LET THEM IN
ISU STUDENTS ORGANIZE FOR SYRIA FEATURES 6
SHOCKERS ELECTROCUTE REDBIRDS SPORTS 8
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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2017
Vol. 129 / No. 38
ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSIT Y’S NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1888
Student insurance remains stable amid ACA uncertainty SHS assures coverage despite President Trump’s plans to repeal, replace Obamacare KEVIN SCHWALLER Senior News Reporter | @kevschwa
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resident Donald Trump signed an executive order to weaken the Affordable Care Act (ACA) less than one day after his inauguration. A s Tr ump’s f irst steps to repeal the ACA, the executive order allows agencies to grant relief to those burdened by the ACA’s requirements or taxes. While the executive order does not dismantle much of the ACA, it brings up a possible concern about the future of health care at Illinois State University’s Student Health Services. Medica l Insurance Of f ice Manager Jason Hartzler said that despite the uncertain future of the ACA, ISU students will remain covered under the same plan through the fall of 2018. “We have a student insurance program at ISU and anything that may be done in the near future is not going to affect the current program that we have,” Hartzler said. “Our plan is an August to August sort of thing, and we also have an agreement in place for next year with our insurance carrier, so we don’t anticipate — even if something happens in between now and then — any changes.” “We will keep the current plan that we have beyond that point.
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Medical insurance office manager Jason Hartzler reviews numbers for student insurance data. Any changes that we make will be in agreement between the university and the carrier,” he said. Director of Student Health Services Meg McKeon said the university’s insurance plan is the best plan she has seen in her career. “I’ve been in higher [education] for a long time and this is the best plan at the best premium I’ve ever seen offered by a university,” McKeon said. “We’ve had faculty and staff say they wish they could be on the student plan — it’s that good.” “Everything we do in Student
Health Services, we have to be aware of what’s going on legislatively,” she said. “Even though [the plan] meets the standard for the ACA, it’s not really the ACA, because we work with another insurer. Sometimes students get concerned about that, and a lot of faculty and staff sometimes wonder about the ACA, and it really is not as big an impact on us as some people fear.” The school had to make little adjustments to its plan when the ACA was first implemented, including more prescription drugs and preventative care benefits. McKeon
Oberweis, That Burger Joint come to Bloomington KATELYN PROVOW News Reporter | @katelynprovow
said the school would have updated its plan regardless of the health care law to help the changing needs of students. “I would say that based on the history of serving our students, we would’ve gone to those levels anyway. We review the plan and the policies, and sometimes students come to us asking about coverage of certain things and benefits,” she said. “The student population and (its) health is changing, so we try very hard to make sure that we’re making those adjustments while also keeping the premium at a reasonable level for students.” Hartzler said the school is not intending on removing anything from its plan despite the future of the ACA. “Going forward in the future, if students want or don’t want something we always look at that sort of thing, but we aren’t going to remove those benefits that we have because of (any changes),” Hartzler said. “Our premium this year is $249 a semester, fall and spring, and it’s going to stay the same for students next year. Legislatively, whatever happens, that’s not going to change.”
The conjoint stores That Burger Joint and Oberweis Dairy will open at the former Carlos O’Kelly’s in Bloomington this summer. Each store will have its own unique decor and section, but customers will be able to walk back and forth between the two stores and order from either menu. “Oberweis is a family restaurant where our customers order at the front counter and then we bring their order to their table if they’re dining in or if they’re taking it to go.” Oberweis employee Katie Fiechter said. The Oberweis stores are mainly located in northern Illinois where the store’s main factory is in North Aurora. The Bloomington store will be the fifth in the state, in addition to the store opening in Champaign. “The Oberweis menu offers almost every dessert you can think of. We have banana splits, old fashioned hot fudge sundaes, root beer floats, shakes and much more,” Store Manager Max Hinton said. “As for That Burger Joint, we offer high quality burgers and chicken sandwiches, hot dogs, fries and as of recently, patty melts and chicken tenders.” The joint store will have a drivethru and will be hiring around 50 part-time employees as it gets closer to the opening.
Kevin Schwaller is a Senior News Reporter for The Vidette and can be reached at kschwal@ ilstu.edu. Follow him on Twitter @kevschwa.
Katelyn Provow is a news reporter for The Vidette and can be reached at klprov1@ilstu.edu. Follow her on Twitter @katelynprovow.
ISU Police brings comfort to department STEPHANIE RODRIGUEZ News Reporter | @StephanieRoddd
The Illinois State University Police Department has created a space intended to help crime victims feel like their needs are being addressed with care. ISUPD Chief Aaron Woodruff said the soft interview room goes along with the department’s trauma-informed approach. “When we talk about the trauma-informed approach, for most of us it’s easy to come in a room and tell a story,” Woodruff said. “This is what happened, then this, then this, then this. Well we know, as we’ve learned, victims of trauma don’t quite recollect things the way you would in a normal situation.” “So it may come in pieces and it may not be chronological, so
I think the more comforting the environment and the less intimidating it is, the more relaxed they’ll be — hopefully more (likely) to recall the information,” Woodruff said. The idea for the addition of this type of room is not something new, as Woodruff explained. “Departments around the U.S. have been creating them for many years now and I think for us, we had an opportunity with a partial remodel of our department to kind of incorporate it,” Woodruff said. “One of the priorities I had was to make sure that we are able to address — especially with the significant increase we’re seeing with reporting of sexual assaults on campuses — [...] that we are doing everything we could on our end to help support survivors.” The room, which has wall décor
Emma Horath | Vidette Senior Photographer
Victims can now be interviewed in a soft interview room at the Illinois State University Police Department. provided by ISU Printing Services, is intended to make victims feel comfortable and secure at the
station. “I think when most people think of interview rooms in police
departments they typically think of what they see in the media, you know — television, movies — a pretty stark and barren room,” Woodruff said. “The problem (with that design) is that when someone’s been a victim of a crime, particularly our survivors of sexual assault or other significant trauma, that type of environment can kind of feel cold and uninviting.” “So for us, this was more about creating a space where victims of crime can come in and have some sense of comfort and support,” Woodruff said. The soft interview room opened last December toward the end of the semester. It is now used frequently by the department. See POLICE page 2