The Sun StarVolume XXX Number 22

March 22, 2011

StaffEDITOR IN CHIEF

Andrew Sheelereditor@uafsunstar.com

(907) 474-5078

LAYOUT EDITORHeather Bryant

layout@uafsunstar.com(907) 474-6039

COPY EDITORRebecca Coleman

MULTIMEDIA EDITORJeremy Smith

web@uafsunstar.com

AD MANAGERAlex Kinn

fyads@uaf.edu(907) 474-7540

DISTRIBUTION MANAGERDaniel Thoman

distribution@uafsunstar.com

ASSISTANT DISTRIBUTION MANAGER

Ben Deering

REPORTERSAlyssa DunehewKelsey Gobroski

Elika RoohiAmber Sandlin

Jeremia Schrock

COLUMNISTSJR Ancheta

Jamie HazlettJeremia Schrock

PHOTOGRAPHERSJR AnchetaDillon Ball

ADVISORLynne Snifka

2 In This IssueMarch 22, 2011 The Sun Star

The Sun Star’s mission is to provide a voice for the UAF

campus and be a written record where news, people’s

opinions, and events (whether extraordinary or

ordinary) are expressed honestly and fairly.

Ian Pearce uses a chisel on a scultpture of a seahorse. Pearce was glad to have an opportunity to learn how to sculpture. “This can make or break getting a job. Not a lot of people can do this,” Pearce said. March 16, 2011. Heather Bryant/Sun Star

Perspectives

West Ridge

This Week

EDITORIAL OFFICES101G Wood Center

P.O. Box 756640Fairbanks, AK 99775Tel: (907) 474-6039

Ads Dept: (907) 474-7540Fax: (907) 474-5508

www.uafsunstar.com

3

5

Alaska tops 700,000 people in the news briefs and crime doesn’t leave campus for Spring Break.

Are sea butterflies in Svalbard the canary in the coalmine? Plus, a dinosaur discovery

headlines the science briefs.

In the wake of the earthquake in Japan, Weekend Wanderlust takes on dark tourism. Random Errors

talks about the challenge of shipping to Alaska.

Politics 4ASUAF has their first post-Spring Break meeting and this week’s Nookraker.

Editorial 15A Sun Star spring cleaning has unearthed some fascinating historical tidbits.

NewsThe weekend in Fairbanks goes to the dogs and firefighters and storm troopers come

together to raise money for cancer.6

11

SportsNanooks go to nationals. 10

OnlineElika blogs all the way from Ecuador and This Week In Music brings the Aerosmith love.

Campus LifeCulinary arts students slice and dice some ice and UAF is set to get an Outdoor Education Center 8

Check out the award win-ning Sun Star website for our calendar. Its packed with all the event info you need to know.

Hot sheetsIn front of Skarland Hall on Thursday,

March 10, an officer noticed a 2002 Chevy Tahoe matching the plates and description of a stolen vehicle reported by the Fairbanks Police Department. The SUV’s owner was located and their vehicle returned. Every day the UAF Police print off papers called “hot sheets” that give a plate number and description known stolen vehicles.

3This Week www.uafsunstar.com March 22, 2011

Amber SandlinSun Star Reporter

Police academy hijinks

News BriefsCompiled by Amber SandlinSun Star Reporter

Temporary spending deal to be voted on

The House voted to approve a stopgap

spending bill on Tuesday, March 15. The

bill would fund the federal government for

another three weeks. Although both political

parties are arguing about a new budget, the

House is set to vote Tuesday March 22, on

the newest stop-gap proposal. This would

fund the government for and additional three

weeks while cutting another $6 billion from

the budget. If tension keeps building and

neither side comes to an agreement, it could

derail efforts to keep the government funded.

A government shutdown would halt the flow

of money to federal agencies.- LA Times

Japanese companies hid nuclear problems

On Thursday, March 17, news that the

Japanese power companies potentially knew

the reactors were unstable was released. Five

TEPCO executives resigned in 2002 over

suspected falsification of nuclear plant safety

records, and five reactors were forced to stop

operations. Leaks of radioactive steam and

workers contaminated with radiation are just

part of the disturbing catalogue of accidents

that have occurred over the years and been

belatedly reported to the public, if at all.- The Associated Press

All persons referred to in the blotter are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

- Anchorage Daily News

Not in my Cache you don’tA 20-year-old man stole a Pepsi from

the Campus Cache on Thursday, March 10. When an employee confronted the man, he claimed to have bought it in the vending machines. Police were called and when the officer arrived, he observed the surveillance tapes. The alleged thief stuck to his story even though vending machines in MBS are Coca-Cola products. The officer made him pay for the drink and apologize to the workers. The man was banned from the Cache for one year.

Alaska Legislature considers banning ‘robocalls’

Automated phone calls, nicknamed

“robocalls,” are often used in political cam-

paigns. They would be banned under a pro-

posal being considered by an Alaska Senate

committee. Senate Majority Leader Kevin

Meyer, R-Anchorage, claims thousands of

unsolicited calls were made to Alaskans in

last fall’s elections. Meyer said with social

networking and e-mail, invading someone’s

privacy in their home is not necessary. The

bill also would ban automated calls offering

goods or services for sale, soliciting informa-

tion or gathering data.

Q: I am worried my roommate may have an eating disorder. What should I do?

A: Having an eating disorder (ED) is a scary, dangerous thing. It can lead to depression and even suicide. If you know someone who you suspect might have one (you notice drastic changes in eating habits, she starts to become more private, etc) do not assume that it’s just a phase and she’ll get over it. If caught early, EDs are easier to treat.

DON’T: Make accusations. She’ll feel personally attacked and won’t want to listen to what you have to say. So don’t say things like “You never eat!”, focus more on how her behavior is affecting your relationship: “You never go out with us anymore, we miss you.”

DO: Prepare to be rejected. Girls with EDs will not usually acknowledge that they have one or admit to anyone else that they do. She may reject your help initially.

DON’T: Give up on her. Let her know that you genuinely care about her and her well-being and she may eventually start to open up. An ED is not a choice. It goes much deeper than just wanting to be thin. Those af-fected by an ED will have low self-confidence, self-worth, and a severely distorted body image that “just starting to eat” will not fix.

DON’T: Forget to look at your own habits. Think about how often you talk about other girls’ or celebrities’ bodies, or if you complain about gaining a pound or two and “being fat.”

Sponsored by UAF Center for Health and CounselingFor additional information, contact the

Center for Health and Counseling at 474-7043 or visit our Web site at www.uaf.edu/chc

Division of Student Services

Say “Ah”Donna Patrick, ANP

On Monday, March 7, a UAF employee witnessed a police academy car hit another car then drive off. The 28-year-old academy student was witnessed on camera out-side MBS leaving the scene of an accident without providing information and driving under a revoked license. The suspect, driving a police academy car, was not dif-ficult to track down. The police academy is a 13-week program that has very high stan-dards, one of them being, “Must possess a valid Alaska Driver’s License.”

University-friendly clothing & accessories

Visit us on

Search KG KATE

Many minorsAn officer pulled a car over for swerving

on Saturday, March 12 and found a 15-year-old girl driving the car drunk, on her permit, with three passengers. One passenger, a 24-year-old man with an outstanding war-rant, gave the officer a false name, fled and was captured. Another passenger, a 14-year-old boy, had marijuana and claimed to have given the passengers alcohol. The minors were released to their guardians, and the man was arrested.Shower time

The Wood Center was closing for the evening on Sunday, March 13, when Wood Center employees discovered a man and his visiting girlfriend in the showers. The couple refused to leave when asked, so employees contacted UAF Police. When the officer ar-rived, the man was hostile but agreed to leave. Both the man and woman have been banned from UAF.

Alaska population tops 700,000According to the 2010 United States

Census, Alaska’s population has risen to

more than 700,000 people. This marks an in-

crease of roughly 80,000 people in a 10-year

period. The Fairbanks North Star Borough

population now stands at slightly less than

100,000.- The United States Census Bureau

4 The Sun StarMarch 22, 2011 Politics

Nookraker

Jeremia SchrockSun Star Reporter

The political life

ASUAF Weekly UpdateJeremia SchrockSun Star Reporter

Jeremia gives his opinion on university, state and national issues in the Nookraker: a weekly political column which tackles issues relevant to Nanooks both at home and abroad.

Present Josh Cooper, Ean Pfeiffer, Ryan Duffy,

Tachit Chairat, John Netardus, Chelsea Holt,

Jennifer Chambers, Arthur Martin, Robert

Kinnard III, Jesse Cervin, Mary Strehl, Paul

Pharr.

Elections boardVice President Mari Freitag has re-

signed as Elections Board chair in order to

run in this April’s election. Freitag will be

running for ASUAF president. Sen. Robert

Kinnard III was confirmed at Freitag’s re-

placement. Ashton Compton and Yuzhun

Evanoff were nominated to the Elections

Board. The board has the power to amend

the elections manual and is a “pretty impor-

tant function of ASUAF,” according to Sen.

Ryan Duffy. The nominations have been

tabled for a week pending the candidates

acceptance of their nominations.

Senate chambers a messSen. John Netardus said that it was his

opinion that the senate chambers needs to

be cleaned up. He cited students who had

came into the chambers and remarked on

the general state of its untidiness.

Retreat now paintball tournamentThe Internal Affairs Committee decided

to allocate money from contingency to hold

a paintball tournament instead of the tradi-

tional retreat.

Earth day legislation missingSB 175-022: Earth Day. This bill would

allocate $250 to the Sustainable Campus

Task Force for them to host an Earth Day

event on April 22. Sen. Jennifer Chambers

believes that the bill may still be in the Uni-

versity Relations Committee, but added that

there was no record of it having been voted

on.

Gerrymandering documentarySB 176-014: Gerrymandering Docu-

mentary. This bill would allocate $205 to

purchase and show a film concerning gerry-

mandering, the restructuring of voting dis-

tricts. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Robert

Kinnard III. Sen. Jennifer Chambers wants

to table the bill for a week, saying that even

though the fiscal impact is not very much,

she wants to make sure that student money

is well spent. The bill was sent to the Student

Affairs Committee.

Senators of the year SB 176-015: ASUAF Senators of the

Year. This bill was sponsored by Sen. Arthur

Martin and would set up an award to annu-

ally provide three senators with a $25 gift

card to Amazon.com. Martin believes that

this will encourage senators to be proactive.

Promoting ASUAFTwo bills were in discussion con-

cerning the promotion of ASUAF. SB 176-

016: ASUAF Bling (sponsored by Sen. Arthur

Martin) would allot money to promote

ASUAF during both the spring elections and

during SpringFest. It was sent to the Public

Relations Committee. The second bill was

SB 176-003: Masquerade Ball Redux (spon-

sored by Sen. Jennifer Chambers) would al-

locate $750 for ASUAF to hold a masquerade

ball. Sen. Mary Strehl stated that she “would

feel very uncomfortable” with strangers

wearing masks and Sen. Paul Pharr added

that such events are “irrelevant” to pro-

moting ASUAF and would only provide

students with a “chance to grind with each

other.” The bill was sent to the Public Rela-

tions Committee.

Troop support legislationSB 176-017: Operation Troop Support

was sponsored by Sen. Arthur Martin and

would provide $2,500 in order to send care

packages to US soldiers abroad and would

fly up Keni Thomas, an ex-Army Ranger who

is now a motivational speaker. The bill was

sent to Executive Committee.

Rise Board resolutionSR 176-003: RISE Board Accountability

Directive was sponsored by Sen. Arthur

Martin and would halt the organizations

SRC solar panel project. Martin further

stated that the project was a “gross misal-

location of the student sustainability fee.”

Duffy said that the senate did not have the

authority to stop the project, but added that

the resolution could be amended to repre-

sent the senate’s opinion. The bill was sent

to Executive Committee.

Bill alterationSR 176-002: Amendability of Legisla-

tion Purpose was sponsored by Sen. Jen-

nifer Chambers and would amend the rules

of procedure in order to prevent a bill’s pur-

pose from being altered on the senate floor.

After a lengthy debate, the bill passed by a

vote of 6-4-1.

March 20, 2011 Meeting in the Alumni

Lounge. ASUAF did not meet last week due

to spring break.

It’s easy to assume that once a po-

litical campaign season ends, whether it

be for a local or national election, that the

politicking ceases right along with it. As the

cliché goes, however, to assume will make

a you-know-what out of “u” and “me.”

“Politics affects everything, and our

government was set up with the express

intention of having people participate in

the decision making process,” James Shew-

make said. Shewmake, a master’s student

in natural resource management, is also

co-founder of the UAF Campus Democrats.

He established the group toward the end of

the 2010 campaign season with the express

intent of getting more students involved

with political activism.

For Shewmake, the club is about en-

couraging participation and activism in

politics. “Political parties and democratic

forms of government are only as effective

as the people who are involved,” Shewmake

said. “Simply sitting back and criticizing

both parties while remaining apathetic re-

ally accomplishes nothing,” adding that a

group such as the UAF Campus Democrats

allows “young people” the opportunity to

become involved. Shewmake also said that

joining such organizations gives students

the chance to become better acquainted

with both local and state officials and helps

them to better understand what goes on

behind the scenes during a political cam-

paign.

Ashley Briggs, an undergraduate in

broadcast journalism, produces Fairbanks

Focus: Alaska View, a weekly round-table

program hosted by former Borough Mayor

Jim Whitaker. Briggs said that prior to be-

coming involved with the program she

felt “out of the loop on anything current.”

Hosting the show has given her the oppor-

tunity to become better informed.

“Anytime someone brings up some-

thing about a bill being discussed or any

kind of new legislation, that is always new

to me,” Briggs said. “[It’s] something I

wouldn’t know about without the round

table.” Briggs added that she rarely takes

sides in political debates and, in spite of

role as producer of a political talk show, has

never really been into politics.

ASUAF Vice President Mari Freitag

feels just the opposite. “I love following

politics!” she said in an email. Freitag, a

political science major, said that even if

she hadn’t been elected vice president of

the student government, she would still

have been just as politically aware as she is

now. She stated that she ran for the VP slot

after her friend Nikki Carvajal (the current

ASUAF President) asked her to be her run-

ning mate. She ran with Carvajal because

she felt that being VP would be a “good

challenge.”

After she and Carvajal won the election

in a landslide, Freitag began to see just how

much of a challenge her new role would

become. “This job has taught me how to

deal with people more than anything. It’s

showed me that I can’t make everyone

happy and that I need to be ok with that.”

Freitag added that her tenure as VP has

better exposed her to the inner workings of

the university system which she says helps

her better explain issues to students.

Keeping all this in mind, the political

life of UAF is alive and well. Not just be-

cause student government elections are

around the corner (this April), but because

for several students, politics is infused di-

rectly into life.

Have questions or comments for the Nookraker?

Email them to:editor@uafsunstar.com

warmer waters. Lischka plans to compare how they deal with winters. The newcomer might not have enough fat storage for long winters. This ties into Doubleday’s studies: a focus on the baseline.

Ocean acidification hits the Arctic faster and harder because cold water absorbs more carbon dioxide. UAF’s Ocean Acidifi-cation Research Center, founded in the fall of 2010, works toward becoming a resource on Alaska’s changing oceans.

With Hopcroft and Doubleday, UAF is beginning to establish baselines for ocean ecosystems, but the university also closely tracks ocean acidification’s effects through Mathis and his students.

“We know the potential; we don’t know the outcome,” Hopcroft said.

5West Ridge Report www.uafsunstar.com March 22, 2011

Science BriefsCompiled by Kelsey GobroskiSun Star Reporter

Angolan dinosaur discoveredScientists in the central African country

of Angola discovered fossilized pieces of a 90

million-year-old new dinosaur species, ac-

cording to a paper published March 16. This

dinosaur, Angolatitan adamastor, was found

in an area that would have been underwater

back then. It may have been washed to sea

and killed by sharks, the scientists said, be-

cause they found shark teeth and fish remains

with the fossil. The dinosaur was among the

largest to walk the earth. The scientists un-

earthed the fossil in 2005 as part of a collab-

orative project to Angola, PaleoAngola, after

decades of the country being closed because

of civil war. The fighting didn’t end until 2002,

and discovery of oil led to interest in the area.

Despite dangers of land mines in the past, the

team said they were safe when visiting.

- Mail Online

- Wall Street Journal

Agriculture meets ecologyThe United Nations (U.N.) released a

report on the state of global food production

March 8. The primary investigator, Olivier

De Schutter, addressed the concept of peak

oil, or the idea that oil will reach a maximum

rate of extraction. Agriculture needs to be less

based in oil, he said. Oil prices have soared

from turmoil in the Middle East, and this will

lead to higher food prices, Abdolreza Ab-

bassian said, the senior economist of the U.N.

Food and Agriculture Organization. Food

production will need to rise by 70 percent be-

fore 2050 to keep up with demand. Last cen-

tury, this was solved through new methods

of production such as genetically modifying

crops in the “Green Revolution.” The report

suggests that this is not the way forward, but

instead farmers should implement “agro-

ecology,” by relying on ecosystems and ben-

efiting organisms to control problems, rather

than chemical supplements. The process is

cheaper and increased yield 80 percent in 57

developing countries.

The sea butterfly effect

Kelsey GobroskiSun Star Reporter

When you catch a fever, a few degrees can be the difference between life and death. The oceans are the same way: a few more hydrogen ions and a slightly higher temperature can have catastrophic conse-quences. UAF is waking up to the reality of changing oceans alongside the rest of the world, resulting in local research and guest lecturers. German oceanographer Silke Lischka talked about her ocean research at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, an arctic archipelago, in the Vera Alexander Learning Center on March 11.

Lischka works at the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences in Kiel, Germany. She traveled to Svalbard to study the impacts of global ocean changes on the sea butterfly, a type of shelled plankton in the pteropod group. The Arctic will be among the first areas to feel the effects of a phenomenon called ocean acidification, which led to the recent establishment of the Ocean Acidi-fication Research Center on West Ridge at UAF.

“It’s a busy time in the Arctic, I would say,” said Bodil Bluhm of the School of Fish-eries and Ocean Sciences (SFOS).

Ocean acidification doesn’t mean the ocean becomes acidic, but gets less basic, or alkaline, on a 1 to 14 pH scale. Battery acid has a low pH. Bleach, a basic substance, has a higher pH. Normally seawater hovers around a pH of 8.2, but dropped to 8.1 since the Industrial Revolution, according to the European Project on Ocean Acidification. This might not seem like much, but pH is logarithmic. That decrease leads to a 26 percent increase in hydrogen ions floating around.

Oceans suck up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide reacts with seawater in two ways: making oceans drop in pH and locking carbonate used in pteropod, or sea butterfly, shells.

Although Lischka regularly looks at copepods, tiny shrimp-shaped plankton, her boss needed someone for a pteropod project in Svalbard in 2009. Lischka, who based her doctoral research there, took the opportunity.

Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago east of Greenland. The international re-search settlement Ny-Ålesund is embedded on a fjord on the warmer western coast of Svalbard. Lischka and her colleagues caught specimens of the sea butterfly Limacina he-licina, plopped them in seawater of different

temperatures and pH levels, and watched what happened after 29 days, she said.

Sea butterflies look like tiny black dots in a glass of seawater, Lischka said. These snail-like plankton flutter up the water column with two wing-like feet, their coor-dination a little uneven under the weight of a cumbersome calcium carbonate snail shell.

These dots are food to fish, which in turn are eaten by birds, sea lions, and orcas. Lischka studies whether sea butterflies, and thus the oceans’ food chains, are in danger in this rapidly changing world. This study makes pteropods the poster children for ocean acidification, much as the plight of the polar bear displays the effects of sea ice retreat.

The oceans are also warming, and Lischka compared the effects of changing temperatures with changing pH. Lischka studied how much pteropod shells grew and how much their shells dissolved. She found carbon dioxide had more of an effect than temperature on pockmarking the shells with holes, but rising temperatures raised death rates.

Although ocean acidification is observ-able, and pH changes affect sea butterflies, it’s hard to know the end result of a changing ocean on pteropods. Russell Hopcroft, of SFOS, studies plankton communities. He worked with Global Ocean Ecosystem Dy-namics (GLOBEC), which studied the pos-sible effects of climate change on marine ecosystems.

To study effects, you need to know where you started. This is called a base-line, and scientists are still working on one for pteropods and a lot of other ocean dynamics. GLOBEC worked on finding a baseline, as will UAF graduate student Ayla Doubleday. Doubleday will culture and study pteropods and larvaceans, another type of plankton.

Lischka’s results were based in experi-mentation. Even if the oceans become the same pH as the experiments, the changes

will not be immediate.Think of an animal that migrated to

Alaska from farther south, such as beavers, Hopcroft said. Over time, they adjusted to the cold, but if you took a southern beaver and let it loose at the northern extent of beaver territory, it would have trouble ac-climating. Lischka’s studies are a worst-case scenario -- a world where pteropods can’t adjust in the time it takes for oceans to change.

“We know the potential of what ocean acidification might do, but it’s very hard to disentangle what it’s actually doing,” Hop-croft said.

Next, Lischka plans to look at how ocean acidification might affect pteropods’ abilities to last through the winter. They need extra energy to survive the cold tem-peratures, but there isn’t much information on how much energy they need or how sus-ceptible they are to changes.

“I think as they are probably most vul-nerable to ocean acidification during winter we should know how they overwinter,” Lischka said. There is a new species of sea butterfly migrating to Svalbard with the

Distorted oceans could shatter ecosystems

We know the potential of what ocean acidification might do, but it’s very hard to

disentangle what it’s actually doing.- Russell Hopcroft

“”

6 The Sun StarMarch 22, 2011 News

4.6x7_SYK_Affordable_K.indd 2 2/2/11 9:53 AM

Good and evil set aside differences at St. Baldrick’s

Rebecca ColemanSun Star Reporter

Firefighters and storm troopers join forces to save lives

Ten fire departments, a band of storm

troopers, and many supportive community

members gathered together March 19 to

support children’s cancer research through

the St. Baldrick’s Foundation at Pioneer

Park. More than 120 people volunteered to

have their heads shaved by volunteers from

Elements and Dimensions salons after gath-

ering pledges. Throughout Alaska, nine St.

Baldrick’s events took place. About $25,600

was raised by the Fairbanks event.

Every year, the Fairbanks event is orga-

nized by the Fraternal Order of Leather-

head Society (FOOLS), said Justin Boddy,

the event coordinator. FOOLS is the collab-

oration of Fairbanks firefighters. In the past

six years, Fairbanks’ St. Baldrick’s has raised

more than $205,000.

The UAF Fire Department was well rep-

resented. About 15 members of the depart-

ment participated, according to firefighter

senior Josh Novinska. He said they raised

about $4,000 as a team. “It’s a fun opportu-

nity to raise money,” Novinska said. He has

taken part in St. Baldrick’s for the past five

years.

“It’s a tradition,” said firefighter sopho-

more Cameron McKay. “Firefighters help

people and this is a great opportunity to

help childhood cancer.” McKay has a few

family members who have passed away

from cancer. He said that they are a big

part of his motivation to shave his head at

St. Baldrick’s. “It’s a rare occurrence,” he

said about the frequency of his head being

shaved. “But it’s for a good cause.”

In addition to firefighters, there was

a group of storm troopers from the 501st

Legion, an international costume club that

depicts the bad guys from “Star Wars.” The

organization takes part in several charity

events every year. One of their members,

William Scott, 32, decided to donate his

mid-back-length hair to Locks of Love at this

year’s St. Baldrick’s. Scott came to his cur-

rent situation as a now-bald storm trooper

when he originally just wanted a storm

trooper suit. He found out about the 501st

Legion and thought that everything they did

for charity “sounded awesome.” As for his

hair, he had planned to cut it off at some

point when he heard about St. Baldrick’s

and that his landlord’s daughter was a

cancer survivor. He thought St. Baldrick’s

was a great cause, so he waited until the

event to say goodbye to his blond locks. He

and his team raised $2,000.

Many other people stepped up to shave

their heads in support of children’s cancer

research, including friends, community

members, and a handful of children. In ad-

dition to head shaving, there were many do-

nations to Locks of Love. One commentator

mentioned that this was the most Locks of

Love donations he had seen at a St. Bal-

drick’s event.

St. Baldrick’s originally began on St.

Patrick’s Day in 2000 as a challenge among a

few friends who pledged to raise “$17,000 by

the 17th,” according to their website. Since

then, St. Baldrick’s has raised more than

$95 million, becoming the world’s largest

volunteer-driven fundraising program for

childhood cancer research.

Major Mania & JOB FAIR!

Brought to you by the Division of General Studies, Career Services & the Academic Advising Center. For more information visit www.uaf.edu/advising/majormania or call 474-6396.

Friday, March 25, 2011 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Wood Center Main Level Discover the 160+ majors

and programs UAF offers Connect with faculty and

students from the majors that interest you most

Explore graduate school, internship, student job and career opportunities

7News www.uafsunstar.com March 22, 2011

Dogs tear it up at downtown race

Top: : Luke Sampson’s dog trips at the start the second day of the 66th Annual GCI Open North American Champion-ship in Fairbanks, Alaska on Saturday, March 19, 2011. The three-day sled dog sprint race has a cumulative distance of 70 miles held from March 18-20. JR Ancheta/Sun Star

Bottom Left: Bonus who is one -fourth pointer and three -fourths husky peers out from his kennel after running the first day at a 20-mile race during the 66th Annual GCI Open North American Championship in Fairbanks Alaska. The sled dog sprint race has a cumulative distance of 70 miles in three days. Bonus belongs to Jason Dunlap who placed fourth on Friday, March 18, 2011. JR Ancheta/ Sun Star

Bottom Right: Musher Egil Ellis, from Willow, Alaska, takes off with his team in the 66th Annual GCI Open North American Championship on Friday, March 18, 2011 in Fairbanks, Alaska. Ellis came in second place. Photo by Audrey Palacios

8 Campus LifeMarch 22, 2011 The Sun Star

Trading pots and pans for chisels and chainsawsCulinary arts students learn the craft of ice sculpture

Heather BryantSun Star Reporter

Come to UAF Ethics Bowl Informational Meeting

Where: Gruening RM 306

When: Every Tuesday 1:00—2:00

JOIN the FIRST UAF Ethics Bowl Competition!

Beef u

p

your

Resume

Interested

in law or

Graduate

School?

A Forum For Competing Minds

WINNERS represent UA at Northwest Regional Ethics

Bowl in Seattle

Email: uaf.socratic.society@gmail.com Call: (907) 687—7184

Culinary arts students took a break

from the kitchen to hone their ice-carving

skills on March 15 and 16.

On the first day of instruction, students

learned how to use chainsaws, chisels and

grinders. They practiced on small blocks of

ice to create a variety of shapes. Ice sculp-

tures can range from smaller, flat creations

that showcase a logo to much larger, three

dimensional creations. As the sculptor adds

depth and dimension the value of the sculp-

ture increases.

Nice event sculptures can go for as

much as $300, estimates Julio Martinez,

the workshop instructor. Martinez is from

Mexico and traveled to Alaska for the Ice Art

Championships. This workshop is his third

visit to Fairbanks.

“At least we got the opportunity to do

this. In our field this is a moneymaker. Not

a lot of people can do this,” Ian Pearce said.

Pearce is finishing his final semester of the

program, and is eager to add more skills to

his resume. He brought his daughter,

Madyson, 11, to join him at the workshop.

On the second day of carving, Pearce

and two other students worked on a series

of seahorses. The bigger blocks, measuring

approximately 40 inches tall and 20 inches

wide, are the size typically used for sculp-

tures that are displayed with food presenta-

tions at events.

Martinez appreciates the work that

goes into hand-sculpting a display. “Some

people use molds, but that’s not artistic,”

Martinez said.

“They have to know how to choose the

correct tool to create an effect,” Martinez

said. He spent the first day of the workshop

teaching the students what task each tool

is suited for. Chainsaws are best used to re-

move large sections of ice and for creating

gaps, such as between the spines along the

seahorses’ backs. Chisels are used to refine

those areas. Grinders are used for details

and lettering.

Ice sculpting is a valuable skill to have

in the food industry.

“This gives the students an opportu-

nity,” Luis Martinez [no relation]said. He is

the program assistant for the culinary arts

and hospitality program.

“For those who are able to and have the

time, this [workshop] gives them something

different and gets them out of the kitchen.”

The World Ice Art Championships pro-

vided the program with the perfect venue to

offer this special opportunity. Last year, they

held a smaller version of the workshop in

the classroom.

Student Kevin Macz is in his second

year of the culinary program. Macz attended

both days of the sculpting workshop. “It’s

fun, [I’ve] learned tons,” Macz said as he

chiseled away at the base of his seahorse.

Melissa Raimer found the whole expe-

rience to be fun. “I though it would be nice

to get out in the sun,” Raimer said. “I think

my second day is going better than my first.”

Raimer is in her second semester in the pro-

gram.

As each student chiseled away at their

sculptures, Pearce and Macz talked about

shopping lists and foods for an upcoming

event.

“It’s all we do is talk food,” Macz said.

Melissa Raimer uses a chainsaw under the direction of Julio Martinez. This is Raimer’s second day of carving. “I think my second day is going a lot better than my first.” Heather Bryant/Sun Star

Above: A sign directing people where they can take lessons in ice carving at the World Ice Art Championships in Fairbanks, Alaska. This year is the 22nd time the event has been held in Fairbanks. The month-long event draws more than 70 carving teams and approximately 45,000 visitors from all over the world. Heather Bryant/ Sun Star

9Campus Life www.uafsunstar.com March 22, 2011

Larry King, a Daily Showcorrespondent?

The Daily Show might be getting a new

correspondent. Larry King has been talking

to producers at the show about becoming a

regular contributor. He wouldn’t be around

for every show, such as Jon Oliver or Wyatt

Cenac. Instead, he would be the type of occa-

sional contributor that Lewis Black is. Those

who have never really thought of King as a co-

median might want to check out thecomedy

tour that he’s headlining this spring, and then

make up their minds about whether they

want him on the Daily Show or not.

Too much bacon to be kosherA chef in downtown Los Angeles is

serving matzo balls wrapped in bacon. Top

Chef Ilan Hall is famous for dishes that meld

Jewish and Scottish cuisine. A critic of Hall

calls his food “confrontational cooking.” But

Hall said it’s not for the sake of being offen-

sive. “Pork belly lends itself really well to

sweet cooking preparations.”

- NPR

- Hollywood.com

A & E BriefsCompiled by Elika RoohiSun Star Reporter

Whitewashing the ‘Hunger Games’ heroine

The popular young adult novel “The

Hunger Games” is coming to the big screen,

and there’s a lot of talk about who’s going

to play the lead role of Katniss Everdeen.

The casting call asked for a Caucasian actor

between the ages of 15 and 20, who could

portray someone “underfed but strong” and

“naturally pretty underneath her tomboy-

ishness.” The rumor mill is saying that Jen-

nifer Lawrence, a blonde-haired blue-eyed

20-year-old, is the definitive frontrunner for

the role. In the book, Everdeen is described

as having ‘olive skin and dark hair,’ a descrip-

tion that should have left the call open to

other ethnicities.

- Jezebel

Melissa Raimer uses a chainsaw under the direction of Julio Martinez. This is Raimer’s second day of carving. “I think my second day is going a lot better than my first.” Heather Bryant/Sun Star

Above: Keven Macz, uses a chisel to round the front of his seahorse sculpture. Macz participated in both of days of carving. March 16, 2011. Heather Bryant/Sun Star

Left: Instructor Luis M Martnez chisels away at a seashorse ice carving, Wednesday March 16, 2011. Students in the culinary arts program were offered the opportunity to take an ice carving class during the Ice Alaska World Ice Art Championships in Fairbanks, Alaska. Heather Bryant/Sun Star.

You can see the seahorse sculptures at the Ice Alaska World Ice Art Championships. The culinary arts sculptures are located in the multi-block section across from lot #604.

10 Campus LifeMarch 22, 2011 The Sun Star

Rifle takes sixth place at nationals

Six Nanook shooters voyaged to Co-

lumbus, Ga. March 11 and 12 for the NCAA

Rifle Championships. Senior Cody Rutter,

sophomores Aaron Holsopple and Cole

Bures, and freshmen Michael Liuzza and

Anna Hjelmevoll made up the five-member

Alaska team. Senior Ida Peterson repre-

sented Alaska as an individual for the small-

bore competition. Rutter led the Nanooks on

the first day of competition with his 580 score

in smallbore. On day two, Hjelmevoll’s 592 in

air rifle made her the only Nanook to make

it to a 10-shot final. She shot 102.2 in the

final and placed fourth of the eight shooters.

Alaska finished fifth in smallbore and sixth

in air rifle, giving them an overall sixth-place

finish.-Alaskananooks.com

Hockey season over after second round of playoffs

After defeating Michigan State in the first

round of the CCHA playoffs, the Nanooks

headed to Oxford, Ohio to face Miami for

round two, March 11 and 12. Two nights in

a row, Alaska took the first goal of the game,

but was shut down by the Red Hawks 4-1.

In Friday’s game, senior Bryant Molle tallied

the only goal for the Nanooks. In Saturday’s

game, that honor went to sophomore Chad

Gehon. Both nights, Miami doubled Alaska’s

shots on goal: they outshot the Nanooks

36-18 on Friday, and 36-15 on Saturday.

-Alaskananooks.com

-Alaskananooks.com

Pavlovskaya swims solo at nationals

Senior Mariya Pavlovskaya took the trip

to San Antonio, Texas by herself March 9-12

for the NCAA Division II Championships,

as she was the lone Nanook to qualify. She

competed in the 200 Yard IM on day one, but

didn’t qualify for either a final or consolation

final. She swam much faster in the 400 Yard

IM on day two, qualifying for a consolation

final and a 13th place finish. On the last day

of competition, she swam in the 100 Yard

Breaststroke and the 200 Breaststroke. With

the 200 Breaststroke, she qualified for the

final and swam the fastest of her career and

just shy of her lifetime best, earning a 12th

place finish.

Sports BriefsCompiled by Rebecca ColemanSun Star Reporter

UAF to build outdoor education centerJeremia SchrockSun Star Reporter

By fall of 2011, university students

and community members will have a new

way to stay active. Both Chancellor Brian

Rogers and the ASUAF senate have invested

$50,000 each toward the construction of

an outdoor education center. $100,000 has

been invested so far.

The university is taking the new center

seriously enough that an outdoor recreation

expert was flown up to consult with both the

administration and student leaders. Mike

Anderson, who runs Petra Cliffs, a climbing

center and mountaineering school in Ver-

mont, discussed building locations and the

potential types of recreation that the center

could offer.

Ideas for the center include a zipline

system from upper campus to lower, as well

as structures for year-round ice climbing

and bouldering. A zipline system incorpo-

rates a series of pulleys that are mounted

on cables then strung high up in the air. An

individual is then strapped to the cable with

a harness, giving one all the fun of Tarzan

without the worry of a snapping vine.

The center would also offer rock and

ice climbing certification. In addition to

the center, Mike Sfraga, Vice Chancellor for

Students, added that the university plans

to install snowboarding rails beneath the

Butrovich building.

drawing in revenue from community and

tourist use of the center.

The university administration intends

to have “something significant” up by this

coming fall semester. The center will be built

between the lower slope of Butrovich and

Beluga Field. The area is wooded and is the

site of an old and ungroomed ski trail. Facili-

ties Services maintains a multipurpose trail

that currently cuts across the future build

site.

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TIME IS RUNNING OUT ! !

“Make the life center of the campus be

the outdoor education center,” Anderson

said during a January meeting with the

student government. Sfraga couldn’t agree

more, adding that when he attended UAF as

a student in the 1990’s, he was often at a loss

for what to do on campus in the winter.

Sfraga alleviated student concerns

when he stated that the cost of the center

did not justify an additional fee. The goal is

to make the center financially self-reliant,

People use the sledding hill next to the student recreation complex on a sunny afternoon. Currently this is one of the few outdoor winter recreation options on campus. The new outdoor education center will be located just west of this hill, where a stand of trees are currently located at the roundabout where Thompson drive meets with Tanana Loop. March 20, 2011. Photo by Greg Culley

I have lost count of the number of times

this last week I have heard someone talking

about how they wish they could go to Japan

and lend a hand with that nation’s current

crisis. The same ineffectual lamentations of

would-be do-gooders were made after the

earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, the humani-

tarian issues in Darfur and in the aftermath

of a thousand other disasters. The desire to

help other people in desperate need of aid

is wonderful, don’t get me wrong. If all the

goodwill of the people wanting to do some-

thing to help the latest group of victims

could be transmogrified into needed mate-

rial goods and the ability to get said supplies

where they were in the shortest supply, that

would be phenomenally useful. Unfortu-

nately that isn’t how things work.

Some of you may have heard the term

“Dark Tourism” before. For those who have

not, the phrase is used to describe traveling

to places that have an air or history of death

or destruction. It also applies to situations

like the one unfolding in Japan, where a new

chapter of pain is being written. Even if yoiu

do not travel to a place specifically because

it has a bloody past or present, you are still

engaging in dark tourism, unless you’ve

somehow managed to make your way to

Auschwitz without knowing anything what-

soever about the Second World War. The

only people who might be exempt from this

are seasoned aid workers who have seen so

many apocalyptic scenes that it’s no longer

exciting, the people who come home and

don’t want to talk about what they saw or did

or how things were because they’ve become

numb to it. The rest of us must face the fact

that we are driven to help first-hand at least

partly by a perverse need to experience an

extreme that we simply are not equipped to

understand.

This is not necessarily a bad impulse.

Like anything, in moderation, dark tourism

can be an extraordinary – and in some cases

necessary - tool. Visiting places like Aus-

chwitz or Hiroshima serves to both make us

more aware of the past and to begin to rec-

ognize the incredible amounts of damage

and pain we are far too easily capable of

11Perspectives www.uafsunstar.com March 22, 2011

wreaking amongst our fellows. With any

luck, dark tourism on this level makes us

better, kinder human beings. There is an

extreme, however, that should only be ven-

tured into by those who have the neces-

sary skills, foresight, and mettle to not only

survive the trip, but to be of use to the real

victims rather than becoming one of them.

This is the extreme that those purporting

Jamie HazlettSun Star Columnist

Weekend Wanderlust

Dark tourism

technician? Have you ever had to perform

in high-stress, high-risk situations? If you

answered no to more than one of the above

questions, the odds are astronomically

on the side of you being little more than a

burden once you arrive. Even if you man-

aged to not have an immediate breakdown

when confronted with the sheer level of

awful to be found on what’s left of the streets

of Sendai, you probably wouldn’t even be

any good at shifting rubble. Especially if you

don’t know enough Japanese to call for help

or ask where you should concentrate your

efforts.

This is not intended as a mockery of

people who are compassionate enough to

want to do something to alleviate the suf-

fering that we are being constantly told is

blaze orange is a sign that a place ravaged by

disaster is on the road to an economic up-

swing. Perhaps more importantly for an in-

ternational hub like Japan, such a return will

foster a sense of normalcy for the residents

who remember when badly-dressed tour-

ists were an everyday sight. That, seatmates,

is when those of us whose Japanese ends at

“domo arigato” will be able to do our part.

OFUNATO, Japan (March 15, 2011) A Mickey Mouse doll lies among debris in Ofunato following a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Matthew M. Bradley/Released) Flickr: creative commons.

present in this week’s cause celebre. Quite

to the contrary, it is meant to be an encour-

agement to think, and then to act. If your

first thought is that you want to help, that’s

great. Now step back and realize that your

non-fluent, untrained self can do much

more good if you don’t immediately try to

get to Japan to “pitch in.” Give some of that

airfare to a charity that is sending over sup-

plies and people who are trained for these

types of situations. Contact local charitable

groups like the American Red Cross and ask

desires or intents to venture into war zones,

plague areas, and disaster sites “just to help”

have to realize they are facing before they

set out to do good.

Take Japan as a case in point. Do you

speak Japanese fluently? Are you familiar

with Japanese customs beyond taking

your shoes off at the door? Have you been

trained for disaster aftermath management,

or do you have some specialized skill or

knowledge that would lend itself to the situ-

ation such as being a doctor or nuclear

what you can do to assist their efforts.

Sign up for disaster preparedness courses

through recognized organizations and

then practice what you learn so that if your

hometown turns out to be the next breaking

news location, you’ll be more likely to both

survive and be of aid to others afterwards.

Finally, remember that a disaster, even

one that registers as a 9.0, doesn’t spell

the end of a destination. The biggest thing

that you will be able to do for Japan in the

months and years to come is to keep your

eyes and ears open, because sooner or later

they’ll be inviting the world to come eat

sushi rather than to lug emergency supplies.

When the nation and its people are ready for

travelers to return, they will make it known.

The return of foreign visitors not dressed in

12 The Sun StarMarch 22, 2011 Advertisement

13Advertisement www.uafsunstar.com March 22, 2011

Long nights No weekends off Stressful deadlines Angry letters

One day, this could all be yours…Apply online at www.uakjobs.com to be the next Sun Star Editor-in-Chief.

Posting #0061414

Perspectives14 The Sun StarMarch 22, 2011

Jeremy SmithSun Star Columnist

The shipping bruiseSometimes living in Alaska is just a

huge pain. It’s not only the 40 below tem-

peratures or the lack of sunlight, but also

the sheer costs that we are forced to accept

when having something delivered.

How many times have you been re-

searching a product online, found the per-

fect price (with free shipping no less), only

to discover that either: a) it is only shipped

next day air at a price higher than that of

the product itself, or b) only available in the

“continental 48 states”?

I always question the company when

it comes to the latter. If you look at a map,

I argue, you will see that Alaska is indeed

connected to the “continental 48 states”

via a little tract of land called “Canada,”

which is a part of the continent called

“North America.” Of course, they tell me

they just don’t ship to Alaska, or if they do,

they won’t honor the free shipping price.

I’ve had three recent events that just ham-

mered this home to me, each one more

ridiculous than the last.

First up is game publisher Ubisoft,

maker of electronic fare such as “Assassin’s

Creed Brotherhood” and “Prince of Persia.”

Attempting to purchase one of these games

through Ubisoft’s site is impossible if your

credit card is from Alaska. There is no op-

tion for choosing Alaska. Thinking it was a

programming oversight, I contacted cus-

tomer service, assuming a quick correction

and someone eager to take my money. Two

weeks and five email exchanges later, you

still cannot select Alaska as a billing option

and I was forced to go to a local store to

make my purchase.

Then there is Amazon. Granted, if you

look up products with Amazon’s “free ship-

ping” option they will ship to Alaska for

free… usually. But it is their Amazon Prime

service that drives me up the wall. Offered

free to students, the normally $79 program

provides special prices and offers on col-

lege essentials along with free second-day

shipping on all orders. Well it does… ex-

cept to Alaska. After asking them why, they

pointed to their clearly worded “available

only to the contiguous 48 states” buried in

their terms of service. Basically, Amazon

Prime for students in Alaska nets you extra

spam messages.

My final incident deals with a tech-

nology I was going to review called OnLive.

It’s a pretty slick idea of bringing games to

you via streaming technology, requiring

nothing more than the OnLive software

and a fast Internet connection. This could

potentially mean no more upgrading of

components or purchasing game consoles

in order to play the new digital hotness.

After sending me multiple offers about

their new TV adapter, which is free of

charge with a game purchase, and seeing

that my Internet speed was up to the chal-

lenge, I signed up and awaited my unit.

Imagine my surprise when the company

said that not only was my connection too

slow to run the streaming software, but

they don’t ship the hardware anywhere

outside the lower 48.

Thankfully, OnLive refunded my

money quickly and without any hassle, so

kudos to them. But no shipping to Alaska,

or Hawaii for that matter, again? Maybe it’s

time for us to form a trade alliance with the

Aloha state and cut off access to salmon

and pineapples.

Jeremy talks and takes on technology at gpfault.org.

Letters to the EditorHave something to say? Say it here. The Sun Star welcomes reader commentary.

Support green energyDear Editor,

It has recently come to my attention

that a department within this university

pulled travel funding from a student after

notifying said student that the department

would fund their travel. The reason? The de-

partment decided that due to the “political

nature” of the event that the student wanted

to attend, they could not afford to appear

as “supporting” the politics involved. This

particular student was going to attend

Power Shift, a convention that focuses on

leadership and organizational skills as well

as shifting awareness away from Big Oil

and King Coal towards alternative energy

methods such as wind, solar and geothermal

sources. So in light of this, this particular de-

partment does not want to show support for

alternative and innovative ways for renew-

able and sustainable energy. Rather, the

department seems to want to continue with

the status quo and think within the box.

How can a university department NOT sup-

port green and alternative energy? How can

it deny its students the opportunity to learn

new methods of power? I would think that

a department with a budget and a student

population that is probably very nearly the

largest on this university would encourage

their students to travel to conferences such

as this and support green energy, especially

with the degree this department offers; but

this demonstrates to us how politics can

impede progress. I just want the depart-

ment to know that Green Energy is on its

way, regardless of the politics involved,

and if you want to support your students in

their degree choice and ensure that they are

on the front lines of innovation, effectively

spearheading the push towards alternative

and sustainable energy, thus broadening

their career field, then support them in

going to conventions such as these. Politics

be damned.

Ryan Sanders

Stop smoking out smokersIn March 8’s issue, the police blotter

reported an increasingly common story: an

individual charged with marijuana posses-

sion. What concerned me about the “Out for

a Smoke” report was that a man tries to start

smoking outside Lola Tilly Commons, and

“police were contacted.” I would like to take

issue with the anonymous tipster who felt

compelled to ruin this guy’s day.

Seriously, ignorant sir or madam, what

did this have to do with you? Someone

chooses to consume a harmless plant within

your line of sight, and your first instinct was

to punish him for it. What is wrong with

you? People like you, who blindly help en-

force immoral laws, need to wake up and

recognize that these “criminals” are normal

people, whose favorite herb happens to be

illegal. You’ve obviously never smoked,

but imagine that you had to sneak outside

to drink your morning coffee, more dan-

gerous and addictive than Marijuana for its

caffeine, and someone called the police on

you. You would ask yourself the same ques-

tion every Marijuana smoker asks: Why?

Although decades of government pro-

paganda have done terrible things to the

reputation of Marijuana, it is every individ-

ual’s responsibility to be properly informed

before taking action. Whoever called the

police in this instance lives in fear of a sub-

stance less harmful than coffee, alcohol, or

cigarettes, and should read some factual

evidence concerning the subject, instead

of whatever propaganda motivated them to

smoke out this smoker.

Ryan Fleharty

Search KG KATE

University-friendly Clothing & accessories

Visit us on

Letters to the editor should be no more than 250 words in length. Please include the author’s full name and contact information (phone number, e-mail or address). E-mail your letters (preferred) to editor@uafsunstar.com, fax them to 474-5508, or mail them to to PO Box 756640, Fairbanks, AK, 99775. Letters must be received by Friday at 5 p.m. in order to run in the next issue. All letters are subject to editing for brevity and grammar.

Spring cleaning15Editorial www.uafsunstar.com March 22, 2011

For the Sun Star, Spring Break meant spring cleaning. It

was time to finally do something about all those stacks of old

Sun Star issues. My goal was to organize the large pile of clutter

on my desk into several smaller, neater piles of clutter. I had no

idea going in to this that I was set to unearth the mother lode of

UAF history.

Part of cleaning involved going through old Sun Star issues,

sorting them and archiving them in boxes. I admit, I am terrible

at this sort of thing, mainly because I am so easily distracted.Such a treasure trove of history is irresistible to me, and I spent more time reading than I

did sorting. Here are a few things that I found:• UAFstudentapathyisnotanewthing.AneditorialwrittenbySunStarEditor

Genezaret Barron in the Oct. 4, 1994 issue lamented about the inability of UAF students to give a damn. He wrote, “UAF is well known for its apathetic student body only interested in getting THAT piece of paper at the end of four years.” Barron was disturbed by UAF stu-dents lack of concern or even awareness about the “program assessment” that was going on, where UAF programs were being evaluated and, in some cases, terminated. With UA President Patrick Gamble declaring a zero growth strategy for the coming years and the recently released Fisher Report calling for a streamlined university system, could we be entering another period of program assessment?

• SpeakingofGenezaretBarron,Ilearnedthathewasmorethanjustanameofa dark room on the lower level of the Bunnell Building. Like me, he was an older stu-dent who became editor of the Sun Star. He was a prolific photographer and a fixture of the UAF campus. On Oct. 4, 1994, he was murdered, along with a fellow student and a professor. I was shocked. A Sun Star editor was murdered. I went back and read his last editorial, which came out the same day that he died. Barron had written about the perils of student apathy, that they shouldn’t be so quick to cheer the possible de-funding or ter-mination of the UAF police department. Chillingly, he even mentioned the 1993 murder of Sophie Sergie in Bartlett Hall. When Barron died, UAF students took a rare break from their apathy to tie black ribbons around trees across campus and to gather and mourn.

• AnissuefromFeb.4,1997caughtmyeyewiththefollowingheadline:“Studentstripper making the grade.” The story profiled a student named Joanna who was putting herself through college by working as a stripper. No really. What was most fascinating about that article is that it ran parallel to a story about a student sexual assault survivor speaking out. Was this juxtaposition intentional or accidental? Either way, it highlights one of the darker truths about UAF and the state of Alaska: we have a serious problem with rape. The article, and the accompanying sidebar entitled, “UAF struggles with reality of sexual assault,” calls in to stark relief that UAF’s problem with sexual violence is not new. That problem is a symptom of a greater problem with women. Case in point, the April 25, 1995 issue of the Sun Star. The headline was “Mac and Women’s Center face off in forum.” The story was accompanied by a photo of student Mike Branif keeping it classy by reading a copy of Penthouse during said forum. The residents of McIntosh Hall were protesting the hall becoming co-ed, a concept that seems positively medieval today. One Mac resident defaced the co-ed announcement memo with, “Bitches better stay home.” To be sure, the UAF community has come a long way since then. We’ve made great strides in integrating our dorms, and UAF has shown considerable support for the Women’s Center and its mission. But as far as we’ve come, there is further still to go. For example, UAF has a long way to go to address the discrepancy in pay and senior faculty positions between men and women.

More than anything else, my spring cleaning adventure highlights just how impor-tant newspapers are to the communities they serve. The Sun Star provides a record, a context for the events that shape history. From Sophie Sergie’s death inspiring the current Residence Life rules for signing in to the passage of Alaska’s concealed handgun carry laws motivating the University of Alaska weapons ban, the Sun Star was there reporting and recording. Imagine what people will think of us 20 years from now.

Sudoku

xkcd

Coffee Break

Andrew SheelerEditor-in-ChiefUAF Sun Star

Congratulations Sun StarCongratulations to the Sun-Star and

especially Andrew Sheeler on a great earth-

quake report. I would also like to thank the

person who commented on the News-Miner

EQ report, directing readers to the Sun-Star

for further coverage. As a UAF graduate, I’m

proud to see the university continuing to

excel.

Sincerely,

June Cook

Campus Research DayLet’s do an experiment: Ask somebody

“what is research? who is a scientist?” I pre-

dict that most will respond with something

from the natural or physical sciences. Ad-

mittedly, Alaska’s only research university

has highly visible indicators of important

STEM research that typify the images in the

public mind of science and research. How-

ever, expanding the science literacy of the

public requires viewing research through a

different lens, understanding science in a

different context.

Consider the phrase ‘research univer-

sity.’ How apropos we use a humanities term

used to describe ourselves. The term re-

search first appeared in 1539 to describe the

act of searching closely (Old French recher-

cher: Cercher- “to seek for” and re- an in-

tensifying prefix, “closely”). Research at UAF

also occurs in less visible settings-faculty of-

fices, archives, studios, rural villages, as well

as laboratories. There liberal arts scientists

(Latin scient for “knowing” “skillful”) are

researching topics as fascinating and varied

as the world in which we live. Research, by

computer artist Miho Aoki culminated in a

supercomputer tsunami animation featured

on NOVA. Science by historian John Heaton

contributed new understanding of efforts to

produce hydroelectric power in Southcen-

tral Alaska during the Cold War era.

Campus Research Day is UAF’s show-

case for undergraduate research. In addition

to the possibility of a cash prize, a student

poster presentation is a good resume item

for employment or graduate school appli-

cations. No fooling! The application period

opens April 1. I particularly challenge CLA

undergraduates and their faculty mentors to

consider this a teachable moment.

Anita Hartmann, PhD

Associate Dean

UAF College of Liberal Arts

UAF Room Selection

Select your room on campus for 2011-2012!

Open Houses March 24 7-10pm Bartlett, Cutler, Lathrop, McIntosh, Nerland, Stevens and Wickersham Halls

Homesteading March 24-28 Nightly 7pm-10pm; Hall Offi ces Daily Thurs, Fri and Mon, 8am-5pm; Res Life Offi ce

Room Selection April 4-8, 9am-noon ResLife Offi ce - MBS Complex April 4 Groups of 4+ April 5 Grads, Seniors & Juniors April 6 Sophomores April 7 Freshmen April 8 Any Student

Department of Residence Life

474-7247 housing@uaf.edu

www.uaf.edu/reslife

UAF Photo by Todd Paris