I have this mental image of myself walking out of The Sun Star office in slow motion after the last issue hits newsstands and pumping my first in the air, set to a soundtrack that makes everyone sigh in relief.  OK, so, my life is not “The Breakfast Club,” but once all is said and done, everything is packed up and the keys are turned in, I will definitely be letting out a sigh of relief.

Someone once told me Editor-in-Chief is one of the hardest jobs on campus.  I guess I’m coming at it with a little bit of bias, but I’d believe it.  The late nights of trying and failing to catch all the errors, dealing with all the haters out there who want to see The Sun Star fail, working with a woefully inadequate budget and getting the small staff of reporters and photographers to get their work done wore me out this year.

I’m going into finals week exhausted and a little bit broken down.  But that doesn’t make me special at all.  Like everyone else, I’m just here to learn and that can be a bit painful at times.

We say The Sun Star is here to inform the students.  It is, we are.  But here’s a secret: we’re also here for ourselves.  The thing I love the most about The Sun Star is that it’s this place where anyone who wants to learn how to write articles or take pictures can show up and get some good practice and help.  I tell people you’ll learn more at the paper than you will in any journalism class, but I think that depends on what kind of a student you are.  But you can definitely learn as much here as you can in some of your courses.  And we pay you for it.

I love helping reporters figure out how to put their story together when they’re having trouble, or working with photographers who are struggling to figure out how to take good news photos.  I love seeing how excited new freelancers get about seeing their story or photo on the cover, knowing that they put in the hard work to get to that point.

So, I guess all the toner and tears were worth it in the end.

Next week, we’re packing up and moving out of the office.  The Wood Center office suite is going to turn into a coffee shop, and in turn all the organizations that operate out of these offices are getting shuffled around to other parts of the university.  Student Activities and Outdoor Adventures are going up to one of the houses on Copper Lane.  The Wood Center staff is being moved into some basement offices in the Wood Center.  The Sun Star is moving into the ASUAF Senate Chambers for the time being, with plans for permanent office space still up in the air.

This is the last issue, and also an end of an era for The Sun Star.

Even though the spring semester is wrapping up, there are a lot of opportunities for students to continue their education at UAF this summer. 

Summer Sessions and Lifelong Learning are offering 582 different classes in three different time schedules from May 28 through Aug. 16, with special weekend courses throughout the summer as well.

Taking classes here at UAF during the summer months can offer opportunities for shorter academic periods, deals on tuition in certain circumstances and class admittance is also not limited to current UAF students. SSLL’s mission stands as an opportunity “to provide support for our students to graduate sooner with less debt; partake in genuine, once-in-a-lifetime Alaska experiences and to offer unique, educational opportunities for our community.”

SSLL offers three main session lengths for classes this summer. The first session of classes is from May 28 to July 3 and is six weeks long. The second six-week session is from July 8 to Aug. 16. There is also a full summer session that extends from May 28 to Aug. 16.

In addition, there are weekend sessions that offer a different experience to cover smaller credit and non-credit courses over a single weekend. A few examples of classes offered are  “Understanding Your Digital Camera,” “Fly-fishing” and “Introduction to Alaska’s Flora.”

UAF students taking 10 credits or more during the summer sessions can qualify for the SSLL “Sweet Summer Deal.” The “Sweet Summer Deal” will pay for any credits beyond 10, up to 14 credits, that a student successfully completes. According to SSLL’s website the only catch to the program is that the student must complete their courses with a “C” or higher to ensure payment coverage.

There are two $500 “R.G. & Onnie V. Bouchum/La Shina R. Jones Memorial Summer Scholarships” available for UAF sophomores, juniors and seniors. In addition SSLL will offer three-credit tuition awards for qualifying continuing and new UAF undergraduate students.

For any additional information on these financial aid programs, students are encouraged to contact the SSLL office at (907) 474-7021 or stop by at 216 Eielson between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Summer sessions are also not limited to currently accepted UAF Students. As long as you meet the appropriate prerequisites, a course may be taken by anyone. SSLL reminds though that a student must be admitted to UAF degree program to become eligible for financial aid.

Courses offered through UAF’s Course Finder include specialized courses and general studies courses in majors ranging from Anthropology to Communications to Woman’s Studies. Important prerequisites like Human Anatomy and Fundamentals of Biology I and II for example, are being offered and allow students to finish a year of classwork in 12 weeks.

Classes are open for registration now through UAOnline and the SSLL website at http://www.uaf.edu/summer/students/faq/.

The choke cherry tree before it was cut down. Photo provided by JR Ancheta

At the groundbreaking site of the new UAF Engineering facility between the Duckering and Bunnell Buildings, lies the remnants of a chopped down choke cherry tree. The site served as a reminder of the tree Friday morning, as students and faculty scurried between work or classes.

Students and faculty lamented the loss of the tree though, many were sympathetic that with construction these things happen.

“The loss of the tree is a sad thing, because that tree has been there for many, many years,” said Laura Letuligasenoa, a telephone technician for OIT.

Many interviewed, like Computer Science student Chris Houck, were uncertain to why the tree had to be cleared. The position of the severed roots appeared not to lie within the boundaries of the proposed building.

“Why man, why cut it down,” asked Houck.

According to Facilities Services Contract Manager Scott Hulac, the tree needed to be removed because it encroached on the area of the foundation digging.

Petroleum engineering student Casey Hnilicka, said he saw an excavator parked at the spot where the tree had been days earlier digging for the foundation.

“They probably could’ve replanted it or something like that,” Hnilicka said.

Transplanting the tree was often mentioned by students and faculty as to a possible alternative to cutting it down.

The site where the tree was will be transformed over the summer, and building construction will begin during the daytime as soon as finals are over.

The new facility’s lobby will connect it with the Southwest Duckering entrance and the Bunnell building’s entrance where the Schaible Auditorium is located. No other inter-building connections will be made with the Bunnell building, but the construction plans show that first floor Duckering will be able to access the proposed high bay experiment testing area of the new facility.

The construction of the facility will be broken into two phases. The first phase, which is scheduled for completion by Jan. 1, 2014, would complete the outer shell of the building, enclosed and insulated. The second phase of construction focuses on the interior projects, such as flooring, classrooms and furnishings. The second phase would also include exterior landscaping. Current funding covers the expenses of the first phase of construction, Hulac said. The rest of the funding remains in question.

Engineering classrooms will be built on top of Bunnell’s Schaible Auditorium as part of the new building. The main entrance and fire exit locations will be changed in the auditorium. Offices and classrooms on the East side of Bunnell will look across an open air corridor to the new building.

Pedestrian access from Tanana Loop Road will go through the new building along the proposed high bay experiment area. The testing area will be a large open glassed room where engineering experiments can be viewed from along the corridor that goes through the building.

The new facility will connect to Duckering and stretch across what used to be the Southeast Bunnell parking lot, which had 51 mostly gold parking spaces.

According to Scott Bell, Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities Services, Tanana Loop closure will extend from West Bunnell to East Duckering for the next two years, which is the duration of the proposed project.

The engineering facility project with a total cost of $108.5 million is aimed at the “expansion of undergraduate degree production,” according to a funding request to the 2012 state legislature.

Expanding education resonated in the words of Stacey Garbett when asked about the loss of the cherry tree.

“For eduction it’s worth it, I mean, we can plant another one once the building’s back up,” Garbett said.

Letuligasenoa took it a step further saying, “I’m hoping that when they finally get everything back together that we have three trees here.”

Remnants of the dead choke cherry tree lay inside the chain-linked perimeter of the new engineering facility. The new facility that broke ground last month is estimated for completion in July, 2015. April 28, 2013. Jason Hersey/Sun Star

Associated Students of UAF President-elect Ayla O’Scannell has big plans for the 2013-2014 school year.

O’Scannell and her running mate, Mickey Zakurdaew, won the president and vice-president seats in the ASUAF election two weeks ago. O’Scannell and Zakurdaew won with just 11 votes more than president candidate and current Vice-President Dillon Ball and vice-president candidate Michael Mancill. At the beginning of next semester, O’Scannell will replace current President Mari Freitag and Zakurdaew will replace Ball.

O’Scannell says one of her goals for next year is to increase student interaction and input with ASUAF through open houses and tabling with senators. Last fall, ASUAF held an open house with the student governance groups The Sun Star, Concert Board, KSUA and Review of Infrastructure, Sustainability and Energy (RISE). The open house gave students the opportunity to talk to the groups. O’Scannell wants to see this continue every semester in the future.

O’Scannell also wants senators to spend time in the Wood Center or Moore-Bartlett-Skarland to increase student discussion with ASUAF members. Senators have regular office hours but sitting at a table that students regularly pass by would make senators more approachable, according to O’Scannell.

O’Scannell thinks that more student interaction will make ASUAF a better voice for the students and, as a result, ASUAF will be taken more seriously by both students and UAF administration.

At the beginning of this semester, the Financial Aid Office changed their financial aid disbursement policy from distributing funding 10 days prior to the first day of classes to the day classes begin. ASUAF took a stand on this issue with Resolution 180-001 sponsored by several senators including Zakurdaew asking the financial aid office to change the policy back. Although the financial aid policy has not changed, O’Scannell wants to continue pressing this issue.

“I also take out student loans so I was one of many impacted by the change in the disbursement policy,” O’Scannell said. “It’s important that ASUAF take a firm stand on issues that affect students. ”

Another priority for O’Scannell is appropriating extra funding for student clubs. The budget is written by the president and submitted to the senate for approval. Freitag wrote the budget for next year which rearranged $1,000 to club council and club travel funding. O’Scannell plans to continue this. “I’d like to see where in the budget we can move things around and give more money directly to students. ”

“She’s very organized and did a very good job as senate chair,” Freitag said. There’s pressure and the president is responsible for the overall image of ASUAF and often has to make tough decisions that don’t please everyone. “She has a knack for administration. Overall, it’s been good,” Freitag said about her experience with O’Scannell.

O’Scannell has been a senator since March of 2012 when she was appointed to the senate. This year, she served as the senate chair. O’Scannell has traveled to Juneau to advocate for UAF program funding and has participated in the Coalition of Student Leaders, an organization of student government representatives from all UA campuses for promoting student needs and welfare. Zakurdaew has been a senator for two years and is currently the longest serving senator. Zakurdaew works for KSUA and is next year’s president of Alpha Phi Omega fraternity. “He’s very well-connected with campus and understands student needs,” O’Scannell said.

“Micky and I are both really excited for next year. We think we can do a lot of great things for the students. We look forward to working for students and working with them and getting new great ideas for UAF,” O’Scannell said.

Students at the UAF School of Management may have to pay a little extra for their education if a proposed tuition hike makes it through the Board of Regents later this summer.

A proposal for instating differential tuition of an additional 25 percent for upper level credits for SOM was delayed at the April 11 and 12, Board of Regents meetings. The board members said they needed more time to consider the proposal. Differential tuition means that certain programs within a larger university system charges different tuition rates based on the predicted earnings of graduates and the program costs. Differential tuition has never been approved for any school or college in the UA system.

In a Powerpoint presentation to the Board of Regents, SOM Dean Mark Herrmann explained that the school is in danger of having to cut classes and even departments if they do not find a new way to increase revenue. SOM enrollment has increased approximately 72 percent in the last five years while funding has declined slightly due to legislative pullbacks, according to Herrmann. In the presentation, Herrmann explained that about three quarters of the SOM budget comes from state funding and the other quarter comes from student tuition. Due to this and the flat legislative funding, the School has not been able to keep up with increased costs, not to mention increasing class offerings to allow more students to graduate in four years. Herrmann said that in surveys, business students most often complained about the shortage of class offerings, something he thinks a tuition increase would fix.

Board of Regents member and ASUAF president Mari Freitag, expressed concern about the proposal after her last BOR meeting. “I usually try not to pass judgement on things until I hear the story of the administration as well, but unfortunately the administration didn’t really reassure me much more than from what I read in the references,” Freitag said.

Freitag said one of her major concerns was that the proposal doesn’t ensure that other schools and colleges at UAF wouldn’t raise their tuitions.

According to a University of Nebraska study that Herrmann cited in his presentation, 37 states now have differential tuition for business programs. Before the next meeting, the Chancellor’s Office will have to determine which schools besides the SOM might have to raise their tuition to support their programs.

At a planning session last November, the SOM Executive Management Committee cut the SOM’s operating budget, which pays for things like office supplies and student travel, by 40 percent from $440,000 to $290,000. Since then, the SOM received money from the Provost to bring it back up to $350,000, a net decrease of about 20 percent. Herrmann said that in addition to operating budget cuts, the student business clubs were no longer funded by the operating budget and instead were funded mostly through private donors.

About 95 percent of the SOM budget goes to teachers salaries, which are among the highest at UAF. According to its website, the SOM is ranked among the top 1.4 percent of business schools worldwide because it is dually accredited in management and accounting. According to the 2011 salary database, the median salary for a full time professor at the SOM was about $106,000. The median salary for the College of Engineering and Mines was about $90,000, and the median salary for the Department of Anthropology was $58,000. According to Herrmann, these higher wages are required in order to attract talented faculty to Fairbanks. Since business graduates tend to have good opportunities in the private sector, UAF and other business schools must pay their faculty market wages. Herrmann said that if wages are cut, faculty will leave. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the average salary for a tenured professor in a business school is about $111,000 in 2011, while for UAF it was about $131,000.

Business students were divided about the tuition increase. Mats Eriksson, a sophomore in Business Administration and Journalism, said that increasing the number of classes offered wasn’t important to him since he and his advisor had already decided for the next few years. As far as the quality of his education, Eriksson said he had some great classes and some unsatisfactory ones. “Some teachers in the SOM shouldn’t be teaching,” Eriksson said, “Some teachers don’t put much time or effort into teaching.”

Bobby Deroschers, the president of Associated Students of Business who worked on the proposal with the Dean said that his club endorsed the proposal. He said that the thought of increased tuition scares a lot of students at first, but once it is explained to them they tend to support it. When asked about the quality of teachers, Deroschers said that like in every department there are teachers “who think that once they have tenure they don’t have to teach as well.”

Herrmann says he does not think that very many students will be negatively affected by the tuition increase in the long run. “In the long run this will benefit them,” Hermann said. “One or two students might decide not to go [if we raise tuition], but for most of them UAF is still an affordable choice.” Herrmann said that UAF SOM tuition is currently 30% lower than other western universities.

Herrmann said he thought the proposal had a 50-50 chance of passing at one of the upcoming Board of Regents meetings in either June or September. If it passes, tuition for 300 and 400 level classes would cost about 25 percent more, affecting mostly juniors and seniors.

Freitag said she is generally very supportive of the SOM was concerned that not enough options had been examined before the differential tuition proposal is tried. “I think that if they really wanted to save their school they might try to look at other ways besides tuition increases,” she said. “I’ve always said that tuition increases should be the last thing that you should do.”

Lander Ver Hoef, this spring’s featured senior, will be graduating from UAF’s Mathematics department on Sunday, May 12, 2013. He has participated in two study abroad programs, received recognition on the Chancellor’s list five times, and is a candidate to graduate with summa cum laude honors. Erin McGroarty/Sun Star.

Graduation is an exciting time for all of us, whether we are the ones walking across the stage or members of the audience watching our friends and fellow students embark on a new and exciting facet of their lives.

This year’s graduation ceremony will take place in the Carlson Center on Sunday, May 12 at 1:30 p.m. The event is open to the public and no ticket purchase is required. The commencement ceremony is also available to stream online on Sunday, May 12, in real time during the ceremony.

While each graduating senior has different interests and goals for their future life, the Sun Star likes to feature one senior each spring. This year’s senior, a lifelong member of the Fairbanks community, is Lander Ver Hoef.

Ver Hoef took his first class, a course in Macromedia Flash, in 2004 at the age of 13.

“By the age of 13, I had started getting interested in Web Development, and back in 2004, Flash was a big part of making cool, interactive websites,” Ver Hoef said. “Since I was in the IDEA homeschooling program, we could use a portion of the funding we got through that to pay for college credit so I decided to take a class in something I found really interesting at the time.”

Throughout the following years, Ver Hoef proceeded to take classes on and off before formally enrolling in the Mechanical Engineering program in 2009 after graduating from the IDEA program in Fairbanks.

“When I started into the Engineering department, I was trying to pick a major based on what I enjoyed doing, what would earn me the most money and what I was best at,” Ver Hoef said. “But I found that rather unsatisfying, and after taking some time off to travel, when I came back, I decided to just focus on taking the most interesting and compelling classes without worrying specifically what I would do with them once I graduated.”

During his sophomore year, Ver Hoef spent a semester in the Semester at Sea study abroad program, taking courses on a cruise ship that sailed around the world, experiencing new cultures and meeting guest lecturer and world peace advocate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

“Interacting with Arch, as he asked us to call him, was truly incredible. For all that he has been through, the years of persecution and hatred, and the huge popularity and fame that followed the end to apartheid, he somehow manages to stay grounded, and is one of the most cheerful, kind, and friendly people I have ever met.” Ver Hoef said, “When we’d see him at mealtimes or in the hall, he would greet us all with a brilliant smile and a convivial fist-bump.”

During the second semester of his sophomore year, Ver Hoef participated in the Semester at Sea program, living in and sailing around the Caribbean. While there, Ver Hoef earned his sailing captain’s license on sail boats in the region.

“The entire process was eye-opening for me, because I realized that this life that I had been dreaming about for years, of going out and adventuring on the high seas, was not only real and possible, but that I had already secured the first step in making it a reality,” Ver Hoef said. “It was a symbol of the idea that far more often than not, what we think of as crazy, unattainable dreams are far more possible than we realize”

After returning to Fairbanks in the Fall of 2011, Ver Hoef switched to a Mathematics degree. 

“Essentially, I chose a math degree because I really enjoy math. I had enjoyed the math classes that I’d done prior to my major change, so I decided to pursue more math, which turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” Ver Hoef said. “The more math I learn, the more I fall in love with it as a subject.”

For maintaining a GPA of 3.9, Ver Hoef has been on the Chancellor’s List five times, each semester he has been enrolled and physically at UAF. Ver Hoef also received the award for the Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Mathamatics this year and is a candidate to graduate with summa cum laude honors for keeping his GPA above 3.9 and never receiving lower than an A- in any class.

During his time at UAF, Ver Hoef recalled that his favorite classes included Differential Geometry, Ballroom Dance, Configurations and Scientific Diving.

“Particularly in the smaller, upper-division courses, the professors have been uniformly enthusiastic, engaged and knowledgeable,” Ver Hoef said. “And having access to world-class facilities like the Kasitsna Bay lab for my scientific diving class has been amazing.”

After graduation, Ver Hoef plans to leave Alaska for a while and continue traveling around the world. He hopes to eventually get his doctorates degree in Mathematics and teach math at the collegiate level so that he has an opportunity to share his love of math with others.

“More than any specific specific field of knowledge, the biggest benefit I derived from my college experience was how it has restructured the way I think.” Ver Hoef said.

As a math major, he recalled having to learn how to think axiomatically, how to break complicated problems down into small steps in order to complete them. Ver Hoef considered changing this change to be one of the biggest hurdles of his undergraduate but he believes will be widely applicable to life outside of college.

“I have had a fantastic experience at UAF,” Ver Hoef said. “I’ve had the opportunity to take courses in a huge range of subjects, from advanced mathematics to scientific diving to  ballroom dancing. And I truly appreciate how easy UAF made it for me to take a year off and travel the world, an experience that has absolutely shaped who I am.”

Newspaper reporters were recently ranked as having the worst job in 2013, outranking lumberjacks and janitors by CareerCast.com.

“I don’t find the results to be a complete surprise, as CareerCast themselves pointed out, newspaper reporters have worked long hours in high stress situations and for little money for years,” said Journalism Professor Lynne Lott.

“The things that CareerCast doesn’t take into account, criteria such as personal fulfillment and satisfaction, the fact that reporters can expose wrongdoing at government and corporate levels, shed light on social problems and tell inspiring stories make the last-place rating a bit misguided, I think,” said Lott. ”There are many ways to measure job satisfaction.”

“In some ways, this is an exciting time for news. People are trying out new reporting techniques, new methods of delivery. Stories break on Twitter or Facebook,” Lott said. With real time social media websites like Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit publications have a hard time. During the Boston bombing, Reddit was at the forefront in conducting a crowd-sourcing initiative by citizen journalists in an attempt to identify the bombers and provide help to those who needed it. Because of this, CNN was forced to take whatever new information in as the story developed. Often the information was based on the crowd-sourcing and at times false.  At one point they were told that the Boston Police Department had a suspect in custody, an hour later after the twitter page for the department commented,  they said that there was no suspect at the time.

“Today’s journalism students are, in many ways, creating the future of their profession. That’s a pretty great position to be in,” Lott said. Social media reporters and data scientists are new positions in journalism relating to the vast and expansive world of online news. Even non-journalists can stumble upon journalism with real-time stories, just by collecting crowd-sourced information across the internet.

“It’s a little frightening to see so much change happen so quickly, but I think in another five or 10 years, we’ll have a better idea of where we’re headed,” Lott said. “Right now, I couldn’t even venture a guess.”

Snow and slush once again covers the Moore-Bartlett-Skarland lot on April 30, 2013. David Spindler/Sun Star

In April, Fairbanks experienced several waves of snow, a trend that has continued into May. The snow and cold temperatures are due to cold air being pushed into Alaska from the North Pole and Arctic Ocean, according to the U.S. National Weather Service. The Interior, South Central and Southeast have been hit the hardest by unseasonal cold temperatures.

The cold temperatures have prevented large bodies of frozen water such as the Yukon River from melting. If the weather warms up too quickly, instead of a gradual pace, it could cause the rivers to flood. Due to the weather, the UAF Paddle Club cancelled their annual trip because the river was still frozen, according to Lilly Grbavach, a Wild Life Biology student and employee of Outdoor Adventures. Adam McComb, an undeclared student changed his river trip plans into a skiing trip.

“I’m not actually that surprised,” said Biology student Roger Estelle, “I’m slightly disappointed that I’m not seeing the green grass grow or anything, I’m surprised that there was still snow during Spring Fest, but there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Though the snow made him a little depressed with finals week on the way, he says he made the best of the situation by throwing snowballs at his friends.“You can’t really throw a snow ball at someone in May, that’s one thing I look forward to,” Estelle said.

Students had mixed views about how the recent snow outbreak might affect their return to Fairbanks. Natasha Frey, an Elementary Education student, was shocked by the weather but said that, “weather is just something that you deal with.”

Art student Shelley Kubo, plans to return to Fairbanks next year, but says she may transfer if there is another prolonged winter.

Natural Resource Management student Brandy Flores, said that the snow helps motivate her to stay inside and study. Flores’ friends agreed, stating that they had been extra productive since it started snowing.

UAF students walk down the snowy Yukon Drive towards the Wood Center. April 30, 2013. David Spindler/Sun Star

Slush and snow once again cover the university plaza as the day continues on. April 30, 2013. David Spindler/Sun Star

UAF once again is covered in snow and slush. April 29, 2013. David Spindler/Sun Star

Because I’m full of original thoughts, I decided this week’s article was going to be How to Survive Finals. It is my eighth and final semester here at UAF and I have been through my fair share of finals inspired nausea, headaches and bad coffee. So without further ado, here are some of the tips and tricks that have gotten me through this particular brand of academic hell:

1. Coffee. I know that this isn’t really that healthy for you, drinking coffee in crazy amounts, but in all honesty, I think it works. As someone who probably has a mild caffeine addiction, I need coffee in order to function on a daily  basis. When I am stressed and not sleeping well because all I can think about are tests, coffee gets me through my day. Maybe it is just psychological, but it works.

2. Eat what I want. In all honesty, for this one week of my life, I allow myself to eat what I want, when I want. If I want macaroni and cheese from a box and then three cupcakes, cool. Usually, I try to stay on top of my junk-food addiction, as much as being forced to eat at the Wood Center everyday allows. However, feeling guilty over what I’m eating is one more level of stress that I don’t need during finals. So for just one week, I don’t think about it and let what goes in my mouth, go.

3. Try to remember other people are stressed too. It is really easy for me to turn into an asshole during finals week: I don’t sleep well, I’m stressed, I’m crashing from  a caffeine high and the vending machines are all out of Twix bars. All of this combined with my super low tolerance for stupidly tends to equal a general hatred for the masses.  I have to remind myself, “Self, these people are trying really hard at life too. Don’t throw anything at them.”

4. Stay away from alcohol, completely. Drinking is for celebrating after all my tests are done, not for preparing to take them. My friends and I have a silent agreement: no alcohol the weekend before or the week of finals. We need to stay focused, not sloppy.

5. Study reasonably. It is really easy for me to freak out and push myself to study to a point that is a little bit ridiculous. There is no need to pull all-nighters, unless some sort of study-related catastrophe occurs, like your computer dies and takes with it your research paper. In all honesty, if you feel like you need to pull an all-nighter, you didn’t manage your time very well, and you deserve no sympathy. It isn’t like finals week jumped up and surprised you; it has been there forever, waiting. Also, frantically riffling though your notes ten seconds before the exam is pointless and does nothing except mentally freak you out. If you don’t know the material by then, you never will, so don’t have a panic attack. Take a deep breath, say a little prayer and go.

I hope you all manage to have a decently okay finals week, and make it to the weekend without too much psychological damage. I already have plans to hit up Karaoke and dancing this weekend, and I’m holding on to that like a mental lifeline. Good luck, ladies and gentleman. Go forth and prosper.

Under 21 events May 7 through May 13

Friday
KSUA Studio Show with Terrible Buttons- Free
Space is limited so call 474-KSUA for details
7 p.m.
KSUA Studio
With a very strict capacity, witness an intimate up-close performance of dark folk/blues band, Terrible Buttons.

Fairbanks Drama Association presents Arsenic and Old Lace
$22– Adults, $18– Seniors, Military, University Students, $14– Teens ages 13-18 years
8:15 p.m.
Riverfront Theater
FDA puts on a performance of the classic play.

Saturday
Fairbanks Drama Association presents Arsenic and Old Lace
$22– Adults, $18– Seniors, Military, University Students, $14– Teens ages 13-18 years
8:15 p.m.
Riverfront Theater
FDA puts on a performance of the classic play.

Sunday
UAF Graduation Commencement- Free
4 p.m.
Carlson Center
Watch some people walk on stage and get some paper.

Over 21 events May 7 through May 13

Tuesday
Pub Trivia- $5
8:30 p.m.
The Pub
Answer trivia questions for fabulous prizes

Wednesday
Study Night- Free
5 p.m.
The Pub
Study! Study! Study!

Thursday
Terrible Buttons- free
8 p.m
The Pub
Performance by Portland based dark Folk/blues act.

Friday
Angry, Young and Poor presents Spots and Stripes
Suggested donation of $5
8 p.m.
The Pub
Jesse Bartlett & Friends, Circle the Sun, Hobo Knife and more play to help support AYP!

Saturday
Bartic Dance Party- Free
9 p.m.
The Pub
Celibrate Bartic Man!

Senators Present

Daniel Strigle, Michael Mancill, Michael Golub, Sarah Walker, Michael Magnun, Ashley Strauch, Beth Steele, McKinley Zakurdaew, John Seiler, Ayla O’Scannell and Simon Ortega

Senators Absent

Mickey Wilson

Directors Present

Corey Boiko

Guests Present

Anne Williamson, former Senator Bobby Pendleton, former senator Robert Kinnard, President Emeritus Joe Hayes and former vice president Dillon Ball.

Ball stepped down from his position as vice president. Freitag then appointed  Ball  as a senator, which he accepted during the meeting. “I enjoyed my term as vice President. There were a lot of ups and downs but I really enjoyed the opportunity to represent the students in that manner. Thanks for the opportunity to serve,” Ball said.

Election results

The 2013 ASUAF election results were made official. Twenty ballots were found to be fraudulent and removed after students reported that their student ID numbers had been used without their permission to vote. After the reading of the winners, Zakurdaew said, “[Votes for] ‘Boners Boners Boners’ didn’t do as well as my numbers had initially projected.”

Summer senate

The senators on the summer senate committee are Seiler, Magnan, Zakurdaew, Steele, Strauch, Strigle and Mancill.

Senator of the Year

The senate named Michael Magnan ”Senator of the Year.” Zakurdaew said Magnan has been a tirelessly working senator all year. “He was on all 5 committees last semester, took over Student Affairs committee chair and has greatly improved ASUAF,” Zakurdaew said.

Quote of the Year

Ball’s comment from last semester was voted as the quote of the year. “Do we have enough money between the trust fund and the roll over to purchase a moon base? No? What about a really small moonbase?” The runner up was a quote from Freitag, “Thanks for champin’ up, you guys rock.”

SB 180-012 Pretty Pictures Update

The legislation would allocated, 700 to buy a maximum of 4 cameras for the UAF Library Media Desk. “The library only has one nice camera. All the rest are point and shoot and the lenses don’t even come off,” Golub said. Ball felt that the legislation had too many unanswered questions and the senate shouldn’t pass a large amount of money without being fully informed about the issue. The bill failed and will be renewed during the summer senate.

SB180-007 Summer Committee Funding

Ball and Zakurdaew sponsored the legislation, which would move $2,200 of senate project funds into the summer committee fund because there’s not enough time to research projects currently proposed. It passed.

SB 180-014: Combining the Vice President and Senate Chair Positions

The legislation would remove the position of senate chair and replace it with the Vice President position. There was opposition from Strigle and Steele, claiming that students should have more of a say in the removal of elected positions. Steele said, “We are the senate by the people for the people, not by the people who know better for the people.”

Hayes spoke in favor of the legislation, saying, “With the shared position you’ll have a natural connection [between the legislative and and executive branch.] There’s no knowledge gap, or information gap. This position hurts the senate in the way that’s it’s set up right now.”

Ball, Zakurdaew and Mancill said that they believed the senators should choose their own chair because there have been people that have taken the position that did not necessarily care about the legislative process.

Walker suggested that the legislation should be reread because there was so much confusion, people didn’t seem to understand that the Vice President position wasn’t actually being removed. The senate voted and the legislation did not pass.

SB 180-015 In which there is Commencement

Steele sponsored the legislation, which would allocate money to purchase fake mustaches for graduates during commencement fail. It was “fiscally irresponsible and ridiculous”, said Magnan, and the money could be better spent. The senate voted and the legislation did not pass.

SB108-016 In which there is Karaoke

Zakurdaew sponsored the legislation. The bill to use $3,500 to purchase a Karaoke machine for students to borrow. Zakurdaew talked to Heather Kraemer, the manager of the Pub, and she suggested a sturdy one that would be a good choice. Strigle supported the legislation saying, “Let students sing and make an ass of themselves, especially in the cold winter months. That sounds great.” Pendleton suggested that a pub worker could put the digital songs on the machine as digital songs last longer than CDs. Any group would be permitted to borrow the machine. Strauch recommended that the bill fail. “We just struck down a bill that cost less. The machine would only serve mostly on-campus residents and those over 21.” The senate voted and the legislation passed.

SB 180-003 Honoring Former Senator Kinnard

The legislation would enact the title of Senator Emeritus on Kinnard. Zakurdaew said that he respects Kinnard but thinks that Emeritus is a big title to give away after only one year after graduation.

Kinnard spoke and said that he believes in the power of education and works to bring veterans to UAF. However, he declined because he felt that there were other legislators better suited for the position. The senate voted and the legislation did not pass.

Free Brinner

O’Scannell reminded the senators that they were hosting and funding a late night breakfast in the Wood Center on Monday night from 8-11 PM.

Re-trespassed

April 25- Residence Life staff called the UAFPD to report a 20-year-old male student who had previously been trespassed from UAF residential facilities for alcohol and marijuana possession. The man was sleeping in the Moore-Bartlett-Skarland Complex lobby. An officer arrived and woke the man up. The man had bloodshot, watery eyes and an odor of alcohol on him. The student  said he did not drink any alcohol and he was just visiting. The man then changed his story, saying he was only there to get snacks and use the ATM machine. The officer arrested him for trespassing and searched him. He found a pipe that tested positive for THC and he also performed a preliminary breath test, the man blew a .071. He was transported to the Fairbanks Correctional Center and charged with trespassing, misconduct involving a controlled substance for the pipe and habitual minor consuming of alcohol.

Cooperation works miracles

April 26- A 21-year-old female driver drove the wrong way into the front MBS Complex lot. An officer contacted her and the 22-year-old female passenger. The officer smelled marijuana when he walked up to the vehicle. The people inside the vehicle gave him consent to search it. He found marijuana residue and three open containers of alcohol. They admitted to smoking the marijuana but said they were drinking. The officer referred them to Dean of Students Don Foley, for further action instead of citing them since they were not under the influence of alcohol and had been cooperative. The bottles were disposed of and the residue was confiscated by the officer.

Something smells skunky

April 27 – During the Theophilus London concert, an officer smelled marijuana coming from a vehicle in the Patty Center parking lot. There were five people in the vehicle, three men and two women. The 20-year-old female driver consented to a search of the vehicle and all of the passengers consented having the officer pat them down, admitting they had smoked a joint before arriving. A 20-year-old Fairbanks man was summonsed for the possession of a controlled substance. A 20-year-old Fairbanks woman was summonsed for drinking underage and a 19-year-old North Pole man was also summonsed for underage drinking. They were all trespassed from campus for six months, except the driver who was a student.

 Bike theft update

May 2- Police are continuing the investigation on the 21-year-old man living in MacLean responsible for the theft of several bicycles and bike parts since Feb. 27 of this year.

The man has pending charges for theft of each of the bikes and parts.

“We can refer multiple cases at the same time to the district attorney’s office,” said Officer Sam Beaudreault. “We’re still putting together the last couple.”

Other victims have now surfaced, including the owner of a red Trek high-end bike that was stripped to the frame on West Ridge.

“One victim we just identified yesterday after he brought in his bike frame and he goes ‘it’s been stripped, I hear you guys had parts,’” said Beaudreault.

Beaudreault and Investigator Steve Goetz are working on the case. The suspect also scraped the serial numbers off of the bicycles.

Police are currently looking for the owner of a Trek Model 3900 taken from the front of McIntosh Hall around the time of Spring Break. The bike appears to have originally been red and white. Police ask that the bike owner and anyone whose bike parts were stolen please go to the police station to pick them up. UAFPD has the bike, handlebars, seats, wheels and tires. The man is expected to be charged this week and his name will be released at the time the charges go through.

A month ago, when the Supreme Court was weighing in on the Defense of Marriage Act, my Facebook feed was awash in red and pink equal signs.  Depending on the political opinions of your online friends, yours probably was to.  Surveying my newsfeed last Saturday night, I saw one errant red equal sign left.

This is the age of empirical kids, said columnist David Brooks in a recent opinion piece for the New York Times.  Online activism, a feel-good but disengaged response, is just one of many results of the world we’ve grown up in.

We’re almost sure our immediate post-grad life is going to suck, if pop culture is any indication.  Brooks says it will “probably bear a depressing resemblance to Hannah Horvath’s world on ‘Girls.’”  And Macklemore’s hit ‘Thrift Shop’?  It’s “less a fashion statement, more a looming financial reality” Brooks said.

The last decade and a half of economic instability, war and tragedy have given us front row seats to failing efforts to fix things.  We’re not as idealistic.  We don’t like the system, but we’re wary of the alternatives.  Brooks calls us empirical kids, the only thing left post-hippie, yuppie and hipster.  We have a “tendency to dismiss other more ethical and idealistic vocabularies that seem fuzzy and, therefore, unreliable,” Brooks said.

I disagree.

So do Haley Cohen and Howard Dean who wrote a response to Brooks’ piece in the Huffington Post.  Instead of calling us empirical kids, they call us first globals, as in the first generation of kids to grow up in a global world.

Yes, we don’t have as much faith in governments and other institutions to effect change.  But this disillusionment hasn’t stopped today’s youth from trying to fix it, it’s just changed the way we go about it, the Huffington Post said.

Cohen and Dean say we’re the first generation to grow up thinking about shared fate.  Those of us that spent most of our lives completely immersed in today’s interconnected world are more focused than ever on what’s happening beyond our horizons.  The New York Times piece said we’re skeptical of the change institutions can effect.  I think that’s true, but it’s not holding us back from trying to fix things ourselves.

Take, for instance, Teach for America, the non-profit organization that recruits high-achieving college graduates to teach in low income schools around the U.S.  Between 2003 and 2011, the applicant base grew from 15,000 to 48,000.  Teach for America alumni are now bringing their own solutions and skills to inner city schools.

Even online activism, misguided though I feel it is, represents the urge to change something in a positive way.

Last weekend, the SpringFest service crew had one of the higher turnouts they’ve had in years, even though the temperatures on Friday morning were hovering around 20 degrees and a good portion of the trash volunteers were trying to pick up was actually frozen to the ground.

Does this sound like a generation deadened by “data analysis” and “opportunity costs”?  Not to me.

Local events, outhouse discussions, cage fights and zombies were among many of the diverse themes at this year’s UAF Film Festival at the Salisbury Theatre. The festival featured Alaskan made independent films, music and Fairbanks landscapes.

On Thursday night the UAF Film Club screened 17 short films. The duration of the films were from less than a minute to almost half an hour. The films covered genres such as documentaries, music videos, mockumentaries, narratives, T.V. series and cooking shows. Three interludes featured local filmmakers discussing current and future projects and encouraging community support through funding and production assistance.

Film student Shawn Weixelman, creator of the Alaskan independent Sci-Fi series CrossOver, developed the T.V. series from his 2007 self-published comic book. Along with filming in the Museum of the North, Weixelman told the festival audience that filming for the series’ pilot will also occur in Homer because of its architectural diversity. The story follows a planet that has stopped rotating creating cultures that live in perpetual light or darkness.

Documentaries at the festival featured local events and lifestyles. “Dry,” produced by Rebecca File and KSUA Media group, featured the dry cabin life of Fairbanks complete with outhouse footage. Nannette Pierson’s mini-series “For Free in Fairbanks 2012,” went around Fairbanks to free events, like music festivals and free swap markets, while taking a shopping tour at the “transfer mall,” or the local transfer sites. The Fairbanks’ Athabaskan Fiddle Festival was represented in Sarah Betcher’s “Tradition in Tune.”

Music was a major component of all of the films. Most soundtracks were self-composed and performed as per submission guidelines, though third party music was allowed with rights obtained. Music videos also made the screen with KSUA Media Group’s submission “The Black and Wretched Blue” featuring artist Emma Hill with accompaniment by Bryan Daste. The music video was filmed as part of the KSUA Takeout Sessions.

Aaron Gordon’s music video “Hannah Banana” won third place for audience choice award. The video had the audience laughing and clapping to the beat of techno hip hop song to lyrics like “feeling down and need your frown turned ’round? Eat a banana!” Gordon wrote the song and made the video as a Christmas present for his cousin, he said. Gordon is a UAF film student and emceed the event.

Benjamin Ghalami’s narrative film “The Prettiest Girl in Town,” was the longest film submitted and won second place for audience choice. A kidnapping of the prettiest girl in town tears apart two lovers in the mafia story. The lead character has to find his way through a maze of thugs and prostitutes in search of his kidnapped lover.

The winner of the audience choice “Humans Vs. Zombies” submitted by Jay Byam, mockumented the recent Humans Vs. Zombies game played on campus. Narrated by one of the last few humans, a tragic love story unfolds as the narrator’s new fiancé is taken by the zombies. The culmination of the drama came when he had to save his own life and shoot his poor zombie love with a Nerf gun. The roughly seven and a half minute film included slow motion zombie attacks and narrow escape scenes.

Other films entered were narrative film “UAF Quest for the Source of Heat and Power” submitted by Trish Winners. Gonzo Gonzales submitted two films, documentary “Life in a Cage” and outdoor fishing show “Minto.” Short trailers submitted were Naaqtuuq Dommek’s “Blue Bead Trailer” and James Martinez’s “Fool’s Paradise Trailer.” “CrossOver Interviews” and “Frozen” by Shawn Weixelman featured the Sci-Fi CrossOver series. Leah and Lena’s cooking show “Buttered Herb Potatoes” was submitted by Yelena Petkova and Marcus Mooers of Frostbite Films submitted narrative film “The Business.”

Along with many prize giveaways, beach balls in the crowd and balloons falling from the ceiling, interlude and closing speakers encouraged audience members to get involved with local film productions. Many of the ongoing projects are still seeking production crew members and actors. Contact the UAF Film Club for more information on how to get involved or to learn more about summer training programs the Film Department offers.