As the University community strives to rebuild the vibrancy that marked our pre-pandemic culture on campus, we ask the University’s leadership to restore one vital piece of that culture lost during the last two years: the UW Club.

We know that the University must balance the use of space and funds with other needs and future projects, but the UW Club is truly unique and what it provides to faculty and staff has no parallel on campus. The UW Club is where we brought our job candidates to impress them with views of Mt. Rainier (on a good day). It is where we could woo a potential donor or thank a recent one. It is where we went to congratulate our graduating students with a celebratory meal. The UW Club was a space where we held workshops, conferences, faculty retreats, promotions and retirement celebrations. The UW Club is where staff and faculty could gather for lunch, coffee or a drink and create the kind of collegial connection that brought many of us to the University and to a life of teaching, research, and learning together.

We know the loss of the UW Club is minor in comparison to the losses so many of us in our UW community have suffered. But it is one loss that the UW can address and rebuild.

Thank you for considering this petition.