by Leona Salinas - Texas State University

ANALYSIS: Furries club hosts workshops on how to create ‘fursona,’ or animal persona

Student activity fees at the University of Arkansas went to a furries club and a group that hosted a "pride prom" with drag performers, according to university records recently obtained by The College Fix.

The records, which The Fix received through the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, show how the university's student government allocated mandatory student activity fees to clubs and how much of that money the clubs spent during the 2025-2026 academic year.

Rebecca Morrison, the university's public information officer, told The Fix via email that more than 400 student organizations operate on campus.

Every Registered Student Organization "is entitled and encouraged to apply for funding supported by student fees, with applications reviewed and approved by a student committee, and allocated by the student-directed ASG Office of Financial Affairs," she stated in an email with the requested documents.

One document obtained by The Fix shows the total amount budgeted to the Associated Student Government in the 2025-2026 academic year: $533,639.

Of that, the student government allocated about $363,149 to student organizations based on their requests for funding last year, a second document shows. The document breaks down funding approvals and the amounts spent by each club. The documents do not specify what the clubs used the funds for, but their social media pages provide some clues.

The ledger includes thousands of dollars worth of awards to clubs with LGBTQ and DEI missions.

For example, Out in STEM, listed as oSTEM, is a campus LGBTQ group for students in science and technology majors. The group received approval for two separate funding requests last year, totaling almost $4,000.

oSTEM's activities included a Halloween Party with a costume contest and "goody bags" and a Valentine's Day card making event, according to its Instagram account. The group also hosted transfeminist author and biologist Julia Serano in April for a guest talk about "trans people and the myth of 'biological sex.'"

Another LGBTQ student club, the Lavender Society, spent about $1,300 in student fees last year. Its "mission is to celebrate queerness at any and every step of a University of Arkansas student's journey."

In the spring, the group hosted a lavender graduation event with a "queer DJ," "queer-owned catering," crafts, professional photography, and a graduate recognition ceremony.

An image advertising a ‘queer’ graduation event at the University of Arkansas; UA Lavender Society/Instagram

Additionally, the public university's Furries at the University of Arkansas, or FAUnA, spent about $350 last year. Furries are a subculture of people who dress up like animals, sometimes in connection with their sexual or gender expression.

The club co-hosted a "Gayme Night" with oSTEM and the Pride club last year, according to its Instagram page.

To raise awareness about what furries are, the club also hosted a "Fursona Workshop"; a "Fursona Workshop Pawt 2" is scheduled for later this month.

"Interested in learning what a fursona is? Always wanted to be part of the furry community but never really had the time to make your own character?" the group's webpage states. "Furries at the University of Arkansas is hosting an event just for that! Come by to learn all about fursonas and even get a chance to make your own!"

Fursona is a play on the word persona and refers to a specific anthropomorphized animal character that people create to express themselves, according to Furscience, a website by scholars who study the subculture. Some people who call themselves furries believe they "are less than … 100% human" or "an animal trapped in a human body," the website states.

Another student club at University of Arkansas, the Sexual Health Organization and Outreach, spent just over $500 in student fees last year. The club advertises free Plan B birth control to students, as well as condom and sex toy giveaways, and educational events about STDs and birth control.

One of the largest allocations went to People Respecting Individual Differences and Equality, the LGBTQ campus group known as UARK PRIDE. In total, the group received nearly $6,000 through six separate funding requests, according to the documents.

Among other things, the club hosted a "PRIDE PROM" in May with hired drag performances, catering, a photo booth, and a DJ, according to its Instagram page.

The group also co-hosted an arcade night last September with NWA Trans Night, an outside group that describes itself as northwest Arkansas' monthly trans meetup.

A few other clubs that received funding have politically progressive missions.

Indivisible at the University of Arkansas received approximately $2,800 in student activity fees last year. Photos on the club's Instagram page show students wearing Handmaid's Tale costumes and carrying a sign that reads "Your MAGA husband is on Grindr." Grindr is a dating/hookup site geared toward the LGBTQ community.

Indivisible also held a meeting in May to make protest signs for anti-ICE and "No Kings" protests.

In March, another student club, the Diversity and Inclusion Student Council held an event on "the impact of anti-DEI against black students." The club received a little more than $700 in student activity fees.

The College Fix contacted the university media relations office for comment on the spending, but did not receive a response.

David Cox, assistant director of Family Council, a conservative advocacy group in Arkansas, told The Fix there is nothing new about student fees funding controversial organizations.

He pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2000 decision Board of Regents, University of Wisconsin v. Southworth, which allows student activity fees to be spent on activities that a student opposes as long as the university allocates the money in a viewpoint neutral way.

However, the ruling does not bar a university from letting students opt out of funding clubs they disagree with, he said. Cox said he believes students should be given the option to withhold a portion of the fee or receive a refund or tuition credit if they do not want to fund organizations that they disagree with.

"The U of A and other public institutions should seriously consider letting students decide how activity fees are used to avoid subsidizing organizations they disagree with," Cox told The Fix.

Regarding the release of public records, he emphasized the importance of transparency at public institutions like the University of Arkansas.

Knowing how money gets spent is only fair to students and policymakers, and letting students decide how the fees are used would be fair as well, Cox said.