The University of Alaska Fairbanks’ approximately 200 international students and faculty face a maelstrom of new federal pressures under President Trump regarding visas, increased policing, and squashed political expression that have left many concerned about their future in the United States.
“The simple fact that you might be thrown out of the country because you were partisan online, it’s kind of insane,” said Victor Devaux-Chupin, a French glaciological Ph.D. student with the Geophysical Institute at UAF. “Like, which other country that we consider, as you know, democratic, does that.”
On Nov. 12 University of Alaska Fairbanks announced the reorganization of the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). It came as a shock to both CTL staff and the faculty who use them for a wide range of support services.
Over 120 faculty and teaching staff signed a letter to leadership expressing “significant concern, frustration, and outrage regarding the recent restructuring.”
Three photographers affiliated with the University of Alaska Fairbanks will have their work featured in “Alaska Positive 2025,” a statewide juried exhibition that opened in Juneau on Dec. 5, 2025, and will travel to museums across Alaska for the next two years. Now in its 55th year, “Alaska Positive” aims to “encourage the practice of photography as an art form in Alaska,” celebrating the central role of Alaskan photographers in shaping the state’s visual culture.
Alaska Climate Specialist Rick Thoman sat down with The Sun Star to discuss Fairbanks’ recent warm weather and seasonal patterns in our land of extremes.
Over most of Alaska, including Fairbanks, it has been a mild fall season with fairly low amounts of snow, though Fairbanks had one of the wettest Octobers on record. “The vast majority of that precipitation at valley level came as rain,” he said.
The dark, cold days of Alaskan winters often make everyone want to crawl back in bed and sleep until summer comes again. Unfortunately for us humans, that is not possible. However, for some critters, it’s normal. Winter hits and they get to go into their caves or underground systems and fall asleep. When spring brings longer, warmer days, these animals wake up and return to life above ground.
The Greater Fairbanks Division of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, held their 73rd anniversary banquet in the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Wood Center ballroom on December 6.
Closing out the semester and sending us off into the holidays, ASUAF held their last meeting and went over the final guest speakers and travel fund requests of the fall semester.
The bear trap is a condensed version of the daily crime log released by the UAF police department.
The Nanooks women’s volleyball team dominated the Seattle Pacific Falcons 3–0 Thursday night at the Alaska Airlines Gymnasium during Military Appreciation Night.
The team will face off against the University of Alaska Anchorage Volleyball team during the NCAA Division II women’s volleyball championships December 11-13 in South Dakota.
On Halloween, the University of Alaska Fairbanks women’s swim team had their third meet of the season, this time against Simon Fraser University. They competed against Simon Fraser again on Saturday, but lost both days, despite a great effort. The score on Halloween was 108 to 59, and the next day was 100 to 48.
On October 25 the Nanooks kicked off the basketball season by playing a scrimmage against alumni. The bleachers were packed with fans eager to get a first glimpse of the upcoming season and to watch former players return to the spotlight.
A letter from the Alaska Press Club Board: We should not accept these actions by Carpenter Media as normal. They threaten the ability of journalists to serve as watchdogs for our communities.
We will always defend editorial independence, transparency and the right of Alaska’s journalists to do their work free from intimidation.
Over the past few years, Russian and Chinese incursions into U.S. territory have become more frequent and more brazen. On September 24, 2025, multiple Russian aircraft, including Tu-95 “Bear” long-range bombers and Su-35 fourth-generation fighters, breached the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).
Lil Jit: December 12, 2024 to September 18, 2025
On a cold winter night, with a sliver of moon high above, peeking through wisps of cloud, a small bundle of joy came into our lives. White as the snow beneath our feet, with eyes red like glowing embers, we gave him a name worthy of his spirit: Lil Jit.
Fireweed Collective Fairbanks released their voter guide for the 2025 Fairbanks North Star Borough Municipal Election.
I stepped onto the bridge beside the tall patch of fireweed blossoms, careful not to step in the reindeer scat lying in the brush, as the swirling river shimmered ahead beneath the hot July sun.
