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Friday February 19, 2016 vol. cxxxx no. 15
{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S
International programs to be relocated By Samvida Venkatesh staff writer
Starting August 2016, 20 Washington Road will house most international programs, including the Davis International Center, and the Economics Department, according to Vice Provost for Space Programming and Planning Paul LaMarche. The building at 20 Washington Rd. is located between Robertson Hall and Green Hall. Other programs to be housed in the building, includes the Office of International Programs, Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies and the Princeton-In Programs, LaMarche said. Vice Provost for International Affairs and Operations Anastasia Vrachnos noted that moving all the international programs to a single location would provide students with more seamless access to international opportunities and would encourage deeper collaboration among international offices. “It’s inspiring to think of the spectrum of Princeton’s international engagement that will be under one roof — from Bridge Year to study abroad/Global
Seminars and international internships to postgraduate service and academic fellowships such as the Princeton-In programs and Fulbright, Schwartzmann and Princeton-Yenching,” she said. Jacqueline Leighton, director of the Davis International Center, explained that the move was a welcome change for the center, as its current location was only ever meant to be temporary. “We’ve been here at 87 Prospect Avenue for three years and we were in another temporary location for three years before that, so we’re looking forward to moving into a permanent home,” she explained. Valeria Ibarcena ’17, a student intern at the center, anticipated that the new location would be more accessible to students and therefore encourage more people to drop by the center. It is currently located beyond the eating clubs on Prospect Street and is nearly a mile away from the farthest residential college, she explained. Ibarcena and Leighton both said they hope to see a lot more programming planned from 20 Washington Rd. Some events See RELOCATION page 3
COURTESY OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY STORE
Under new health care plan, some medication prices might increase.
COURTESY OF GOOGLE.COM
Davis International Center, currently located at 87 Prospect Ave., will relocate to 20 Washington Rd. U N I V E R S I T Y A F FA I R S
University changes student health plan provider By Hannah Waxman staff writer
The University’s Student Health Plan replaced provider from Catamaran/Express Scripts with OptumRx to reduce costs, according to Director of University Health Services Janet Finnie. The change became effective on Jan. 1, although the Student Health Plan Office had made this decision over last summer, she explained. Finnie said discussions and plans for the changeover took place over the course of the Fall semester, after many conversations within the University and with student health groups. However, medications may now be more expensive than they were before since OptumRx classifies some medications, such as contraceptives, differently than Express Scripts does, Finnie noted. According to OptumRx policy, under the new plan if a student were to go to a Princeton pharmacy, RiteAid or CVS to fill out a prescription for medications such as birth control, psychotropics or anti-malarial pills for up to 30 days, the co-pay for a generic brand would be $5, a preferred brand would be $20 and a non-preferred brand would be $70, the company’s representative said. She explained that if the day supply were 31-60 days, these prices would double, and the more the day supplies increase, the more the price will go up. These prices depend on the type of medication being filled out. Under the Affordable Care Act,
health care plans should cover without cost sharing the full range of FDA-identified contraception method. Finnie explained if students get in touch with their provider or the UHS, they will be able to figure out how to get the best cost for their pharmacy. She added that Express Scripts also had structures which could make medications more expensive, but the health plan office has time to remedy these issues. According to Finnie, another issue is that a small number of students who had already paid their deductibles in the fall found that the information had not yet transferred over to OptumRx, and thus had to pay the fee twice. She added that the Student Health Plan Office is working to get refunds for these students. “With transitions from one plan to another, there are always some bumps in them because it’s a big switch. So we did have some bumps in making the transition, but I think we’re working through most of them,” noted Finnie. The Student Health Plan Advisory Council, which is related to the benefit plan and holds two meetings each school year to talk about the student health plan, discussed the switch during its Dec. 4 meeting in Nassau Hall, according to Finnie. Helena Hengelbrok ’16, Student Health Advisory Council member, said that Vice President for Campus Life W. Rochelle Calhoun and Vice President for Finance and Treasurer Carolyn Ainslie asked for feedback from 15 administrators,
graduate students, undergraduates and UHS representatives who were gathered at the meeting. Calhoun and Ainslie are the executive sponsors of the Student Health Plan. Calhoun deferred comment to Finnie. Ainslie did not respond to a request for comment. “It seemed like there was room for people to individually advocate for their medicines if they had previously been covered,” Hengelbrok said. Hengelbrok also said that because of similarities across benefits provided, in reality only a small percentage would be negatively affected by the change. The University has joined a coalition of other universities that joined together in switching health care providers in order to reduce costs, Finnie explained. Hengelbrok said another reason for the change, as Calhoun and Ainslie had explained in the meeting, was that Express Scripts was planning on changing its level of coverage and that this new plan was therefore preferable Annemarie Poemer, a representative from the Student Health Plan office, said currently a total of 4,782 students are on the health plan. Of these students, 1,771 are undergraduates, 2,775 are graduates and 236 are dependents, she said. “We want to hear from any students who are having any problems and assist them in addressing those concerns so that they are not having financial problems because of this,” Finnie said.
STUDENT LIFE
New eating club presidents aim to improve member events staff writer
All of the eating clubs with the exception of Tiger Inn have elected their Class of 2017 presidents for the coming year. Cannon Club elected Keelan Smithers ’17 for its president, and Sean Poosson ’17 got elected for Cap & Gown Club. Lorena Grundy ’17 got elected as president of Charter Club, Sam Smiddy ’17 for Cloister Inn, Christopher Yu ’17 for Colonial Club and Danny Baer ’17 for Cottage Club. Ivy Club elected Mina Para ’17 as its president, while Yekaterina Panskyy ’17 got elected for Quadrangle Club, Nicholas Horvath ’17 for Terrace Club and Romie Desrogène ’17 for
Tower Club. The earliest club to elect its president was Charter, which elected Grundy president in late November, while the latest is Tiger Inn, which has yet to elect a president. Smiddy, who was elected in early December and took office on Jan. 1, said he thought everything at Cloister went well last year and is not planning to make any major changes, aside from bolstering club membership. “My number one goal is to get a large sign-in class, which I think is the number one goal of any other sign-in club president,” he said. Smiddy said he hopes to keep members involved and increase the number of member events.
“I think that’s about all I need to do,” he said, and added that the specifics of additional members events have yet to be determined. Grundy explained that one of her goals as Charter president is to make sure that the club officers listen to member input, rather than just doing what they think members want. “My biggest priority [is] trying to make sure that we as officers are making Charter what our members really want it to be,” she said. She noted that some input from members has revolved around specific Charter events and that one of her goals is to help rebrand Charter Friday. “The biggest specific thing
we’ve been trying to address from last year is how Charter Friday works for members, because last year there weren’t really a lot of members who came to Charter Fridays that often,” Grundy explained, “That sort of seems contrary to the point of having a party at our club if we want it to be something that our own members can enjoy.” Poosson, who was newly elected the president of Cap at the beginning of February, said that he hopes to bring together the new and old members of the club. “One thing we look to continue doing is to welcome our sophomores this year, and really try to make them more involved members of the club,” he explained,
In Opinion
Today on Campus
The editorial board encourages the student body to participate in the discussion to re-evaluate Woodrow Wilson’s legacy on campus, and columnist Marni Morse advocates for greater support for the arts. PAGE 6
3 p.m.: The Wilson Legacy Review Committee is holding an open forum to share feedback on President Woodrow Wilson’s legacy. Richardson Auditorium. Alexander Hall.
“As sophomores you only get a couple meals in clubs a week… we’ve really been reaching out and trying to get them involved.” Yu, who was elected president of Colonial in mid-December and took over officially in January, explained that his vision for Colonial is to continue to make it a warm and welcoming environment. “Our goal here always is to make Colonial a club that’s like a home away from home,” he said. Yu added that Colonial will strive to keep its sense of community by having “family” initiatives where club members are paired for trivia or field day events. Colonial has a variety of See CLUB page 4
WEATHER
By Caroline Lippman
HIGH
20˚
LOW
32˚
Mostly cloudy :( chance of rain:
10 percent