THE INDEPENDENT DAILY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY
The Chronicle
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2009
WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM
ONE HUNDRED
AND FIFTH YEAR, ISSUE 18
Students vote to eliminate
YP for ICC
Turner elected to YT special secretary post by
Audrey McGowan THE CHRONICLE
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 DSC Judiciary, establish the Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee as a part of DSC and replace mascuH line pronouns in the DSC J constitution with genderI neutral ones. ■ In addition, junior I Amanda Turner beat out junior Ben Getson for the position of special secreJ tary to the Young Trustee process. Turner, president Amanda Turner 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. “1 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 ap-
S_, 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
Part 2 will investigate
UnitedHealth's introduction to Duke and the causes of complaints.
Part 3 will look into the University's response
and United Health at other institutions.
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 went away, and the MRI results were negative for cancer. But with medical bills of about $1,200, Brown said his problems were far from over. “I called [UnitedHealthcare Studentßesources] to check about coverage and they informed me that
pointed.”
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 Blue Cross 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
omtheRECORD "We were doing well even before the stimulus. These new grants are icing on the cake."
—Vice Provost James Siedow on the SSSM stimulusresearch funds. See story page 4.
SEE DSG ELECTION ON PAGE 9
”
SEE UNITED
HEALTH ON PAGE 9
Football: Schedule Troubles Technicality means N.C. Central game won't count toward bowl berth, PAGE 10
A student votes in DSG's onlineelection Monday aftemoon.The election saw 27 percent turnout and students voted to approveall proposed referendums.
Duke scientists mayjget for 'antibiotic
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