quote Dr. Brooke to send a clear message of the importance of transparent courts. Again, over a million dollars of damage transpired. The US Federal Government is investigating the University of Washington over antisemitism which could lead to significant defunding as has occurred with Columbia University and Harvard. A significant number of students were emergency expelled by the University of Washington based on arrests. One should also be concerned about the lack of transparency on charging also.

It should be clear to all that we the public have a right to see our courts in action. After all, our courts deprive citizens of their liberty and property in our collective name if not defence. Access to the courts should be easy.

Transparent UW justice is not the only issue at hand. Another is the UW Daily using anonymous sources and sources from only one side of the Oct. 7 Wars. Both of which are… problematic and I will address them here.

Granted sometimes when I was a professional journalist I had to use anonymous sources like “spokesperson said” - and I did not like granting such requests. I also have played many times Dr. Brooke explain why source anonymity is a bad idea:

As you heard above, “spokesperson source” allows for “information control”. It’s not a good idea, especially with groups like Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return UW (SUPER UW) that comprises most of the UW33 facing UW student discipline.

It’s also a bad idea for the UW Daily to not reach out to any Jewish sources such as the following:

Instead, an entirely one-sided protrayal of the October 7 events that have inspired SUPER UW activism and alleged vandalism was printed. Obviously, as per my disclaimer above, I have a different view.

Hopefully this situation shows that the University of Washington needs more transparency, not less. The University needs to have at the least:

There is a bit of hope, though. The University of Washington’s newest Regent in Dow Constantine is very familiar with the need for transparent governance as a former King County Executive & Sound Transit Board Chair as well as current Sound Transit CEO. One would hope Regent Dow will insist the UW have the same transparency Sound Transit CEO Dow has to work under. Starting with bringing in the cameras to the Regents… ;-)

Hopefully needless to share but I want the best for the University of Washington, her students, her faculty, her employees, her regents and most of all her alumni. Some of whom are points of light in my political life. With transparency comes rebuilt trust and the ability to return the University of Washington to a learning institution.