The Nevada Sagebrush

The Student Health Center needs and deserves more money to continue providing its far-reaching services, such as free flu shots and cheap clinic visits, and student leaders need to represent the students that would be affected by a fee increase.

The health center is working to propose one of two options to the Board of Regents meeting in June. The first would raise the $79 semester fee by $1 for all students (those enrolled in less than six credits don’t pay the fee under the current system). The second would continue charging only students with six or more credits but would raise the fee to $90 per semester.

The first proposal is the most appropriate for the University of Nevada, Reno because all students have access to the center’s services, which go beyond clinical care. It only makes sense for the fee to be applied to all students.

Most other schools charge all students equally for health services because centers, including UNR’s, provide services for all students, no matter how many credits they take. Last year, the UNR health center spent $20,000 on H1N1 prevention strategies for the campus, including hand sanitizer stations and free vaccines. The center also sponsors health promotion campaigns, sports medicine workshops and other campus programming, including bringing well-known speakers to campus.

But more important than whether any fee is implemented is that all students should have a voice. Associated Students of the University of Nevada senators should talk to their constituents and form a resolution in order to keep students involved in discussions about their money.

When the Health Center’s director Cheryl Hug-English visited the student senate to tell them about the plans last week, few senators offered feedback or asked questions — an unacceptable response from student representatives, especially when raising student fees is discussed.

ASUN senators need to represent their constituents, as they were elected to do, and this fee proposal is the perfect opportunity for them to be the voice of the students.

The Nevada Sagebrush can be reached at editor@nevadasagebrush.com.

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