By Molly Dischner

Sun Star Reporter

Monday night, former KUAC-er Libby Casey talked about her experiences in Washington D.C. as Alaska Public Radio Network’s Washington Correspondent in Schaible Auditorium.

Casey interspersed soundbites from people in the capital city with her own anecdotes about life there. Her talk was presented by Summer Sessions as part of their summer lecture series.

Life in the city, Casey said, was a whirlwind – especially at first. “It sometimes feels like a never ending episode of friends,” she said. The news business was also hectic. Days after Casey arrived in Washington, Ted Stevens was indicted. And when she made her first trip back to Alaska, Sarah Palin was tapped as John McCain’s running mate. (Casey was somewhere over the Midwest when the announcement was made.)

Because she was knowledgeable about Alaskan politics, Casey said she appeared on various TV shows to talk about Stevens, Palin and other Alaskan issues. Her first appearances were learning experiences, she said.

“When I look back at the footage, I look like a deer in headlights.”

Two years later, her opinion is no longer as coveted. “The networks don’t call so much anymore,” she said, adding that sometimes they’ll ask her about Palin family gossip. She usually turns those requests down. “I have nothing of substance to share,” she said.

Casey’s soundbites featured man-on-the-street style interviews as well as questions posed to Alaska’s delegation, other senators, and reporters based in Washington. She used them to articulate “Alaska: The View from Washington” as her lecture was titled.

In one clip, she asked someone what they thought of when she said Alaska. Her interviewee mentioned wildlife. “Do you think of Sarah Palin?” she asked. “No…she’s from there, right?” That clip was met with laughter and applause. Most of the other interviewees had heard of Palin. None knew who Sean Parnell is.

During the question-and-answer period, a UAF researcher asked how the university is perceived in Washington D.C. Casey said that people who were interested in research were aware of the university, but that overall, the arctic isn’t getting as much play in America as it is in other countries.

By Molly Dischner

Sun Star Reporter

Funding for UAF’s proposed life sciences building is closer than ever before, but the university won’t know if it is a go until November.

On June 21, Gov. Sean Parnell signed a general obligation bond to support mostly education-related construction projects. If voters approve the bond on Nov. 2, UAF will have funding for a much-anticipated life sciences building.

Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Fairbanks, said he thought the bonds would be approved, but that it would take some work educating people how important the buildings are. Fortunately, he said, communities all across the state have buildings at stake, making them more likely to support the measure.

“I think it stands a pretty good chance of passing,” he said.

If passed, the bond allocates $88,000,000 for UAF’s life sciences building and about $397,200,000 total for projects around the state, including a new sports facility at UAA.

The Life Sciences building would fill a need for research and teaching space that has been in limbo for almost a decade. UAF Public Information Officer Marmian Grimes said the need for such a space was identified in 2001. The building as it is currently proposed is a more recent design.

“We really need that building on the university campus,” Kelly said, adding that the lack of good labs was embarrassing.

Groups related to the university are in the planning phase for the education efforts that Kelly said would be needed.

Incoming ASUAF President Nicole Carvajal said that ASUAF will work with the Coalition of Student Leaders, a statewide entity, to advocate for the bond to pass.

The university itself can’t directly advocate for ballot measures because of state laws, said Kate Ripley, the university’s public affairs director.  But the University of Alaska Foundation has donated money to a group called the Alaska Education Alliance. The alliance will advocate for the measure this fall, although the details are still in the works. The Board of Regents also passed a motion in support of the bonds at their June meeting.

Funding for some of the proposed projects was a contentious issue long before the bill reached the floor. Kelly, an early supporter of the project, said bond-funding wasn’t ideal. “It wasn’t my first choice as a method of funding,” he said.

Kelly said he initially wanted general fund dollars spent on the building.

“Our first efforts were toward getting a significant start on it with state general fund funding,” Kelly said. But in the legislature, there was a preference to fund the building via general obligation bonds, Kelly said.

According to state records, once the bill proposing bond funding for both hit the floor, it took less than a month to pass through Alaska’s legislature. House Bill 424 was introduced to the house on April 7. On April 13, it was in the senate’s hands. By April 18, both bodies had approved a version they both agreed on.

In total, the bill would bond $207,000,000 for University of Alaska projects. The other university projects are the sports arena at UAA, student housing and a technical education center at Kenai Peninsula Community College, an art and learning center at UAA’s Mat-Su campus, and renovation at Prince William Sound Community College.

The bond would also fund other projects around the state including work on the state archives, construction of at three K-12 schools in rural areas, a fish and game research facility, and an aquatics center at Mt. Edgecumbe. The total for non-UA projects is about $190,200,000.

First the ballot measure must pass. Then comes the part Kelly is excited for.

“I really look forward to seeing the hard hats on the ground,” he said.

By Jeremia Schrock

Sun Star Reporter

As UAF’s MAYmester came to a close, a group of self-proclaimed concerned citizens met at the College Coffee House to discuss energy issues facing residents of Alaska’s interior. Those in attendance were primarily UAF students already involved in the environmental movement in one way or another. The coalition that grew out of that meeting has since come to be known as Interior Energy Issues (IEI).

Karlan Bachmann, a non-degree seeking student who also works for REDOIL, a Cordova-based grassroots initiative whose primary aim is halting environmental destruction on native lands, is also an organizer for the IEI. Bachmann, who worked with Google Rio Tinto founder Nanae Ito during this past spring semester, is also a member of the local activist band Good Daze, and stressed during the organization’s first meeting that the group is not just one of protest, but also of education. “Not just, ‘Oh, we hate BP.’ Even though most of you probably do,” Bachmann added jokingly.

Since the organization’s first meeting last month, they have held a street-corner information rally, a showing of the documentary “The True Cost of Oil,” and they have operated educational booths at both the Fairbanks Folk Festival and the Midnight Sun Festival.  The group is also currently holding a “Styrofoam drive” to encourage local restaurants to switch to a biodegradable product instead.

The organization also held a “Letter to the Editor Writing Party” on June 28th, which was directed at GVEA in order to show demand for cheaper, cleaner power for their homes.  Co-hosting the event with the IEI was UAF Beyond Coal president Christiana Wright and two community organizers of the Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Amy Snider and Siri Simons.

Snider is also the IEI’s unofficial public relations officer and a UAF senior majoring in environmental policy and natural resource management. When asked about the number of environmental groups involved with the IEI, Snider wrote that, “there are many groups and volunteers involved. Working together. That is how we get things done.”

ASUAF elections are Wednesday and Thursday. Polls will be open in a variety of locations, including the Wood Center. Here’s a brief look at each of the candidates.

President/Vice President

My name is Arthur Martin and I’m running for ASUAF president along with Sara Cunningham as vice president on the platform of an active, open, and accountable government. I have been a senator for the last three years. I have been an Internal Affairs Committee chairman and am currently an Executive Committee chairman and a parliamentarian for the ASUAF senate. I feel that if the students on campus pay a fee to an organization, they should know what that organization is doing and where that money is going.

By Andrew Sheeler
Sun Star Reporter

The University of Alaska Board of Regents met in Dillingham on April 15 and 16. In addition to some housekeeping issues, the regents also discussed, for the first time, outgoing President Mark Hamilton’s proposal to increase tuition rates. Hamilton has recommended a 10 percent increase for school year 2011-0212 and a 12 percent increase for 2012-2013.

Emotions are running hot about the tuition increase. Several dozen sign-carrying UAA students protested the tuition hike last Thursday in Anchorage. Nicole Carvajal, ASUAF’s government relations director, has said there will be a similar protest at UAF this week.

By Andrew Sheeler
Sun Star Reporter

On March 30, President Barack Obama signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 into law. Most of the attention the bill has received has been focused on its health care provisions. But the new law also contains some changes in how student loans are administered. Those changes could ultimately make more money available to students.

By Andrew Sheeler
Sun Star Reporter

Governor Sean Parnell wants the legislature to pass his merit-based scholarship bill, and he’s willing to call a special session if lawmakers don’t vote on it in the few remaining days before the April 18 session termination.

“I am perfectly willing to stay as long as it takes,” Parnell said. He went on to say that he remains optimistic that the bill (HB 297) will pass before the end of the session. Alaskan lawmakers are more doubtful of that prospect.

By Reba Lean
Sun Star Reporter

An athletic department request for $260,000 to help cover athletic teams’ travel expenses made it into the Board of Regent’s budget this year, and then went no further. Its next stop would have been the governor’s proposed budget to the legislature, but the request was not picked up by the governor.

The $260,000 request was only meant as a last resort. Athletic Director Forrest Karr admitted that he “was hoping, but not expecting,” that it would make it to the legislature. UA Spokeswoman Kate Ripley says that since the request didn’t make it into the governor’s proposal, “the university has had little to no opportunity to talk to legislators about it.”

By Jessica Hoffman
Sun Star Reporter

ASUAF President Todd Vorisek sent out the proposed budget for 2010-2011 via the ASUAF list-serve last Monday. The budget is currently in executive committee and has not been voted on by the full senate.

Among the major changes Vorisek bulleted in his e-mail were new and changed jobs, an increase in pay for student jobs and Club Council improvements.

One of the most expensive additions is the creation of a graduate student affairs director. Vorisek’s budget had allocated enough to pay for an $18 per hour, 20-hour per week graduate student position for the full academic year. Senate Chair Ryan Duffy said the pay rate for the position was cut almost in half to $10 an hour, but Vorisek said he had talked to senators and thought they were planning to change it back to $18. Vorisek said it would be difficult to find a graduate student who was willing to work for just $10.

By Amy Hundertmark
Special to the Sun Star

As all political science majors know, in order to graduate we must write a senior thesis or participate in the Legislative Internship. Opportunities like the UA Legislative Internship are few and far between so I decided that I should use this chance to learn firsthand how Alaska’s government works.

I knew that I wanted to work in Rep. David Guttenberg’s office. I had always heard good things about him as a politician and a person. University funding is a huge concern for me and since Rep.Guttenberg, D-Fairbanks, represents District 8 (which includes the university) I knew that he would be working to ensure the university’s future. After an initial phone interview with the representative, I spoke with his aides, Meredith Cameron and Chris Birdsall (both UAF alumni), and accepted the offer to work in their office.