Fall 2023 sees UW Tacoma expanding to the Point Defiance Woods

Announced at a conference at the end of winter quarter, UW Tacoma is planning to expand from their urban jungle to a different jungle entirely.

By Pawl Lycanthrope

Fall of 2023 will see UW Tacoma going green by downsizing on campus and moving classes to the Point Defiance woods. 

Tentative plans announced this past quarter have been put in place to relocate a majority of students and professors into the woods, as well as introduce new majors such as Archery, Solar Studies and Basket Weaving. 

“Sustainability has long been something UWT has fought to address and strengthen. We hope that this latest change to UWT academics will allow students new opportunities of growth and advancement,” said Dr. Sheila Edwards Lange, Chancellor of UW Tacoma.

The decision was first proposed by the UW Tacoma Sustainability Committee. With increasing rent costs and a poor economic climate leading to the closing of several businesses on Pacific Avenue, UW Tacoma has been hard at work to avoid the same. 

“We’ve always been worried about costs when it comes to maintaining the campus, but the last few years especially have been difficult. With input from students and professors alike, we finally came to a solution that will solve the problem,” said Jim Gawel, the Committee Chair of the Sustainability Committee.

With building and maintenance fees being cut, the budget has increased to aid in hiring new professors, who have been brought on to help with the new majors and classes that will be introduced.

Among the new professors is Dr. Ray Bigfoot, a well-known professor in the field of Cryptozoology and Botany who has worked with Oregon universities going green in the same way UW Tacoma is now.

“This is a really exciting time,” Bigfoot said, inspecting abandoned bear caves for future class sites. 

He continued, “UW Tacoma, even as an urban school, has always worked really hard to be green and sustainable. I’m proud to help them take that next step further and show just how much change there’s still left to make. Students are going to learn things they’ve never learned before.”

Some established professors who teach technical communication or technology-required classes will host new introduction classes on how to build computers and solar panels out of tree sap, mushrooms and sea glass. 

UW Tacoma has always focused on the sustainability of social progress, environmental stewardship and economic stability. With promises of expanding to animal enclosures in the Point Defiance Zoo and underwater zones of the Puget Sound, UW Tacoma is looking towards a brighter, greener future.

“UW Tacoma has always sought to be the best in order to teach the exceptional students we have,” Lange said at the end of the conference held to introduce these new changes. 

She continued, “We hope that with this new direction, those exceptional students will enter the world to make exceptional changes. As well, happy April Fool’s.”