If your applying for colleges and you’re wondering is this college right for me? Would I like it here better than other schools, you’re probably doing a lot of research. You can look up facts, states, go on tours and ask all the questions you want. But you still don’t know which school is right for you. A lot of tours and websites don’t get down to it. I know this was something I struggled with a lot when I was applying for colleges. If you want insider information on Western Washington University this your place. Advice from a senior. Note: this is my perspective only. Other students may have varying or opposite opinions. Also, I don’t have the insider experience on other institutions. The links to official webpages of Western Washington University reflect the universities amenities, services, etc. The sections in this blog post are not created by the university or me in the role of an official representative of the university. All opinions expressed are my own. Click on a topic to learn more!
Bellingham
Bellingham is a small town. There are two sections, defined by history and geography. There is Fairhaven, the cute rich part of town. This part of town used to be its own city. It is west of Western. Every other side of Western is the normal part of Bellingham. The downtown is small, and the city is walkable, for the most part. There are shopping mallets, mostly to the north. Bellingham is large enough to sustain several elementary, middle and high schools, and four collages. Several bike trails run through the city and several parks, including the famous Boulevard park, which extends into the bay, are sprinkled around the city.
Bellingham, like any city in the US has a violet racist history, which it tries to cover up by adopting a white polite, but still discriminatory attitude, and renaming Indian street to Billy Frank Jr. street. Hey, there’s even a food desert in the Birchwood neighborhood, which shows a racial disparity in town.
Disability
Western has the Disability Access Center for students. Some accommodations for students with disabilities, depending on the disability, are as follows: access to a quiet testing center, extra time on tests, the ability to record lectures. WWU does not have an autism specialist. As far as physical access, many pathways and buildings are not very accessible. There are lots of older buildings that have added elevators and ramps but are still hard to enter. To make things more fun for people with physical disabilities or who can’t walk so easily, campus is built on a hill, leading to steep paths surrounding campus and throughout campus, in addition, large sections of campus walkways are uneven bricks, dew to patches of sandstone. Bricked pathways, especially red square, often have lose or missing bricks. Red square is full of dents, when it rains there are large puddles, everywhere to the extent that it is impossible to avoid. Fun science fact: underneath campus is a mix of harder and softer rocks, coal and sandstone. When a lot of weight and pressure is put on the ground, it morphs…unevenly, causing all the problems with Red Square.
Drugs and Alcohol
Western is not known as a party school. Western expects students to follow and enforces federal laws in relation to drugs, alcohol and paraphernalia, as it is a public institution. However, different dorms have cultures. Students are not perfect followers of the law. Fairhaven dorms are known for pot use. And to some extent so it the arb. The Ridge is known for drinking and partying more so than the other dorms. Though I mostly I think students prefer to go to a party and drink off campus.
Smoking tobacco and vaping is allowed and done on campus. The red square side of the library is particularly a smoky spot, people vape while walking on the pathways. This is not an endorsement for drug or alcohol use, I find this rather obnoxious. I’m telling you what drug and alcohol culture is like on campus. Please be responsible and follow the laws and Western’s policies.
Food
There are three dining halls. I wrote about them here. There are some differences, but they are 99% the same. Many students complain about the food, saying “it does not taste good” “it has no flavor” “over salted”. Another common complaint is that the food on campus comes from Aromark, and we don’t like Aromark, for several reasons, including the fact that they use prison labor, and a kick back system that lets large food providers to monopolize on what food we eat. For more information find the club Shred the Contract. However, students who make their own food have other problems such as obtaining food and finding time to make food. Birnam Wood and a few other locations have food panties.
Campus also has little restaurants and convince stores where students can buy different options at different locations. Coffee, tea—literally everywhere. Bagels—Zoe’s is the most popular on campus, BT station also has bagels. Way overpriced fruit, vegetables, pasta salad, sandwiches—Underground, Miller Market, Atrium. Worst crapes you’ve ever had, frozen and reheated mac and cheese, and such—Freshens. Italian soda, unusual coffee drinks, vanilla lavender London fogs—Underground. The Underground tries to be a neighborhood coffee joint. Pastries, cookies, my favorite cinnamon rolls—Miller Market, Zoe’s, Atrium Starbucks. Smoothies, paninis—Rocks Edge. Restaurant chains: Starbucks, Subway, Oath Pizza, Panda Express
Housing
on campus housing: on campus housing is divided in to three parts, north, ridge, and south.
North campus consists of Nash and Mathes halls, which are known as the bible belt and for drinking. Edens hall and Edens north and Higginson hall are also there. Edens Hall is the honors dorm, it is supposed to be spookily quiet, students prefer quiet to study and sleep.
The ridge, named after the geographic feature it’s on, is known for parting. There is Ridgeway Gamma, Beta, Alfa, Delta, Kappa, Sigma, Omega, and a still unbuilt dorm. Despite the Greek names, these are normal dorms.
In the south, there’s Fairhaven, the only buildings close to Fairhaven collage. Don’t have to be part of the collage to live in the dorm. Also has another Commons and convince store. Known for pot and the preschool that is primarily for the kids of WWU staff, is in one of the stacks. Also, on South Campus is Buchanan Towers aka BT, Buchanan Towers East, Birnam Wood and New York Apartments. Birnam Wood and the New York Apartments are not for first year students and are apts. BT has the gender inclusive housing. For more details I suggest you check out https://housing.wwu.edu/apply/residential-options/explore-buildings
Frats and sorites: we don’t have those, though where that used to be is still evident. I’m not saying we don’t have any of the problems associated with such originations, but I’m glad we don’t have them anyway.
Off campus housing: very hard to find. The vacancy rate is currently 1% best of luck to find that! Also, most of the landlords are sketchy as can be. Before going into the market, know your rights! Also, check out a place before hand for things that are broken as well as black mold. Make sure you can’t be blamed for those.
LGBTQ+
Western is very LGBTQ+ friendly. The queer population is fairly large. As an institution the university makes available gender inclusive housing as well as gender-neutral bathrooms throughout campus. We have a LGBTQ+ Western that is available to for students and staff to use and learn from. The director is responsible for putting on events, such as an ice cream social at the start of the year, workshops that are designed to teach queer students’ useful skills. For example, one this year (2020) was “Advocating for Yourself”. There is also the Queer Research series, during which a person who does research on a wide variety of topics that are somehow related to queerness will present on their research. The series is also interested queering the way research is talked about and disseminated.
Western’s website is notoriously confusing and has three links to different resources related to queer students. There is the link to LGBTQ+ Western, which is connected to the Multicultural center and is the most visible resource for students. There is also Queer Resource Center, and Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Advocacy Council. Both LGBTQ+ Western and QRC are located in the Multicultural Center. The QRC is a function of the AS; it is run for and by students. The council is a council and it looks into specific issues at Western. Honestly, I’ve never heard of it, but I’m sure it doses good work.
Politics
Most of the student body is liberal. While many students are Democrats, this is the kind of place that would attract people who are more liberal or radical than the Democratic party. The Socialist Alternative has a strong presence on campus. To be sure there are normal conservatives as well as far right-wing groups.
Race
Most of campus is white. Most of Bellingham is white. This makes it harder to be a POC at Western, and certainly makes recruitment of professors and counselors who aren’t white a challenge. The issue around counselors being unable to adequately serve POC students’ needs has certainly been a hot topic in my four years. We have an Ethnic Student Center to support students of color, which is located in the shiny, new Multicultural Center in the Viking Union. The ESC hosts space for clubs, a yearly conference, and a few other events and services. There is a push by students to bring back the collage of Ethnic Studies program, which was a thing, but was dismantled. Currently there is a push by students, in Olympia to lobby for funding. I’d guess that most white students would consider themselves anti-racist, in a very polite, liberal, and white way, meaning we don’t do much, if any anti-racist work.
Religion
Even though Bellingham has a high number of atheists than almost anywhere else in the country, there is quite a strong presence of religion at Western, or perhaps that is just me, as a religious person. As compared to my high school in NE Seattle, there are more religious people and more religious tolerance. There are several religious clubs on campus. At this point in time, there are around twenty religious clubs, fifteen of which are Christian specifically. Even given the high number of clubs at Western, that is a lot of clubs!
Safety
Western is not the best when it comes to sexual assault and rape, and is known for sweeping cases under the rug, though the university recently has put in some structural changes which will hopefully make Western a more responsive intuition. CAVAS is WWU’s official support service. Other originations such as Rain or DIVISAS, are also available. Blue call boxes to use in an emergency are present and most walkways on campus are well lit. Green coats, the campus police can escort students upon request. I understand these to be common types of services at college campuses. There is a light night shuttle which students can ride. It can be tracked in real time.
Sculpture
Western has a top-rated sculpture collection. For each building there is a sculpture. I for more information, I suggest this blog, which is maintained and updated by students taking Art 109. Students are required to do quality research on the sculptures and give their reactions to them, which makes for a much more lively and informative information than the informational, and still good, site run by Western Gallery.
Sports
We have several sports teams at three different levels. The most distinguished prestigious sports are part of the GNAC conference. Then there are sports clubs and Intermural. We don’t have football, which personally I like because that means we don’t have all the hype and craziness of football. It also means that our school gives time and energy for a multitude of our sports teams. We love our woman’s soccer team! Our GNAC teams are our best teams and defiantly need a try out to get in. There are several clubs that are sports clubs, and though can have a membership fee and can have requirements for practice, they are more chill. Intermurals are lots of fun. A dorm might get together to make a team and play against other teams from Western. This includes more unusual sports such as bubble soccer. If you would like information on a specific sport, a list of sports (minus club sports) , information in sports and disability accommodations, sports history, or anything like that I suggest checking out https://wwuvikings.com/.
Student Clubs and Networking
Student Clubs are important at Western. Western has a high percentage of clubs, considering the size of its student body. Clubs and involvement in the Associated Students are great ways to social network and meet people you’d never other wise meet. The AS employs many students working a wide variety of jobs across campus. Just something to consider. Other networking opportunities that Western offers include opportunities that come from a students’ major, service learning, or services such as We Connect, where students can connect to alumni.
Sustainability
Sustainability is something that Western students. To this end in the AS, there is a vp of sustainability, water bottle fill stations though out campus. There is a well renowned collage focused on the environment. However, the university is invested in fossil fuels.
Weather
All year long it is windy here, but nowhere near as windy as central Washington. This school is located in a temperate, northern part of the United States. This means that there are 4 seasons, but not so dramatically as some places. In the fall it is rainy, cloudy and chilly. Temperatures are not cold enough for snow, though winds and rain make wearing a windbreaker or light winter coat suggestable especially in November. Winter is cold, windy and rainy. It is likely to snow a few inches, once in a winter. The snow is likely to not cancel many classes, and completely melt in a week. There will be a cold snap where the temperature will drop below 32̊ F, a winter coat is necessary. But the trees are green. Spring is windy and rainy, at first. There will be big, unavoidable puddles in red square. Where waterproof boots that can keep you dry even if you have to steep in an inch of water. Later in the spring it gets warm and everyone pulls out shorts, skirts, summer dresses, tee-shirts, to their fancy. It becomes sunny and people with seasonal depression, a major problem during the winter, start to get better. The flowers bloom.
Through out each of the sections I made references to resources where further research might be done. Since the format I put it in disallows links I’ve included many helpful links here. I have it in the same order as above.
My previus blog post about the Commons is here.
Housing– https://housing.wwu.edu/apply/residential-options/explore-buildings
LGBTQ+ Western, Queer Resource Center, Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Advocacy Council
Art 109 blog for sculpture here.
Sports: https://wwuvikings.com/
Networking: Clubs, Associated Students, We Connect
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