ASUAF Recap - September 8th, 2023

By Cole Osowski

Introduction to ASUAF

ASUAF, otherwise known as the Associated Students of the University of Alaska Fairbanks,  is UAF’s student government. ASUAF is composed of 16 senators elected by the student body every year during spring and fall elections. ASUAF acts as the voice of student concerns and meets every Friday at 4:00 pm in the ASUAF Office in the Wood Center. ASUAF controls an annual budget of around $135,000, which comes from a portion of the consolidated fee. As the President of ASUAF, I represent all students and hope to keep you informed each week on what the senate discusses and accomplishes.

ASUAF is made up of  three committees: The External Affairs committee (1) meets to discuss issues affecting the student body, the Finance committee (2)  reviews legislation with a financial impact, and the Rules committee (3)  reviews changes to internal procedures and presidential appointees.

September 8th Recap 

On September 8th, ASUAF held its first meeting of the 2023-2024 academic year. Four students who were appointed to senate seats by President Osowski were confirmed by the Senate. Senators Indigo Sonneborn, Katherine LeBlanc, Spencer Owens, and Cameron Azimi-Tabrizi are now the newest additions to the ASUAF senate.

The controversial “ASUAF Bylaws Omnibus Bill” was sent to the Rules committee for further review. If adopted, the bill would expand presidential veto power to include increasing the cost of a bill, do away with executive orders, and increase the size of the senate.

A bill that would significantly alter the ASUAF budget was sent to the Finance committee. The legislation calls for doubling travel funding and club funding, funding up to 20 hours a week of work for the President, VP, and director, and creating a new 'outreach' line in the budget to be used for funding events and purchasing items displaying the ASUAF logo. If the legislation is passed without changes, ASUAF would need to pull over $46,000 from their rollover account in order to fund it.

A bill that would alter travel funding requirements was sent to the Rules committee for further review. The bill would require recipients of student travel funding to either report to the senate after completion of their travel or “share proof of completion” of the project outlined in their travel funding application.