UAF, a liberal arts school?

I was appalled to find the lack of attention the 2007 Ice Arch had this year in the Sun Star two weeks ago only to find articles highlighting the Red Fox (local bar), the Iron Dog race, and the art piece of the week.

Please explain to me what any of these articles have to do with the students at UAF.

The ice arch has been a UAF tradition for 30 years, and only a handful of hard working civil engineering students participate.

Many of the students involved could not even find the one poor quality 4-inch by 5-inch black and white photo.

In addition, last weekend (Feb. 23) was the annual E-Week open house, where the public has the opportunity to see some of the current engineering projects. It is fun for all ages, and there were plenty of interesting demonstrations from each department.

Once again, the Feb. 27 edition of the Sun Star places one black and white photo.

For a university that was founded primarily on agriculture, mining, and engineering, the lack of interest the Sun Star has for the biological, natural sciences, and engineering programs is shocking.

I'll give you a hint: on April 12-14, the 2007 Northwest Region Steel Bridge Competition will be held at the Patty Center.

The students involved with the conference this year guarantee a competition unlike any other Steel Bridge Conference, even at the national level.

There better be an article and not a dinky picture. From reading the Sun Star, you would think UAF is a liberal arts school.

Tyler Dyer
Civil engineering major
Junior

Could the Sun Star share?

In Nate Raymond's editorial on Feb. 27, he said that the Sun Star hasn't even tapped into its spring student government fees.

That raises a few questions in my mind.

Why aren't we seeing more from the Sun Star? Another issue a week, fewer articles written by UAA, more relevant articles with less advertising – these are all improvements that could be made by spending a little money.

If the Sun Star isn't going to use the funds, couldn't we just lower the amount of money we give the Sun Star and divide it up for the other groups that need more money? If we did that we wouldn't have to raise student fees.

Amanda Norris
Justice major
Senior
Ed.: This writer is an ASUAF senator

ASUAF fees don't benefit everyone

I am writing in response to your recent edition, which had several items concerning the possible benefits of increasing the ASUAF student fees (and benefits, in general, of ASUAF).

These fees are paid by anyone taking courses affiliated with UAF.

Many full-time UA staff members, and people in the community who work full time, take courses on a part time basis, in order increase their skill sets, ability to perform job-related duties, to learn new or interesting topics, to help them toward achieving a degree, and many other reasons. They pay ASUAF fees that do not benefit them at all, yet they must pay the fees in order to take the courses they want.

Whenever you consider stories involving student fees, please provide balance by seeking input from the students who do not benefit from the fees imposed upon them, or may not see any benefits.

Consider the student who takes one computer course, for instance, that meets once a week at the downtown center, but otherwise does not visit UAF campus.

What benefits does the fee serve them, and what benefits does an increase serve?

Greg Simpson
Proposal Office manager
Geophysical Institute