The ASUAF Senate was unimpressed with a recent change that was made by the Union of Students of the University of Alaska Anchorage. USUAA is cutting their donation to the Coalition of Student Leaders, dropping the CSL budget from $5,000 to $1.

The coalition is a group comprised of student representatives from campuses around the state who come together at key times to discuss and decide on certain policies.

Luke Thomas, a USUAA legislative committee senator, was available for questions via teleconference from Anchorage. Thomas explained what was done, and though he expressed support for the coalition, he did not feel it was necessary to support the coalition with the amount of money that had been given in previous years.

The ASUAF senators had several questions for Thomas. There was a lot of confusion on how the decision was made, as well as what some possible repercussions would be. Although the budget was not looked at before making the decision, Thomas still believed the decision"represented the student interest." After numerous encounters with students from UAA, Thomas found"most didn't know what the Coalition is."

Thomas's main concern was with how unprofessional and uneducated the rural students within the coalition were with the subject at hand. Another aspect that was under consideration was that some of the rural schools do not pay a student government fee. ASUAF President Joe Blanchard told Thomas the reason for the schools not paying the fees was because they don't have student governments.

It seemed as though Thomas was trying to make a point and force the rural students that were interested in being part of the CSL into doing more fundraising of their own. ASUAF Senate Chair Pat Frymark wrote a resolution that the senate passed unanimously Dec. 4 asking that USUAA contribute their fair share. Thomas made a point to say that although the USUAA has only agreed on $1 so far, that was up for change pending a review of CSL's budget.