Although Dan Bruey professes to care about student opinion, I and other members of the student government met privately with him at least three separate times last year to discuss changes at the Student Health Center. At least two of those times included discussions about the upcoming change in AU insurance provider. In both of those discussions, I stressed the importance of getting the HPV vaccine covered by AU insurance. At the last meeting, I asked to be part of the process of selecting a new insurance provider and plan. I was assured that representatives from the Student Government would be included in those decisions, or at least kept appraised of them. However, it appears that student representatives have been given false promises on several issues pertaining to the Health Center. The Health Center has promised the ability to book appointments online, to improve the website in a variety of ways to make it more student-friendly, and to strengthen customer service, among other things. None of these promises has been kept, and many are far behind the initial timeline. Now, with the recent departure of two of the RN's, the Health Center is seriously understaffed, particularly for women's care. I hope that a Student Government representative will be included on the search committee to replace them. A Student Advisory Board for the Health Center, while a good idea, will do no good if Health Center staff will not listen to what interested students have to say. The Student Health Center must become more responsive to student needs, and it must do a better job of providing gender-sensitive care. It is imperative that Bruey include student government representation in the hiring committee tasked with replacing some of the -outgoing employees at the Health Center. Concerned students should contact SG president Seth Cutter and the SHC with suggestions at shcsuggestions@american.edu.
Vanessa C. Mueller Former director of Women's Initiative and 2008 graduate, School of Public Affairs
