The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, January 20, 2011 - 5A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, January 20, 2011 - 5A repeal will most likely not pass in HEALTH CARE the Democratic controlled U.S. Sen- From Page 1A ate. The House approved the repeal yesterday with a 245-189 vote, the "Until you become a little more Associated Press reported. stable in your job after leaving "I don't think there's any doubt college, the president and others that the legislative impact of believe one of the best ways to (Wednesday's) vote is basically provide that stability is to cootinue symbolic in its gestures," Gibbs on your parent's health care said. "And quite honesty Republi- insurance plan," Gibbs said. "It will cans in the House of Representa- make a tremendous difference on tives have said as much. This is not many young Americans who would a serious legislative effort. This is otherwise take a big risk being out intended to send a signal to their in the world and not having the base voters." health care insurance that they For students in need of health need." insurance, the University offers a Gibbs said during the call that domestic plan and a separate inter- the U.S. House of Representative's national plan that is required for all imminent move to repeal the law international students studying at doesn't hold much weight since the the University. Since the domestic plan isn't required, premiums are significant- ly higher than those of the inter- national plan, which is $99 dollars per month compared to $224.83 per month for the domestic plan. "Unfortunately (the domestic plan is) a bit expensive because many young people don't buy health insurance," Winfield said. "There's adverse selection so the price goes up because it's all based on the types of claims submitted." According to Burchett, the domestic plan is available to any University student taking at least one credit. The plan is typically purchased by students whose par- ents don't have health insurance or students who don't qualify for cov- erage under their parents' plans. Even for students who are on their parents' health insurance plans, there may be a discrepancy between the coverage out-of-state students receive at home and the coverage they have in Ann Arbor. According to Winfield, a student who has "great" health insurance in California may not be eligible for the same level of coverage in Michigan. Therefore, purchasing the University's domestic plan may sometimes result in better cover- age, he said. Though the University's health insurance plans must comply with any changes in federal law for 2011, Burchett said the University isn't likely to have to make many adjustments to either its domestic or international plans for students. CAREER EXPO From Page 1A job positions. "It's a great chance to see what is out there," Schueneman said. "It's the first step in that internship or job that you want." Many University seniors attend- ed the expo with the chief goal of finding possible jobs, while others focused on networking and intern- ship searches. LSA seniors Sara Bennett and Lindsey Etterbeek said they went to the expo with hopes of finding a job for after they graduate. Kinesiology senior Dwayne Riley said the expo was helpful and that he attended in order to follow up with prospective employers he met at the Fall Career Expo. "I came to the one in the fall, and it was pretty helpful, so I wanted to follow up in the winter to show my face before applying to desired posi- tions," Riley said. Engineering sophomore Brad Rock, a first-time expo attendee, said he felt the expo was a great opportunity, though he was some- what nervous to talk with company representatives. He said he would encourage other students to give it a try even if they're apprehensive. "You feel uneasy at first, but ask good questions, and don't be too nervous," Rock said. "And try not to view every opportunity as the end of the world, if it goes badly." Though many students said they found the expo helpful, some stu- dents said it didn't meet expecta- tions. . Business School junior Sara Jablow said the event wasn't com- pletely accommodating. She said she felt the fair could have been bet- ter organized and that it was hard to tell what skills companies really wanted. "The other career expos that I have been to were more special- ized," Jablow said. LSA senior Sarah Avellar said there weren't a lot of choices for students, adding that the potential employers were targeted to stu- dents interested in business. "This one was useless for me," Avellar said. "It wasn't as individu- alized." When asked if they favored non- profit or governmental jobs over careers with for-profit organiza- tions, many students said they pre- fer corporate jobs. Business School junior Colin Buck said he would like to work for a corporate organiza- tion instead of a non-profit because he finds corporate companies tobe more driven. "(Corporate companies are) more motivated," Buck said. "Non- profits are friendly, but they lack motivation." Some students, however, said they would rather work for a non- profit organization. University alum Brittany Moore said she didn't even walk into the room with the corporate organiza- tions and that she was sold on the non-profits. "I walked in the Pendleton Room, with the corporations, and I was like, 'no, wrong room,"' Moore said. LSAsenior AbiolaOmishope said the expo prompted competition between students, and encouraged self-determination. "It was helpful because you get to gauge how competition really works, how to present yourself and how to be self-competitive," Omishope said. When asked what they thought of the job hunt, many students interviewed, including LSA senior Jessica Zelvin, said it is a tough yet manageable task if students put in the work. "(It is) overwhelming (and) frus- trating but possible," Zelvin said. "It's challenging, but if you give great consideration, and effort, you will find what you're looking for." After the expo, Schueneman said she received positive feedback from the employers who attended. "(The employers) seemed to be impressed with the quality of the students (and) with the profession- alism of the students," she said. CLINICS From Page 1A New Jersey ruling that exempted public university clinics from sub- mitting to open records requests. No such ruling currently exists in Michigan regarding the relation- ship between the open records requests and clinics associated with public higher education institu- tions. The New Jersey ruling involved the Rutgers School of Law Envi- ronmental Law Clinic, which has submitted a brief to the New.- Jersey State Supreme Court call- ing fo'' a-repeal of the'decision. Founded in 1985, Rutgers Univer- sity law students work at the Envi- ronmental Law Clinic to solve issues involving building permits, waste transfer and water and air pollution, according to the clinic's website. Frank Askin, director of the Rutgers School of Law Constitu- tional Litigation Clinic, said he expects the New Jersey Supreme Court to decide whether to hear the case in the next couple of weeks. He said submitting to open records requests would be harm- ful to the operation of university clinics because clients could no longer expect their information to be safeguarded against becoming public knowledge. "It would be very harmful to clinical education at public law schools if (the October New Jer- sey ruling) became the law," Askin said. "It would open us up to all kinds of harassment." The Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic is more like a public defender office since it is funded in part by the state but doesn't exclusively work for the state, Askin said. Many of the cases the clinic takes on are against the state, Askin said, so treating the clinic like a state employee is con- fusing. "The whole thing is ridiculous," Askin said. "It doesn't make sense." While a co-chair of a subcom- mitteeoftheAmericanAssociation of Law Schools, Bridget McCor-. mack, now co-director of the Uni- versity of Michigan Law' School's Innocence Clinic, worked on a legal brief in defense of the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic. McCormack said the Innocence Clinic functions like a private law firm and should be treated as such. The New Jersey ruling under- mines the confidentiality clients should expect from the office rep- resenting them, she said. McCormack said she fears that with such legislation, the oppos- ing council in many cases could use open records requests as road- blocks. "I don't think the rule is appro- priate for any law practice because it doesn't allow us to practice law ethically," McCormack said. "The ethical practice of law requires that we be able to promise our cli- ents confidentiality, and you can't do that because you happen to be subject to a state open records law." But McCormack also said Court appellate division denied a there are other groups that may brief filed by the American Asso- be affected more from the rul- ciation of University Professors, ing than the Innocence Clinic. Of the Clinical Legal Education Asso- great concern, McCormack said, is ciation and the Society of American that all clinics at state universities Law Teachers stating that open could be subject to their state's records requests could be used by open records enforcement if laws the opposition to waste university similar to the one in New Jersey clinics' time and resources. were passed in other states. The panel ruled that any dis- "In some ways, the Innocence advantage acquired by the new Clinic is not the clinic to worry law offsets the advantage clinics the most," McCormack said. "One receive through public funding, of the benefits of representing the article reported. people who are innocent is you The Rutgers School of Law don't have anything you're trying issued a statement saying the to protect." ruling will be a disadvantage for Askin and McCormack both public university clinics' clientele said' subinitting to open records because other legal offices won't requests is an unfair disadvantage be subject to the same treatment, for law clinics at state universities according to the article in The compared to private law firms, Chronicle. which wouldn't have to submit to Sheila Blakney, Washtenaw the requests. Such a ruling would County senior assistant public also affect the demographic that defender, said she wasn't familiar clinics like the Innocence Clinic with the New Jersey ruling but represent, McCormack said. thinks public university clinics "The clinics often are the only and the public defender offices law office representing people in have similar roles. certain kinds of cases - usually Funded by the county, the poor people who wouldn't oth- Washtenaw County Office of Pub- erwise be able to find lawyers," lic Defender is mandated to repre- McCormack said. sent underprivileged clients, but Askin said students and pro- takes on other cases as well. fessors working in public univer- "I actually don't know if there sity law clinics are "independent are truly significant differences agents" and represent private cli- because we both have the duty of ents even though the professors confidentiality," Blakney said. "I overseeing the cases receive state think it would have a crippling funded salaries. effect on your law practice if you According to an October article could not maintain the confidenc- in The Chronicle of Higher Edu- es of your client as you're legally cation, the New Jersey Superior required to do." SCHOOLS From Page 1A University and Ann Arbor, as well as campus resources," Elgas said. Similarly, to increase undergrad- uate interest, the School of Public Health sets up lectures and presen- tations on health issues, offering undergraduate students opportu- nities to communicate face-to-face with public health representatives, according to Kiran Dhiman, stu- dent admissions coordinator in the School of Public Health. "Michigan graduates are well- prepared, strong candidates for our graduate programs," Dhiman said. "We've increased our on-campus recruitment efforts as a result." The number of applicants to the School of Public Health yhas increased steadily since 2008, Dhi- man wrote in an e-mail interview. In 2008, there were about 1,650 applicants, in 2009 there were about 1,825 applicants and in 2010 there were approximately 2,100 applicants to the school, according to Dhiman. Though 2011 admis- sions are still open, Dhiman wrote that numbers currently "appear to be slightly ahead of last year." Similarly, Sarah Zearfoss, the assistant dean and director of admissions at the Law School, wrote in an e-mail interview that there was a "large uptick" in appli- cations for the 2009 admissions cycle when nearly 6,500 students applied. This increase came after the Law School's application num- ' bers held steady between 5,500 and 6,000 applicants a year since 2002, she wrote. "It seems that this year, we'll be on the high end of our usual range, and that's exactly where we'd like to be," Zearfoss wrote. "It's a large enough pool that we have an enor- mous amount of talent to choose among, but not so large that there are a lot of unrealistic applicants." Each class is composed of about 360 students, accordingto Zearfoss. Zearfoss also wrote that the Law School seeks incoming students not just from the University's under- graduate student body, but from all over the United States as well. "We recruit nationally, travel- ing around the country to our top feeder schools and reaching out to prospectives across the nation," she wrote. Some graduate and professional schools on campus like the Law School even offer special incentives for University undergraduates to apply. The Law School's Wolverine Scholars Program allows highly qualified University students to apply to the school without taking the LSAT. Zearfoss said the new program, first started in fall 2008, is promis- ing for University undergraduates and the school. "The program is in its infancy, but we're very enthusiastic about the caliber of people it has brought our way," Zearfoss said. LSA senior Andrew Lieberman, who recently applied to the Law School and the Wolverine Scholars Program, said the new program has helped him in the application pro- cess. "The school seemed very eager to keep Michigan's best under- grads wishing to go to law school," Lieberman said. "It allowed the Law School to know that I was very interested in them once the regular admission cycle rolled around." Zearfoss echoed this idea and said the Law School's awareness of the intimacies of an undergraduate education at the University typi- cally help applicants. "Our familiarity with the strength of various (University) programs and our relationships with faculty in other parts of the University always help Michigan undergrads," Zearfoss said. "It means we take some non-obvious candidates very seriously when in (the) absence of key'insider info' we might not know." Like the Law School's Wolver- ine Scholars Program, the School of Social Work has an optional preferred admissions program for entering freshmen who already know they want to pursue gradu- ate-level studies in the social work field. The option has been avail- able since 1987, but recently, the Preferred Admissions program has gained popularity for undergradu- ates, Erin Zimmer, the assistant director of Student Services in the School of Social Work, said. Zimmer said only a small amount of applicants apply via the Pre- ferred Admissions Program their freshman year. She speculated that the current economic situation has contributed to the increasing inter- est in the school by leading more students to go to graduate school instead of heading straight to the job hunt. The School of Social Work has seen an increase of more than 250 applicants from the 2009 admis- sions cycle to the 2010 admissions cycle, according to Zimmer. "We think the economy is con- tributing (to the increase in appli- cants)," Zimmer said. "A lot of students want to advance them- selves to be competitive in the job market." LSA senior Talyah Sands is cur- rently participating in an overlap graduate program, called the 4+1 Program, at the School of Public Health. She is currently complet- ing her psychosocial health major, which she created through the University's Individual Concentra- tion Program. The program allows seniors to begin their graduate degree during their senior year, with credits overlapping between under- graduate and graduate studies. "A huge advantage ofthe 4+1 Pro- gram is the opportunity to dive into my desired field of study as I fin- ish up my undergraduate degree," Sands said. "Since I already knew that I wanted to study public health, it was niceto start takingcourses in it right away during my senior year, instead of just filling up my sched- ule with miscellaneous credits." She said her experience in this dual program has been positive. "The school is amazing, and it is an honor to be able to learn from some of the brightest and most accomplished people in the field," Sands said.