UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE
TRUTH AT ALL COSTS
MARCH 31 - APRIL 27 2026
A&E PAGE 10
THENORTHERNLIGHT.ORG
OPINION PAGE 9
Photos: UAA Dance in Concert 2026
If students want change, they need to step into the arena
Chancellor Cheryl Siemers: An inside look By Bek Davis
reporter1@thenorthernlight.org
Following the retirement of previous UAA Chancellor Sean Parnell in May 2025, Cheryl Siemers took over as interim chancellor. On March 8, she was appointed to the permanent position. The Northern Light interviewed Siemers to learn more about how she started in the UA system. Seimers said she moved to Alaska for family reasons and fell in love with it. She shared an anecdote that her academic advisor at Cedarwood University asked her if she ever thought about teaching college students. As a freshman in college, she said had not considered it before. Siemers said this question lit a fire under her career.
She said her time as a professor at Kenai Peninsula College — or KPC — led to an increase in community engagement curriculum, as she worked closely with faculty to bridge the gap between students and their community. According to Siemers, during the COVID-19 Pandemic, she stepped in as director at KPC, she listened to input from the students. She said her role led to an increase in hybrid classes and enrollment. Siemers said her philosophy centers engagement with students, working with commuters, Alaska Native students and the rest of the student body to ensure that they feel they belong. In her first year as UAA’s chancellor she is already hard at work, meeting with members of the student government to hear what needs immediate focus.
UAA CHANCELLOR CHERYL SIEMERS SMILES IN FRONT OF THE WOODS.
Photo captured by James Evans.
Alaska professors discuss U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran
Political science professors from the University of Alaska Anchorage analyze the attacks from a historical and international law perspective enforcement and more in shaping global discourse about pocopy.editor@thenorthernlight.org litical legitimacy. UAA political science deThe United States and Israel partment chair Dr. Forrest Nalaunched joint attacks on Iran on bors also commented on whethFeb. 28. Iran responded with at- er the attacks on Iran complied tacks on U.S. and Israeli-associ- with international law. ated locations across the Middle “Probably not in our case; East. probably yes in the case of IsDr. Kristin Zuhone, a politi- rael, although the U.N. Security cal science professor who teach- Council did not authorize the ates international law at UAA, tack,” he said. “It certainly is a said recent U.S. interventions big gamble.” have made many students pessiNabors questioned the equimistic about the effectiveness of tability of international law and international law. added that according to the U.S. “The capture of President Declaration of Independence, Maduro in Venezuela, the assas- nations that habitually violate sination of Ayatollah Khamenei their citizens’ natural rights forin Iran … arguably violated in- feit their claim to sovereignty. ternational law,” she said, citWhen asked whether that ing the United Nations Charter’s standard could apply to Israel, prohibition on the use of force which human rights organizabetween states without authori- tions such as Amnesty Interzation or a claim of self-defense. national have described as an Zuhone said one possible apartheid state due to its polireason for optimism is that the cies toward Palestinians, he said Trump administration has felt the declaration requires “a long compelled to justify its foreign train of abuses,” not a few ofpolicy using the language and fenses. logic of international law, sugNabors said time will tell gesting its power may lie less in whether the strikes on Iran were By Murat Demir
thenorthernlight.org
prudent. Assistant professor of political science Dr. Joseph Warren said, “The most important thing Americans should keep in mind is history.” “This includes the US-backed coup of the democratically elected leader of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh, in 1953, the close US alliance with the authoritarian regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi,” said Warren. He also cited U.S. support for Iraq during the 1980s war with Iran, the U.S. unilateral withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal while Iran was complying with the agreement, and the U.S.-Israeli bombing of Iran in June 2025 that killed more than 1,000 Iranians as historical examples. “Americans should then ask themselves several questions: What happens next?” said Warren. “Are everyday Iranians likely to be more or less favorable toward America after US bombs inevitably kill many innocent people?”
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Black smoke and flames rise after the Israel Defense Forces strike several oil depots in Tehran on March 7.
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