Reno –– On Monday, the University of Nevada, Reno Students for Liberty, a student group that promotes “individual liberty,” will be hosting an Abolish the ASUN festival to protest what its members feel are wasted funds spent by student government. The $3,000-plus event, funded by student fees, will be held on the front lawn of the Jot Travis Student Union from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event will include bounce houses, ponies, a mechanical bull, more than $1,000 worth of food and drinks, and other frivolous expenditures. Hundreds of UNR students and members of the community are expected to attend.

Given the current state budget crisis, UNR Students for Liberty finds it unacceptable that the Associated Students of the University of Nevada (ASUN) has a 2010 budget of $1.45 million that comes primarily from a mandatory student fee and is disbursed with barely any accountability or oversight. A fee increase is proposed for the upcoming year to attempt to expand student involvement on campus. The student funded Abolish the ASUN festival is planned to show the student body how the ASUN forces all UNR students to pay a fee and disburses it to only the most active students. The group hopes these efforts will instigate reform in student government spending.

A petition to abolish the ASUN will be circulated at the festival and online at www.abolishasun.com.

The text of the petition reads: “We, the undergraduate students of the University of Nevada, Reno, petition the university to abolish the Associated Students of the University of Nevada and to never again establish a student government that funds itself through a compulsory student fee.”