CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, September 4, 1992
3
Daron J. Bennett / KANSAN
Clubbed
On the lawn of Strong Hall, Eric Fellows, Boulder, Colo., junior, practices juggling clubs. Fellows, who is president of the juggling club, was practicing yesterday with Brian Moore, vice president of the club.
AIDS may be redefined
A proposed expansion in the definition of AIDS used by government health agencies would increase the number of cases nationwide more than 70 percent, said a government official.
Kansan staff writer
Bv Joe Harder
The new definition would include a wider variety of AIDS complications, said Tom Skinner, a spokesperson for the national Centers for Disease Control.
"It will give us a better perspective on the scope of HIV and AIDS so we can target those who need education and prevention messages," Skinner said.
The CDC's decision will not be announced until later this fall, after a public comment period ends on Sept. 18, said Karen Tappan, an AIDS epidemiologist at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, who attended Wednesday's meeting.
Representatives from the CDC met Wednesday in Atlanta with AIDS activists and health experts to discuss the pros and cons of the change.
Currently, the CDC defines people with AIDS as those who have tested positive for HIV and contracted one of 23 infections, such as pneumonia. The definition is used primarily by the agencies as an identification standard in tracking AIDS cases.
HIV is the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS, acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
Under the current definition, there are 230,180 AIDS cases nationwide, said Skinner.
Under the new definition, a person testingpositive for HIV and contracting pulmonary tuberculosis, for example, would be regarded by the CDC as having AIDS.
The proposed change would add three diseases to the 23 that currently reveal the presence of AIDS; pulmonary tuberculosis, cervical cancer and recurrent bacterial infections.
The proposal would also add those who test positive for HIV and have low amounts of a specific type of white blood cell, CD4 cells, to the definition.
"The most helpful marker of AIDS is the CD4," said Charles Yockey, chief of staff at Watkins Memorial Health Center.
If a person has more than 600 CD4 cells per cubic millimeter of blood, then that person's immune system has not been affected, even if he is an HIV carrier, Yockey said.
"If the CD4 level begins dropping off, it's a sign that the immune system has been compromised and that it's only a matter of time until you get one of the infections," he said.
The CDC's proposed definition would include HIV carriers whose CD4 count is below 200.
Yockey said the proposal would not have a big effect on health care providers.
However, the length of time between a reduction in CD4 level and a contraction of an infection is small.
"Medical practitioners have been using the information that's part of the proposal for some time," he said. "B basically, the proposal is simply bringing the CDC's definition up to speed."
Anonymous testing
Available by appointment from 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays at Watkins Memorial Health Center. A Patient makes appointments by telephone using a fictitious name. During the appointment, the patient sees a single nurse who knows the patient only by that name. The blood sample is sent to the lab under a coded label. The patient makes an appointment 2 weeks after the test results with same nurse. The test results are then destroyed. The tests cost $18.50 and must be paid in cash.
HIV testing
Mullens said Congress amended the law this summer, exempting campus
Confidential testing Available to walk-in patients during regular business hours, the patient using confidential testing doesn't have to give any reason for wanting to see a nurse during the sign-in procedure. The counseling and testing procedure are the same as with anonymous testing. Test results will remain in a medical file, but can not be released without the express written consent of the patient. Payment of $18.50 is made by arrangement at the Watkins business office. An insurance company is not automatically billed.
KU police can now release personal information in reports
By Tiffany Lasha Hurt
Kansan staff writer
Personal information about students on campus police reports is now public information.
Lt. John Mullens, KU police representative, said that since 1974, personal information that would identify a student had been protected by the Buckley Amendment. The law prohibited colleges and universities from releasing student information such as names, addresses and ages without a written consent.
"It has made our reports less complicated than it has been for 18 years
police departments from the law when the information being released pertained to police records.
Mullens said this was the first year that information that identified a student had been presented on police reports, which are open to the public.
Mullens said the exemption had made the police department's job easier.
now," he said. "They don't have to sundown and proofread and check the directory to see if a person is a student or not. It cuts our time of processing our reports for public review to about one-third of what it had been."
"I think the original intent of the law was to protect students' actual academic records," he said. "You as a student have certain rights to privacy that are over and above the non-student are as academic records are concerned."
Mullens said the exemption only affected the campus police department. He said the rest of the campus was still bound by Buckley.
"Many parents finance their children's education. The question was, does the parent have the right when someone is over 18 years old to have access to that student's record? Without Buckley, your parents could call up and find out how you're doing in school," Mullens said.
He said the exemption would have more of an effect on the media than it would for students. He said the media would be able to see the names of victims just as they would at the Lawrence police department.
Ted Frederickson, associate professor of journalism, said he was happy about the police exemption.
"Buckley was intended to prevent the University from releasing information about grades, things that involve the personal privacy of the student, not police information," he said. "I think clearly police information should be released."
Mullens said the exemption also would decrease the workload for insurance companies.
He said if a student reported a theft, the insurance company would call the police to get the information about the student. If the student would not sign a consent form to release the information, the police would have to
send the company a report with the student's personal information blackened out.
"From an insurance standpoint, few students knew Buckley existed unless they had something stolen and reported it," Mullens said.
Mullens also said the exemption would have little effect on students.
"Many of the students will go through their whole existence at the University and not even realize from our standpoint whether Buckley had an effect on them or not," he said.
SenEx approves resolution to keep enrollment deposit
By Delin Cormeny Kansan staff writer
The University Senate Executive Committee unanimously approved a resolution yesterday to keep an enrollment deposit option intact.
The recommendation comes about two weeks after a statement by Richard Morrell, University registrar. Morrell had said that the University tentatively planned to eliminate the $100 down-payment option next fall and instead require students to pay full tuition at the beginning of August.
The SenEx resolution to keep the option is simply arecommendation, and the option will not be safeguarded until Chancellor Gene Budig approves it.
Although the approved resolution did not include specifics, SenEx members discussed changing the $100 deposit to a 10- or 20-percent deposit and deferred payment
of the balance for 15 to 20 days after the start of classes.
SenEx members expressed interest in making the system work better for students who depend on financial aid, private out-of-state scholarships and Stafford loans.
These types of loans, since they are out-of-state and non-University, could not be credited early to students' accounts, and students had to pay the $100 deposit themselves August 3 in order to ensure their enrollment this semester.
SenEx also discussed an extended fee payment schedule that would work much like car payments, but no details were put forth in the resolution.
Dave Shulenburger, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs, said this type of payment would not work. He said student fees, along with state appropriations, were used to pay University employees.
"There wouldn't be any way to meet the University's payroll," he said. "That's just not an option."
Jason McIntosh, SenExE vice chair, said, "It looks like they're putting fiscal responsibility above the earning capability of the students."
Although Student Senate has not officially joined in this recommendation, McIntosh, who introduced the resolution to SenEx, said he planned to introduce it to the senate next Wednesday.
Regardless of whether or not senate approves it, the resolution will go to SenEx's parent senate, the University Council, for endorsement and then on to Budig for final approval.
If the resolution reaches final approval and the down-payment option remains intact, a fees committee will examine various payment plans.
"Most likely they will (approve it)," he said. "I don't see why they wouldn't."
Officials say health insurance is needed by college students
By Kristi Fogler
Kansan staff writer
Molly Green needed to save money.
Green, Lawrence graduate student, said her previous medical insurance policy through Golden Rule insurance company just wasn't economic.
"I was really interested in finding something cheaper," she said. "Green recently switched to the policy offered through the University of Kansas. She said she was now paying about half of what she was paying for comparable coverage with Golden Rule."
Because of high medical costs, health insurance is a major expense for college students. But as active as college students can be, they need to have a health insurance policy
"In 1992, in the United States, you've got to have health insurance," said Charles Yockey, chief of staff at Watkins Health Center. "A simple laceration can cost a couple of hundred dollars."
While individual policies and companies vary, most companies will cover full-time students who are dependent on their parents until age 22, he said.
Yockey estimated that less than 66 percent of KU students are covered by some type of health insurance. He said a vast majority of students were covered by their parents' policies.
Yockey said the biggest insurance-related problem at Watkins was people confusing the health fee included in each semester's tuition with health insurance. The health fee covers most services at Watkins such as office visits. The fee covers about 90 percent of needs' needs, Yockey said.
"The charges at Watkins are markedly reduced," he said. "We try to use the most economic antibiotics and X-rays."
Even if students cannot afford health insurance, health care still would be available, Yockey said.
"If the student lets us know they're having problems paying, we'll work with them," he said. "We'll work with the student to set up a payment plan."
The collection of a bill is turned over to the University only when a student refuses to respond to the bill.
"It's a vicious cycle," he said. "The students who are least likely to be able to afford insurance premiums are most often the students least likely able to afford health care. Students don't plan on getting appenditis. They don't plan on getting in a car wreck."
Graham Bailey, director of public relations for Blue Cross & Blue Shield, said it was vital for a college student to have health insurance.
"If you don't get health insurance, you're gambling," he said. "With surgery, hopefully no one would be denied services if it was necessary. It does happen though."
Bailey said students could keep the cost of insurance down if they subscribed to a policy with a high deductible. A deductible is the amount a policy holder must pay for health care in one year. If a policy had a $500 deductible, the policy holder would pay the first $500 and the insurance company would subsidize additional costs.
"The key is to find something that meets your individual needs," he said.
A LOT OF PIZZA FOR A LITTLE DOUGH!