BREAKING: Mayor-elect Wilson Selects Scandalous Former UW President Ana Mari Cauce to Transition Team.

"Shaban al-Dalou Building" Projected on a UW Building, Shaban al-Dalou, was a 19 year old Palestinian student who burned to death while donating blood at a Hospital in israeli bombings. Photo has been provided by SUPER UW.

Today, elected Seattle mayor-elect Katie Wilson announced her transition team on Wednesday afternoon over Instagram. While it is heartening to see the emphasis the mayor elect has put on progressive voices, even appointing a member of UW’s own YDSA to the position on the student advisor committee, members of the UW community, including The Nightly, were horrified to find the former UW president, Ana Mari Cauce, on the prospective list. 

The former president was tapped to be a part of the Civic Narrative & Major Initiative Committee. The purpose of this committee and the role president Cauce will play in a future Wilson administration is, as yet, unclear. Cauce, a controversial figure, stepped down from her position this summer. Outgoing Seattle mayor Bruce Harrell made the following statement about her stepping down:

“Ana Mari Cauce’s record at the University of Washington is that of a champion for the university, its students, and its home city, continuously growing as a leader from faculty to administrator to a nationally recognized and respected university president. For me, as mayor, and for my wife, as a former regent, it has been an honor to work with someone who is so passionate about the University of Washington, someone who is such an effective advocate for our cherished alma mater, and someone we are also lucky to call a friend.”

To us here at The Nightly, earning the praise of Bruce Harrell alone is the sign of a problem. 

She has previously been the target of community outrage surrounding her treatment, and suppression of pro-Palestine activism at UW. Specifically, during her tenure as university President, she oversaw the suspension of the student organization: “Students United for Palestinian Equality & Return” (SUPER). SUPER has been responsible for actions that garnered national attention including the 2024 blockade on I-5 to disrupt American complicity in genocide and the 2025 occupation of the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building (IEB), because of the University’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza. Specifically the universities long and intimate partnership with the war-profiteer Boeing which it bragged about in 2022. Boeing was the top U.S. manufacturer of missiles and ammunition delivered to Israel in 2021 to 2023.

During the occupation of the IEB on May 5th, 2025, 23 students and 10 community members were reportedly brutalized by officers of the Seattle Police Department, Washington State Patrol, and University of Washington Police according to organizers. On May 7th, The University of Washington, under former President Cauce, suspended 21 students under WAC 478–121–140, and have remained suspended without any formal ruling from UW or criminal charges since, even 6 months later. This has resulted in a student being evicted from campus housing, students being banned from their on campus jobs, financial harm to many students suspended and students being prevented from graduating according to SUPER, see testimony here. It is important to note that, according to sources in the student senate these actions have not been carried out with respect to UW’s own guidelines on disciplinary procedure. 

Despite the brutal actions by these cops, on May 6th Cauce said in a statement that she wants to “thank the members of UWPD and our law enforcement partners for their assistance in bringing this situation to a swift resolution”- which is to say that she wanted to thank the same officers who inflicted pain on community members who still suffer from their injuries today.

The group has been suspended as an RSO since December 13th 2024 after being charged with "vandalism,” “unauthorized keys, entry, or use,” “failure to comply,” and “disruption and obstruction,” by the Community Standards & Student Conduct Office under President Cauce, according to a post from SUPER, and that suspension been extended to be permanent according to a spokesperson from SUPER. Such a suspension, according to UW spokesperson Victor Balta who said to The Daily, is that an “RSO does not have access to support and resources that are available to [student] groups that are in good standing. It does not restrict a group from gathering or speaking in public spaces on campus.”

A spokesperson from SUPER UW released the following statement to The Nightly when we made a request for comment:

“Seattle mayor-elect Katie Wilson has just announced her transition team, including ex-University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce. Cauce ended her career at UW this past spring by overseeing the deployment of 60+ cops in riot gear to beat, arrest, and criminalize 33 students and community members while they protested the bloody relationship between Boeing and UW.

During the last two years, following the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7th, 2023, Cauce has chosen again and again to prioritize the university's profit-seeking over its people. She has overseen suspensions, firings, and violence against pro-Palestinian students, staff, and community members. And she has dug her heels in whenever members of the campus community call out UW's relationship with Boeing.

Boeing is one of UW's closest corporate partners. They are also one of the top companies profiting off of the genocide in Gaza, with Sludge reporting that Boeing sold up to $26.7 billion worth of weapons to the Zionist Entity since Al-Aqsa Flood. We must be clear: this is money made directly from the massacres of Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, and Iranian people. This money is then sent to back to UW. In exchange, UW funnels students into Boeing jobs, allows Boeing to sell out student labor and establish military production facilities on UW campus, and whitewashes Boeing's reputation. 

To see Katie Wilson choose Cauce as a member of her transition team reveals the shallowness of her so-called "socialist" politics. We need to remember that no one is forcing Wilson to make this decision. She is voluntarily choosing to include violent Zionists and genocide apologists on her team. Though this is disappointing, we should not be surprised. In her mayoral campaign, Wilson has happily and willingly taken part in the United States' two-party fascist system. Those who are truly in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle must work toward the total destruction of the American empire, because liberation cannot exist while settler colonies like the United States and Israel survive.

The compass of our political movement must always be the resistance forces in Palestine and the surrounding Axis of Resistance. These are true people's movements, grounded in the demands of the people, struggling for freedom and sovereignty, land and bread.” (Statement from SUPER)

The Nightly does not necessarily endorse any organizational statements we publish.

Even before the IEB occupation, Cauce has been widely considered obstructionist to Palestine action since the 2024 Palestine encampment or “Liberated Zone” (LZ) which was led by the United Front for Palestinian Liberation. Cause’s administration was responsible for the mishandling of the LZ in The Quad. According to an opinion in The Daily, text messages from officials within her administration sought to prevent using the word “genocide” in relation to war profiteer Boeing and sent messages that seem to weaponize the identities of student organizers. While some demands were met when the University made a final agreement with organizers, these promises have not been completely met. This agreement is considered by some to be indicative of Cauce’s attitude to campus protest, as the university has continued to fail to live up to its commitments to seriously consider complicity – as the the UW Board of Regents, which selected Cauce, voted to not convene a committee to examine severing University investents that enable the genocide in Palestine.

Beyond the scandals of her Presidency, and her administration's mishandling of pro-Palestine organizers on campus, The Nightly would like to point out that Ana Mari Cauce had a contract worth over $900,000 at times during her tenure as President of the University. We feel that mayor-elect Wilson, as a self described Socialist, would be completely betraying socialist values by selecting someone who has previously profited to capitalist levels as a public employee. In the Instagram post, Wilson described this team, which includes former President Cauce as “a team of stellar community leaders will identify and connect with dozens of additional community advisors to gather the broadest possible range of input, skills, and knowledge from across our city.” Someone this wealthy would have no way to be in touch with the needs of the mass majority of people in this city. We have no trust in someone so wealthy to responsibly assist in the mayor-elect’s transition, especially in terms of “Civic Narrative & Major Initiative.”

Wilson might be attempting to appeal to moderates with this move but if this is her intent it is deeply miscalculated. Associating her administration with Cauce does nothing but attach the stain of anti-Palestine action with her pending mayorate. Cauce’s legacy of consistently and actively working against activism on campus is entirely at odds with the fundamental values Wilson claims to espouse. We at The Nightly are deeply disappointed to see a professed socialist seemingly cozy up to someone with such a sordid record. Particularly after the emphasis that mayor-elect Wilson has put on community organizing. This is a developing story, and we at The Nightly are committed to following this story to the end.

We reached out to the Katie Wilson Team but they did not respond immediately. We will update this article as more information becomes available.