just for future reference, it's pronounced "You-Dub" here.
Given that the article is in a Seattle newspaper, I'm guessing a large portion of it's readers understood the abbreviation. But yes, in general abbreviations for colleges tend to overlap quite a bit due to common initials.
In 2018, given the world audience news sites have, there should be clear cut definitions of acronyms and abbreviations used in posts/articles.
Taking note of the context within which an acronym or abbreviation is used is part of being an informed reader. In this case, one does not even have to go to the link to get a clue as the URL is right here on HN.
In an article, I agree, but headlines are space-constrained, so I don't see it as an issue that they use a slightly ambiguous abbreviation
It gets even more confusing when there are two universities with the same name, like Victoria University in Wellington, and Victoria University in Melbourne.