Gone are the Handsome Man Club, the UAF Toboggan Team and the Aquarium Club, among others. As of March 10, their club accounts have been deleted, permanently, leaving only $3,400 in treasury holdings behind.

Leadership Program officials made their approximate cash take available last week after more than a month of number crunching. The Sun Star carried advertisements in March alerting clubs that the program would delete clubs it determined were inactive.

"What we're trying to do is flag the groups that had money in their accounts," said J.J. Boggs, coordinator for the Leadership Program. "The business office wants us to clean those up."

UAF has about 110 currently active clubs and a new one starting up every day, Boggs said. However, several others have seen their lights dimmed.

Many of the clubs saw their members drop over the years. The number of anglers in the Sportsfishing Club dropped from 49 in 1991 to 25 in 1995, its last registered year. The UAF chapter of the National Organization for Women's membership fell from 28 students in 1992 to seven in 1994.

No doubt the College Republicans weren't helped by a university population that gave Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry 68 percent of its vote in 2004. Apparently the See Our Stuff Club couldn't find anyone to see its stuff.

The Aquarium Club, last registered in 1997, listed its club activities as trips to the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward and "field trips" to fish stores. Last month, the Aquarium Club was flushed like the rest.

Administrators still haven't officially decided what to do with the $3,400 left in treasury holdings, but Boggs said several ideas are being tossed around. With club award ceremonies approaching, about $400 could go to several recipients.

The Leadership Program is also considering loaning the money to clubs needing cash for projects. New clubs might also be able to use it for start-up money, Boggs said.

"Even to get fliers or start meetings, they have to pay out of pocket," she said. "It just doesn't seem fair."

That lack of cash has saved several clubs from being cleaned out, despite years of inactivity. The Communist Club struggled past the fall of the Berlin Wall until 1998, its last registration date, yet its account is empty.

Other clubs in limbo include Java Junkies, Rave UAF, and Agnostic Jihad. Even the UAF chapter of Amnesty International has closed shop. It retains a folder thanks to being broke.

Boggs' office has a cabinet filled with folders of inactive clubs. Many were moved to the archives a while ago, Boggs said, but others still remain. At least one-fifth of those are probably aliveandkicking, she said.

The Model United Nations is listed inactive, despite some recent activity. It just hasn't told Boggs.

"One of the problems we have is that a lot of clubs are active but they're not registering," Boggs said.

As a result, those clubs are missing out on advising, training, and mentorship opportunities, Boggs said. The Leadership Program also hosts monthly club resource dinners.

But some clubs' deaths have, to paraphrase Mark Twain, been greatly exaggerated. Representatives for the Marketing Club and Alaska Students for Criminal Justice called Boggs, alarmed to find their names listed in a Sun Star advertisement as clubs who would be shutdown, she said.

Cynthia Bauer, the administrative assistant for the Justice Department, said that although Students for Criminal Justice has not met in more than three years, the department wanted to make sure the club's $126 in treasury holdings remained available if it ever re-activated.

"We didn't want that money to just go away," she said.