(Following is a release from the Seattle Times.)
SEATTLE, Wash. -The Seattle Times and Town Hall Seattle will host an unprecedented conversation 7-9 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1, with all six of Washington state’s public university presidents on the risks of continued cuts to higher education.|
Watch forum broadcast
TVW will broadcast the forum live from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1. There will also be a link on seattletimes.com to the TVW webcast which can be accessed beginning Wednesday evening and anytime after that.
TVW also will rebroadcast the forum at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3, (assuming the Legislature isn’t meeting) and again noon Sunday, Feb. 5.
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The conversation, to be held at Town Hall Seattle, 1119 Eighth Ave., is open to the public and will also include key business leaders. The discussion will be moderated by Seattle Times Editorial Page Editor Kate Riley and Times business columnist Jon Talton.
The forum is an extension of The Greater good Campaign, a year-long public service campaign launched by The Seattle Times in September 2011. The campaign’s objective is to reinforce the broad positive contributions of Washington state’s higher-education system on Washington’s job creation and quality of life.
Panelists at next week’s forum include the following university presidents: Michael Young (UW), Elson S. Floyd (WSU), Bruce Shepard (WWU), Les Purce (The Evergreen State College), James Gaudino (Central Washington University), Rodolfo Arévalo (Eastern Washington University), and corporate leaders Sally Jewell (President and CEO, REI), Brad Smith (General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Microsoft), and Laura Peterson, (Vice President for NW State & Local Government Operations, The Boeing Company).
Tickets are $5 and are available through Brown Paper Tickets or 800/838-3006, and at the door beginning at 6 p.m. Full ticket proceeds will be donated to the College Success Foundation scholarship fund.
“High quality public education including at the university level is essential in a free and economically viable society. It is essential if Washington state is to come out of the great recession as one of the winners. Our hope, in building strong public awareness of the broader public good of our higher-ed system, is that citizens will actively engage in advocating for stable higher-education funding as among the highest state budget priorities,” said Frank Blethen, Publisher of The Seattle Times. “State disinvestment in our universities is eroding job creation and damaging our economy. At the University of Washington alone, every dollar invested creates $22 in economic activity and $1.48 in tax revenue.”
For more information and tickets, please visit http://townhallseattle.org/six-presidents.
For more information on The Seattle Times Greater good Campaign, please visit http://www.seattletimescompany.com/greatergood/.