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Show DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE Thursday, February 28, 2013 3 HINCKLEY FORUM Health care threats outweigh budget cuts Anna Drysdale STAFF WRITER With another budget cliff looming this week, the rising costs of health care pose more of a danger to the United States than the upcoming mandatory federal budget cuts, said Robert Huefner, professor of political science, at the Hinckley Institute of Politics yesterday. "The real problem we have ... is much more serious than Friday's [budget deadline]," he said. "The real problem we have in this country is the high cost of health care, and that's what we need to address to deal with the long-term economic strength of the country." According to Huefner, how the nation chooses to deal with health care costs could determine its strength in the future. Although the United States is struggling with massive debt, it still has significant "soft power," or influence. He fears that if the current trends continue, that power will disappear. "We've eroded to the extent that we are not able to show that we are sensitive to the needs of our people," he said. Emily Hickman, a U alumna in political science, agreed. "I like that he brought up the point of soft power and how we're losing that," she said. "If you look at our economy and how citizens are living every day ... the quality of life is going down, and that affects soft power." She said she thinks this decline reveals growing weakness in government. Huefner said he believes the loss of soft power could also MICHAEL SYGNATOWICZ/The Daily Utah Chronicle Political science professor Robert Huefner discusses the high cost of health care. cause problems with national security. He also argued that the United States is outspending all other developed countries two to one, spending twice as much per person on health care as foreign counterparts. This discrepancy could determine the extent to which the United States' economy is competitive in the international arena. Even the Affordable Care Act does not solve the problem, he said. Even though the act strives to make health care affordable for Americans, it does not lower the base cost for health care, and either state or federal governments will have to bear the brunt of the cost. Huefner said this means other government-funded organizations could suffer. If the federal government bears the cost, social security funds are likely to take another blow. If state governments take over, public education funding could plummet. Of the two, he said a federal funding initiative might be the lesser of the two evils. "It ought to be that it would be competing with the elderly and not with the expenditures for education," he said. "The federal [government] is raising its money throughout the country, so it has a more even base for the expenditures for health care." He said even socializing health care might not solve the problem as long as the nation sustains the high cost of health care. However, he said lowering the cost of health care could limit access and quality of care. Huefner does not think turning health care over to the free market is the answer, either. He said that is the current system and it is not working. "It's a mistake," he said. a.thysdale@ chronicle.utah.edu Lecture reveals river concerns Scott Frederick STAFF WRITER BRENT LIBERTY/The Daily Utah Chronicle Students work on tests behind glass windows in the new computerized testing center on campus. TESTING Continued from page 1 constantly circling around you. And it is more competitive after, because you know your score, so everyone asks what you got," she said. Overall, she still liked it better than a traditional test setting. Atwood said it is also fairer for students, because they are all graded equally rather than by different teaching assistants. The new test method also diminishes opportunities for cheating because students are more spread out and the professors themselves, plus employees from teaching and learning technologies, easily monitor those taking the test to see if students stray away and end up on other websites. Students are also now able to sign up for their own time, and they are no longer constrained VIOLENCE Continued from page 1 have been notoriously careful about making these accusations. Why would a woman want to go to the trouble to get a protective order if there's no reason?" Committee Chair Sen. Mark B. Madsen, R-Utah and Salt Lake Counties, was the only committee member who did not support the bill. "It's our responsibility to pass good laws. Emotionally, it sure would be nice to say, 'Yeah, I support this as it is,'" he said. "But I am concerned about the fact that these can be awarded with one alleged instance of a verbal threat ... I would encourage the sponsor to change that ... to establish a pattern and eliminate the possibility of misunderstanding." Steven Burton, a defense attorney, argued the bill as written might allow applicants to abuse protective orders by requesting one as a power play. Seelig disagreed, pointing out that the bill makes it a felony to lie when applying for a protective order. In order to protect the victim, the bill stipulates that accused attackers cannot possess or purchase firearms until the case has gone through court. While supporters say this is necessary for victims' sense of security Charles Hardy, a gun rights advocate, expressed concern that this prohibition is an infringement of constitutional rights. by the 50-minute class time. The computers were paid for as part of the start-up package for Atwood joining the U's faculty. As of mid-January the center was up and running. The first test received an average of 83, a score Atwood said is good to see with chemistry exams. Now Atwood wants to keep improving and develop software for multiple answers, text entry, rotating and clickable 3-dimensional models and maybe movie clips to run during the exam. He hopes that he can work out all the glitches and become good enough that other departments come to him wanting to transition to computerized testing. "In terms of facility for taking a test, this is so much better than sitting in room 2008 jammed up and trying to write on a wobbly piece of wood," Atwood said. c.webber@ chronicle.utah.edu Seelig's presentation included the parents of two girls who were victims of dating violence. When Rick Sorensen's daughter was abducted during a date to a movie theater and forcefully abused over the course of a weekend, he said there was no law to help her. "Miraculously, somehow she survived that night," he said. "There was nothing I could do to protect my daughter ... there is a gap that this law will fill." Seelig also expressed a desire to fill the gap in the law when she presented the bill to the Senate committee. "In Utah, we have a hole in our criminal justice system ... a hole in which our daughters and granddaughters and sons and grandsons are falling, and some are dying ... merely because they are dating," she said. Seelig said 42 other states have already passed legislation on dating violence. Whitney Norton, a senior in economics, presented a petition signed by 40o U students in support of the bill to the committee and was glad to see the bill passed on to the floor. "I'm always nervous, just because you never know what could come up," Norton said. As the bill moves to the floor, she is encouraging students to call their senators in support of the bill. "They only know it's important to us if we tell them," she said. a.drysdale@ chronicle.utah.edu Longtime environmentalist Ray Wheeler and ecologist Ty Harrison teamed up with the departments of civil engineering and philosophy to present the lecture "Restoring the Jordan River in Salt Lake Valley." The lecture and slide show, held in the Warnock Engineering Building on Wednesday night, highlighted issues concerning the Jordan River. Wheeler said he is passionate about wilderness and wildlife preservation. He lives close to the river and for years has spearheaded the cleanup of the section near his home. His efforts have removed islands of garbage like bottles, cans, dozens of shopping carts and car tires. However, Wheeler said he feels that there are even bigger threats to the river, such as the proposed developments near the river that would change its corridor in significant ways. He pointed to the hundreds of bird species that use the Jordan River corridor in their annual migration patterns and the effect that parking lots and buildings close to the river will ACHIEVEMENTS Continued from page 1 has been named president of Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif. NEW PROFESSOR AWARDED NATIONAL FELLOWSHIP Megan Williams, assis- DANCE Continued from page 1 For three weeks Tolman wrote the script, edited and filmed the mockumentary. One scene in the documentary shows the ballet dancer counting the amount of lettuce she puts into a plastic bag while the modern dancer snags a donut and sticks her finger into a jar of Nutella before leaving the house. The ballet dancer acts proper and clean, while RESIGNATION Continued from page 1 sent to architecture students on Tuesday, Muir was offered a number of options to resolve the current problems in the department, one of which was to resign. As of Tuesday at 3 p.m., Scheer had not accepted Muir's resignation letter. "[Scheer] is working with the faculty to develop a plan for moving forward and is waiting for Prescott's decision on how he would like to SCOTT FREDERICK/The Daily Utah Chronicle Ecologist Ty Harrison (left) and environmentalist Ray Wheeler (right) present their lecture and slide show: "Restoring the Jordan River in Salt Lake Valley." defeats the role of natural flooding. Humans need to plant native species to replace the species lost from altering the path of the river in order to maintain the migratory bird corridor." Harrison also discussed several projects that are restoring sections of the river's natural habitat, such as the Galena Open Space Complex in Draper. Both men pointed to the Blueprint Jordan River Report of 2008 in which members of the public were surveyed and indicated a strong desire to keep much of the Jordan River corridor wild. "We know how to do all of this. All we need is the political will and the funding," he said. Jason Christensen, a civil engineering major and president-elect of the U's chapter of the Water Environment Federation-American Water Resources Association, said he attended the lecture to broaden his horizons and learn about the condition of the Jordan River. He said he would like to see the river cleaned up. He described the Jordan River as "dirty, gross and unnatural." have on them by reducing their areas of habitat. In 1983 when the Jordan flooded, Wheeler kayaked the flood crest from Utah Lake, where the river begins, all the way to the Great Salt Lake where the river ends. It was a 75-mile, io-day trip that changed his perception of the river. "We have the chance to preserve one of the last wide-open spaces in the Salt Lake Valley," Wheeler said. "But there is a lot of pressure to use the river corridor for other things." Wheeler's aim was to show the attendees the big picture of how impor- tant the river is to wildlife, particularly birds. He explained that hundreds of species use the Jordan River corridor as their migration path coming all the way from South America to the Great Salt Lake. Harrison focused on local issues and the efforts being made to restore native plants to the banks of the river as well as restoring some of the meanders the river would have if humans had not straightened out most of the river. "Channelization is the worst thing that has happened to the river," he said. "It gets rid of oxbows and tant professor of neurobiology and anatomy, has been awarded the Sloan Research Fellowship. She is one of 126 recipients of the award in 2013. She will receive $50,000 to continue her research on synapses, or the connections in nerve cells through which signals flow. She is working to identify the genes that determine how different syn- apses are made, which can contribute to different neurological disorders. BERG NAMED AS NEW INTERIM DEAN FOR SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE the modern dancer wakes up and leaves in the clothes she slept in. Although the mockumentary is exaggerated, Tolman said there is some truth in every joke, and that makes it funny. "A lot of us [modern dancers] really do sleep in our dance clothes," Tolman said. "It's not to say that we sleep in our dance clothes, but we dance in our sleeping clothes." Bowcutt said she could barely keep a straight face as they filmed the scenes. "It's definitely not who I am," she said. "But there is sort of that stereotype that [ballet dancers] are super serious and intense." At the end of the semester, the modern dance department got together to watch the projects. Tolman showed her mockumentary and afterward, students and faculty members asked her to send it to them. When Tolman posted the video on YouTube during Winter Break, she was sur- prised the video already had 30o views within a couple of days. Now the video has 12,878 views from people in more than ioo countries, according to Google statistics provided by Tolman. "Alyssa was able to capture just both these hysterical stereotypes of both forms that were both so great," Bromberg said. "It's really a healthy representation of the work when we can laugh at ourselves." proceed," Sterling said. Students are concerned about the way the situation has been handled and made their voices heard to the Office of Academic Affairs. "The biggest benefit of having students provide a petition to the administration is for them to highlight that they're really confused, upset, worried and that's enough of a signal for us to know that this is something we need to address and something we need to work with you on," said Amy Wildermuth, associate vice president of academic affairs. Wildermuth is working with Hardman to understand what is going on at the College of Architecture and then find solutions and help resolve them. "What's hard here is that people like to have a quick turn around and know what exactly is gonna happen immediately," Wildermuth said. "We can't respond on a dime because we also want to make sure we've thought about what the process should look like." Another priority for Wildermuth is that both students and faculty have enough notice to be involved when decisions and meetings are happening. "I want to make sure students are protected in these situations," she said. Muir was appointed by Scheer as the chairman in 2009 and has been a professor at the U since 1987. Scheer did not return phone calls or emails to comment. Cynthia Berg has been named interim dean for the College of Social and Behavioral Science, effective July 1. s.frederick@ chronicle.utah.edu Berg has been a member of the faculty since 1986. Her research is on developmental and health psychology, specifically how individuals cope with chronic illnesses inside relationships and families. She has served as the graduate studies chairwoman and director in the department of psychology. m.clark@chronicle.utah.edu a.plummer@ chronicle.utah.edu m.clark@ chronicle.utah.edu |
