Campus Journal News

UNH employees will have only one health care provider from which to choose -- Cigna -- after Anthem/Blue Cross Blue Shield declined to bid on the USNH contract unless they were guaranteed to be the sole provider of medical benefits systemwide.

The decision is effective Jan. 1, 2003.

Open enrollment for benefits runs until Nov. 1. During this time, employees subscribed to an Anthem plan -- HMO Blue New England -- must select a new medical plan provider for 2003. A second provider will not be added this year, but could be in the future, said Joan Tambling, director of USNH Human Resources.

USNH received four bids, but only Anthem and Cigna had enough physicians in the network for the system to truly consider the bid, Tambling said.

When USNH solicited bids, it asked vendors to provide a price for the status quo (i.e. multiple providers) and for single source, meaning that the health care provider would have an exclusive contract with USNH and become the sole provider of medical coverage, Tambling said.

CIGNA provided bids for each scenario. Anthem provided a bid for only the single source option. In addition to Cigna's single source bid coming in lower than Anthem's single source bid, many more people would have been negatively affected by the loss of Cigna than by the loss of Anthem, since more than 80 percent of USNH employees have chosen a Cigna health care plan, she said.

"Most Anthem HMO customers will be able to switch to Cigna HMO. There are, however, about 140 people systemwide whose primary care physician is not in the CIGNA network. These folks will probably have to go to the (Cigna) Point of Service plan if they want to keep the same doctor," Tambling said.

"Obviously this is not ideal news and the (USNH and UNH) Human Resources offices will be trying to help people sort through their best choices," she said.

"I don't know what this means for the future. Important to that consideration is that this is not a policy decision we made. Rather it is the reality that Anthem will not offer a program. Anthem may not always take this position; we might find other vendors in the future and/or we might decide that we want to develop a full range of plan choices but not necessarily a full range of vendors. It's hard to say at this point," Tambling said.

David Butler, assistant vice president of UNH human resources, said UNH and USNH are looking at a number of options as they continue to deal with rising health care costs.

"At what point do we come self-insured?" Butler said during a discussion of the situation with the PAT Council. The system also is investigating whether the state legislature can assist it in removing "artificial barriers" that would allow health care providers to compete over state lines.

The bottom line, Butler said, is that the health care crisis is continuing, but that UNH and USNH are open to alternatives to improve medical benefits. "If a brainstorm comes to you in the middle of the night from God, please send that over," he said.

Last year, USNH undertook a systemwide benefits cost containment effort to deal with an estimated $5.6 million benefits deficit projected for fiscal year '02. Medical benefits account for the largest portion of USNH benefits expenses -- $29.5 million of the $72.1 million total benefits expense budget. Second are retirement expenses at $19.5 million, with Social Security expenses (which are set by the federal government) at $16.1 million. The remaining $7 million includes tuition, worker's compensation, dental, life insurance, long-term disability and other expenses.

The growth in USNH benefits costs for fiscal year 2002 -- 11.3 percent -- exceeds the Consumer Price Index (3 to 4 percent), the rate of 2002 tuition increases (about 5 percent), and the rate of increase in state appropriations for fiscal years 2002 and 2003.

For USNH medical plans, the average rate of increase in 2001-2002 was about 25 percent, and the system expected a similar magnitude of increase in 2002-2003. However, by going out to bid USNH was able to significantly reduce the 2003 increase to an average of 2.5 percent. Nationally, the average rate of medical increases in 2001 was more than 11 percent, and the average rate of medical increases in New Hampshire for the 2002 calendar year was more than 25 percent.

Moving to a single source medical benefit was among the options discussed as a possible way to reduce costs. In the February 2002 Benefit Cost Containment Project document released by USNH, it is listed as a Category III proposal.

The OS Council has invited a representative from the state of New Hampshire to campus to discuss a state donor sick leave pool program as both the PAT and OS councils continue to investigate the viability of such a program at UNH.

Tom Manning will visit the councils Oct. 18. "We want to see how an established plan is working," District Nine Rep. Erika Clifford said. "I know they did extensive research."

The donor sick leave pool would allow employees to donate time to a campuswide sick pool to be used by coworkers who have exhausted all sources of sick and annual leave while facing catastrophic illness or injury.

The state program, called the Supplemental Sick Leave Plan, was implemented by the state Judicial Branch and is available to court employees. The plan grants sick leave to employees facing serious or life-threatening illnesses, injuries, impairments or mental/physical conditions that have caused or will likely cause the employee to take leave without pay. Employees must use or expect to use all forms of paid leave before they can participate.

Court employees can donate any amount of time to the supplemental sick leave pool. These donations are blind donations, meaning that they cannot be designated for a specific employee.

The council heard from Mary Taylor, coordinator of president's commissions, and Kate Hanson, chair of the Women's Commission, who discussed maternity, adoption and family leave policies at UNH.

Current sick leave policies do not allow employees to use paid sick time to care for a sick spouse, partner, parent, child or other family member. Taylor said the Women's Commission is researching whether changes should be made to USNH policy to allow employees to use accrued paid sick time in such circumstances or provide some other type of financial support. The commission also is researching USNH leave policies regarding families in the process of adoption as well as to secondary parents as paternity leave.

"Some institutions and companies offer financial support for those who adopt in addition to the paid leave time. This is because adoption is costly. Those who welcome a new child into their lives through pregnancy don't shoulder a similar cost because insurance covers the expenses," Taylor said.

"As the commission and its partners are in the process of doing research and looking into the issues, I can't say whether we are advocating for access to accrued paid sick time for these purposes or for something else. We are definitely in the stage of gathering information and support for these issues," she said.

In addition, Taylor and Hanson discussed an issue pertaining to paid maternity leave for operating staff. Operating staff who take maternity leave must use their sick pool and earned time. If they do not have enough time to cover the maternity leave period, they must take pay without leave.

All other USNH full-time employees do not have to use annual leave or take pay without leave when their sick leave is exhausted because they can use the university's interim disability coverage, which provides up to eight weeks of paid leave (two prior to birth, six after birth).

According to the Women's Commission, operating staff are not eligible for the same interim disability because it is already built into their earned time system, which combines vacation, sick leave, interim disability, bereavement leave, maternity leave, jury leave and short-term military leave into one program. For example, operating staff with less than six years of employment accrue 24 days of earned time a year, which includes 2.9 days of interim disability. The number of days accrued increases with longevity.

In addition, if a woman discovers she is pregnant after the annual "earned time to sick pool conversion" period, which allows operating staff to convert earned time to sick sick time at a 1-to-3 ratio, the woman has lost her one opportunity to guarantee a fully paid leave, according to the commission.

Hanson and Taylor said the Women's Commission would like to partner with the OS Council as well as the PAT Council on issues of interest to the constituents of both, and asked that councilors begin talking to their constituents about the issues raised at the meeting.

"As we garner support for these issues, we'll be asking for volunteers to serve on a work group. This group will strategize ways to move these issues forward and advocate for more inclusive and family-friendly university policies," Taylor said.

OS Council Chair Ginette Couture said the council is "very interested" in the issues discussed.

In other business, the council discussed the Oct. 23 Benefits Fair and efforts to promote interest in serving on the council. Couture expects the council to have at least five district seats open: Districts 1, 4, 9 and 15, and a member at-large seat.

Human resources will have representatives available in MUB Room 338 from 8 a.m. to noon, Oct. 29; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Oct. 31; and noon to 5 p.m., Nov. 1, to answer questions about benefits open enrollment.

Councilors were receptive to an invitation from David Butler, assistant vice president for UNH human resources, to attend a presentation on the new Managing@UNH leadership program, which will launch in January 2003.

Six contemporary artists and seven female visionaries will be featured in two exhibits at The Art Gallery. "Series" and "True Grit: Seven Female Visionaries Before Feminism," run from Oct. 31 to Dec. 15.

Stephen Lack uses the series format to relate action sequences such as an exploding helicopter and a speedboat accident. He relies on movement and drama to draw the viewer in. Charles Parness explores the theme of self-portraiture through his series of colorful and outrageous depictions of himself.

Martha Diamond is an abstract painter who uses color, composition and structure to suggest the weighty mass of a skyscraper, or the long lines of a bridge. Photographer Luigi Cazzaniga focuses on groups in his work. One series looks at grouped vegetables, the other analyzes groupings of people and their mode of interaction.

"My most persistently recurring thought is to work in a scope as far-reaching as possible, to express a feeling of freedom in all its necessary ramifications -- its awe, beauty, magnitude, horror and baseness...This total freedom is essential," Lee Bontecou (b. 1931) says about her work. An assemblage artist, she creates three-dimensional works from steel and other materials.

Louise Bourgeois (b. 1911) is among the most prominent sculptors of the second half of the 20th century. Born and educated in Paris, her sensual, abstract sculptures show the influence of the European Modernists she met in France and later knew in New York during World War II. Now in her eighties, she continues to produce new work. "If you consider art a privilege instead of something that society will use, you have to save and suffer for your art, for what you love; you have to deny yourself in the cause of art," she says.

Born in Hanover, Jay DeFeo (1929-1989) was a central figure in the California avant garde. Her best known work is her monumental painting, The Rose, now in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art. As both a painter and sculptor, DeFeo's organic and geometric work was influenced greatly by prehistoric art, mysticism and architecture.

Claire Falkenstein (1908-1997) worked in three dimensions; her work was both abstract and organic. Her work is concerned with structure and flow, revealing her interest in molecular structure, topology, and cosmology.

An eclectic artist, Nancy Grossman (b. 1940) has worked in mixed-media collages, landscape paintings, leather-covered sculpture, wooden assemblages and drawings. Grossman has consistently explored the human condition and physical environment.

Among this group's best known artists is Louise Nevelson (1899-1988) of Rockland, Maine. Nevelson assisted Diego Rivera on a mural and began working sculpturally in clay and plaster. She found her medium of choice in wood, focusing on found objects. To her, wood was alive.

Nancy Spero (b. 1927) is interested in giving women a voice. Working mainly on paper, Spero addresses social themes in a storytelling format. Spero comments on her work saying, "But who was this artist? Me! That's why all these tongues; in French 'tongue' is 'langue,' tongue and language -- I was sticking my tongue out and trying to find a voice after feeling silenced for so many years."

The exhibition was organized by Mills College Art Gallery and circulated by Curatorial Assistance Traveling Exhibitions (CATE), Los Angeles. Its presentation at UNH is funded in part by the S. Melvin and Mary Jo Rines Art Exhibition Fund.

UNH will join campuses and communities across the nation in recognition of World Food Day Wednesday, Oct. 16. This annual event is a focus for year-round action on issues related to hunger, nutrition, poverty and development.

A series of events are open to the community Oct. 16 and 17, 2002, at the MUB.

On Oct. 16 from 8:30 to 10 a.m. in the Oak Room at Huddleston Hall, Frances Moore Lappé will speak on "Exploding the Myths of Hunger One Pop-Tart at a Time." Lappé is author of the recently released book, "Hope's Edge: The New Diet for a Small Planet," and co-founder of the Institute for Food and Development Policy (Food First) and the Center for Living Democracy. Her talk is part of the UNH Women's Commission Networking Breakfast series.

The cost of the breakfast is $5 and reservations are required. For more information, contact the Women's Commission at 862-1058.

From noon to 3 p.m. in MUB Theatre II, a World Food Day teleconference, "Hungry Farmers: A National Security Issue for All" will be held. Speakers include Professor Michael Lipton, an international authority on the plight of the rural poor; Ambassador George McGovern; and Dr. Louise Fresco, assistant director-general of the Agriculture Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN in Rome.

Also on Oct. 16, from 3:45 to 5 p.m. in the MUB Strafford Room, Lappé will add her perspective to the issues raised by World Food in her talk, "Fat, Famine and Fruit Loops: Where's Democracy When You Need It?"

On Oct. 17, from 12:40 to 2 p.m., a panel discussion, "Making Choices at Every Meal," will be held in the MUB Strafford Room.

A program of the Public Health and Sustainability Vital Signs of New Hampshire series, it will explore the impact of food choices on ecosystem, community and human health.

One million three hundred thousand children were missing from their caretakers in the course of a year and almost 800,000 were reported to the police as missing, according to a new U.S. Department of Justice study co-authored by UNH researcher David Finkelhor.

The study, the Second National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway and Thrownaway Children, is actually the first to provide a unified national estimate of the number of missing children in the United States.

Finkelhor is a professor of sociology and director of the Crimes against Children Research Center. He unveiled the study at the first-ever White House Conference on Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children, Oct. 2, 2002.

The research found that while stereotypical kidnappings, ones that involve a stranger or slight acquaintance who detains the child overnight, transports the child at least 50 miles, holds the child for ransom, abducts the child with intent to keep the child permanently, or kills the child -- receive the most media attention, they represent an extremely small number of all missing children. An estimated 115 of nonfamily abducted children were victims of these stranger kidnappings.

"The missing children problem is widely misunderstood," said Finkelhor, who has been involved in federally funded studies of the issue since 1986. "There are a lot of different reasons why children can be missing, including some very harmless ones. The stranger abductions that get so much publicity are just a tiny, tiny portion. The problem is in being able to quickly diagnose the serious cases. It's a little like when people have chest pain, differentiating the heart attacks from simple indigestion."

Linda Blum, associate professor of sociology and women's studies, has been teaching sections of introductory women's studies for five years. Every year, a majority of students write their final paper on women's troubles with body image.

As a result, she organized this year's speaker series, "Women's Studies Perspectives on Gender, Race, and Bodies," around body image. The series is part of the Educating Bodies: Culture, Power, and the Socialization Initiative, which includes the 2002-03 Saul O Sidore Memorial Lectures Series, sponsored by UNH's Center for the Humanities. The talks are free and open to the public, and will be held in Huddleston Hall, Room 203.

"We'll be looking at different cultures to show how different experiences are," Blum says. "This is a complicated time. Problems are on the rise for this generation and they need to see this is not just their problem, it hasn't always been this way, and it doesn't have to be this way."

On Tuesday, Oct. 22, at 3:15 p.m., Sarah Lamb, professor of anthropology at Brandeis University, will discuss "Aging That Matters: Women's Postreproductive Lives in India."

On Tuesday, Oct. 29, at 2 p.m., the UNH Queer Studies Seminar will cosponsor Ann M. Ciasullo, professor of English at the University of Oregon, as she discusses the impact of changes in American popular culture. Her talk is titled "Ellen in Pearls: Packaging the Lesbian Body for the Straight Body."

On Tuesday, Nov. 19, at 2 p.m., Sarah Banet-Weiser, professor of communications and American studies at the University of Southern California, will discuss "Women, Beauty Pageants and the National Body."

On Tuesday, Dec. 3, at 3:15 p.m. Jyoti Puri, professor of sociology and gender/cultural studies at Simmons College, will discuss "It's Not Just Globalization: Sexual Identities in Urban India."

The series kicked off earlier this month with Roberto Olivardia, a clinical psychologist at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School.

Co-author of "The Adonis Complex: The Secret Crisis of Male Body Obsession," he discussed body image and masculinity.

The PAT Council is looking for people who would like to serve on the council, representing Districts 9 and 15.

Stephen Dunhom, chair of the nominating committee, said nominations are closed but candidates can be written in on the ballots.

Representatives must work in the district they serve.

District 9 serves CEPS and the Whittemore School of Business and Economics. District 15 serves Cooperative Extension.

Ballots will be distributed via campus mail to all PAT staff. Staff can turn them in via campus mail to Janis Burton, DCE-Brook House, via fax at 2-4181, to Attn: Stephen Dunhom, or at the PAT Council table at the Benefits Fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Oct. 23, in the MUB Granite State Room.

In other business, David Butler, assistant vice president for UNH Human Resources, announced that President Ann Weaver Hart is weighing the benefits of a universitywide telecommuting policy.

Telecommuting allows employees to work at home or in another off-site location for part or all of the work week. Not all positions are appropriate for telecommuting, and it is considered an alternative to the traditional work arrangement, not a benefit.

In spring 2000 the PAT Telecommuting Committee issued a three-page report about developing telecommuting guidelines. Guidelines were drafted last year, but have not been implemented.

"President Hart is very open to looking at it," Butler said. "To our benefit, the climate of telecommunications has continued to change to the point that today that may be more of a viable option than it was a year ago because of some of the retention issues."

Butler also invited the council to attend a presentation by Ann Driscoll, program director at the Browne Center, on the new Managing@UNH leadership program, which will launch in January 2003.

The council declined a constituent's request that it sponsor a forum with union representatives to allow constituents to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of unionization.

"It is inappropriate for the PAT Council, as an advisory group to the president, to have any involvement in organizing a union," said PAT Council Chair Linda Hayden in a statement. "Any council work we do is on UNH time. Obviously, using this time to either explore the option of unionization or to conduct a campaign would be inappropriate. Union organizing activities should be done on personal time with non-UNH resources. Individuals from the council or their constituents can do what they want on their own time."

The council also announced that its next professional development breakfast will feature Rita Weathersby, associate professor of management, who will talk about inspiration and community at UNH.

The event will be held from 8 to 9:30 a.m., Oct. 31, at Acorn's Restaurant at the New England Center. To sign up, call 2-3667. Seating is limited, so sign up soon.

Congressional candidates will square off this month in two political forums hosted by The Whittemore School of Business and Economics, NH Business and Industry Association and New Hampshire Public Television.

Candidates running for New Hampshire's second congressional district will discuss the issues in a forum at 6 p.m., Oct. 15.

The forum will be broadcast unedited at 7 p.m., Oct. 16, on New Hampshire Public Television's New Hampshire Outlook.

Candidates participating in the forum are Libertarian Rosalie Babiarz, Republican Charles Bass and Democrat Katrina Swett.

On Oct. 21, U.S. Senate candidates will debate at 7 p.m. in a forum that will be broadcast live by NHPTV and NECN. The candidates are Libertarian Ken Blevens, Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and Republican John E. Sununu. Allison McNair, host of NHPTV's New Hampshire Outlook, will moderate both forums, which will take place in the Strafford Room at the MUB.

The forums are free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Doors open a half hour before each forum and will close 10 minutes before each forum begins. For more information, call 2-0017.