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for details on the
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Page 2
Weather:
Partly cloudy with a
hiqh of 94 and a low
of 73.
I HltWi m i i\ I*J JI Vi =< rW I il
WEDNESDAY
June 28,2000
Volume 106 ~ Issue 160
6 pages
HSC senate votes
‘no confidence’
Stuart Hutson
The Battalion
The Health Science Center's (HSC)
Faculty Senate returned a vote of "no
confidence" in HSC president Dr. Jay
Noren and his executive adviser. Dr.
Elvin Smith, during its meeting on
June 2, citing a "prevailing‘lack of
faith in their leadership."
David Zawieja, secretary of the
HSC Faculty Senate and associate pro
fessor for the Texas A&M College of
Medicine, said the Senate passed the
vote after a general consensus of dis
pleasure among the representatives
from the components of the HSC: the
Baylor College of Dentistry, the Texas
A&M College of Medicine, the Texas
A&M School of Rural Public Health
and the Houston Institute of Bio
sciences and Technology.
"Each member had their own rea
son for voting for this measure, and
1 can't speak for what other senators
are thinking," Zawieja.said. "There
is a long history of things that have
led up to this."
The vote by the Faculty Senate,
which expressed a general dissatisfac
tion with the officials' performances,
followed a similar motion by the A&M
College of Medicine's academic coun
cil. The academic council's vote came
after Noren's actions to change the
arrangement between the HSC and
the Scott and White Medical Center in
Temple to train medical students from
A&M's College of Medicine.
"That was certainly a portion of the
agreement (of "no confidence"), but
that only really affected the College of
Medicine," Zawieja said. "Represen
tatives from the other components had
their own reasons for the vote."
Zawieja declined to comment fur
ther, citing an agreement between
Howard Graves, chancellor of the
A&M System, Noren and the Senate
to minimize the publicity on the out
come of the vote.
Dr. Fuller Bazer, director of Hous
ton Institute of Biosciences and Tech
nology, said the vote was an example
of "growing pains" as the HSC con
tinues to develop as a research center.
"Noren wanted to increase the level
of research activity at Scott and White,
which would shift the reporting rela
tionship between the Scott and White
hospital and the College of Medicine,"
Bazer said. "This raised a lot of hackles
because people wanted to remain com
fortable with the relationship as it is."
Noren said he considered the vote
as a serious and important decision
from the Faculty Senate.
"I take this vote very seriously,"
Noren said. "The next step is to en
hance relations between me and my
administration and the Faculty Senate
by communicating more clearly and
more often to solve small problems
before they blow up."
The Senate's Executive Committee
later met with Graves, who vowed to
help solve the disagreements between
the Senate and president.
"The secret of solving these prob
lems is to increase communication be
tween all the personnel involved so
that we can restore efficiency and con
fidence between the Health Science
Center and all those associated with
it," Graves said.
Health Science Center president Dr. jay Noren and his executive adviser Dr.
Elvin Smith were given a vote of "no confidence" by the HSC Faculty Senate.
Send me an angel
Glass artist Dang Huynh of College Station paints a stained glass rendition of the
angel Gabriel at Foster's Stained Glass Studio in Bryan on Tuesday. Each tiny piece of
glass must be meticulously painted and fired before they are sauldered together to
form the final work.
UT employees to experience premium increases
Kim Trifilio
The Battalion
I University of Texas employees will ex-
Jperience increases in their health care pre-
Imiums Sept. 1,2000, and plan to protest the
■ increase by having a sickout Sept. 6-8.
The sickout, called the "burnt orange
I flu," will cause about 6,000 UT employees
1 not to report to work during the university's
I busiest time, when students are adding and
1 dropping classes and trying to finalize their
■ schedules, in order to protest the higher
1 health insurance premium and the elimina-
Ition of paid dental insurance. The average
I out-of-pocket employee premiums are ex-
1 pected to increase to $66 a month.
Dan Parker, assistant provost at Texas
I A&M, said he does not expect A&M em-
1 ployees to follow suit.
Parker said the scenario with A&M em-
| ployees is different from the situation at UT.
"UT is an entirely different job market. UT
didn't do any mid-year [changes]," Parker
said. "I think their protest has a lot more to do
with other things than insurance."
Beginning Sept. 1, some employees in the
A&M System will experience an increase in
health insurance premiums as well.
The five major insurance carriers of the
Texas A&M System are A&M Care 250,
A&M Care 500, A&M Care 65+, FirstCare
Central Texas and Scott & White.
Ellen Gerescher, entployee benefits man
ager at the Texas A&M University Systems
office, said there are many reasons why in
surance premiums are increasing.
"Health care plans are going up and so
are the prices of prescription drugs,"
Gerescher said. "Prescriptions are the lead
ing reason why."
System Employees Benefits Advisory
Committee (SEBAC) makes recommenda
Texas A&M System
Out-of-Pocket Premiums
(effective 09/01/00)
CARRIER
COVERAGE
CATEGORY
point
hc/tm
p*r Mootn
A&M Care
fempiovi*a Only
S 0 00
$
0 00
250
(Blue Croas)
fer*
8190,06
$
A 61
A&M Care
en-ptuyua Only
8 0 00
$
0 00
500
(Blue Cress)
$116 09
$
0 00
First Care
Ohiy
$ 22 81
$
22 61
Central Texas 4
$126 «?
$
TTet
Scott & White
£mpU>ya« Only
$ 19 86
$
t? 63
$110 89
36 6l
tions on the design of benefit plans in order to
meet the needs of A&M System employees.
Parker said A&M System schools use SE
BAC to get the best insurance plans for Sys
tem employees.
"Across Texas in the A&M community,
there are probably about 10 or 20 health care
companies. There are two HMOs that A&M
controls: A&M Care 250 and A&M Care 500,"
Parker said. "These are the insurance plans
the System owns, and this is where SEBAC
says what we want."
' Gerescher said many A&M employees
would not be affected by the change.
"A&M Care 250 will be increasing only a
very small percentage and A&M Care 500 will
not experience an increase at all," Gerescher
said. "I don't think many people will be af
fected. It just depends on what plan people
are enrolled in."
Parker said human resources is expecting
some employees to switch their coverage to
A&M Care plans because of the increase in
the other insurance plans offered.
"HR is suggesting that some employees
change their carriers, particularly graduate stu
dents and single employees," Parker said.
Wendy Deleon, technical secretary for
agriculture economics, said this is the first
time she has thought about changing her
health insurance plans.
"1 am on FirstCare and am thinking about
switching over to A&M Care 500," Deleon
said. "The reason I want to switch is because
of the variety of doctors to choose from and it
gives you a lot more flexibility. Also, the price
of prescriptions is much more reasonable."
Parker said SEBAC made mid-year
changes to the A&M Care plans to eliminate
a premium increase.
"At SEBAC this winter, we saw that our
actual medical cost was going to exceed what
we had planned, and we made a few changes
in our policy," Parker said. "We changed the
user fees. We upped the co-pay from $10 to
$15. If you don(t get sick, then you don't have
to pay. Without ouf mid-year correction, the
plans would have been increased."
Steve Hassel, director of benefits programs
for the A&M System, said the System under
stands that costs are a concern, and that is
why the System plan to offer a dental main
tenance organization, DMO, as an alternative
to the current A&M dental plan.
"A DMO is like an HMO. With that, there
would be a specific network of dentists that
See Insup \nce on Page 4.
Late fees to be
assessed for
unpaid tuition
Cyra Gatling
The Battalion
Texas A&M students enrolled for the second
summer session should be prepared to pay late fees
if they have not yet paid their tuition.
Students who are registered for classes, but
have not already paid for them, will be charged a
$25 late fee, said Daryl Daniel, supervisor for stu
dent accounts.
Daniel said if students want to add classes to their
schedule, tuition must be paid the day they register.
"After the semester begins, students must pay
that day," Daniel said.
For the second summer session, a $100 late fee
will be applied to students who register July 5-10,
the first through fourth days of class.
Students can add classes July 5-10 via telephone
registration, through their academic department,
in their academic dean's office, and at the Pavilion.
Daniel said students may drop classes July 5-7
for a full refund as long as they remain enrolled in
at least one course. He said if all course hours are
dropped, the student must offidally withdraw
from the University.
Daniel said students may add courses after the
fourth day. However, any additional hours added
to schedules will cost students $50.
Daniel said after the fourth day of class, July 11,
students who have not paid their tuition will be
dropped from their classes for non-payment. Stu
dents who have been dropped must fill out a Re
quest for Non-Funded Late Registration form. The
form must have the signatures of an adviser in the
student's major department and academic dean.
To avoid cancellation or the $100 late registra
tion fee, fees must be paid by 5 p.m. on July 3.
Daniel said the late fees will not be waived for
any reason.
"Unfortunately, if students don't get a bill, they
still have to pay. We send out bills four weeks be
fore the due date," Daniel said. "The closer it gets
to the due date, the later the bill is sent out. It de
pends when the student registers whether they wi 11
get the bill on time."
Daniel said sometimes students are not notified
of being dropped from classes by the Department
of Student Financial Services.
"By the time we send out letters, it is too late,"
Daniel said. "It is impossible to call every student,
so we rely on the professors to tell students if they
have been dropped."
Daniel said students who have not paid their tu
ition are noted on the professor's roster, and pro
fessors should inform students of their standing.
He said if students have been dropped from a
class, they must go to the Pavilion and pay their
bills before being added back into the class.
Sheila Ward, assistant adviser of journalism,
said students who have been dropped from a class
are directed to the cashiers in the Pavilion.
"We tell students to pay their fees to the cashiers
in the Pavilion and to go get their schedule back,"
Ward said. "We get a list of students who need to
pay, and the first day of classes, professors get a ros
ter that shows which students need to pay."
Some students are not happy with the late fees
the University charges and say the fees are unfair.
"I could not get forced into a class until the first
day because that was the department's policy," said
Lacie Duke, a senior speech communications major.
"They slapped a $100 late fee on me until I provid
ed proof that 1 had to wait before I could register."
summer session
July 5-10 late registration ($100)
July 10-25 q-drop dates
After July 11th registration dropped
After July 11th- addition of hours: $50 fee
x
-
o
z
z
o
Q
Duke said she thinks the amount is more than
most students can afford.
"It is hard enough for students who pay their
own tuition. They don't need an extra $100 added
on," she said.
Duke said students should not be penalized be
cause sometimes situations occur that are out of the
students' control.
"Internships, jobs and other plans fall through,
and students want to be productive so they decide
See Fees on Page 4.