There
were
also
complaints
regarding
lengthy and inefficient OIE
reporting processes.
One of OIE’s main goals
is handling complaints as
equitably as possible, Seney
said in a sit-down interview
with The Daily in April.
“I
would
say
the
overarching mission really
is to make sure that the
University
is
responding
fairly and appropriately to
concerns that exist,” Seney
said. “Then, of course, we
also have a role in preventive
and educational work as
well. So, I wouldn’t limit
our overall mission to just
responding
to
particular
concerns, but I would say
that is where we spend a lot
of time and effort and that’s
a significant priority.”
Seney also spoke about
OIE’s priorities with regards
to investigations in the April
interview. She noted how
the department is tasked
with dealing with reports
efficiently
and
ensuring
the safety of everyone on
campus.
“I would say our priority
of
course
is
always
to
address all of the matters,”
Seney said. “And as quickly
as possible, which is difficult
to do, especially as we’ve had
really significant increases
over the last couple of years
and the number of reports
that we’ve received, and
to do them in that fair and
appropriate way, make sure
that people are supported.”
A public health junior,
who has chosen to remain
anonymous due to ongoing
legal
action
surrounding
her case, went through a
Title IX investigation last
year. She said Seney didn’t
work directly with her case
but
interacted
with
her
throughout the process of
the
investigation.
Given
how she said her situation
was handled, the junior was
upset to learn Seney had been
named Title IX coordinator.
“Basically, she completely
disregarded how we were
feeling and didn’t take us
seriously for a second,” she
said. “I’m not very happy
that
she’s
the
Title
IX
coordinator.”
The Public Health junior
said OIE’s processes were
not as fair as Seney had
described them to be in the
April interview.
“Seney,
OIE
and
the
University as a whole (have)
taught me throughout this
process that they don’t care
about the claimants getting
justice
or
even
having
fair investigations or fair
hearings,” she said. “All they
only care about is not getting
sued, and doing whatever it
takes not to get sued.”
Nevertheless,
University
spokesperson
Rick
Fitzgerald
commended
Seney’s past work with OIE
and expressed support for
her new position.
“Elizabeth
Seney
has
served
our
university
community
very
well
as
deputy Title IX coordinator
and as interim Title IX
coordinator,”
Fitzgerald
wrote in an email to The
Daily. “It was clear she
was the best candidate for
this
important
leadership
position within OIE.”
Clinton and Condoleezza
Rice,
former
National
Security Adviser Stephen
Hadley, and former United
States Ambassador to the
United Nations Samantha
Power.
The Public Policy School
posted
the
schedule
of
dates for the upcoming
speakers last week, with
lecture
topics
ranging
from U.S.-North Korean
relations to security in the
Persian Gulf.
John Ciorciari, director
of the WDC and associate
professor of public policy,
said the idea for the WDC
began last summer and was
well-received by the Weiser
family from its conception.
“Last summer, we started
a conversation with the
Weisers about the prospect
of doing something a little
bit larger around the theme
of practical training in
foreign affairs, and also
around the theme of policy
engagement
with
the
diplomatic
community,”
Ciorciari said. “They share
a priority that we have to
train students not just in
the classroom, but also in a
variety of ways outside the
classroom.”
While
the
speaker
series will bring strong
figures from the world
of
diplomacy
to
the
University this fall, the
WDC staff itself also boasts
top leaders and experts
in foreign policy. WDC
Senior
Adviser
Melvyn
Levitsky
served
as
the
United States Ambassador
to Bulgaria and the United
States
Ambassador
to
Brazil.
WDC
Program
Coordinator
Zuzana
Wiseley previously served
at various foreign missions
and was an Assistant to
the Ambassador of India
in Bratislava. As the WDC
grows and student interest
increases,
the
center
is
planning
to
expand
the
international
policy
focused curriculum within
the Public Policy School.
Levitsky explained the
importance of having a hub
for foreign affairs in the
Midwest.
“A lot of the schools that
teach this kind of work
are in Washington, D.C.,”
Levitsky
said.
“I
think
we’ll offer an alternative of
being away from inside the
Beltway, and having good
instruction, both from our
regular faculty and from
people like me who are
former practitioners, and
we’re looking forward to
it.”
Ciorciari also mentioned
the value of the WDC’s
location
within
the
Midwest, mentioning the
University as a leading
force
in
the
field
of
foreign policy. Beyond the
continuation of leadership
in the field, Ciorciari said
the goal of the upcoming
speaker
series
is
to
introduce more students
to the WDC and the robust
resources the University
has to offer.
“We really want to be a
visible leading hub in the
Midwest for engagement
with
foreign
affairs,”
Ciorciari said. “We hope
that this big launch series
will help to broadcast to
prospective
students,
to
friends of the University,
to the general public, to
policymakers, that U-M,
which has always been an
important contributor to
conversations
on
global
policy issues, is going to
be even more central going
forward.”
The WDC also recently
announced the inaugural
cohort of Weiser Diplomacy
Fellows.
The
fellows
receive support for up to
two years of study within
the fields of diplomacy and
foreign affairs and can be
rewarded up to $20,000
per year.
Marianna
Smith
is
a
Master of Public Policy
student at the Ford School
and is one of four fellows
in
the
cohort.
WDC
Fellows are responsible for
promoting and advocating
for the center on campus
and assisting the WDC staff
in
contacting
potential
speakers
for
upcoming
events. Smith’s goals as a
fellow include diversifying
the
field
of
diplomacy
and utilizing the WDC’s
resources to further her
career.
“My
goal
would
be
to
promote
the
fellowship to minority or
underrepresented
groups
in
diplomacy,
to
make
our campus more diverse,
and to make any career in
diplomacy more diverse,”
Smith said.
take place on the U-M Dearborn
campus.
Hani Bawardi, an associate
professor of history at U-M
Dearborn, said even though
CBP was the agency that called
campus, any DHS presence
on campus can be a legitimate
cause for fear.
“It’s
no
surprise
that
the students would be very
concerned given the current
situation,” Bawardi said. “ICE
is a very powerful government
agency with a six-billion-dollar
budget. It is sort of a byproduct
of a merger between the former
Immigration and Naturalization
Service and the U.S. Customs
Service under the umbrella of
Homeland Security, and it has
almost unfettered powers.”
ICE Presence in Michigan
According
to
the
2018
Enforcement
and
Removal
report,
ICE
made
158,581
administrative arrests in the
2018 fiscal year, as opposed
to the 143,470 arrests made in
2017. The number of arrests rose
partly in response to President
Donald
Trump’s
Executive
Order 13768, signed Jan. 25, 2017,
which stated sanctuary cities
not compliant with ICE orders
could be denied federal funding.
In the past two years, CBP
enforcement has increased, too:
In 2017, more than 500,000
total enforcement actions were
taken, including apprehensions
and administrative arrests at
U.S. points of entry, while over
1,000,000 were taken in 2019.
Bawardi said the rise in arrests
and apprehensions at the U.S.
border sparked conversations at
universities nationwide about
the best ways to protect students
who may be worried about their
immigration status.
“Since the consolidation of
government agencies and the
erosion of civil liberties overall,
the question now is, ‘what
happened to our institutions?’”
Bawardi said. “‘Are they still
safeguarding the rights of their
constituents? Do students’ rights
still matter to the university on
the administrative level?’ That,
frankly, is not clear.”
Vikash Mehan, LSA senior
and co-president of the Ann
Arbor campus’ American Civil
Liberties Union chapter, said
it can often be difficult for
universities like the three U-M
campuses to offer support to
undocumented students when
federal funding is involved.
“The University does express
a lot of support for these groups,
but part of the issue is federal
funding and stuff, and we
(the University) can’t really
go against what the federal
government
wants,”
Mehan
said. “So, a lot of (the work)
would have to be support of the
community around Ann Arbor
and around Dearborn, and them
giving support to the immigrant
populations.”
University Action
In 2017, U-M President Mark
Schlissel signed a “statement of
support for Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals Program
and
our
undocumented
immigrant
students”
along
with nearly 70 other university
administrators
across
the
country. The statement was
drafted by Pomona College and
called for universities to resist
Trump’s attempts to terminate
the DACA program. According
to a 2017 statement from U-M
Public Affairs, the three U-M
campuses also comply with a
2011 DHS policy that defines
universities
as
“sensitive
locations.” Essentially, this
means
enforcement
actions
require special permission from
DHS leadership before being
carried out.
Maria
Ibarra-Frayre,
a
volunteer with the Washtenaw
Interfaith
Coalition
for
Immigrant Rights and a School
of Social Work alum, said even
with these protections many
undocumented students live in
fear of CBP or ICE being present
on campus.
“Regardless
of
whether
or not they called to set up
operations or to do a training,
for undocumented students and
undocumented people, the threat
of ICE in general or border patrol
being present is scary enough,”
Ibarra-Frayre said. “So, they see
a border patrol car or an ICE
car around, they’re not going to
know what they’re doing. But
that in and of itself causes a lot of
fear.”
She added that the University’s
public actions in support of
undocumented
students
are
important, but there is still more
work to be done to make sure
all students feel protected on
campus.
“I really appreciate that the
universities are taking a stand,
and that they’re going public even
when it’s a difficult thing to do,”
Ibarra-Frayre said.. “Universities
are so powerful, and the rest of
the state really is looking to the
University of Michigan to what is
possible to do.”
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, September 3, 2019 — 3A
CBP
From Page 1
CLINTON
From Page 1
while cutting costs.
In
the
announcement,
UHS noted this change was
necessary “to keep the health
service fee unchanged this
year,
despite
significant
increases
in
expenses,
including providing greater
financial support to other
student life units.”
Dr. Robert Ernst, executive
director of UHS, said these
billing changes come with an
increased pressure to create
multiple revenue streams for
UHS.
“In the context of being
asked to stay creative stay
innovative and hold increases
in the health service fees to
a minimum, the easiest first
step is to let the hospital bill
what they’re doing, instead of
us just paying for them,” Ernst
said.
Before this policy change,
more than half of UHS’ nearly
$300,000
yearly
laboratory
testing
costs
were
from
student STI checks, according
to Ernst.
According
to
the
UHS
website,
for
students
who
have Blue Cross Blue Shield,
Medicare or any University
of Michigan funded health
care, bills should be covered.
If a student has another type
of insurance, coverage is not
guaranteed.
“It is ultimately the decision
of your insurance company
whether they will pay UHS,”
the website reads. “If we do
not
receive
payment
from
your insurance company, UHS
will bill you and you will be
responsible for payment.”
UHS
wants
to
help
uninsured students enroll in
Medicaid and has also released
a new health insurance plan,
Ernst said.
CSG Vice President Isabelle
Blanchard, an LSA senior, said
CSG is planning on releasing
a list of other options for STI
testing, as well as a survey to
monitor student concerns.
“CSG has already begun
communicating with students
about this change, and plans to
release a survey to the student
body to learn more about how
this might affect the student
experience,” Blanchard wrote
to The Daily in an email.
Alternative
options
for
inexpensive
STI
checks
include Planned Parenthood
or the Washtenaw County’s
Sexual
Health
Services
building. Neither offer free
testing.
Some
students
have
expressed
concerns
about
STI testing showing up on
their parents’ EOB. A student
who has requested to remain
anonymous for this article
said in a strict religious family
such as her own, there would
be
consequences
for
her
education if her parents knew
she was tested.
“Billing
such
tests
to
personal insurance removes
that sense of safety a student
gets
from
knowing
their
parents don’t know about their
sex life,” she said. “Personally,
I come from a highly orthodox
family and if they knew I
was having sex I would face
pretty serious repercussions,
the lowest of which would be
pulling me out of school.”
If students are concerned
about their parents seeing the
EOB for an STI test on the
insurance bill, they should
consider buying their own
health insurance, Ernst said.
“If a student is seeking
confidential
healthcare
that they don’t want their
parents to be made aware of,
they
might
be
individuals
who might be interested in
exploring their own personal
student
health
insurance
plan,” Ernst said. “At just over
$1,700 a year, it might actually
be more affordable for them
than the extra cost to stay on
their parents insurance, and
then it would be certainly very
confidential.”
Parental disapproval is just
one of the reasons students are
worried about this new policy.
Betsy Stubbs, Art & Design
junior and SAPAC volunteer,
said having free STI checks on
a college campus eliminated
barriers to getting tested.
“People are already very
reluctant to get tested for
STIs,” Stubbs said. “There
is such a negative stigma
surrounding
STIs
that
it
makes it very difficult to work
up the courage to get tested.
U-M was taking steps in the
right
directions
allowing
testing to be free because that
eliminated one more barrier.
Handing out condoms can’t be
the only thing this University
tries
to
protect
student’s
sexual health.”
Rackham
student
Kaley
Makino, who is passionate
about sexual health advocacy,
said this also adds financial
barriers to students in addition
to the stigmatization.
“Privatizing sexual health
screenings will undoubtedly
lower affordability and access
to students who may or may
not have personal insurance
willing to cover the cost of
the testing,” Makino said.
“This will further discourage
students to get STI screened
because they will likely have
to pay some portion out-of-
pocket, which is an added
expense many cannot afford.”
All students interviewed for
this article stated they were
unaware these billing changes
included the loss of STI tests
previously-covered
in
their
tuition.
The
anonymous
student said she heard of the
change from a reddit thread.
I would say the
overarching
mission really is
to make sure that
the University is
responding fairly
and appropriately
to concerns that
exist.
The
second
enrollment
period covers Jan. 1, 2020 to
Aug. 23, 2020, while the third
enrollment extends from May
1, 2020 to Aug. 23, 2020. Each
enrollment period charges a
different fee.
Burchett said the new plan
includes the benefits from
the AETNA plan — such as
emergency room visits and an
annual vision exam — but for a
better price.
“What we said is ‘we want
the same plan that we had last
year,’ in other words with the
same benefits, but we were
looking for a better price, and
so Blue Care Network just
did it for less than the other
insurance
companies
did,”
Burchett said.
Under
the
new
plan,
students must use a Blue Care
Network provider in the state
of Michigan, and a Blue Cross
provider outside the state,
in order to be considered
“in-network.”
Essentially,
if
the student wants to receive
coverage
in
the
state
of
Michigan they must use a
Blue Care Network provider
but outside of Michigan must
use Blue Cross. Still, Burchett
doesn’t anticipate this will
cause
problems,
since
the
company is nationwide and a
big company.
The Blue Care Network full-
year plan for domestic students
is $1,709 annually with a $100
deductible for in-network and
out-of-network care, whereas
the AETNA plan charged a
$2,084 annual fee with a $500
deductible.
However,
the
new
plan
could prove more expensive if a
student required costly medical
care. For example, under the
new plan, the out-of-pocket
maximum a student might pay
would be $3,500 in-network
and
$7,000
out-of-network.
The maximum was $2,500
under the AETNA plan.
Engineering senior Gabriel
Shlain uses the University-
sponsored
student
health
insurance.
Shlain
said
the
new plan works for him as a
relatively healthy person, but it
may hurt those with expensive
medical conditions.
“I assume that there are
definitely
other
students
here
who
have,
probably
outstanding medical conditions
that I’m not aware of, and they
might need more personalized
care and more costly care that
might cost more now with
this plan, but for me that’s just
not the case,” Shlain said. “So
unless something actually bad
were to happen to me or I run
into a serious health condition,
I prefer the plan right now,
because for at least a yearly
physical, testing, bloodwork, it
gets the job done.”
Benefits of the new plan
include
prescription
drug
coverage, clinic visits, mental
health, annual vision exam,
hospitalization,
emergency
room visits, ambulance service,
dental coverage and more.
According to the Domestic
Student
Health
Insurance
Plan website, the plan was
negotiated by a Central Student
Government
student
health
insurance committee.
CSG President Ben Gerstein
said the plan serves as a good
option for students and is
excited to see how the plan
works
for
international
students, specifically.
“I think the plan seems like
a good option for students
in terms of what it offers,”
Gerstein said. “It covers dental,
which I know is something
UHS is excited about. I believe
the significant change was
that they put the international
student plan and the domestic
student plan under the same
umbrella. I’m interested to see
what the effects of that will be,
and obviously communicate
with international students to
make sure they feel the UHS
plan adequately covers their
needs.”
Around
1,600
students
were enrolled in the new plan
as of Aug. 27, while around
2,900 were enrolled in the
AETNA plan during the third
enrollment period, previously.
Burchett said she expects the
number of students enrolled
in the new plan to increase
throughout the year as more
students hear about it or age
out of their parents’ insurance
plan.
INSURANCE
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STI
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TITLE IX
From Page 1