With right hands raised, three of Graduate Student Senate’s new executive board members were officially sworn into the governing body.
Joel Newby, Liz Volpe and Ed Gaither will serve as president, vice president for Committees and Legislative Affairs and vice president for Administration and Finance, respectively. Jessica Furgerson, who was not present at the meeting, will represent graduate students as the vice president for Communication.
Newby shared his hopes for the coming year, asking GSS members to encourage graduate students to join the body.
“Have your friends … anybody that would fit well in a certain area, apply (for commissioner positions),” Newby said. “We really want the best people in the positions as possible.”
Current president of GSS, Tynita White, began her final meeting with Anna Wenning, OU’s hhealth iinsurance aadministrator, to explain the changes in the health care policy to GSS members.
The current health care fee will be increasing by 14 percent next semester from $1,321 to $1,506 for students, Wenning said. Graduate students make up the majority of the health care policy at OU, prompting Wenning to request feedback from GSS on the plan.
“This made all of us sick when we heard it, too,” Wenning said. “We are going to go out on our own and see what we can do (to make changes).”
OU entered into a contract with the Inter-University Council Insurance Consortium through UnitedHealthCare, but as the largest school in the group, the set policies hurt current university health care rates, Wenning said.
As a body, GSS approved the suggestion of raising emergency room co-pay costs in order to lower the overall price of the insurance by $22.59, with the co-pay increasing from $125 to $250 per visit.
“People have a tendency to overuse ER visits,” said Marc Richards, representative for the College of Osteopathic Medicine. “We should really try to get people to use C
ampus Care. (This) could discourage the overutilization of the ER.”
The contract with UHC will expire in the coming year, and the university plans to “shop around” for other policies, Wenning said.
Graduate students were reminded of the final GradFest that will be held on May 3 at Jackie O’s Pub & Brewery at 8 p.m. following the graduate students’ commencement ceremony.
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