8 - Tuesday, April 6, 2010
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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In light of bill, Stabenow pushes
students to pursue careers inlhealth
AAFD still investigating
cause of suspicious fires
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From Page 1
available until the ban on deny-
ing coverage to patients with pre-
existing conditions takes effect in
six months, Stabenow said.
In response to a question from
an audience member about how
the public should understand the
complex bill, Stabenow said that
different aspects of the bill will
affect different groups of people.
"Everyone will have a different
focus depending on who they are,"
she said.
In an interview with The Mich-
igan Daily, Stabenow said one of
the most important aspects of the
bill for students is that it allows
them to stay on their parents'
health insurance plans until age
26. If their parents do not have
insurance, Stabenow said, the
students will have the option of a
low-cost young adult plan.
Stabenow also told The Daily
that with the new legislation stu-
dents should seriously consider
going into the health care profes-
sion.
JOBS
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pal League, 46 percent of students
graduating from public universi-
ties in Michigan in 2007 had left
the state by the spring of 2008.
Public Policy senior Matthew
Wald said he's experienced the
struggle of trying to find a job first
hand, and has been searching for
jobs in the public sector in Wash-
ington D.C. since February.
"It seems like the applicant pool
is a lot more competitive given the
state of the economy right now,"
Wald said. "I feel like most years I
would be very competitive for the
jobs that I'm applying for, but it's
just such a competitive applicant
pool that a lot of agencies or orga-
nizations are weeding out candi-
dates who don't have professional
work or experience yet."
Wald said he is trying to stay
focused and keep his options open,
but that he's hoping to land a job
with a campaign team he interned
with last August.
She said the new legislation
will vastly increase the numher
of people who are able to afford
medical care, resulting in a "huge
boon for the health care industry,"
which is partially why, according
to Stabenow, the American Medi-
cal Association supported the bill.
With the new pool of customers,
she said, there will be a greater
demand for health care profes-
sionals.
As an incentive for students to
go into the health care field, the
bill also increases funding for
scholarships, loans and grants for
students working towards careers
in health care. Stabenow said
there's also a student loan repay-
ment program for graduates who
work in health care for at least
three years.
According to Stabenow, there
will be cuts in funding for health
care institutions because they will
have more customers, but she said
the bill does not explicitly call
for cuts in doctors' and nurses'
incomes.
Keeping in mind her audience,
LSA senior Sarah Neuman,
student coordinator of the Pub-
lic Service Internship Program at
The Career Center, said she's also
used connections she formed as an
intern in order to arrange inter-
views with prospective employers.
In addition to taking advantage
of her connections, Neuman said
she's also been using The Career
Center's website to look for jobs.
"My experience actually is that
there are a number of jobs avail-
able," Neuman said. "It's just not
necessarily jobs that I am thrilled
about doing, but I don't feel that
there's a shortage of work out
there."
Sebille-Whitesaid some expand-
ing fields like alternative energy
technologies and social media are
beginning to see an increase in hir-
ing.
Engineering senior Amar Anand
will join the product management
staff of Facebook as one of about
300 engineers a few days after
graduation.
Anand said he started applying
for jobs in December 2009, and
Stahenow highlighted preventive
care as one of the most crucial fea-
tures of the legislation.
"There is a major new focus on
prevention that all of you will be
involved with," Stabenow said.
According to Stabenow, all new
health plans will be required to
provide free preventive care with
no co-pays or deductibles, and
there will be incentives for people
to participate in "healthy lifestyle
programs."
She concluded the talk on a very
optimistic note, saying the politi-
cal dynamic is going to change
from "Do we want health care
reform or not?" to "How do we
make this work?"
She said there will be many
opportunities down the road to
build on the bill, including a re-
examination of the public option,
which she said she supports.
"It's allup toyouguys on how we
move forward," she said. "There's
a framework...and a value system,
but we are just in the beginning of
a process that each one of you will
help us shape."
that he applied to about 20 compa-
nies.
"I took this pretty seriously," he
said.
He said he gave a Facebook
executive his resume last semes-
ter at a University "tech talk" - an
informational meeting between
Engineeringstudents and prospec-
tive employers. After several inter-
views, Facebook offered Anand the
job in early March.
Beginning the job hunt early
definitely gives students an advan-
tage, Sebille-White said.
"Those students who start their
search six to nine months before
they graduate and are actively
engaged are more likely to be
employed at graduation or shortly
after graduation," she said.
The Career Center is not a place-
ment office, Sebille-White said, but
advisors can help students find out
how their passions translate into
real-world employment opportuni-
ties.
"There's hardly job security
anymore," Sebille-White said. "You
might as well do what you love."
From Page 1
ment's recommendations."
Inan interview with The Michi-
gan Daily on Sunday afternoon,
Councilmember Margie Teall (D-
Ward 4) said she was one of the few
councilmembers who supported
the 2004 ordinance when it was
first proposed.
She cited the potential safety
risks as the primary reason for
backing the proposal. But the ordi-
nance faced considerable opposi-
tion within the community, where
it was widely perceived as being
too invasive, Teall said.
Ann Arbor Police Detective
SACUA
From Page 1
booming population of autowork-
ers, she said.
Person discussed the "daunt-
ing challenge" of trying to revital-
ize Flint and said that, in doing so,
she is trying to make connections
between the University and busi-
nesses in the city.
In terms of admissions at the
campus, Person said that applica-
tions are on the rise and they are
continuing to work on revising
admissions standards to "accept a
better student body."
Like the University's Ann Arbor
campus, the Flint campus also
received a report from the Higher
Learning Commission last month,
which recommended reaccrediting
the campus with no further stipu-
lations.
Person also updated SACUA on
a series of administrative changes
at the Flint campus. Current Pro-
vost Jack Kay will become Provost
and Executive Vice President at
Eastern Michigan University start-
ing in July. After a search, Gerard
Voland - currently the dean of
engineering at Indiana University-
Purdue University Fort Wayne -
will assume the provost positionatl
the Flint campus come July.
"I'm really looking forward to
working with Gerard and hav-
ing the interim folks, who've done
a great job, go back to what they
were doing," Person said.
She added that the campus will
also acquire two new deans in
health and education.
Because the Flint campus's
current strategic plan, which
addresses planning for admissions
and academics as well as other
affairs of the campus, expires in
2010, Person said officials have
begun to develop a new plan that
she said she hopes will be drafted
by January 2011. Person said she
is currently developing a steering
committee and sub-committee for
TICKETS
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year and that providing tickets
for the event is focused first on
the graduating students and their
families.
"This event is for the graduat-
ing students and their families,
so tickets will go to the students
and their families," Cunningham
said. "The needs they have as far
as tickets is the top priority."
Cunningham said there is no
way to estimate how many left-
over tickets will be available, and
it will remain unknown until all
graduating students pick up their
tickets. She indicated that it is
possible that there may be very
few left by the time all the tick-
ets for graduating students are
accounted for.
"We expect that there will be
a great interest in any extra tick-
ets that we might have and you
know we will try to accommodate
everyone, but graduating students
and their families are the top pri-
ority," Cunningham said.
The press release instructs
graduating students to take only
the amount of tickets they need
and not to sell additional unneed-
ed tickets, noting that this offense
may result in the revoking of the
student's tickets or even punish-
ment by law.
Cunningham said that she
doesn't think scalping will be a
major problem, as students have
been notified various times to take
only the amount of tickets needed.
Kevin Warner was quoted in the
2004 article as saying that the fire
may have started after a couch on
the porch caught fire.
A similar incident occurred in
April 2008, when a house on Ben-
jamin Street was set ablaze after a
fire on a couch on the porch spread
to the house's interior, according
to an April 16, 2008 Daily article.
The fire - which quickly became
"out of control," according to an
observer quoted in the story - left
five University residents displaced,
the article reported.
As of the conclusion of last
night's meeting, City Council had
not addressed whether or not it
would reevaluate the 2004 ordi-
nance.
The Ann Arbor fire and police
departments are still investigating
the series of suspicious fires, which
took place at residences near cam-
pus on Saturday morning. A crime
alert sent out by the Department
of Public Safety to the University
community on Saturday warned
community members about the
fires and asked them to take pre-
cautions.
DPS spokeswoman Diane
Brown told the Daily on Saturday
night that she could not comment
on whether the Saturday morning
fires were linked to one another.
I
I
ANNA SCHULT E/Daily
Ruth Person, chancellor of the University's Flint campus, speaks at yesterday's
meeting of the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs.
the strategic planning process.
"It's been a great discussion
for me getting to know different
faculty and them helping us work
through populating that process,"
Person said. "It's been a very col-
laborative process."
Person said that the challenge
for the University's Flint campus
will be determining the enroll-
ment capacity of the campus and
then figuring out how that fits into
the operations of the campus as a
whole.
In terms of relationships with
the community, Person spoke
about the Flint campus's unique
opportunity for junior and senior
high school students in the area
to dual enroll both at their high
schools and at the University.
High school students can partic-
ipate in this program by indicating
"I don't think it will be a major
issue because we believe that the
students who will be graduating
will take the number that they
need and leave the rest," Cun-
ningham said. "We've been really
clear that the tickets are not to be
sold or exchanged for any reason."
First-year Rackham student
Rohit Singh said that he antici-
pates that students may try to
sell additional tickets but doesn't
think it will be a major problem.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they
tried to sell them," Singh said "But
at the same time, I don't know if
that many seniors are really out
there to make that much money
off them."
Many non-graduating students
at the University have expressed
interest in attending the event.
LSA freshman Derek Tinkle, a
Democrat who said he identifies
with the President's ideologies,
said he is looking forward to hear-
ing his speech.
"I think it's a big deal," Tinkle
said. "I just think we're really
lucky to even have the President
talk to us. I'm personally a liber-
al, and I think there's a lot that I
can learn from what he has to talk
about."
Tinkle said that he thinks it
will be difficult for non-gradu-
ating students attempting to get
tickets on April 29, noting that it is
even hard to get tickets for small
concerts at MUTO.
"There'll be a lot of chaos, I
think," Tinkle said. "Just in gen-
eral, even for concerts, even small
concerts, there's always a long line
interest in the health profession
and they pay a reduced fee to attend
classes, Person said. But she also
acknowledged the possibility that
current Flint students could be
displaced with this influx of high
school students through the pro-
gram.
Because Flint currently faces
many economic challenges, Per-
son said the city could be used as
an incubator to explore issues that
occur in smaller cities.
"We have the opportunity to
develop a unique role and that is
to be much more focused on sort of
small city, urban kinds of issues, as
they both pertain to higher educa-
tion," Person said. "(Flint) is a great
laboratory when you think about
it, for all kinds of social, academic,
environmental and business kinds
of issues."
for when they just start selling
tickets. I would think there should
probably be more places you can
buy the tickets from."
Nursing sophomore Breann
Eckerle said that while she will
be leaving for home after finals
rather than staying for com-
mencement, she thinks it would
be a good experience, especially
because she voted for Obama in
the 2008 presidential election.
"I think it would be really cool
just because this past election
was the first time I could vote, so
it was kind of a big deal," Eckerle
said. "I did vote for him, so it was
exciting. I just think it would be
really cool to see him speak."
Eckerle said though she antici-
pates student attempts to obtain
tickets to be chaotic, she thinks
'that it will work as efficiently as
it did for events like the Kid Cudi
concert earlier this semester.
"I know earlier in the semester
they had the Kid Cudi concert,
and they were selling tickets. It
was busy, but I think it would be
OK for this," Eckerle said. "And
it's convenient. I think it's a good
idea to have it (at MUTO)."
LSA freshman Lindsey Karp
said that she won't be upset if she
isn't able to attend the commence-
ment but that it is still monu-
mental for him to come to the
University.
"If I don't go it's not the end of
the world. I'm not adamant about
it," Karp said. "But it's a big deal
for him to come here. It's not often
that you can see the President,
especially at home."
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