THE INDEPENDENT DAILY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY
The Chronicle
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16,
2009
WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTH YEAR, ISSUE 19
UnitedHealth Justice Alito to lead law seminar chosen after 2-yr. review by
Julius Jones
THE CHRONICLE
University solicits offers approx. every 3 years by
Jinny Cho
THE CHRONICLE
Last September, Duke replaced BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina with UnitedHealthcare Studentßesources. BCBS of N.C. had provided health insurance to students for 30 years. The change has led to complaints—mainly from graduate students—about coverage, access to innetwork doctors and other issues with the new insurance provid(' Duke er. Patients had been overcharged, misunderstood and limited r to options, as investi2 o« 3 gated in Part one of this series. But the selection of UHCSR to be the Student Medical Insurance Plan administrator was the result of a rigorous two-year evaluation involving students, administrators and an independent consultant—a process from which UHCSR came out on top. Dr. Bill Purdy, execudve director of Student Health, said the University frequently re-evaluates its insurance policy by sending out a request for proposals about every three years.
Samuel Alito, associate justice on the United States Supreme Court, will be teaching a week-long seminar at the School of Law, officials announced Friday. Alito, who was nominated by former President George W. Bush in 2005, has served on the Supreme Court since 2006, and has ties to Duke. He and Samuel Alito David Levi, dean of the
School of Law, worked together when they both served as chairs of federal rules committees. Alito’s son, Philip, is currently a first-year law student. “The School ofLaw extended the invitation to teach a short seminar for our students and he was gracious enough to accept,” said Tia Barnes, assistant dean for academic affairs. “We often have justices come and give short lectures and presentations, but it is truly an honor for one to make himselfavailable to teach the course.” The course, entitled “Current Issues in Constitutional Interpretation,” will last the week of Sept. 20, with daily one-hour
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sessions Sunday through Friday and two one-hour sessions on Saturday. Students in the class will discuss issues raised by recent Supreme Court cases, as well as the various constitutional amendments, according to the course description. Twenty-five students applied for the seminar, which only had 15 spots available, Barnes said. She added that despite the low numbers, the application process was difficult, requiring students to submit a resume, transcript and a personal statement on why they were interSEE ALITO ON PAGE 5
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The search narrows In March 2008, the Student Health Insurance Advisory Committee, an organization of administrators, graduate and undergraduate students chaired by Purdy, met with the top three insurance providers BCBS of N.C., Aetna Student Health and UHCSR—bidding to be Duke’s health plan administrator. Stephen Beckley, who was hired as an independent broker for the University, worked with SHIAC to devise a scoring system, which looked at 23 criteria, including the cost to students, the quality of customer service and the availability of in-network providers both in Durham and across the country. Susan Barry, marketing director at UHCSR, said the company sought to address the University’s requests. “When presented with a requested plan design in the context of a Request for Proposals, we make every effort to duplicate the plan design,” she said. And based on the that design, UHCSR
DIANNA
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SEE UNITEDHEALTH ON PAGE 6
LIU/THE CHRONICLE
Accomplished triathletesRobert Ferris (left) and Brian Duffy (right) were two of the founding members of the Duke Triathlon Club, the first of its kind at the University. Ferris, a graduate student in materials science engineering, and Duffy,a senior, saw approximately 70 interested students at the club's first meeting. by
Joanna Lighter THE CHRONICLE
As an incoming freshman, Suzanne Bay was anxious that Duke would not be able to accommodate her athletic ambitions. A world-class triathlete, Bay, now a junior, participated in her first competition at 17 and grabbed the gold for her age group. With plans to compete in the Hamburg BG World Triathlon Championships in the Fall of her first semester at Duke, Bay attempted to forge her own training program. She joined Duke’s Road Runners, Club Swimming and Club Cycling, but in conjunction with classes, this intensive routine proved unworkable, and Bay resorted to training by herself.
ontheRECORD People can figure it out. Voters can figure out the problem of clutter, there won't be any dead bodies in the voting booth."
"
—Professor Mike Monger on voters' choices. See story page 3.
Upon arriving in Hamburg, Germany for the World Championships, Bay spotted fellow Duke student Brian Duffy, then a sophomore. Duffy placed first overall in the men’s competition and Bay finished in the top 50 percent in the women’s division. After the event, the two met to discuss possibilities for starting a Triathlon Club at Duke. “Its a great sport and a lot of fun,” said Duffy, who is now a senior. “The reason we wanted to start the club was to introduce people to the sport. We knew that once [triathlons], people starting running they’d be hooked.” By September last year, the Triathlon Club was officially chartered by the Student Organization Finance Committee
Men's Tennis: Brazilian Import Find out more about Henrique Cunha, Duke's best recruit in history, PAGE 7
and Duke Student Government. Within a few months, Duffy and Bay located a volunteer to coach the team—accomplished triathlete Robert Ferris, a graduate student in materials science engineering . “I’ve been racing triathlons for seven years now, and I was introduced by a number of people to Bryan,” Ferris said. “After we met a couple of times, he told me he was interested in starting something a little more formal and organized for Duke. We wanted to congeal something to serve as a support system.” Prior to his involvement in the Triathlon Club, Ferris coached numerous triathletes and cyclists in preparation for variSEE TRIATHLON ON PAGE 4
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