| Global update |
iddlefielD
Golf Course
Tee time
942-8730
No tee times
484-1927
STUDENT SPECIAL
GOLF 9 HOLES $8
SECOND 9 HOLES $4
Students Only. Must show ID. (Monday - Friday)
£*fcudarvfc Chcdklis-t
-Cor test Do laundry
□ Meet PIZzA Al0 A BREw/
Introducing...
Ambrosia's Wednesday Night Student Special
An authentic wood-fired pizza with choice of one topping,
and your choice of beer or soft drink - $9.95!
Atd^^^A
541.342.4141 • 174 E Broadway • www.ambrosiarestaurant.com
Doe> not apply to "to-jo" ordera, atudent ID requited, other restriction* apply.
021471
9 ° Minor
oraDoyble
AAninrV
Major?
Do it with
Distinction
UO Professional
Distinctions
For full information visit our website
https://uodistinctions.uoregon.edu
phone 541-346-3902
or e-mail uodistinctions@cas.uoregon.edu
program by the Q
College of Arts and Sciences,
and the CareerCenter "r""anK
lawi k
More universities require
student health insurance
BY JOHN SEEWER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOLEDO, Ohio — A growing num
ber of public universities are requir
ing that students have health insur
ance before they step into the
classroom, a move aimed at saving
the uninsured from huge bills and
college hospitals from getting stuck
with the cost.
Most public universities still leave
the decision up to students, who can
buy into a school’s student health
care plan or obtain their own insur
ance. However, surveys from insurers
and schools indicate that anywhere
from 10 percent to 30 percent do not
have insurance. Most are still covered
under their parents’ plans.
College officials are also finding
that some students are forced to
drop out when faced with the med
ical expenses.
“What makes it a tough decision is
the potential added costs,” said Jim
Mitchell, director of student health
services at Montana State University,
which has required insurance for
nearly 20 years. “But there’s com
pelling reasons to do it.”
More schools have started mandat
ing the coverage in the past four
years. Hospitals no longer absorb the
costs because of increasing health
care expenses.
The University of Connecticut,
Ohio State University and all 10
schools within the University of Cali
fornia system now require health in
surance. The University of Utah is
looking into it.
Others, including Old Dominion,
Kent State University and South
Dakota’s board of regents, have de
cided against the idea.
Costs vary from campus to campus
— undergraduates at UCLA paid
$558 for a full year; the price is $1,211
this year at the University of Toledo,
where insurance is required.
Yet, some schools have resisted
mandatory coverage, fearing extra
costs will push students to other col
leges. Still, others worry students al
ready are burdened with huge loans
and rising tuition.
“We may be pricing students out
of college,” said Alex Wright, presi
dent of the student government at
Bowling Oreen Mate
University.
The costs to unin
sured students can be
staggering when
they’re hospitalized.
For example, a stu
dent at Old Dominion
University in Norfolk,
Va„ had $100,000 in
medical bills stemming
from injuries in a car
accident, said Jenny
Foss, director of stu
dent health services.
“Students can take
care of their car repairs,
but they may not be able to take care
of their injuries,” she said.
In extreme cases, the student is
forced to declare bankruptcy.
Allowing students to decide
whether they want health insurance
can dilute a school’s health plan
when few buy into it. Often, Foss
said, it’s mainly students with
health problems who purchase cov
erage, driving up the number of
claims and costs.
Old Dominion discontinued its
health insurance plan a year ago —
only 400 of its 20,000 students were
using it. That’s despite a school sur
vey that showed about 4,000 stu
dents had no health coverage.
Glenn Egelman, director of stu
dent health at Bowling Green, noted
that something as common as ap
pendicitis could result in a big med
ical bill.
“It can happen to anyone, at any
time, and it can definitely happen to
young people,” he said. “We see stu
dents who have to leave school be
cause of something that can’t
be predicted.
Students without
coverage also think
they can get what
they need at cam
pus health centers,
which often offer
free, but limited,
care.
“It’s a safety net,
but it’s a net with a
lot of holes in it,”
Egelman said.
Nearly all private
colleges make
health coverage
mandatory, com
pared with about 25 percent of pub
lic colleges, said Stephen Beckley,
who runs a Colorado-based consult
ing firm that assists schools with
student health programs.
Unpaid medical bills were a prob
lem at Ohio State’s medical center
before the school changed its policy
three years ago. In one year, the
school found uninsured students
owed $600,000, said Ted Grace, di
rector of student health services.
“It made it very easy to make that
decision,” he said.
INSURANCE DISPUTE
THE UNINSURED: Surveys from
insurers and schools indicate
anywhere from 10 percent to
30 percent of students do not have
medical coverage or that most are
still under their parents’ plans.
THE DEBATE: Some universities
have resisted mandatory coverage,
fearing extra costs will push students
to other colleges. Still, others worry
students already are burdened with
huge loans and rising tuition.
Bush administration slashes
scientific research funding
BY PAUL RECER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The voice
of science is being stifled in the Bush
administration, with fewer scientists
heard in policy discussions and mon
ey for research and advanced training
being cut, according to panelists at a
national science meeting.
Speakers at the national meeting of
the American Association for the Ad
vancement of Science expressed con
cern Sunday that some scientists in
key federal agencies are being ig
nored or even pressured to change
study conclusions that don’t support
policy positions.
The speakers also said that Bush’s
proposed 2005 federal budget is
slashing spending for basic research
and reducing investments in educa
tion designed to produce the nation’s
future scientists.
There also was concern that in
creased restrictions and require
ments for obtaining visas is dimin
ishing the flow to the U.S. of
foreign-born science students who
have long been a major part of the
American research community.
Rosina Bierbaum, dean of the Uni
versity of Michigan School of Natural
Resources and Environment, said the
Bush administration has cut scien
tists out of some of the policy-mak
ing processes, particularly on envi
ronmental issues.
“In previous administrations, scien
tists were always at the table when reg
ulations were being developed,” she
said. “Science never had the last voice,
but it had a voice.”,
Issues on global warming, for in
stance, that achieved a firm scientific
consensus in earlier years are now be
ing questioned by Bush policy makers.
Proven, widely accepted research is
being ignored or disputed, she said.
Government policy papers issued
prior to the Bush year's moved be
yond questioning the validity of glob
al warming science and addressed
ways of confronting or dealing with
climate change.
Under Bush, said Bierbaum, the
questioning of the proven science has
become more important than finding
ways to cope with climate change.
One result of such actions, said
Neal Frank of Rice University, a
former director of the National Sci
ence Foundation, is that “we don’t
really have a policy right now to
deal with what everybody agrees is
a serious problem.”
Among scientists, said Frank,
“there is quite a consensus in place
that the Earth is warming and that
humans are responsible for a consid
erable part of that” through the burn
ing of fossil fuels.
And the science is clear, he said, that
without action to control fossil fuel
use, the warming will get worse and
there will be climate events that “our
species has not experienced before.”
Asked for comment, White House
spokesman Ken Lisaius said, “The
president makes policy decisions
based on what the best policies for the
country are, not politics. People who
suggest otherwise are ill-informed.”
Kurt Gottfried of Cornell Univer
sity and tjie Union of Concerned
Scientists said a survey of scientists
in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
found that about 42 percent feel
pressured to not report publicly any
findings that do not agree with Bush
policies on endangered species. He
said almost a third of the Fish and
Wildlife researchers said they were
even pressured not to express with
in the agency any views in conflict
with the Bush policies.
“This administration has dis
tanced itself from scientific informa
tion,” said Gottfried. He said this is
part of a larger effort to let politics
dominate pure science.
He said scientists in the Environ
mental Protection Agency have
been pressured to change their re
search to keep it consistent with the
Bush political position on environ
mental issues.
Because of such actions, he said,
it has become more difficult for fed
eral agencies to attract and retain
top scientific talent. This becomes a
critical issue, said Gottfried, be
cause about 35 percent of EPA sci
entists will retire soon and the Bush
administration can “mold the staff”
of the agency through the hiring
process.
Federal spending for research and
development is significantly reduced
under the proposed 2005 Bush budg
et, the speakers said.
“Overall the R&D budget is bad
news,” said Bierbaum.
She said the National Science Foun
dation funds for graduate students and
for kindergarten through high school
pduqation has been slaisjiec}. ,