The Advocate

A New $12 Fee for Wellness Center
is Good Deal for CUNY

Most students at the Graduate Center probably know that our in-house Wellness Center and nurse practicioner are currently in jeopardy. Some students seem to be feel that the end of these institutions is immediate and inevitable. While this is not the case, the problems with the system are real and only one solution will allow us to keep the Wellness Center while avoiding a massive cut in other DSC budgetary items such as student travel and research grants. That solution is a separate student activities fee that would cover only the Wellness Center. Such a fee would be modest, probably around $12 for each student, per year.

Let’s take a look at the funding situation as it currently stands. The Wellness Center’s cost of roughly $125,000 a year has traditionally been split by the DSC and the administration. But the problems facing this system are numerous. First of all, the DSC failed to pay its usual share this year, and the administration had to step in to bail out the system. This is not a one-time problem, but one that is sure to happen again. Just consider the $40,000 budget gap the DSC is looking at for the 2005 budget (see page 11 in this issue).

The administration, for its part, has spoken with eloquent silence about its plans for future funding of the Wellness Center. In various writings and meetings where the topic of the administration’s plans toward funding the Center have come up, VP for Student Affairs Matt Schoengood has said only that “there have not been any decisions made yet.” Does this mean that they are planning to cut funds on their side? Are they just looking over the numbers to see what is possible? No one knows.

In addition to the problem of the solvency of this panhandle duo, there are other issues and expenses related to the current nurse practicioner, Mary Clancy. Ms. Clancy has a close relationship with Mount Sinai Medical Center that dates back to the days when the Graduate Center had a biomedical program (that program, believe it or not, revolted against CUNY and became part of NYU). If and when Ms. Clancy eventually retires from her post, the Wellness Center will lose the benefit of this relationship and the cost of the service will increase again.

Anyway you look at it, this jumble of numbers is in the red. This leaves a number of options. One would be to decrease services to decrease costs. But that leaves the sizable minority of Graduate Center students who do not have health insurance without a net. Then again, it’s better than completely closing the Wellness Center, which would endanger the learning atmosphere at CUNY by leaving some students completely for the wolves.

The third and best option is to separate funding for the DSC and the Wellness Center. As the largest item on the DSC’s budget, the Wellness Center has been draining money from other important services such as the Student Travel & Research grants, which ran out before the winter break this year. As a previous article in The Advocate indicated, a one-time yearly fee of about $12 would nip this problem in the bud by paying about half of the full cost of the Center—although it’s important to state that such a move should not imply that the administration is no longer expected to help support it.

$12 is a modest fee. In the Hobbesian world of private health care it barely pays for a tap with the reflex hammer. To pay such a fee for a full year of free, on-site health services, while helping to keep the DSC strong, is a good deal for the Graduate Center. It will create a more stable and healthy future for all GC students.

Corrections from last issue:
Regarding “ BMCC Puts ‘Homeland Security’ Program on Hold,” February 2005:
* The program was sponsored by the Business Management Department, not the Business Management Program.
* Abram Negrete is a member of the Hunter Internationalist Club, not its president.
* Colonel John Perrone is not on the BMCC Program’s Advisory Board; he is the head of the Homeland Security Management Institute.
* Leo Gleser was connected to death squads in Honduras, but not in Chile as the article said.