Opinion and analysis

Recent opinion and analysis pieces written by UW-affiliated experts. See The Conversation for only the analysis pieces.

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• Opinion: How to narrow achievement gaps for underrepresented students | Scientific American15 hours ago
  "General chemistry has a terrible reputation on most college campuses. It’s seen as a killer—a place where dreams of careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) go to die. Now the data have spoken, and their message is clear: the bad rep is justified. And the numbers are especially bleak for students who are underrepresented in STEM," writes Scott Freeman, teaching professor emeritus in biology at the UW.
• Opinion: World Health Organization is wrong on dental care: Do not delay preventive exams | The Seattle Times5 days ago
  "The World Health Organization recently issued guidance on dental care during the pandemic that advised delaying routine preventive care. While WHO did provide some good information related to COVID-19 and transmission of the virus, its guidance unfortunately does not account for the high infection control standards in the United States and many other countries," writes Dr. Gary Chiodo, dean of the UW School of Dentistry.
• Opinion: Will the public trust a COVID-19 vaccine? | CNN5 days ago
  "What evidence of vaccine effectiveness — balanced by what assurance of safety — would prompt you to seek a dose of one of these novel vaccines to protect an elderly family member or for yourself?
  Optimal use of these COVID-19 vaccines will depend on the confidence of the American people in the processes leading up to the vaccines' release," writes Dr. Edgar Marcuse, professor emeritus of pediatrics at the UW School of Medicine.
• Analysis: Microaggressions aren't just innocent blunders – new research links them with racial bias | The Conversation6 days ago
  "We found direct support for what recipients of microaggressions have been saying all along: Students who are more likely to say they commit microaggressions are more likely to score higher on measures of racial bias," writes Jonathan Kanter, research associate professor of psychology at the UW.
• Opinion: Republicans embrace local environmental issues in competitive races | Forbes7 days ago
  "Competitive elections are forcing politicians to take pro-environment positions that conflict with their legislative records," write Nives Dolšak, professor of marine and environmental affairs at the UW, and Aseem Prakash, professor of political science at the UW.
• Opinion: Amid challenging circumstances, school districts find promising ways to reach students, families | Forbes1 week ago
  "Our country’s school systems have responded to the pandemic with new innovations that have the potential to reshape teaching and learning for the better," write Forbes contributor Jim Cowen and Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education at UW Bothell.
• Opinion: We need unity and a multifaceted approach to West’s wildfires | The Seattle Times1 week ago
  "As the wildfires burn up and down the West Coast and the thick smoke finally departs Seattle skies, I plea for unity in our discussion of the causes of these fires — unity as a way to move forward on solutions to the wildfire problem in the West," writes Crystal Raymond, a climate adaptation specialist with the UW Climate Impacts Group.
• Opinion: Ruth Bader Ginsburg taught me not to panic | Crosscut1 week ago
  "Justice Ginsburg’s death feels like more than we can stand in a year marked by hatred, death and loss. But I am having trouble breaking down. I can’t cry, or feel despair, or even take out my frustration on my teenage children. And I think the reason for that is that Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer, would not do any of those things," writes Elizabeth Porter, associate professor of law at the UW.
• Opinion: Seattle-area families of color are talking about improving remote education — here are some of their ideas | The Seattle Times1 week ago
  "In recent months, we’ve experienced the devastation of COVID-19 and a summer of reckoning with anti-Black racism sparked by the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and the shooting of Jacob Blake. We also see racial inequities deepening in our schools," write Regina Elmi, executive director of the Somali Parent Education Board, and Ann Ishimaru, associate professor of education at the UW.
• Analysis: Has the skin lightener industry learned from Black Lives Matter? | The Conversation1 week ago
  "In June, manufacturers of skin lighteners joined other corporations in voicing support for the racial justice movement. Critics quickly pointed out the hypocrisy of voicing such support in the U.S. while continuing to sell skin whitening products globally. Such products, they say, play off of and promote racism and colourism (which is prejudice based on preference for people with lighter skin tones) in Asia and Africa," writes Lynn Thomas, professor of history at the UW.
• Opinion: It’s time for Pac-12 to start playing football — those who are behind will catch up | The Seattle Times1 week ago
  "[Pac-12 leaders'] desire to keep a unified front may simply be holding them back. This is what San Jose Mercury News reporter Jon Wilner explained in a column Saturday morning. The Pac-12 presidents were expected to vote next week to start their season on Oct. 31, when suddenly there was pushback from schools who didn’t think they would be ready by then," writes columnist Matt Calkins. Dr. Kim Harmon, associate team physician for UW football and professor of family medicine and of orthopaedics and sports medicine in the UW School of Medicine, is quoted.
• Opinion: The year of fire and burning air | Global Policy Journal2 weeks ago
  "As I write, my city has been invaded. It is the month when Seattle weather normally gleams with clarity, yet my throat burns and the trees at the end of the block are being dissolved by a Martian haze. Across the street, my neighbor’s house appears as if in a grainy sepia photograph. I can only think that the atmosphere has materialized for us what an excess of carbon really feels like," writes Scott Montgomery, lecturer of international studies at the UW.
• Opinion: What the fall and winter of the pandemic will look like | The New York Times2 weeks ago
  "The deadliest month in American history was an October during a global pandemic. In 1918, after waning through the long summer, Spanish flu came roaring back to claim nearly 200,000 lives, just in that one month, just in the United States ... Coronaviruses have little in common with influenza viruses. (For one thing, coronaviruses mutate less frequently, and almost never in ways that make them deadlier). But we’re grasping for comparisons because we are living in a fog right now," writes Jeneen Interlandi, a New York Times Editorial Board member. Carl Bergstrom, professor of biology at the UW, is quoted.
• Analysis: From Washington to Trump, all presidents have told untruths (but only some have told them for the right reasons) | The Conversation2 weeks ago
  "A recent survey of presidential deception found that all American presidents – from Washington to Trump – have told lies, knowingly, in their public statements. As a political philosopher, with a focus on how people try to reason together through political disagreement, I argue that not all lies are the same," writes Michael Blake, professor of philosophy and of public policy and governance at the UW.
• Analysis: Six ways mail-in ballots are protected from fraud | The Conversation2 weeks ago
  "Voter fraud is very rare, whether people vote in person or by mail. That much is clear from a large body of research. One of us is a political scientist at the University of Washington, and the other is a former elections commissioner who now studies voting laws. We can explain why voter fraud is so rare – especially for mail-in ballots, which have drawn both the interest and concern of many people this year," write Jacob Grumbach, assistant professor of political science at the UW, and Charlotte Hill, of the University of California Berkeley.
• Opinion: A college football conference can choose players over profits for a change | The New York Times2 weeks ago
  “We are witnessing an egregious preference for profit over public health and a disregard for morality and common sense, not to mention the health of young athletes. Don’t fall into the trap, U.S.C., Oregon, Stanford, Washington State, Colorado, Utah. … Stand firm Pac-12,” writes columnist Kurt Streeter. Ali Mokdad, professor of health metrics sciences at the UW Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, is quoted.
• Opinion: Celebrate the phenomenal legacy of Bill Gates Sr. | The Seattle Times2 weeks ago
  "The legacy of Bill Gates Sr. was going to be tremendous, even if his son hadn’t been the world’s richest person. Gates, who died Monday at 94, was smart, generous and deeply committed to helping others and the community that gave his family so many opportunities," writes the Seattle Times Editorial Board. Ed Lazowska, professor of computer science and engineering at the UW, is quoted.
• Opinion: Shawn Vestal — Sturgis research called for greater skepticism | The Spokesman-Review2 weeks ago
  "It became clear that I had accepted and amplified the study too uncritically, and that the paper itself had arrived at estimates that other epidemiologists considered deeply flawed," writes columnist Shawn Vestal on his characterization of the Sturgis motorcycle rally as a COVID-19 superspreader event. Jevin West, associate professor in the UW Information School, and Carl Bergstrom, professor of biology at the UW, are quoted.
• Opinion: Pandemic shows telemedicine can work for patients and doctors | The Seattle Times2 weeks ago
  "Health systems’ imperative to focus on COVID-19 also forced them to make virtual care available to the rest of their patient populations. Hospitals and clinics everywhere scrambled to expand technologies and to train caregivers to conduct and document virtual visits. This immense effort created an opportunity that has met with massive public interest," writes Dr. John D. Scott, professor of medicine in the UW School of Medicine and medical director of Telehealth at UW Medicine.
• Opinion: COVID-19 and the California fires have a connection — here's how to fight both | NBC News2 weeks ago
  "As California continues to suffer from raging wildfires and, more broadly, as economies around the world reopen, exposure to higher levels of carbon emissions may be the unavoidable risk factor that increases vulnerability to the virus of already vulnerable demographics worldwide, particularly older people and people who are disenfranchised. We need to be taking urgent action to improve air quality and address the climate crisis along with our other efforts to contain and treat the coronavirus," writes Dr. Vin Gupta, affiliate assistant professor of health metrics sciences at the UW Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, and Mary Creasman, CEO of the California League of Conservation Voters.
• Opinion: West Coast wildfires reveal massive governance failures | Forbes2 weeks ago
  "How a society handles disasters says a lot about its resilience, character, and governance capacities. Disasters can foster paranoia or encourage solidarity. They can bring the country together or tear it apart," write Nives Dolšak, professor of marine and environmental affairs at the UW, and Aseem Prakash, professor of political science at the UW.
• Opinion: US school principals discriminate against Muslims and atheists, our study finds | The Washington Post3 weeks ago
  After 9/11, "Americans grew more suspicious of and outwardly hostile to Muslims. Research shows that these views increased in the years that followed. Our recently published paper in the Public Administration Review shows that — even 19 years later — public officials in the United States discriminate against Muslims," writes Steven Pfaff, professor of sociology at the UW; Charles Crabtree of Dartmoth College; Holger L. Kern of Florida State University; and John B. Holbein of the University of Virginia.
• Opinion: Black life disrupted | South Seattle Emerald3 weeks ago
  "Black people have created cultural practices to match the sweetness found in the ways we refer to each other, including our infamous greetings (daps, hugs), family reunions, cookouts and funeral practices. Unfortunately, much of what is at the heart of Black culture is dangerous to do during the coronavirus pandemic," write LaShawnDa Pittman, assistant professor of American ethnic studies; UW students Briannah Reed and Tiana Smith; and UW alumni Erin Lee and Gia Nguyen.
• Opinion: Can the American university be saved? | The Nation3 weeks ago
  "The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the glaring contradictions in American higher education. State research universities are preparing to decrease services in light of anticipated budget shortfalls as small liberal arts colleges teeter on the brink of financial ruin. Meanwhile, Ivy League and other rich universities have refused to dip into their massive endowments and have instead chosen to pursue austerity while increasing tuition — and increasing debt — for their students," writes Daniel Bessner, associate professor of international studies at the UW.
• Labor Day 2020 — a life-and-death fight for worker rights | The Seattle Times4 weeks ago
  "Some workers are working remotely. Those who can do their job from home, like me, are most often working in higher-paid jobs in engineering, management and technology. Not only do our jobs minimize our exposure to COVID-19, but we are also less likely to be laid off, furloughed or have our hours reduced. We are among the most privileged workers this Labor Day," writes Kim England, professor of geography and chair of the UW Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies. Marissa Baker, assistant professor of environmental and occupational health sciences, is referenced.
• Opinion: Fighting racial dialogue fatigue | South Seattle Emerald4 weeks ago
  "While I was facilitating a racial dialogue session today, a white woman expressed what so many of us are feeling around racial justice work right now: she said she was exhausted. In response, a BIPOC participant respectfully sighed, 'I’m tired too, but I don’t have the luxury to lie down.' How do we fight this fatigue together?" writes Ralina Joseph, associate professor of communication at the UW.
• Opinion: With school starting at home, parents will get new view on kids' educations | The Spokesman-Review4 weeks ago
  "Evaluating teacher quality has always been a subjective endeavor. Parents would share comments about this or that teacher’s reputation for invigorating academics or ability to handle disruption, but they didn’t really know. An observer in the room changes the dynamics, leaving a typical day a mystery. What happened in the classroom, stayed in the classroom. And now the classroom walls are transparent," writes Spokesman-Review columnist Sue Lani Madsen. Dan Goldhaber, director of the Center for Education Data & Research at the UW, is quoted.
• Opinion: Silver linings for non-carbon energy – if we want to see them | Global Policy Journal4 weeks ago
  "There are few silver linings to the COVID-19 storm, but one of them is a ray of insight about a better energy future. The pandemic has hit the energy sector harder than almost any other. Effects have been profound and disruptive, but they’ve also been revealing. Two energy sectors have stood out for these effects: power generation and transport," writes Scott Montgomery, lecturer of international studies at the UW.
• Opinion: Lecturing disadvantages underrepresented minority and low-income students | Inside Higher Ed4 weeks ago
  "On college campuses right now, the talk is all about antiracism, equity and inclusion. These are good conversations, and long overdue. But to actually achieve these goals, one of the most effective actions will be for professors to stop talking so much — at least in their classrooms," write Scott Freeman, principal lecturer emeritus of biology at the UW, and Elli Theobald, assistant teaching professor of biology at the UW.
• Opinion: To help fight workplace racial inequality workers should form a union | Business Insider4 weeks ago
  "Businesses have removed stereotypical product labels off of packaging, canceled or edited episodes of TV and movies, and introduced offices and positions explicitly for the purpose of diversity. These decisions have all been presented as steps towards equality. However, none of these relatively minor moves are truly effective at combating the culture of racism in corporate America. In order to truly achieve these aims in workplaces and businesses, workers need to unionize," writes opinion contributor Anthony DiMauro. A study by Paul Frymer of Princeton University and Jacob Grumbach, assistant professor of political science at the UW, is referenced.

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