WSU president hands out ice cream sandwiches on annual ‘dairy day’ in Olympia

Lawmakers, staff and lobbyists got to chow down Wednesday on all things dairy as a part of the annual Dairy Day, which included Grabbers, the iconic Palouse born ice-cream treat.

Dishing out these frozen treats was Washington State University President Betsy Cantwell, who carved out time while lobbying on behalf of the school.

“You have to feel joy where you can, to balance all the other stuff,” she said. “Handing out Grabbers is super fun.”

Some 500 Grabbers were passed out, according to WSU spokesperson Pam Scott. Grabbers, for the uninitiated, are essentially sandwiches made with WSU’s famous Ferdinand’s ice-cream smashed between two soft cookies of a varying variety. They come in all kinds of flavors and are sold exclusively at the WSU Pullman campus in Ferdinand’s Ice Cream Shoppe and other student markets for nearly $5 each.

Grabbers are usually served out during Dairy Day every year.

Cantwell, unintentionally dressed up in a black and white outfit, handed out the sandwiches to a long line that snaked around the rotunda of the legislative building, with some people coming up to her and saying “Go Cougs!”

“I’d say about a third of people who came by identified themselves as a Coug,” she said.

Cantwell had long been a fan of the ice cream maker, visiting before becoming president with her daughter who went to school at WSU.

Cheese was passed out as well as the ice cream, but absent was Cougar Gold, which is, as the name suggests, cheese made by WSU.

“If I were handing out cheese, it would be Cougar Gold, and I’d make sure that nothing else was being handed out, because it’s so great,” she said.

During the time Cantwell has spent in Olympia this session, she has been lobbying for the university, letting legislators know what the impact of the proposed budget cuts will have on WSU and the state as a whole.

“It’s a hard year, right? So, they’re thinking about a lot of things. I want them to just understand how much we do for the entire economy in the state, what budget cuts will do for us,” she said. “We’ve taken a lot of budget cuts over the last four years. We just keep making cuts.”

In order to combat the state’s budget deficit, Gov. Bob Ferguson proposed cutting $11.6 million from WSU’s budget, following $9.9 million in cuts last year.

Coupled with a steadily declining enrollment, WSU’s board of regents approved a 3.3% tuition increase for the 2026-27 school year. It was the university’s 10th consecutive tuition hike.