Students can no longer rent outdoor gear at the Student Union

The outdoor gear rental program is no longer active at the UAA Student Union. 

The decision to discontinue the gear rental program came as a result of a lack of use, staffing and recurrent maintenance. 

Assistant director of the Student Union Cody Buechner said in an interview with The Northern Light, “The Student Union umbrella wasn't the best fit, and it also wasn't matching our current realities with our student employment labor.”

Buechner said, “The hard part is having somebody who's readily available when the customer is ready to check out gear and so you'd have to stop what you're doing.”

This change comes after the Student Union allotted more resources toward event space rentals.

“We'd be downstairs setting up the cafeteria for an event, and we get a call on the radio saying ‘someone's here to check out ice skates,’ so you have to stop what you're doing and come up (upstairs). And that's not always the best choice for us, or even feasible.” Buechner said.

“It's great to be able to rent out that gear, but these room reservations are impacting dozens, hundreds, thousands of people, and the gear rental was only one, so it was difficult to time that piece without a dedicated person at the information desk,” said Buechner

The gear rental started dwindling in 2023, according to previous coverage by The Northern Light.

Buechner said the camping gear was one of the first things to be cut from the program as the upkeep created problems for the Student Union workers. 

“So there's a piece of the gear needing continuous investment, both in labor and in monetary funds to keep that rolling and make it smooth and safe for students and the community, right? That's not something that was a priority here,” Buechner explained.

Buechner has attempted to give the gear to other UA campuses. One of these was Prince William Sound Community College, but they declined due to transportation costs.

Buechner said UAA wanted to keep the gear as long as it is already paid for. He said they are working with surplus to get the gear posted for auction on GovDeals.com. 

Buechner said that the gear left over after auction may be sold to students.

The Student Union is keeping a few canoes on hand for events such as the Campus Kickoff canoe battle.

One of the gear rental spaces in the Student Union now serves as an enclosed office for Esports. The previous office space for the Esports team was in the open area in front of Buechner’s office.

“It's nice to give (Esports) a space, but we also needed a space where we could host streams, and that made perfect sense to do it right there, it’s closer to the actual lounge (Esports Lounge)” Buechner said.