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.

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STI
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TITLE IX
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