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Show Monday, Sept. 21, 2009 Utah Statesman The Campus Voice since 1902 Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com Health care system threatens nation’s future By KAYLA WOODRING staff writer Failure to reform the nation’s health care system will lead to disaster for its economic well-being and global competitiveness in coming years, said Michael Lyons, professor of U.S. legislative policy. “We’re spending almost twice as much on health care as any other industrialized nation and it is undermining the prosperity of our economy and our competitiveness internationally,” Lyons said. “And with the retirement of the baby boomers in the next 10-15 years, the problem will become more severe as projections indicate we will be spending one-fifth or more of our entire gross domestic product (GDP) on health care costs.” The reason one-fifth of the nation’s GDP is such a staggering figure is because it leaves little opportunity for Americans to spend money on other important government programs and endeavors. To put it into a better perspective, Lyons said citizens should consider this: The U.S. currently spends about 7 percent of its GDP on education, which is half of what it is spending now on health care. “Any attempt to fix health care in this country must address the cost. The Obama administration’s proposal doesn’t do this directly enough in my opinion but seems to create a way to address it over a 20-year period,” Lyons said. “That being said, the bill does address the second major issue in health care reform and that is 40-50 million people in this country who do not have health care.” PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA addresses a joint session of Congress on health care reform Wednesday, Sept. 9. Michael Lyons, USU professor of U.S. legislative policy, said public misconceptions and hysteria are one of the biggest obstacles to health care reform in the U.S. MCT photo If costs are reduced and the uninsured are covered by health care reform, it will be highly beneficial for the economy, Lyons said. The current system is inefficient as it requires the insured to pick up the costs for the uninsured who are unable to obtain medical care until they are in dire circumstances, often in emer- gency rooms. “As it stands, there is socialism in our current health care system,” Lyons said. “That’s correct, I said there is socialism in our system that comes from many of us paying for those who can’t pay by being forced to pay higher prices for care and treatment. We need to get rid of this particular kind Washington Monthly ranks Utah State 27th in nation By BENJAMIN WOOD senior news writer USU beat out Brigham Young University, University of Utah and Princeton in this year’s Washington Monthly College Rankings, coming in at No. 27. The editor in chief of Washington Monthly, Paul Glastris, said its rankings began as an alternative to the listings published by the U.S. News and World Report. Often, Glastris said, non-academic factors like reputation sway the results of the U.S. News rankings, and the editors at Washington Monthly wanted to stick with more reliable data. “They measure prestige and money, which are not the same as academic excellence,” Glastris said. Schools in Washington Monthly’s annual rankings are rated based on their contribution to the public good, Glastris said, and are awarded points based on social mobility, research and service. Within these catagories, factors such as direct financial aid assistance, graduation rates, research expenditures and work-study funds contribute to a school’s overall score. “Rather than trying to determine whether a specific college is the best, we ask whether the taxpayers are getting their money’s worth,” Glastris said. USU excelled particularly in the area of finan- Inside This Issue cial aid. According to the ranking data found at Washington Monthly’s Web site, USU is third in the nation for federal work-study funds spent on service and 52 percent of students receive Pell grants. “Where we shine is the service category,” said Steve Sharp, USU’s financial aid director. Sharp said USU has one of the most expansive America Reads tutoring programs in the country and roughly half of work-study funds are spent on tutoring and other community service programs. He also mentioned that in Utah, compared with other states, a greater percentage of undergraduates are married, increasing the availability of Pell grants. Even so, USU was ranked higher than other Utah schools – BYU and the University of Utah ranked 136 and 154, respectively. “The people who get Pell grants at our institution do better than expected,” Sharp said. Sharp agreed the rankings published by U.S. News and World Report can be somewhat unreliable when comparing institutions of higher education. “It’s about as accurate as high school popularity,” Sharp said. Sharp graduated from USU and in the space of his career has become familiar with many Ivy League schools and graduates and said he - See RANK, page 4 9/21/09 Hockey beat BYU 15-1 and then took a short road-trip to Ogden, where they beat Weber State 98 in overtime. Page 5 of socialism and reforming the system is the only way we’re going to be able to do that.” Public misconceptions and hysteria are proving to be the biggest obstacles to health care reform in the country. Lyons said there is a genuine lack of understanding of the consequences of reform and a propagation of myths like the death panel, many of which are spread by certain polarized media figures, that prevent people from really becoming informed as to what the proposals are. Most of the media aren’t to blame for the division among the people however, Lyons said. “There’s media and then there’s media, and I think con- servative talk-radio hosts and television personalities like Glenn Beck have worked a significant part of the voting population into near hysteria when there’s really nothing that radical in the Obama plan,” Lyons said. “I think the mainstream - See REFORM, page 3 Tooele campus receives 30-acre land donation from local mayor By Christina Wright staff writer Tooele City Mayor Patrick Dunlavy and the Tooele City Council recently donated 30 acres to the USU Regional Campus in Tooele. USU plans to purchase an additional 20 acres to build a 50acre campus that will serve all of Tooele County. The new campus will be south of the current one. The vice provost of Distance Education, Ronda Menlove, said, “Our first priority will be more classroom space.” In fact, the approximately 900 students enrolled this semester have to take some classes at nearby high schools because the Tooele Regional Campus is too small. To help alleviate the problem, an 18,000-square-foot addition to the old campus was completed and the ribbons cut on Sept. 14. According to the dean of the Tooele campus, Gary Straquadine, the $2.89 million addition includes a new biology lab with full wet lab capability, a computer lab with 20 workstations, a second set of restrooms, 110 new parking spaces and 15 new classrooms, which has already been filled and students are back in high school classrooms. Other short-term plans are in place to help with the classroom problem. Menlove said the Tooele School District is working on a new Career and Technical Education building, which will share some classroom space with the campus. The success of USU’s four-year aviation program is recognized nationally. Page 8 “We’re also partnering with the Tooele Applied Technology College,” she said. The TATC will also share its classroom space with the Tooele Regional Campus while USU will assist the TATC in building its own new addition. The next priorities after classroom space include a new high-quality research facility, similar to the one at the Uintah Basin Regional Campus in Vernal, to be used by both students and faculty. Eventually a student center will be built to accommodate the different needs of fresh-out-of-high-school students and older, non-traditional students. The new campus will be bounded on the east by residential areas. Authorities hope it will attract light industry on the west. Dunlavy said an interest in building a bigger USU extension in Tooele has existed for years, especially with the recent doubling of the city’s population that has made it impossible for the current regional campus to serve all the students wishing to use its facilities. The enrollment for fall shows an increase of almost 114 percent from 2008’s enrollment, and the trend is expected to continue. The main goal that he and the Tooele City Council envision for the new USU Regional Campus is increased higher-education opportunities for local students so they can avoid the higher tuition and cost of living associated with moving to a different city for - See LAND, page 4 www.aggietownsquare.com Check out the great slide show of photos from LATOJA. Don’t know what LATOJA is? Better read the story, too. www.aggietownsquare.com Official Student Newspaper of Utah State University • “It’s All The News You Need!” |
