University of Washington

University of Washington

The University of Washington (UW, commonly called U-Dub) is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. UW is the largest university in the Northwestern United States and one of the oldest universities on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in Seattle’s University District and two other campuses Tacoma and Bothell. Its operating budget for fiscal year 2005 was $3.1 billion. The UW occupies over 500 buildings, with over 20 million gross square footage of space.

In 2010, the school placed 16th in the world’s top universities, according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities, and 41st among “national universities” by U.S. News and World Report. UW is considered a Public Ivy institution.

University of Washington Rankings in 2010

• TOP 200 UNDERGRADUATE BUSINESS PROGRAM IN 2010
• TOP 100 NURSING GRADUATE SCHOOL RANKING IN 2009
• TOP BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE COLLEGE RANKING IN 2010
• TOP 100 FINE ARTS COLLEGE RANKING IN 2010
• TOP CHEMISTRY COLLEGE RANKING IN 2010
• BEST COMPUTER SCIENCE GRADUATE SCHOOL RANKINGS
• BEST BUSINESS SCHOOLS (MBA PROGRAM) RANKING IN 2010
• BIO CHEMICAL / BIOENGINEERING GRADUATE SCHOOL RANKING
• TOP 100 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING GRADUATE SCHOOL RANKING IN 2010
• BEST MEDICAL SCHOOL GERIATRICS RANKINGS IN 2010
• BEST 2010 MEDICAL SCHOOLS RANKING IN INTERNAL MEDICINE
• TOP 15 COMPUTER ENGINEERING COLLEGES RANKING
• BEST UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY RANKING
• BEST MEDICAL SCHOOLS – PRIMARY CARE RANKINGS
• MEDICAL SCHOOL RANKINGS – BEST RESEARCH MEDICAL SCHOOLS
• 2010 TOP 100 COLLEGES IN THE UNITED STATES
• CIVIL ENGINEERING UNDERGRADUATE COLLEGE RANKING IN 2010
• WORLD’S BEST UNIVERSITY RANKINGS
• TOP UNDERGRADUATE FINANCE UNIVERSITY IN 2010
• TOP UNDERGRADUATE ACCOUNTING COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY
• TOP 50 ENGINEERING GRADUATE SCHOOLS IN 2010
• TOP 100 EDUCATION COLLEGES / UNIVERSITIES IN 2010
• THE BEST LAW SCHOOLS / COLLEGES RANKING IN U.S.
• 2010 WORLD’S TOP 100 GLOBAL MBA / BUSINESS SCHOOL
• TOP PUBLIC NATIONAL UNIVERSITY RANKING
• BEST AEROSPACE / AERONAUTICAL / ASTRONAUTICAL UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING COLLEGES
• ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING GRADUATE SCHOOL RANKINGS

University of Washington Rankings in 2011

• TOP 100 GRADUATE COMPUTER ENGINEERING SCHOOL RANKINGS IN 2011
• BEST BUSINESS GRADUATE SCHOOL RANKING IN 2011
• MATERIALS GRADUATE SCHOOL RANKINGS IN 2011
• POLITICAL SCIENCE GRADUATE COLLEGE RANKINGS IN 2011
• WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS IN 2011-2012
• 2011-2012 TOP 200 COLLEGES IN UNITED STATES
• QS WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS 2011
• FORBES AMERICAN’S BEST COLLEGE RANKINGS IN 2011
•  TOP ENGINEERING GRADUATE SCHOOLS RANKING IN 2011-2012
•  TOP 30 PHARMACY SCHOOL RANKINGS IN U.S
• 2011 TOP PUBLIC COLLEGE & UNIVERSITY RANKINGS IN UNITED STATES
• BEST LAW SCHOOL RANKING FOR HIRING BY THE NATION’S LARGEST LAW FIRMS

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University of Washington Tuitions and Fees

Schools of University of Washington

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University of Washington News

• Crime blotter: stolen check, assault and office theft - Wed, 29 Jun 2011
  

  This crime blotter aims to keep readers up to date on crimes that affect the UW community, such as the assault of a UW Medical Center visitor and a burglary in Magnuson Hall.

  Friday, June 17

  UWPD officers responded to a report of fraud after a UW employee was contacted by a Bank of America representative to verify a check from her account being cashed, which she said she did not authorize. The check had been cashed June 10 in West Seattle and deposited into another Bank of America account. The money was withdrawn from the account in which it was deposited before the bank was able to freeze the account. The Bank of America Fraud Unit began an internal investigation and asked the woman to file a report with the Federal Trade Commission. She will not be liable for the loss, and her account was closed.

  Sunday, June 19

  UWPD officers responded to a report of fourth-degree assault at approximately 3:05 p.m. at the UW Medical Center frontage road. A woman was visiting a patient at the hospital when she was approached by the female assaulter, who then insulted her and hit her in the face with a car door. The assaulter fled by car and hasn’t been located by police. The woman who was attacked declined medical attention.

  Thursday, June 23

  UWPD officers responded to a report of burglary after a woman claimed items were missing from her office. She told the officers her wallet and cellphone were taken from her private office in the Magnuson Health Sciences Building. She said she left her office for approximately two minutes at about 1:30 p.m. and returned to find her cellphone missing from her desktop where she left it. She also found that her wallet was missing from her purse, which was in a file cabinet behind her desk. She said she closed the door to her office but had not locked it. The police have no suspects.

  Reach reporter Hayat Norimine at news@dailyuw.com.

  
  

• Editorial cartoon - Wed, 29 Jun 2011
  
  
  

• Looking for shelter - Wed, 29 Jun 2011
  

  When custodians begin working at 5 a.m., they sometimes find they aren’t alone in buildings on campus.

  The UWPD receives calls from UW Custodial Services (CS) when employees find people who have spent the night in campus buildings without permission.

  Usually these people are looking for shelter, said Steve Rittereiser, commander of the Office of Professional Standards for the UWPD.

  “Most of the individuals we’ve come into contact with were seeking some kind of shelter,” Rittereiser said. “It seems to me that it tends to be a little more frequent in the summertime. Part of the reason is there is a little less activity in the buildings.”

  Sattia Sear, dayshift assistant director for UW CS, said that the custodians, whose shifts start around 5 a.m., will alert their supervisors if they find someone in the building.

  “Usually the problem that our staff runs into is in the morning they run into people they think shouldn’t be there,” Sear said. “Sometimes when people leave the door open or unlocked, transients will get in.”

  Contributing factors

  The time of year may have an effect on the level of homelessness on campus.

  Kathleen Murphy, manager of the U-District’s Rising Out of the Shadows (ROOTS) Young Adult Shelter, said that summer is a surprisingly busy time for ROOTS.

  “You’d think that winter would be the most active time,” Murphy said. “[However], some of the biggest turn-away numbers we’ve had have been in the middle of the summer. A lot of this may be attributed to travelers. People will come up to Seattle during the summer.”

  UWPD officer Russ Sattarov said he sees two possible reasons for an increase of homelessness on campus in the summer.

  “The first is because there’s less people on campus,” Sattarov said. “The second is because it’s nice and warm. … It’s easier to travel in the summer. They know if they can’t get into a shelter, they can sleep on the street and the weather won’t be too bad.”

  ROOTS was recently awarded a $500,000 grant that will allow it to expand and serve more homeless young adults.

  “We’ve seen an increase in the past couple of years of homeless youth trying to access our services,” Murphy said. “I know that the University of Washington has had an increased awareness of folks — homeless or not — around the campus trying to get into buildings.”

  Sattarov said he isn’t sure that there is actually an increase in trespassing in academic buildings during the summer, but it’s more noticeable because there are less people on campus, so it sticks out when someone is in a building who shouldn’t be.

  “I don’t think that it happens more in the summer,” Sattarov said. “I think it’s just more obvious.”

  Where it happens

  Sattarov said that, because buildings are locked at a certain point in the evening that varies from building to building, a trespasser usually comes in beforehand and hides until all the other occupants of the building are gone.

  “They will find a room they can use,” Sattarov said. “There’s water and a bathroom.”

  The UWPD will occasionally get calls from the custodial staff of the buildings about people trespassing after hours, Rittereiser said.

  “We don’t get too many, but we do occasionally get calls,” he said. “Most of the time, the buildings are active enough that we get a call earlier when it appears the individual may be attempting to stay the night.”

  Rittereiser said that he thinks the incidents happen infrequently and in various buildings on campus.

  “There aren’t any particular buildings that are more susceptible than others,” Rittereiser said. “It does happen in several different buildings.”

  Although the UWPD sees trespassing occur in many different buildings, Sear said that custodians notice it in some buildings more than others.

  “Some certain buildings seem to have more problems than others,” Sear said. “Yesterday I talked to one of the building coordinators who’s aware that transients have been hiding in rooms after hours.”

  Sear cited Parrington, the Communications Building, Bloedel Hall and buildings along the Burke-Gilman Trail as locations that have recently had problems.

  “Sometimes people move from building to building,” he said. “Usually if there’s an issue, [employees] call their supervisor or manager. I hear about it a day later.”

  Rittereiser said UWPD officers will come to the buildings, approach the individual they have received the call about and ask him or her to leave.

  “Traditionally what our response has been is that we’ll make contact with the individual that is attempting to stay overnight,” Rittereiser said. “If we find out that they’re trying to stay overnight, we have the ability to identify them and ask them to leave based on the fact that they’re trespassing. Generally we get compliance, but we keep a record of the incidents.”

  Because the campus is public, buildings are open during business hours and only after that would the UWPD issue trespassing charges.

  Rittereiser said that if it becomes a “habitual problem,” individuals will be banned from specific buildings. He said that the person responsible for the building can write a letter to request that the individual be banned from the building.

  How it happens

  Unlocked doors leave an opportunity for people to get into buildings after hours.

  “I think it’s common that people who work in buildings will have a friend that wants to drop by who doesn’t have a key,” Rittereiser said. “Sometimes they prop the doors open. It certainly invites more guests than the ones they want to come into the building, and it creates a personal-safety issue for an individual after hours.”

  Rittereiser said it’s not always easy to connect thefts or vandalism to trespassers.

  “We haven’t been able to connect thefts to particular situations,” Rittereiser said. “It would not surprise me to say that a theft may have been related to something like that, or vandalism to a building may have been related.”

  Sattarov said the UWPD has found campsites near the Urban Horticulture Center, which is not located on the main part of campus. Evidence of camping often includes sleeping bags, tents and trash.

  “This place looks different from the rest of campus,” he said of the grassy land where the UWPD has found camps. “I suppose if somebody wanted to set up a tent and camp here, they could go unnoticed for a while. … [There are] some people who have been homeless for a long time and they know the rules. If they don’t leave any trash behind or harm anything, they can sleep in the same place every night for a while.”

  Sattarov said that while it’s easier for the homeless to set up camps in the more remote parts of campus, the UWPD gets more calls about homeless persons trespassing in buildings because that’s what people notice. He said people often camp in alleyways just off campus near Northeast 40th Street or on the Ave, but people might come onto campus because it’s safer.

  “It’s safer,” he said. “It’s quieter. It’s away from everything. The Ave is not safe.”

  Preventative measures

  Rittereiser said that the UWPD encourages students and staff to take preventative measures to help decrease trespassing after hours.

  “[Don’t] allow individuals to follow you into a door that you open with a key and … make sure you report any locking-device deficiencies to the Facilities Services Department,” he said. “If you suspect that an individual is attempting to use a university building in which to sleep after hours, please contact the UW police.”

  Reach reporter Sarah Schweppe at news@dailyuw.com.

  
  

• Monitoring your activity - Wed, 29 Jun 2011
  

  For UW junior John Vu, and for all library employees, the policy is the same: You are not allowed to judge internet content. You may observe it, and if it is potentially illegal or in breach of copyright law you may report it, but you can’t judge it.

  Vu has been a lead at the Odegaard technology Help Desk for about a year now, and he explains that, as far as monitoring student computer- and internet-usage goes, his jurisdiction is limited.

  “For stuff to do with the libraries that’s restricted to use, usually we favor students who are actually doing educational work,” Vu said. “The policy for us is that we cannot kick anyone off the computers because we are not allowed to judge content. So we usually ask them — if they’re playing games or something — to leave for another client.”

  The UW-Information Technology (IT) policy deals with monitoring and investigation of employees and students. IT policy governs employee/student interaction with technology by describing the “appropriate use” of university-owned technology or university resources. IT policy is enforced in almost every institution in the United States.

  It’s not quite the high-school situation, where teachers and librarians peek over students’ shoulders to enforce educational rather than recreational computer usage. Vu most often consults with students about viruses­ — generally on the student’s own laptop, not on a UW-owned computer — or students wanting to receive email on their smartphones.

  However, there are still restrictions that apply to computer activity in less public environments, like in the residence halls. In the case of students illegally downloading music or videos, UW-IT staff does not do any direct monitoring.

  “We usually get contacted by third parties about it,” said Kelli Trosvig, interim vice president and vice provost of UW-IT. “We then contact the student … and we give them warnings and ask them to cease. If it continues, we take appropriate action. We’ve taken a policy that we don’t release [student names] to the record or motion-picture companies routinely.”

  Trosvig said that the university is not currently required to screen for illegal downloading and copyright infringement. There has been a national debate in the past about whether the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), passed in 1998, requires Internet-service providers — such as universities — to monitor for copyright infringement.

  In the past, some reports of child pornography being viewed in the library, for example, have come from third parties. The next step for Vu would be to report directly to the UW Police Department, but he cannot take any more action than that.

  “Some people come in complaining about pornography, but again, we can tell them the policy that we can’t judge content,” Vu said. “But that’s as far as it’s gone. It doesn’t happen very often. If there is something illegal, like something that breaches copyright law or any of the regulations, if we see it, we can report it, but we can’t really do much except report it.”

  While monitoring of student activity takes a very different and much more limited form under UW-IT law, restrictions on technology use are much stronger with concern to UW employees. Trosvig said that there is a distinction between a UW employee whose access to UW technology “is predicated on their job” and students whose access is “part of their educational mission.” According to the UW’s Administrative Policy Statement, “The UW does not routinely inspect or monitor the use of computers.”

  “What is meant by ‘monitor user activity’ depends on the situation,” Trosvig said. “UW-IT staff routinely need to look into cases of compromised UW NetIDs, and as a result they may ‘monitor user activity.’ During the investigation of a compromised NetID [for example], UW-IT staff may ‘monitor user activity’ by analyzing login patterns to see which IP address the intruder logs in from and which resources the intruder is attempting to access. This is done to protect both the legitimate NetID owner and the university from further unauthorized activity.”

  UW employees are prohibited from sharing their UW NetIDs, as well as other “inappropriate use” of technology, which can include using university resources to run a political campaign or running a personal website. Students, on the other hand, are not subject to the same restrictions.

  “We don’t adapt for university students because … they can do that,” Trosvig said. “But faculty and staff should not be using university resources for their political activities. So all of those things are inappropriate use of state resources.”

  Students who are UW employees are primarily considered students, and are therefore generally not restricted under UW-IT law in the same way other university employees are. For other UW employees, UW-IT states that “all email and other electronic information pertaining to UW business is ‘owned’ by the university, regardless of where it is kept, and is subject to disclosure.”

  Other monitoring of an employee’s technology use may occur, but it does not directly involve UW-IT staff. Trosvig said that the UW Human Resources Staff or the Attorney General’s Office may ask that an image of a user’s UW email be created, or that a user’s university-owned computer be reviewed for inappropriate use as defined by state law.

  “This is really being driven by the state public records laws,” Trosvig said. “So this isn’t really a university-driven mandate. … Everything that we do in email related to state business, state grants, contracts and information is a state record. We don’t have a Big Brother predilection by any means.”

  Reach reporter Lauren Kronebusch at lifestyles@dailyuw.com.

  
  

• Movie review: 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' - Wed, 29 Jun 2011
  

  The logic of Michael Bay’s twisted universe gets even weirder in “Transformers: Dark of the Moon.” The characters become loonier, the motivations of the heroes and villains are nonsensical, the destruction is purposeless, and come on: Shia LaBeouf’s girlfriend is way too hot for him.

  Bay’s universe mirrors our own in every possible way, except for one major detail: Although humans share Earth with giant autobots, this reality doesn’t seem to faze anyone. The autobots sound like humans, they act like humans, and they care about humans, possibly more than their own kind.

  Initially, Bay’s attempt at rewriting history by insinuating that the 1969 moon landing was really an attempt to investigate a Cybertron spaceship crash-landing on the dark side of the moon is kind of cute, but then you realize that a majority of the details have been mystically arranged to serve the function of making a stupid Pink Floyd joke. Jerry Wang (get it?), played creepily by The Hangover’s Ken Jeong, makes this clear when he says, “We’re code pink. As in Floyd. As in dark side.”

  The wacky ensemble is completed with John Malkovich as a corporate goon, a sinister John Turturro, and Frances McDormand as the Secretary of Defense, who insists she’s not a “ma’am” — whatever that means.

  Bay’s attempts to make up for “Revenge of the Fallen” pay off in the 3D department, because the visual effects are pretty stunning, and the added depth of field is appropriate for this kind of live action. But the randomness and purposelessness of the film’s characters and events are overwhelming, and even a little depressing at times. If superhero LaBeouf can’t get a job after college, there really isn’t much hope for the rest of us.

  This movie is really, really bad. But there are some seriously awesome, slow-motion action sequences, and enough robot face-offs to entertain even the most skeptical young adult. Ultimately, though Bay has a few moments of inspiration, he seems to be channeling Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” — lots of flying paper, crashes out of windows and falls across long distances — or maybe it was just the music playing tricks on me.

  My favorite part of the movie, though, was Megan Fox’s replacement, zombie-runway model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (don’t judge). Her acting is nonexistent, and she looks like she’s posing for a photo shoot the entire time.

  Coincidentally, this makes her perfect for a Michael Bay film.

  If you’re going to see “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” I trust you know what you’re getting yourself into. Either you’ve seen the first two, or you’ve heard of the infamous director’s shenanigans. Brace yourself. If you like an exhaustive amount of explosions and gigantic, awesome robots, this movie is for you.

  The verdict: A really, really bad — but visually resplendent ­— migraine of

  a movie.

  Reach reporter Amy Scott at arts@dailyuw.com.

  
  

• Moving history - Wed, 29 Jun 2011
  

  For the past 10 years, Kim England has sent her “Geography of Cities” class of 150 students to the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI), located right past Husky Stadium and across the Montlake Bridge — just blocks away from campus.

  The museum, England said, tells a “people’s history,” combining art, technology, industry and commerce with the personal narratives of those in Seattle’s past.

  In the class, which studies the historical development of cities, MOHAI has provided an ideal visual history to accompany the concepts she teaches.

  But beginning next year, England’s students will have to travel just a bit farther to make the visit: In November 2012, MOHAI will relocate to a new location in South Lake Union. The move is the first ever for the museum in its 59-year history; its current building in Montlake is being demolished for SR520 road expansion.

  “It’s a bit of a bummer from the perspective of sending the students across the bridge [to visit], but it’s not like it’s moving to Canada,” England said.

  In the spirit of the move, an exhibit titled “MOHAI Moves History” is currently featured at the museum, which tells the six-decade story of the museum’s past and includes information about the new location.

  “It recounts the history of the building and the institutions that use it — like the King County Historical Society and Seattle Historical Society — as they move out of that building,” MOHAI art historian Paul Dorpat said.

  Dorpat is one of the art historians of another currently featured exhibit titled “Now & Then,” which is one of the last exhibits in the Montlake building.

  This exhibit uses “repeat photography” to compare the same point of view of historical images with contemporary photos and visually illustrates changes in Seattle’s past.

  Despite the inevitable move, Dorpat said those at MOHAI are optimistic about the potential for more foot traffic at its new location.

  “I think [those at the museum] are happy about moving to a new location which is more centrally located,” he said. “I think maybe they think they’ll get more people coming to the museum at the south end of the lake.”

  Some popular attractions of the museum include the pink “Toe Truck,” a Rainier Brewery commercial beer-man suit, and the Alki Landing Diorama, depicting settlers from 1851 first arriving at Alki.

  But its resources extend well beyond the typical collections of photographs and historical artifacts — MOHAI also features off-site summer walking tours and short video segments called “MOHAI Minutes” that cover local spots like the Admiral Theatre in West Seattle and Schmitz Park near Alki. “MOHAI Minutes” even has its own YouTube channel.

  The museum also shows movies in the basement and has regular speakers, like bestselling author Steve Berry, who is scheduled to lead a writer’s workshop August 6.

  “Those are things that will sustain them,” England said.

  As a student in England’s class last year, Junior Tiffany Oh visited MOHAI for the very first time. Before her visit, Oh said that she was somewhat unfamiliar with the museum.

  Yet on that visit she particularly remembers being wowed by the “Boomtown” exhibit, a town of buildings displaying facets of Seattle’s history beginning from the end of the 19th century. She also retained some interesting tidbits about Seattle’s history, like learning the names of the first African American and Chinese American who lived in Seattle.

  “There are a lot of things in Seattle’s past that I didn’t know about before,” she said. “It’s an important history museum, stuff you don’t get to see at [places like] the Pacific Science Center and the EMP.”

  Experiences like Oh’s are what England hopes for when she assigns her students field assignments for the course, like visiting MOHAI.

  “I want them to come away thinking that the city is not something in terms of a built environment, … the city is not something that is neutral,” England said. “Most of the time, there are reasons why some things in the city look the way they do, why some buildings look the way they do. By having them go do this they get a sense of how it looked previously. I’m trying to give them different ways of thinking about a city.”

  Senior Taylor Youtsler also visited MOHAI as a part of England’s class and, to his surprise, found the museum enlightening.

  “I thought I knew most of the history of Washington and Seattle, but when I went in there it was kind of amazing the fact that I didn’t even know half of what I should have and I was living here the whole time,” he said. “Everyone [who visits] is going to learn a whole lot, that’s a given. Just by going in there, it’s a good experience.”

  Reach reporters Kirsten Johnson and Amy Scott at arts@dailyuw.com.

  
  

• Out and about - Wed, 29 Jun 2011
  

  Deborah Schwartzkopf

  As an end to her residency at Pottery Northwest, Schwartzkopf will be displaying an array of dessert dishes at the ceramics studio (with dessert inside). If you want to make your mouth water, check out the last two days of the showing.

  Wednesday, June 29, and Thursday, June 30

  10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

  Free

  Pottery Northwest

  226 First Ave. N.

  Queen Anne

  “Picnic”

  Adapted from a Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “Picnic” follows the story of a drifter named Hal Carter who steals an old friend’s fiancée.

  Friday, July 1, through Thursday, July 7

  6:30 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. daily

  $6 with student ID

  Grand Illusion Cinema

  1403 NE 50th St.

  University District

  Daniel Wilson

  If anyone could write a great book about robots, it’s Daniel Wilson, who earned a Ph.D. from the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. He’ll be reading and signing his new book “Robopocalypse,” which is about robot murderers.

  Wednesday, June 29

  7 p.m.

  Free

  University Book Store

  4326 University Way NE

  University District

  Seattle International Beerfest

  Try out beers from all around the world (that is, if “international” means beer primarily from the United States and various European countries).

  Friday, July 1 – Sunday, July 3

  12 p.m. – 10 p.m. daily

  $20-$35

  Mural Amphitheater

  305 Harrison St.

  Queen Anne

  Reach Copy Chief Kristen Steenbeeke at arts@dailyuw.com.

  
  

• Overton is not a pimp - Wed, 29 Jun 2011
  

  Venoy Overton might be a lot of things: a once-great college athlete, a disgraced alumnus, and, now, in danger of violating the plea agreement he made earlier this year in regards to the misdemeanor charges of furnishing alcohol to a minor.

  But Overton is not — at this writing — a convicted pimp, and that’s something at least a few Huskies need to remember.

  The breadth of the English language gives its users the opportunity and the pleasure to say the same thing in so many different ways. Usually, this lets us say exactly what we mean (which of us could have gotten through our composition credits without Synonym.com?).

  But in some contexts, such as the law, it’s important that very specific words be used and that their very specific definitions be understood.

  One Dailyuw.com reader (“Keep him in jail”) commented on The Daily’s June 3 news story about the most recent charges against Overton, “Seriously, does this idiot not take a hint? First he rapes a minor, and now he’s playing at being a pimp.”

  I appreciate the willingness to comment on the issue, because it’s an active readership that keeps a news source relevant. However, “Keep him in jail,” Overton has only allegedly acted as a pimp — or, to be more specific, he’s allegedly guilty of promoting prostitution in the second degree, which is a Class C felony.

  Thankfully, erroneous claims within comments are usually self-correcting: Another reader (“Reader”) replied, “Venoy is guilty of many things but rape of a minor isn’t among them (at least that we know of).” “Reader,” that’s exactly how I would have phrased it — and similar to the way I have.

  It was in another arena that I first heard statements that troubled me in the same way “Keep him in jail”’s words did. Before Overton’s name was even associated with the then-redacted police report in which a 16-year-old girl accused him of sexual assault, my women studies class was deep into a conversation that included phrases like “the basketball player who raped that girl” and “that athlete-rapist,” shouted across dozens of rows of the lecture room. The accusations outlined in that police report never even amounted to sexual-assault charges, much less a conviction; the phrasing used during that in-class conversation, then, was especially distasteful in hindsight.

  When a person is in a prominent leadership position, as UW student-athletes often are, it shows exceedingly poor judgment for that person to provide alcohol to teenagers. Knowing that he would be held in the public’s view to a higher standard of behavior should have caused Overton to avoid such incriminating situations. The poor choices we know he has made can influence the way we talk about him. It is very difficult for someone to rid his or her name of a sex scandal, even if it turns out to be a rumor. Indeed, once a prominent individual is brought to trial, the elevated publicity of such charges can mean a guilty verdict rendered by the public before the legal proceedings are over, and a bad name long after. Although the alleged rape charges against Kobe Bryant several years ago were later dropped, people still refer to “The Kobe Bryant rape case” as if the rape had legally existed.

  Promoting prostitution is a serious crime, and one for which its commissioners have to be held responsible. If Overton is guilty of the accusations laid out in the charging documents, that puts him among the lowest of the low and confirms behavior involving dangerous, sex-related offenses. That’s exactly why it’s so dangerous and discourteous to suggest he is already. Until and unless Overton is found guilty of the most recent charges against him, let’s refrain from calling him a pimp; the law rightfully allows him the benefit of the doubt, and the language surrounding his name should too.

  Reach opinion writer Maddie Hall at opinion@dailyuw.com.

  
  

• Pub review: Die Bierstube - Wed, 29 Jun 2011
  

  It is immediately apparent upon entering Die Bierstube that Shultzy’s does not possess a monopoly on the U-District’s supply of German beer and food. This bar, located in the far-northwestern reaches of the U-District at 6106 Roosevelt Way NE, possesses something approaching Old World charm — in addition to its fine Bavarian fare — that is disappointingly absent from the other “pubs” in its neighborhood. The pub ambience manifests itself in Die Bierstube’s dark, wood-paneled walls, worn, wooden tables, German-style tap fonts, and a clientele with an average age well above their mid-twenties. This bar, in short, begs you to pull up a chair and order a beer.

  Die Bierstube’s strong suit is, unsurprisingly, its beer. Like Shultzy’s, Die Bierstube features a lengthy selection of imported German draught beers from centuries-old breweries like Spaten, Maisel, Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr. The dozen-odd beers are each sold in volumes of .3, .5 and one liter, and cost around $4.25, $5.25 and $9.75, respectively. Each beer is also served in a glass made by its respective brewery, which serves to greatly enhance the authentic German feel of the establishment.

  For beer-lovers brave or foolish enough to give it a go, Die Bierstube proudly offers a two-liter chugging challenge featuring a giant drinking glass called “The Boot.” For around $20, a minimum of three people can fill up “The Boot” with beer and, once it is picked up, must drain the massive vessel before it is placed back down. German tradition states that the second-to-last person to drink from “The Boot” must pay for the next round, so challengers are given the incentive to drink as much as possible as the volume of beer in “The Boot” gets low.

  The beer menu has a brew for everyone. The light Hacker-Pschorr Weisse is a good beginner’s beer with a light, though not anemic, body and a spiced aftertaste reminiscent of Hoegaarden. The Spaten Oktoberfest is perfect for a light-beer drinker who wants to try a darker variety that won’t offend his or her inexperienced palate. Hacker-Pschorr’s Dunkel Alt, an appetizing dark lager, tastes vaguely like a mocha porter without bitter coffee flavors. The mighty Paulaner Salvator was originally brewed by German monks as a replacement for bread during Lent and weighs in at 7.5-percent alcohol by volume. The Salvator, or “Savior,” has a thick, malty taste comparable to liquid bread, yet features a swirl of other flavors that even moderate-beer drinkers may appreciate.

  Those who would rather sip a mixed drink than quaff an ale are able to do so: Die Bierstube features an abbreviated list of German interpretations of popular American mixed drinks, such as the Honig Dropf (Honey Drop). Mixed drinks cost between $6.50 and $7.50, a range that sharply contrasts those offered by lower-priced bars on the Ave.

  Die Bierstube’s food menu is surprisingly authentic. Even simple and inexpensive menu items like the landjaeger, a thick, traditional German beef-and-pork jerky served with marbled rye bread, impress with their German taste. Perhaps the best part about Die Bierstube’s German fare is the prices. A light meal of currywurst or a bratwurst sandwich cost patrons around $7.

  Die Bierstube’s inviting Old World-pub interior is complemented by one of the U-District’s strongest selections of beers and a solid menu of fairly-priced German grub, strengths that more than negate the distant location.

  The verdict: Die Bierstube is a bar for beer lovers, plain and simple, and certainly one that every UW student should visit at least once.

  Reach reporter Andy Fulton at arts@dailyuw.com.

  
  

• Talking heads: How would a 20-percent increase in tuition affect you? - Wed, 29 Jun 2011
  

  “A 20-percent increase in tuition would make higher education for a student like me nearly impossible. If financial aid was to be opened up to middle-class white students, it would make education for me a lot easier than packing on the loans and having a second job. Right now I work as much as possible and I take out as much as I can in unsubsidized loans.”

  Justin Nygard

  Sophomore, undeclared

  “The hope is that I’ll gain a scholarship. My plan used to be to do a ROTC scholarship, but now ROTC has stopped doing all of their scholarships. They won’t do that until next year, and by next year, we won’t have the money to put me through school. As it is, I’ve got a transfer degree, but if tuition increases I won’t be able to finish up my education.”

  Timothy Vo

  Sophomore, Chinese

  “It just means a lot more student loans. I’m already going to try to graduate as fast as humanly possible, so I’m probably going to be taking as many credits as I can without having to pay the extra tuition for credits. I’m going to try my hardest to get out by summer of next year instead of doing a senior year, because I cannot afford to keep going to this school.”

  Keena Bean

  Junior, undeclared

  “It would be a big impact. It’s disappointing that our state isn’t prioritizing education more, and that the school has to pass the burden of everything that they have to buy to the students because that’s the only way that they can pay for it.”

  Bradford Walzer

  Junior, political science

  
  

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• Crime blotter: stolen check, assault and office theft - Wed, 29 Jun 2011
  

  This crime blotter aims to keep readers up to date on crimes that affect the UW community, such as the assault of a UW Medical Center visitor and a burglary in Magnuson Hall.

  Friday, June 17

  UWPD officers responded to a report of fraud after a UW employee was contacted by a Bank of America representative to verify a check from her account being cashed, which she said she did not authorize. The check had been cashed June 10 in West Seattle and deposited into another Bank of America account. The money was withdrawn from the account in which it was deposited before the bank was able to freeze the account. The Bank of America Fraud Unit began an internal investigation and asked the woman to file a report with the Federal Trade Commission. She will not be liable for the loss, and her account was closed.

  Sunday, June 19

  UWPD officers responded to a report of fourth-degree assault at approximately 3:05 p.m. at the UW Medical Center frontage road. A woman was visiting a patient at the hospital when she was approached by the female assaulter, who then insulted her and hit her in the face with a car door. The assaulter fled by car and hasn’t been located by police. The woman who was attacked declined medical attention.

  Thursday, June 23

  UWPD officers responded to a report of burglary after a woman claimed items were missing from her office. She told the officers her wallet and cellphone were taken from her private office in the Magnuson Health Sciences Building. She said she left her office for approximately two minutes at about 1:30 p.m. and returned to find her cellphone missing from her desktop where she left it. She also found that her wallet was missing from her purse, which was in a file cabinet behind her desk. She said she closed the door to her office but had not locked it. The police have no suspects.

  Reach reporter Hayat Norimine at news@dailyuw.com.

  
  

• Editorial cartoon - Wed, 29 Jun 2011
  
  
  

• Looking for shelter - Wed, 29 Jun 2011
  

  When custodians begin working at 5 a.m., they sometimes find they aren’t alone in buildings on campus.

  The UWPD receives calls from UW Custodial Services (CS) when employees find people who have spent the night in campus buildings without permission.

  Usually these people are looking for shelter, said Steve Rittereiser, commander of the Office of Professional Standards for the UWPD.

  “Most of the individuals we’ve come into contact with were seeking some kind of shelter,” Rittereiser said. “It seems to me that it tends to be a little more frequent in the summertime. Part of the reason is there is a little less activity in the buildings.”

  Sattia Sear, dayshift assistant director for UW CS, said that the custodians, whose shifts start around 5 a.m., will alert their supervisors if they find someone in the building.

  “Usually the problem that our staff runs into is in the morning they run into people they think shouldn’t be there,” Sear said. “Sometimes when people leave the door open or unlocked, transients will get in.”

  Contributing factors

  The time of year may have an effect on the level of homelessness on campus.

  Kathleen Murphy, manager of the U-District’s Rising Out of the Shadows (ROOTS) Young Adult Shelter, said that summer is a surprisingly busy time for ROOTS.

  “You’d think that winter would be the most active time,” Murphy said. “[However], some of the biggest turn-away numbers we’ve had have been in the middle of the summer. A lot of this may be attributed to travelers. People will come up to Seattle during the summer.”

  UWPD officer Russ Sattarov said he sees two possible reasons for an increase of homelessness on campus in the summer.

  “The first is because there’s less people on campus,” Sattarov said. “The second is because it’s nice and warm. … It’s easier to travel in the summer. They know if they can’t get into a shelter, they can sleep on the street and the weather won’t be too bad.”

  ROOTS was recently awarded a $500,000 grant that will allow it to expand and serve more homeless young adults.

  “We’ve seen an increase in the past couple of years of homeless youth trying to access our services,” Murphy said. “I know that the University of Washington has had an increased awareness of folks — homeless or not — around the campus trying to get into buildings.”

  Sattarov said he isn’t sure that there is actually an increase in trespassing in academic buildings during the summer, but it’s more noticeable because there are less people on campus, so it sticks out when someone is in a building who shouldn’t be.

  “I don’t think that it happens more in the summer,” Sattarov said. “I think it’s just more obvious.”

  Where it happens

  Sattarov said that, because buildings are locked at a certain point in the evening that varies from building to building, a trespasser usually comes in beforehand and hides until all the other occupants of the building are gone.

  “They will find a room they can use,” Sattarov said. “There’s water and a bathroom.”

  The UWPD will occasionally get calls from the custodial staff of the buildings about people trespassing after hours, Rittereiser said.

  “We don’t get too many, but we do occasionally get calls,” he said. “Most of the time, the buildings are active enough that we get a call earlier when it appears the individual may be attempting to stay the night.”

  Rittereiser said that he thinks the incidents happen infrequently and in various buildings on campus.

  “There aren’t any particular buildings that are more susceptible than others,” Rittereiser said. “It does happen in several different buildings.”

  Although the UWPD sees trespassing occur in many different buildings, Sear said that custodians notice it in some buildings more than others.

  “Some certain buildings seem to have more problems than others,” Sear said. “Yesterday I talked to one of the building coordinators who’s aware that transients have been hiding in rooms after hours.”

  Sear cited Parrington, the Communications Building, Bloedel Hall and buildings along the Burke-Gilman Trail as locations that have recently had problems.

  “Sometimes people move from building to building,” he said. “Usually if there’s an issue, [employees] call their supervisor or manager. I hear about it a day later.”

  Rittereiser said UWPD officers will come to the buildings, approach the individual they have received the call about and ask him or her to leave.

  “Traditionally what our response has been is that we’ll make contact with the individual that is attempting to stay overnight,” Rittereiser said. “If we find out that they’re trying to stay overnight, we have the ability to identify them and ask them to leave based on the fact that they’re trespassing. Generally we get compliance, but we keep a record of the incidents.”

  Because the campus is public, buildings are open during business hours and only after that would the UWPD issue trespassing charges.

  Rittereiser said that if it becomes a “habitual problem,” individuals will be banned from specific buildings. He said that the person responsible for the building can write a letter to request that the individual be banned from the building.

  How it happens

  Unlocked doors leave an opportunity for people to get into buildings after hours.

  “I think it’s common that people who work in buildings will have a friend that wants to drop by who doesn’t have a key,” Rittereiser said. “Sometimes they prop the doors open. It certainly invites more guests than the ones they want to come into the building, and it creates a personal-safety issue for an individual after hours.”

  Rittereiser said it’s not always easy to connect thefts or vandalism to trespassers.

  “We haven’t been able to connect thefts to particular situations,” Rittereiser said. “It would not surprise me to say that a theft may have been related to something like that, or vandalism to a building may have been related.”

  Sattarov said the UWPD has found campsites near the Urban Horticulture Center, which is not located on the main part of campus. Evidence of camping often includes sleeping bags, tents and trash.

  “This place looks different from the rest of campus,” he said of the grassy land where the UWPD has found camps. “I suppose if somebody wanted to set up a tent and camp here, they could go unnoticed for a while. … [There are] some people who have been homeless for a long time and they know the rules. If they don’t leave any trash behind or harm anything, they can sleep in the same place every night for a while.”

  Sattarov said that while it’s easier for the homeless to set up camps in the more remote parts of campus, the UWPD gets more calls about homeless persons trespassing in buildings because that’s what people notice. He said people often camp in alleyways just off campus near Northeast 40th Street or on the Ave, but people might come onto campus because it’s safer.

  “It’s safer,” he said. “It’s quieter. It’s away from everything. The Ave is not safe.”

  Preventative measures

  Rittereiser said that the UWPD encourages students and staff to take preventative measures to help decrease trespassing after hours.

  “[Don’t] allow individuals to follow you into a door that you open with a key and … make sure you report any locking-device deficiencies to the Facilities Services Department,” he said. “If you suspect that an individual is attempting to use a university building in which to sleep after hours, please contact the UW police.”

  Reach reporter Sarah Schweppe at news@dailyuw.com.

  
  

• Monitoring your activity - Wed, 29 Jun 2011
  

  For UW junior John Vu, and for all library employees, the policy is the same: You are not allowed to judge internet content. You may observe it, and if it is potentially illegal or in breach of copyright law you may report it, but you can’t judge it.

  Vu has been a lead at the Odegaard technology Help Desk for about a year now, and he explains that, as far as monitoring student computer- and internet-usage goes, his jurisdiction is limited.

  “For stuff to do with the libraries that’s restricted to use, usually we favor students who are actually doing educational work,” Vu said. “The policy for us is that we cannot kick anyone off the computers because we are not allowed to judge content. So we usually ask them — if they’re playing games or something — to leave for another client.”

  The UW-Information Technology (IT) policy deals with monitoring and investigation of employees and students. IT policy governs employee/student interaction with technology by describing the “appropriate use” of university-owned technology or university resources. IT policy is enforced in almost every institution in the United States.

  It’s not quite the high-school situation, where teachers and librarians peek over students’ shoulders to enforce educational rather than recreational computer usage. Vu most often consults with students about viruses­ — generally on the student’s own laptop, not on a UW-owned computer — or students wanting to receive email on their smartphones.

  However, there are still restrictions that apply to computer activity in less public environments, like in the residence halls. In the case of students illegally downloading music or videos, UW-IT staff does not do any direct monitoring.

  “We usually get contacted by third parties about it,” said Kelli Trosvig, interim vice president and vice provost of UW-IT. “We then contact the student … and we give them warnings and ask them to cease. If it continues, we take appropriate action. We’ve taken a policy that we don’t release [student names] to the record or motion-picture companies routinely.”

  Trosvig said that the university is not currently required to screen for illegal downloading and copyright infringement. There has been a national debate in the past about whether the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), passed in 1998, requires Internet-service providers — such as universities — to monitor for copyright infringement.

  In the past, some reports of child pornography being viewed in the library, for example, have come from third parties. The next step for Vu would be to report directly to the UW Police Department, but he cannot take any more action than that.

  “Some people come in complaining about pornography, but again, we can tell them the policy that we can’t judge content,” Vu said. “But that’s as far as it’s gone. It doesn’t happen very often. If there is something illegal, like something that breaches copyright law or any of the regulations, if we see it, we can report it, but we can’t really do much except report it.”

  While monitoring of student activity takes a very different and much more limited form under UW-IT law, restrictions on technology use are much stronger with concern to UW employees. Trosvig said that there is a distinction between a UW employee whose access to UW technology “is predicated on their job” and students whose access is “part of their educational mission.” According to the UW’s Administrative Policy Statement, “The UW does not routinely inspect or monitor the use of computers.”

  “What is meant by ‘monitor user activity’ depends on the situation,” Trosvig said. “UW-IT staff routinely need to look into cases of compromised UW NetIDs, and as a result they may ‘monitor user activity.’ During the investigation of a compromised NetID [for example], UW-IT staff may ‘monitor user activity’ by analyzing login patterns to see which IP address the intruder logs in from and which resources the intruder is attempting to access. This is done to protect both the legitimate NetID owner and the university from further unauthorized activity.”

  UW employees are prohibited from sharing their UW NetIDs, as well as other “inappropriate use” of technology, which can include using university resources to run a political campaign or running a personal website. Students, on the other hand, are not subject to the same restrictions.

  “We don’t adapt for university students because … they can do that,” Trosvig said. “But faculty and staff should not be using university resources for their political activities. So all of those things are inappropriate use of state resources.”

  Students who are UW employees are primarily considered students, and are therefore generally not restricted under UW-IT law in the same way other university employees are. For other UW employees, UW-IT states that “all email and other electronic information pertaining to UW business is ‘owned’ by the university, regardless of where it is kept, and is subject to disclosure.”

  Other monitoring of an employee’s technology use may occur, but it does not directly involve UW-IT staff. Trosvig said that the UW Human Resources Staff or the Attorney General’s Office may ask that an image of a user’s UW email be created, or that a user’s university-owned computer be reviewed for inappropriate use as defined by state law.

  “This is really being driven by the state public records laws,” Trosvig said. “So this isn’t really a university-driven mandate. … Everything that we do in email related to state business, state grants, contracts and information is a state record. We don’t have a Big Brother predilection by any means.”

  Reach reporter Lauren Kronebusch at lifestyles@dailyuw.com.

  
  

• Movie review: 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' - Wed, 29 Jun 2011
  

  The logic of Michael Bay’s twisted universe gets even weirder in “Transformers: Dark of the Moon.” The characters become loonier, the motivations of the heroes and villains are nonsensical, the destruction is purposeless, and come on: Shia LaBeouf’s girlfriend is way too hot for him.

  Bay’s universe mirrors our own in every possible way, except for one major detail: Although humans share Earth with giant autobots, this reality doesn’t seem to faze anyone. The autobots sound like humans, they act like humans, and they care about humans, possibly more than their own kind.

  Initially, Bay’s attempt at rewriting history by insinuating that the 1969 moon landing was really an attempt to investigate a Cybertron spaceship crash-landing on the dark side of the moon is kind of cute, but then you realize that a majority of the details have been mystically arranged to serve the function of making a stupid Pink Floyd joke. Jerry Wang (get it?), played creepily by The Hangover’s Ken Jeong, makes this clear when he says, “We’re code pink. As in Floyd. As in dark side.”

  The wacky ensemble is completed with John Malkovich as a corporate goon, a sinister John Turturro, and Frances McDormand as the Secretary of Defense, who insists she’s not a “ma’am” — whatever that means.

  Bay’s attempts to make up for “Revenge of the Fallen” pay off in the 3D department, because the visual effects are pretty stunning, and the added depth of field is appropriate for this kind of live action. But the randomness and purposelessness of the film’s characters and events are overwhelming, and even a little depressing at times. If superhero LaBeouf can’t get a job after college, there really isn’t much hope for the rest of us.

  This movie is really, really bad. But there are some seriously awesome, slow-motion action sequences, and enough robot face-offs to entertain even the most skeptical young adult. Ultimately, though Bay has a few moments of inspiration, he seems to be channeling Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” — lots of flying paper, crashes out of windows and falls across long distances — or maybe it was just the music playing tricks on me.

  My favorite part of the movie, though, was Megan Fox’s replacement, zombie-runway model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (don’t judge). Her acting is nonexistent, and she looks like she’s posing for a photo shoot the entire time.

  Coincidentally, this makes her perfect for a Michael Bay film.

  If you’re going to see “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” I trust you know what you’re getting yourself into. Either you’ve seen the first two, or you’ve heard of the infamous director’s shenanigans. Brace yourself. If you like an exhaustive amount of explosions and gigantic, awesome robots, this movie is for you.

  The verdict: A really, really bad — but visually resplendent ­— migraine of

  a movie.

  Reach reporter Amy Scott at arts@dailyuw.com.

  
  

• Moving history - Wed, 29 Jun 2011
  

  For the past 10 years, Kim England has sent her “Geography of Cities” class of 150 students to the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI), located right past Husky Stadium and across the Montlake Bridge — just blocks away from campus.

  The museum, England said, tells a “people’s history,” combining art, technology, industry and commerce with the personal narratives of those in Seattle’s past.

  In the class, which studies the historical development of cities, MOHAI has provided an ideal visual history to accompany the concepts she teaches.

  But beginning next year, England’s students will have to travel just a bit farther to make the visit: In November 2012, MOHAI will relocate to a new location in South Lake Union. The move is the first ever for the museum in its 59-year history; its current building in Montlake is being demolished for SR520 road expansion.

  “It’s a bit of a bummer from the perspective of sending the students across the bridge [to visit], but it’s not like it’s moving to Canada,” England said.

  In the spirit of the move, an exhibit titled “MOHAI Moves History” is currently featured at the museum, which tells the six-decade story of the museum’s past and includes information about the new location.

  “It recounts the history of the building and the institutions that use it — like the King County Historical Society and Seattle Historical Society — as they move out of that building,” MOHAI art historian Paul Dorpat said.

  Dorpat is one of the art historians of another currently featured exhibit titled “Now & Then,” which is one of the last exhibits in the Montlake building.

  This exhibit uses “repeat photography” to compare the same point of view of historical images with contemporary photos and visually illustrates changes in Seattle’s past.

  Despite the inevitable move, Dorpat said those at MOHAI are optimistic about the potential for more foot traffic at its new location.

  “I think [those at the museum] are happy about moving to a new location which is more centrally located,” he said. “I think maybe they think they’ll get more people coming to the museum at the south end of the lake.”

  Some popular attractions of the museum include the pink “Toe Truck,” a Rainier Brewery commercial beer-man suit, and the Alki Landing Diorama, depicting settlers from 1851 first arriving at Alki.

  But its resources extend well beyond the typical collections of photographs and historical artifacts — MOHAI also features off-site summer walking tours and short video segments called “MOHAI Minutes” that cover local spots like the Admiral Theatre in West Seattle and Schmitz Park near Alki. “MOHAI Minutes” even has its own YouTube channel.

  The museum also shows movies in the basement and has regular speakers, like bestselling author Steve Berry, who is scheduled to lead a writer’s workshop August 6.

  “Those are things that will sustain them,” England said.

  As a student in England’s class last year, Junior Tiffany Oh visited MOHAI for the very first time. Before her visit, Oh said that she was somewhat unfamiliar with the museum.

  Yet on that visit she particularly remembers being wowed by the “Boomtown” exhibit, a town of buildings displaying facets of Seattle’s history beginning from the end of the 19th century. She also retained some interesting tidbits about Seattle’s history, like learning the names of the first African American and Chinese American who lived in Seattle.

  “There are a lot of things in Seattle’s past that I didn’t know about before,” she said. “It’s an important history museum, stuff you don’t get to see at [places like] the Pacific Science Center and the EMP.”

  Experiences like Oh’s are what England hopes for when she assigns her students field assignments for the course, like visiting MOHAI.

  “I want them to come away thinking that the city is not something in terms of a built environment, … the city is not something that is neutral,” England said. “Most of the time, there are reasons why some things in the city look the way they do, why some buildings look the way they do. By having them go do this they get a sense of how it looked previously. I’m trying to give them different ways of thinking about a city.”

  Senior Taylor Youtsler also visited MOHAI as a part of England’s class and, to his surprise, found the museum enlightening.

  “I thought I knew most of the history of Washington and Seattle, but when I went in there it was kind of amazing the fact that I didn’t even know half of what I should have and I was living here the whole time,” he said. “Everyone [who visits] is going to learn a whole lot, that’s a given. Just by going in there, it’s a good experience.”

  Reach reporters Kirsten Johnson and Amy Scott at arts@dailyuw.com.

  
  

• Out and about - Wed, 29 Jun 2011
  

  Deborah Schwartzkopf

  As an end to her residency at Pottery Northwest, Schwartzkopf will be displaying an array of dessert dishes at the ceramics studio (with dessert inside). If you want to make your mouth water, check out the last two days of the showing.

  Wednesday, June 29, and Thursday, June 30

  10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

  Free

  Pottery Northwest

  226 First Ave. N.

  Queen Anne

  “Picnic”

  Adapted from a Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “Picnic” follows the story of a drifter named Hal Carter who steals an old friend’s fiancée.

  Friday, July 1, through Thursday, July 7

  6:30 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. daily

  $6 with student ID

  Grand Illusion Cinema

  1403 NE 50th St.

  University District

  Daniel Wilson

  If anyone could write a great book about robots, it’s Daniel Wilson, who earned a Ph.D. from the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. He’ll be reading and signing his new book “Robopocalypse,” which is about robot murderers.

  Wednesday, June 29

  7 p.m.

  Free

  University Book Store

  4326 University Way NE

  University District

  Seattle International Beerfest

  Try out beers from all around the world (that is, if “international” means beer primarily from the United States and various European countries).

  Friday, July 1 – Sunday, July 3

  12 p.m. – 10 p.m. daily

  $20-$35

  Mural Amphitheater

  305 Harrison St.

  Queen Anne

  Reach Copy Chief Kristen Steenbeeke at arts@dailyuw.com.

  
  

• Overton is not a pimp - Wed, 29 Jun 2011
  

  Venoy Overton might be a lot of things: a once-great college athlete, a disgraced alumnus, and, now, in danger of violating the plea agreement he made earlier this year in regards to the misdemeanor charges of furnishing alcohol to a minor.

  But Overton is not — at this writing — a convicted pimp, and that’s something at least a few Huskies need to remember.

  The breadth of the English language gives its users the opportunity and the pleasure to say the same thing in so many different ways. Usually, this lets us say exactly what we mean (which of us could have gotten through our composition credits without Synonym.com?).

  But in some contexts, such as the law, it’s important that very specific words be used and that their very specific definitions be understood.

  One Dailyuw.com reader (“Keep him in jail”) commented on The Daily’s June 3 news story about the most recent charges against Overton, “Seriously, does this idiot not take a hint? First he rapes a minor, and now he’s playing at being a pimp.”

  I appreciate the willingness to comment on the issue, because it’s an active readership that keeps a news source relevant. However, “Keep him in jail,” Overton has only allegedly acted as a pimp — or, to be more specific, he’s allegedly guilty of promoting prostitution in the second degree, which is a Class C felony.

  Thankfully, erroneous claims within comments are usually self-correcting: Another reader (“Reader”) replied, “Venoy is guilty of many things but rape of a minor isn’t among them (at least that we know of).” “Reader,” that’s exactly how I would have phrased it — and similar to the way I have.

  It was in another arena that I first heard statements that troubled me in the same way “Keep him in jail”’s words did. Before Overton’s name was even associated with the then-redacted police report in which a 16-year-old girl accused him of sexual assault, my women studies class was deep into a conversation that included phrases like “the basketball player who raped that girl” and “that athlete-rapist,” shouted across dozens of rows of the lecture room. The accusations outlined in that police report never even amounted to sexual-assault charges, much less a conviction; the phrasing used during that in-class conversation, then, was especially distasteful in hindsight.

  When a person is in a prominent leadership position, as UW student-athletes often are, it shows exceedingly poor judgment for that person to provide alcohol to teenagers. Knowing that he would be held in the public’s view to a higher standard of behavior should have caused Overton to avoid such incriminating situations. The poor choices we know he has made can influence the way we talk about him. It is very difficult for someone to rid his or her name of a sex scandal, even if it turns out to be a rumor. Indeed, once a prominent individual is brought to trial, the elevated publicity of such charges can mean a guilty verdict rendered by the public before the legal proceedings are over, and a bad name long after. Although the alleged rape charges against Kobe Bryant several years ago were later dropped, people still refer to “The Kobe Bryant rape case” as if the rape had legally existed.

  Promoting prostitution is a serious crime, and one for which its commissioners have to be held responsible. If Overton is guilty of the accusations laid out in the charging documents, that puts him among the lowest of the low and confirms behavior involving dangerous, sex-related offenses. That’s exactly why it’s so dangerous and discourteous to suggest he is already. Until and unless Overton is found guilty of the most recent charges against him, let’s refrain from calling him a pimp; the law rightfully allows him the benefit of the doubt, and the language surrounding his name should too.

  Reach opinion writer Maddie Hall at opinion@dailyuw.com.

  
  

• Pub review: Die Bierstube - Wed, 29 Jun 2011
  

  It is immediately apparent upon entering Die Bierstube that Shultzy’s does not possess a monopoly on the U-District’s supply of German beer and food. This bar, located in the far-northwestern reaches of the U-District at 6106 Roosevelt Way NE, possesses something approaching Old World charm — in addition to its fine Bavarian fare — that is disappointingly absent from the other “pubs” in its neighborhood. The pub ambience manifests itself in Die Bierstube’s dark, wood-paneled walls, worn, wooden tables, German-style tap fonts, and a clientele with an average age well above their mid-twenties. This bar, in short, begs you to pull up a chair and order a beer.

  Die Bierstube’s strong suit is, unsurprisingly, its beer. Like Shultzy’s, Die Bierstube features a lengthy selection of imported German draught beers from centuries-old breweries like Spaten, Maisel, Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr. The dozen-odd beers are each sold in volumes of .3, .5 and one liter, and cost around $4.25, $5.25 and $9.75, respectively. Each beer is also served in a glass made by its respective brewery, which serves to greatly enhance the authentic German feel of the establishment.

  For beer-lovers brave or foolish enough to give it a go, Die Bierstube proudly offers a two-liter chugging challenge featuring a giant drinking glass called “The Boot.” For around $20, a minimum of three people can fill up “The Boot” with beer and, once it is picked up, must drain the massive vessel before it is placed back down. German tradition states that the second-to-last person to drink from “The Boot” must pay for the next round, so challengers are given the incentive to drink as much as possible as the volume of beer in “The Boot” gets low.

  The beer menu has a brew for everyone. The light Hacker-Pschorr Weisse is a good beginner’s beer with a light, though not anemic, body and a spiced aftertaste reminiscent of Hoegaarden. The Spaten Oktoberfest is perfect for a light-beer drinker who wants to try a darker variety that won’t offend his or her inexperienced palate. Hacker-Pschorr’s Dunkel Alt, an appetizing dark lager, tastes vaguely like a mocha porter without bitter coffee flavors. The mighty Paulaner Salvator was originally brewed by German monks as a replacement for bread during Lent and weighs in at 7.5-percent alcohol by volume. The Salvator, or “Savior,” has a thick, malty taste comparable to liquid bread, yet features a swirl of other flavors that even moderate-beer drinkers may appreciate.

  Those who would rather sip a mixed drink than quaff an ale are able to do so: Die Bierstube features an abbreviated list of German interpretations of popular American mixed drinks, such as the Honig Dropf (Honey Drop). Mixed drinks cost between $6.50 and $7.50, a range that sharply contrasts those offered by lower-priced bars on the Ave.

  Die Bierstube’s food menu is surprisingly authentic. Even simple and inexpensive menu items like the landjaeger, a thick, traditional German beef-and-pork jerky served with marbled rye bread, impress with their German taste. Perhaps the best part about Die Bierstube’s German fare is the prices. A light meal of currywurst or a bratwurst sandwich cost patrons around $7.

  Die Bierstube’s inviting Old World-pub interior is complemented by one of the U-District’s strongest selections of beers and a solid menu of fairly-priced German grub, strengths that more than negate the distant location.

  The verdict: Die Bierstube is a bar for beer lovers, plain and simple, and certainly one that every UW student should visit at least once.

  Reach reporter Andy Fulton at arts@dailyuw.com.

  
  

• Talking heads: How would a 20-percent increase in tuition affect you? - Wed, 29 Jun 2011
  

  “A 20-percent increase in tuition would make higher education for a student like me nearly impossible. If financial aid was to be opened up to middle-class white students, it would make education for me a lot easier than packing on the loans and having a second job. Right now I work as much as possible and I take out as much as I can in unsubsidized loans.”

  Justin Nygard

  Sophomore, undeclared

  “The hope is that I’ll gain a scholarship. My plan used to be to do a ROTC scholarship, but now ROTC has stopped doing all of their scholarships. They won’t do that until next year, and by next year, we won’t have the money to put me through school. As it is, I’ve got a transfer degree, but if tuition increases I won’t be able to finish up my education.”

  Timothy Vo

  Sophomore, Chinese

  “It just means a lot more student loans. I’m already going to try to graduate as fast as humanly possible, so I’m probably going to be taking as many credits as I can without having to pay the extra tuition for credits. I’m going to try my hardest to get out by summer of next year instead of doing a senior year, because I cannot afford to keep going to this school.”

  Keena Bean

  Junior, undeclared

  “It would be a big impact. It’s disappointing that our state isn’t prioritizing education more, and that the school has to pass the burden of everything that they have to buy to the students because that’s the only way that they can pay for it.”

  Bradford Walzer

  Junior, political science