thursday, february 5, 2004
news
tne university daily kansan
3A
Increased price of birth control affects students
By Matt Rodriguez
mrrodriguez@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Once again students are faced with rising fees. But this time it's nottuition — it's birth control.
Watkins Memorial Health Center is now charging students $18.95 for a one-month prescription of the oral contraceptive Ortho-cyclen. That's a 171 percent increase from the original $7.
Watkins will not benefit more from the increase.
"We're not making more money, it's costing us more money to buy it," Cathy Thrasher, Watkins pharmacist, said.
About two years ago, Watkins
"We're not making more money, it's costing us more money to buy it"
Cathy Thrasher
Watkins pharmacist
realized the inevitable: manufacturer Ortho-McNeil was going to increase the price of Orthocyclen. Students must remember Orthocylen's new price is still discounted and Watkins offers cheaper options, Thrasher said.
There was little that Watkins could of done to prepare for the
increase. State guidelines and expiration dates prevented them from stockpiling Ortho-cyclen two years ago.
Watkins operates under the state of Kansas purchasing guidelines. It has certain limits of purchase dollars and must receive special approval for each purchase. Thrasher said universities operated under much stricter rules than independent pharmacies.
"It's a whole different world here because we have many people to whom we have to answer to." Thrasher said.
One factor that contributes to the increase is Ortho-cyclen's generic competitors. When other
companies began offering the same product as Ortho-McNeil, the market opened up, Thrasher said. Thrasher said Watkins' prices would change as the market changes.
The increase is still a discounted rate and is still cheaper than independent pharmacies, Thrasher said. Other pharmacies in Lawrence such as Jayhawk Pharmacy, 3510 Clinton Place, charge about $40 for a one-month dosage of Ortho-cyclen.
Planned Parenthood of Mid-
Missouri and Eastern Kansas,
2108 W. 27th St., offers oral contraceptives to students at a discounted rate. Its price for Ortho-cyclen and all other oral
contraceptives is $8 for a one-month dosage. Planned Parenthood cut Ortho-cylcen's price in half at least six months ago, said Becki Brenner, vice president for clinical services of the Missouri and Eastern Kansas division.
Other agencies also offer the prescription at a discount rate. Lawrence Douglas County Health Department, 200 Maine St., offers Ortho-cyclen for $4. But that price can be misleading.
They make up for the low price through other fees.
"The low cost doesn't mean it's cheaper here," said Barbara Schnitker, director of nurses for
the department. "We also break our fees out to other areas like lab and examining fees."
Thrasher said Ortho-cyclen was not their most prescribed oral contraceptive. Ortho-trycyclen and Ortho-tricyclenlo are the most common ones. These pills offer a lower level of hormones than Ortho-cylen. Thrasher said Watkins would prescribe the correct pill with the help of a physician's evaluation.
The price for a one-month cycle for Ortho-trycyclen or Ortho-trycyclenlo is $7. Thrasher guaranteed that Ortho-trycyclenlo would stay at $7 for some time.
Edited by Guillaume Doane
Student Senate decides polling site locations
By Andy Marso
amarso@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
A debate over how students vote for their Student Senate representatives dominated last night's Senate meeting.
The debate focused on the usefulness of polling sites as opposed to having students only vote at campus computer labs.
The original bill was for five polling sites at a cost of $8,000 to $10,000. Kyle Johnson, StudEx chair, proposed an amendment that would have reduced that to a single polling site at Wescoe Beach. Last year Wescoe was the most popular of nine polling sites, with 32.5 percent of votes placed there.
After Johnson proposed the amendment, senators debated about a dozen different polling plans.
Proponents of polling sites argued that they increased voter turnout by their visibility and that workers at polling sites offered help to students who didn't understand how to vote.
Opponents of polling sites said they were too expensive and little-used.
The plan that passed called for four polling sites at Wescoe, Mrs. E's, GSP-Corbin Hall and the Student Fitness Recreation Center in addition to campus computer labs. Senate allocated $7,000 for the four sites.
Senate also passed a bill to allocate $3,252 to the Blueprints Leadership Conference.
The conference, in its 15th year, includes guest speakers, activities and a community service project. It will be held Feb.28.
The bill included $2,000 to secure Oklahoma State professor Andrew Urich as the featured speaker.
Urich teaches business law and retired from his legal career having never lost a case.
Casey Collier, holdover senator, saw Urich at the 2001 Blueprints Conference, when he was also a keynote speaker. She said that Urich was energetic.
Collier said the conference would provide opportunities for students to network with peers and learn from current leaders. Registration begins Monday.
- Edited Henry C. Jackson
Budget cuts could end leadership seminar
By Anna Clovis
aclovis@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
The program that envisioned the Student Recreation Fitness Center could be leaving the University. While this could save the University of Kansas thousands of dollars,it could also disappoint students.
For financial reasons, the University may be forced to end LeaderShape, a six-day, intensive leadership training seminar. During the program, participants learn about teamwork and create vision projects that they intend to implement during their time at the University. The training takes place at Tall Oaks conference center in Linwood.
Reuben Perez, coordinator for leadership education and development programs, said every year the LeaderShape existed at the University could have been the last.
Perez said the risk was created because the expensive program, which cost the University $33,000, started without a longterm plan to keep it alive
"If KU loses this, they lose a lot of what they have now,and that's good leaders."
Elizabeth Ault
Topeka sophomore
University LeaderShape vision projects have included House That Greeks Built and the Colors of KU diversity retreat.
Some students said their lives would be different without LeaderShape.
Susan Henry said she wasn't sure if attending LeaderShape her freshman year would be a good idea.
With most of the participants being sophomores and juniors, the Fort Scott junior said she thought she would be intimidated.
Instead she was inspired.
"It helped me find the type of leader I wanted to be," Henry said.
Henry is the vice president of
recruitment for the panhellenic association, the governing body of University sororities. She said LeaderShape helped start a chain reaction that led to her position.
Perez said it was hard to put a price tag on the potential the conference generated
"I believe that's worth it if you can fire up students to initiate change," Perez said.
The University is one of 40 campuses with LeaderShape programs, said Susie Cooper, manager for purchasing and curriculum in LeaderShape's main office in Champaign, Ill.
Cooper said the potential end of the program at the University was not a trend. She said more campuses added LeaderShape programs each year.
She said people in charge of the programs worked diligently to do whatever they could of done to keep the programs going.
Some, she said, were seeking corporate sponsorships to defray the cost.
Perez said the University program charged each participant a
$50 fee for the past two years to help with funding.
He said some 2004 LeaderShape graduates were planning to ask Student Senate for funding to continue the conference.
Elizabeth Ault, Topeka sophomore, graduated from LeaderShape last year. She said the loss of the program would be devastating.
"If KU loses this, they lose a lot of what they have now, and that's good leaders," Ault said.
Henry said that while not having LeaderShape would be bad, she thought that students that were driven to be successful had different options.
Henry said she knew students who had attended the national sessions in Illinois.
She said those sessions were beneficial because the students had different perspectives.
LeaderShape offers eight national sessions during the summer for $1,450 per participant. Scholarships are available.
Edited by Guillaume Doane