Senators introduced three new pieces of legislation to the Student Senate on Tuesday.
The legislation discussed mandatory health insurance, Park ‘N Pony and a visitor information center.
Health insurance for international students
International Sen. Yousef Alkhan is the author of a resolution that would encourage the University to amend the current health insurance policy for international students.
Currently, all international students must purchase health insurance from SMU unless they obtain health insurance from their government or employer. Furthermore, healthcare that is provided by a student’s government must meet certain benefit requirements.
This includes at least $50,000 (US) in medical benefits per accident or illness and a deductible limited to $500 (US) per accident or illness.
In his resolution, Alkhan says “there are other health plans, health insurance companies and providers that offer plans with equal or higher quality health insurance coverage…yet for less cost that is as low as half price.”
The current health care plan costs $3.40 a day as compared to coverage Alkhan called “higher quality” that is $1.60 a day.
Alkhan said in his resolution that “many international students already have health insurances,” and that there is a general consensus within the international student body that the policy needs to be amended.”
Alkhan suggests in his resolution that the University should set a minimum benefits requirement for all health care insurance while allowing students to choose their own provider.
Parking woes
Alkhan, Engineering Sen. Joseph Esau, first-year Sen. Derek Hubbard, Student Senate Chief-of-Staff Jeff Ordner and first-year Sen. Katie Perkins collaborated on a resolution that seeks to address concerns with the University’s parking policy.
The senators say in their resolution that they are concerned “about the amount of students complaining about the lack of parking space on campus as well as the vague language of the University’s parking policy not only towards students, but also the unfair procedures that have been carried out by the Park ‘N Pony office.”
These procedures include multiple ticketing for the same violation and late payment penalty fees.
Perkins said during the senate meeting that the resolution’s main goals were to address issues with signs and to make Park ‘N Pony more “transparent.”
Instead of having signs with arrows that show designated parking spots, the senators suggest Park ‘N Pony should replace these signs with individual signs “to be placed in front of each parking space and repainting curb labels.”
In their resolution, the senators urge Park ‘N Pony to “attempt to improve their transparency to students by communicating clearly to students that wish to park on campus where they can park (at AARO or Corral), educating students about current policies, notifying students of changes to those policies, updating the Park ‘N Pony website, increasing notifications to students about violations by E-mail or via post office box, and changing policies that promote booting or towing student vehicles.”
Getting lost on campus
Engineering Sen. Mia Krueger wants the University to establish a visitor information center.
She notes in her resolution that “the campus can be confusing and difficult to navigate without guidance or references.”
Krueger said during the meeting that the information center would be contained within a tollbooth, such as those on other campuses. Information pertaining to parking, maps and the locations of on-campus events would be housed in the center.
The center would be staffed by people “capable of addressing the concerns previously mentioned in this people of legislation and contain resources that will benefit visitors to the University,” according to Krueger’s resolution.
