University Business - March 2007 - (Page 16)

Warning : session_start : The session id contains invalid characters, valid characters are only a-z, A-Z and 0-9 in /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php on line 9 Warning : session_start : Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent output started at /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php:9 in /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php on line 9 Warning : Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by output started at /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php:9 in /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php on line 10 B E H I N D the NEWS P E O P L E WAT C H U A First for Harvard THE BIO FOR DREW GILPIN FAUST, HARvard’s new president come July 1, 2007, says that she is an “eminent historian.” In mid-February, though, she made history herself by being the first woman in 371 years to be voted president of the Ivy League university. S he also fills a job vacated in March 2006 when Lawrence Summers ended his rocky five-year run at Harvard after facDrew Gilpin Faust i n g faculty unrest and causing controversy with remarks made about women in the sciences. Former Harvard President Derek Bok came back as an interim president. Faust is the founding dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, an academic unit of Harvard’s, and is a scholar of the American Civil War and the American South. She was also on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania for 25 years. While she brings much higher ed experience to the new job, she also faces skeptics who note that she has never led an institution of Harvard’s size. She is praised for building the Radcliffe Institute into an operation with a reported 87 employees and a $17 million annual budget, but that pales in comparison to the university’s 24,000 employees and $3 billion budget. Upon getting the appointment, she wasted no time asserting herself. “I am not the woman president of Harvard,” she said. “I am the president of Harvard.” She has not wanted to focus on gender, but has to admit that the world is watching. A native of Virginia, Faust, 59, enjoyed a privileged childhood. “She was raised to be a rich man’s wife,” a friend told the press. Instead, she rebelled, becoming an advocate for social causes, including the Civil Rights movement. —J.M.A. Healthy and well is the goal for FSU students. The Thagard Student Health Center helps. Covering Good Health: Mandatory Coverage WHEN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSI ties don’t require students to have health insurance, it’s nearly inevitable: Some unlucky ones will face massive medical debts, and institutions will be unable to offer affordable health insurance to any student. Those ages 19 to 29 represent nearly 30 percent of all uninsured Americans, yet that group makes up just 15 percent of the U.S. population, according to 2003 data from The Commonwealth Fund. Lesley K. Sacher, director of the Thagard Student Health Center at Florida State University, says the “strapping good health mythology [about college students] couldn’t be further from the truth.” As she tells skeptical students, a simple bicycle accident could result in a $25,000 hospital bill. Institutions offering voluntary health insurance are seeing rates skyrocket as much as 30 to 50 percent in one year, Sacher says and plan coverage weaken. Why? Only students who need it most tend to purchase it, creating an adverse selection pool on which rates are based. FSU is joining other IHEs and entire states in requiring students to maintain insurance. Beginning with new and transfer students in the fall, all must provide proof of adequate coverage or purchase the school’s policy. Parents’ health plans often only cover them until a certain age or may not provide local coverage. The Florida Board of Governors is exploring use of a similar program at other state IHEs. The move made sense for FSU, which in 2004 adopted the Healthy Campus 2010 initiative through the American College Health Association, of which Sacher is president-elect. One of the initiative’s primary goals: improved health care access. Now that coverage is mandatory, FSU’s plan can cover preexisting conditions, prescription drug benefits, and visits to an offcampus urgent care center. Another benefit is that, unlike with voluntary policies, financial aid can cover the expense. Will cash-strapped students select a school other than one with such a requirement? National data indicates they won’t. The requirement supports the academic mission. Sacher explains, “Academic outcomes can be strengthened if students are healthy and in a state of well being.” —M.E. SOUND BITE ‘T he reluctance to take out loans, specifically federal ones, is definitely an issue for Latinos. —Deborah Santiago, VP for policy and research, Excelencia in Education, on the tendency for Latino students to pay cash for their college education, even if it adds stress and decreases study time. ‘ 16 | March 2007 universitybusiness.com Update03.indd 4 2/21/07 11:49:19 AM Warning : Unknown : The session id contains invalid characters, valid characters are only a-z, A-Z and 0-9 in Unknown on line 0 Warning : Unknown : Failed to write session data files . Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct /var/lib/php/session in Unknown on line 0 http://universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - March 2007

Contents
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Editor's Note
Stats Watch
Sense of Place
Viewpoint
Marketing
Human Resources
Financial Aid
Money Matters
Community Colleges
Title IX Turns 35
It’s Electric
Lost in Space
Transportation Trends
Details of Retail
Business Technology
What's New
Calendar of Events
Direct Connect
End Note

University Business - March 2007