September 15, 2009 issue

Page 1

The Chronicle T h e i n d e p e n d e n t d a i ly at D u k e U n i v e r s i t y

tuesday, september 15, 2009

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTH YEAR, Issue 18

www.dukechronicle.com

Students vote Director’s cut: Army ROTC to eliminate Army’s new media push shines spotlight on Duke VP for ICC Turner elected to YT special secretary post by Audrey McGowan The chronicle

by Jessica Chang The chronicle

Can you rise to the challenge? That’s the question that welcomes visitors who find their way to the United States Army’s main Web site at www.goarmy.com. If users decide to accept this virtual challenge—by clicking through—they can find their way to a video about the Army’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program that uses Duke as its backdrop. It’s all part of a host of new digital recruiting techniques that are being used increas-

ingly often by the Army and ROTC. That the Army ROTC Web site currently displays a recruiting video that features two current Duke students reflects the quality of the ROTC program at the University, said Maj. Megan Mangan, Duke’s ROTC recruiting operations officer. “I think it’s a really great thing both for our program and for Duke in general to be highlighted like that, to be the school that’s chosen to show this is what Army ROTC is all about,” See ROTC on page 6 Special to The Chronicle

Students give UnitedHealth poor reviews by Jinny Cho The chronicle

Zack Brown was jogging on East Campus last August when he suddenly lost hearing in his right ear. “No loud noises, no trauma, it simply cut out,” he recalled. Brown, a fourth-year graduate student in environmental sciences and policy at the Nicholas School of the Environment, said he went to Student Health the next day and was referred to an ear, nose and throat specialist, who classified the condition as “a medical emergency.” Brown said he then underwent a brain magnetic resonance imaging to rule out the possibility of brain cancer. With two weeks of steroid treatment, Brown’s inexplicable problem Part 2 will investigate UnitedHealth’s introdu- went away, and the MRI results were ction to Duke and the negative for cancer. But with medical bills of about causes of complaints. $1,200, Brown said his problems were Part 3 will look into the far from over. University’s response “I called [UnitedHealthcare Stuand UnitedHealth at dentResources] to check about covother institutions. erage and they informed me that

hearing problems were not covered unless they were related to a ‘disease process,’” he said. Brown added that phone calls with UHCSR representatives were “hopelessly unproductive,” leading him to question why he has health insurance. “What good is insurance if it doesn’t cover something like this?” he said. Many other students have raised similar complaints online and in interviews with The Chronicle, bringing sharp criticism of UHCSR to the fore. UHCSR replaced BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina as Duke’s Student Medical Insurance Plan’s provider in 2008. UHCSR officials said the company is in daily contact with the Duke Student Health Center to refine the plan as requested by University administrators. “We continue to work with Duke University representatives to adjust the [Student Medical Insurance Plan] according to their guidance,” said Susan Barry, director of marketing at UHCSR, adding that “large plans often have transitional periods of adjustment.” But in times of medical need, University students said confusion and frustration with the new health plan have overshadowed what should be at the forefront of their attention—their health. “What’s remarkable to me in all this is that my wife and I are

ONTHERECORD

“We were doing well even before the stimulus. These new grants are icing on the cake.”

­—Vice Provost James Siedow on the $55M stimulus research funds. See story page 4.

See united health on page 9

Football: Schedule Troubles Technicality means N.C. Central game won’t count toward bowl berth, PAGE 10

Despite concerns that low voter turnout would render the results of Monday’s Duke Student Government election invalid, all four of the referendums on the ballot were affirmed. The referendums approved dissolve the office of Vice President for the Inter-Community Council, restructure the DSG Judiciary, establish the Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee as a part of DSG and replace masculine pronouns in the DSG constitution with genderneutral ones. In addition, junior Amanda Turner beat out junior Ben Getson for the position of special secretary to the Young Trustee Amanda Turner process. Turner, president of the Black Student Alliance, will be charged with reforming the Young Trustee selection process in the next six weeks. She will resign from her position on the Executive Committee of the ICC. “I want to figure out how students want to be involved in the Young Trustee process,” Turner said after her election. “I also want to talk about how, as a campus, we can put the measures in place to follow up with the Young Trustee once they’re appointed.” See DSG election on page 9

christina pena/The Chronicle

A student votes in DSG’s online election Monday afternoon. The election saw 27 percent turnout, and students voted to approve all proposed referendums.

Duke scientists may get up to $11M for antibiotic research, Page 5


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September 15, 2009 issue by Duke Chronicle - Issuu