ASUAF President Thom Walker partially vetoed Senate legislation that approved using $2,510 of student fees to travel to a leadership conference in Oregon after senators raised concerns that attendees might skip workshops and use the trip as a vacation.

Four senators were approved for the Northwest Student Leadership Conference last Sunday, but a partial veto later that week cut two senators and about $900 from the trip. Two to four members of the executive branch will likely also attend, Walker said, potentially raising costs.

At least $3,660 of student fee funds has been used this semester for projects benefiting only student government members, according to the legislative database and expenditure receipts, with about $2,890 yet to be voted on.

Only $1,450 of Senate funds have gone to projects directly benefiting students, though up to $5,000 could go to child care later this semester.

The student government had been sending students to conferences for several years, producing mixed results and hefty bills to pay. "Students have gone," said Sen. Veronica Young, but "not much has come back."

Telling said he went to the leadership conference his first year and attended several workshops on parliamentary procedure, later applying those lessons as Senate Chair last year. Walker said that last year's San Diego conference helped motivate several students to apply for jobs as program directors.

However, students returning from the Oregon conference two years ago claimed it was terrible, Telling said, when they actually had skipped the entire event. 

Other officers have been told to find alternative funding if they can, but may still have to use ASUAF funds. Walker said he's trying to go through the Coalition of Student Leaders, the statewide student government organization.

"I don't want to spend a lot of my money sending people down there," Walker said.

Following Sunday's meeting, Sens. Joe Blanchard and Pat Frymark complained to fellow senators that the trip was a waste of money. H.B. Telling, the senior senator, said Frymark wasn't even at the meeting to vote on the bill.

"I don't know what Joe's deal is," Telling said. Blanchard oversaw the meeting as Senate Chair. 

On the Monday following the meeting, Frymark authored legislation to provide press releases to the Sun Star regarding projects costing over $200.

"Many students do not know what their student government is doing for them," the bill reads. "It is not unreasonable to expect the ASUAF government to communicate its actions to those who we are accountable to."

Several bills already would fall into this category. Blanchard sponsored a bill allocating $300 of student funds toward creating an ASUAF flag. Blanchard said he wants the ASUAF be like a real government, but has decided now to poll students in the next election about a flag.

The student government allocated about $500 to feed themselves during a rules and leadership retreat later this month to "stimulate ideas and promote organizational bonds" and to allow Senators and Executives to "spend some quality time together."

Brandon Meston sponsored a bill to hold four dinners with UAF deans at "a location of choice with food of choice" to allow for "casual conversation" with the administration. Price tag: $2,500.

Not that ASUAF passes all bills. Legislation by Meston to have an ASUAF-funded dinner with the chancellor barely died, 6-7. A $200 logo design contest failed unanimously, and

The Senate also rejected a $200 voter registration effort held by an independent group, 2-11. Melissa Takaaze, president of the UAF Democrats, sponsored the bill, even though ASUAF had already held registration drives, spending less than $45 for food.

The student government spent at least $172 for their own Starvation Gulch fire in October, according to expenditure receipts. Sen. Kelsey Hough proposed legislation to give the truck company and pallet donators $83 worth of t-shirts and framed certificates.

"I don't know if the Senate is thinking big enough right now," said Walker.

What projects the Senate will fund next remains unknown. Blanchard has draft legislation pending called "The Greatest Bill of the Fall Semester." It remains blank.

At the moment, though, the focus remains on the conference.

"What would you guys like me to tell 72 ASUAF students in regards to your vacation?" Blanchard scrawled on the student government's white board, citing the number of students' fee payments required to finance the conference for four students.

"Tell them: 'I'll grow the fuck up and knock off all this passive-aggressive bullshit immediately," wrote Telling.

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