A Busy Start to the New Year

The start of 2026 has brought plenty of opportunities for Seattle University to appear in the news. From faculty leaders providing expert commentary to features on alumni to coverage of our first basketball season in the West Coast Conference, it has been a busy first few weeks for SU in the news.

Seattle University faculty are go-to sources for analyzing issues both locally, nationally and internationally. Law School Assistant Professor Erin Carr is a regular on KING 5 news, where she spoke on transgender athletes in sports, the Insurrection Act and the legality of arresting journalists for doing their jobs. Additionally, Carr wrote a piece for The New Republic about the U.S. Supreme Court “Sanewashing”—distorting reality—and its serious impact on the legal system.

SU Law Assistant Professor Erin Carr spoke to KING-5 on a number of issues, including transgender athletes in sports.

The Seahawks reaching the Super Bowl put Natalie Welch, director of SU’s Sport and Entertainment Management program, in front of the cameras, where she talked about how a team’s appearance in a big game can energize a city and also analyzed a potential sale of the Seahawks. Another Seahawks/SU-related story ran in People magazine about Nijeria McClain, longtime girlfriend of Seahawk star Devon Witherspoon and a recent Seattle University graduate.

Political Science Associate Teaching Professor Patrick Schoettmer regularly appears on TV to discuss local and national politics, including U.S. military action in Venezuela. Communication and Media Professor Chris Paul talked to Newsweek about the affects tariffs have on the video game industry while SU Law’s Steve Tapia analyzed a case against popular video game Roblox and Whatcom County’s new AI policy.

Speaking of AI, Political Science Professor Onur Bakiner wrote an op-ed for the Seattle Times about the limitations of artificial intelligence. The Seattle Times also ran an op-ed by Communication and Media student Hadia Noor Ahmed about the impact of attending the swearing in of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Political Science Professor Angelique Davis spoke to the Seattle Times about shootings by federal agents in Minneapolis. SU Law’s Andrew Siegel was on KING-5 to discuss a state’s ability to challenge the authority of ICE and KCPQ about rights related to protesting. Economics Associate Professor Nick Huntington-Klein spoke to KING-5 about the effects of tariffs on the world economy and Marketing Professor Joe Barnes was interviewed about youth mental health impacts of social media.

Associate Clinical Professor of Marketing Joe Barnes was interviewed by KING-5 about social media impacts on youth mental health.

Seattle University School of Law Dean Anthony E. Varona was named by The National Jurist as one of the 25 most influential people in legal education. An event co-hosted by Seattle University about the impact of AI received extensive coverage including by the South Asian Herald. Seattle Refined featured alumnus Audra Lawlor, owner of wine brand Girl Meets Dirt, and the Seattle Times featured alum Nanta Jawpliphon, owner of several Seattle-area Thai restaurants.

There was extensive coverage of the men’s basketball team’s thrilling overtime loss to Gonzaga, including by KING-5 and the Spokane Spokesman Review. Finally, the passing of SU legend and former NBA player Jawann Oldham was covered widely including by the Seattle Times.