2
Tuesday, September 29, 1998
Blue Cross Mulls
Job Eliminations
Blue Cross & Blue Shield is
considering eliminating
150 positions in an effort
to reduce operating costs.
By Angela Lea
Staff Writer
In an effort to cut administrative
costs, Orange County’s largest private
employer is considering eliminating
150 job positions.
Blue Cross & Blue Shield of North
Carolina, a health insurance company
based in Chapel Hill, is in the process of
implementing policies to reduce its
overhead, said Lynne Garrison, public
relations director.
Although the insurer earned a profit
in 1997, the company suffered operating
losses of $62 million, Garrison said.
The losses were mostly due to rising
medical costs, ongoing investments in
technology and
improvements in
customer service,
she said.
In light of these
new financial chal
lenges, special
teams were formed
within the compa
ny last January to
assess operations,
Garrison said.
“Our administrative overhead
had gotten fat. And now we’re
looking to go on a slow, steady
diet, but not a crash diet. ”
Lynne Garrison
Blue Cross Public Relations Director
Blue Cross & Blue Cross also con
tracted with Ernst and Young, an inde
pendent consulting firm that helped
with assessment process. The company
is ready to begin implementing some of
the recommendations which have been
made during the past several months,
Garrison said.
“Our administrative overhead had
gotten fat," she said. “And now we’re
looking to go on a slow, steady diet, but
not a crash diet."
Although this “diet” will almost defi
nitely cost some employees their jobs,
other positions that might be cut are cur
rendy vacant, Garrison said.
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She also said some positions would
likely be eliminated through normal
attrition - resignations and retirements
- that all companies experience.
But those who lose their jobs during
the changes at the company will imme
diately be placed in a transition pool,
Garrison said.
They will be assisted in transferring
to other jobs within the company or
securing positions outside of Blue Cross
& Blue Shield, Garrison said.
In addition to lowering overhead
through possible position cuts, the insur
er will aim to cut its medical costs by
collaborating with doctors, hospitals and
others within the healthcare system to
hold down price increases, she said.
Company executives hope these
changes will cut operating losses by half,
Garrison said. The new practices will be
implemented systematically during the
next few months.
Although these structural reforms
might make a big difference for the
company, Chapel
Hill officials said
the process would
not seriously
impact Chapel
Hill and the sur
rounding area.
“When we have
an unemployment
rate of less than 2
percent, you know
those people are
going to be able to find jobs,” Chapel
Hill Town Council member Pat Evans
said.
Council member Joe Capowski said
layoffs were not desirable, but town res
idents and officials must try to view the
situation from the perspective of com
panies like Blue Cross & Blue Shield.
“We’re never happy when a compa
ny eliminates jobs, but we also under
stand that we’re the town, not the com
pany, and we don’t control private busi
ness," he said.
The City Editor can be reached at
citydesk@unc.edu.
The Untold
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Low Demand Limits Dining Hall Hours
Carolina Dining Services
officials say some venues
close between meal times
because of costs.
By Carol Adamson
Staff Writer
Eat, drink and be merry -but not on
campus between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Monday through Saturday and on
Sunday mornings.
Director of Auxiliary Services Rut
Tufts said many Mainstreet Lenoir
venues were closed during these in
between-meal times because it was too
expensive to keep them open without
customers.
“When there’s
not a lot of demand
for food at a certain
time, we’d end up
wasting food, and
we’d have higher
labor cost,” Tufts
said.
Jim Glinos, a
manager at Lenoir,
said Carolina
“When there’s not... demand
for food at a certain time, we’d
end up wasting food, and we’d
have higher labor cost. ”
Rut Tufts
Director of Auxiliary Services
Dining Services used off-hours to pre
pare for the lunch and dinner rush.
“We do a tremendous amount of
business - I’m going to guess about
2,500 students at lunchtime, and it takes
a tremendous amount of work to
restock."
CDS Director Scott Meyers said
AmeriCorps Grant to Help Students Pay for School
By Jessica McNally
Staff Writer
A $280,000 grant donated to local
branches of Habitat for Humanity will
help some people pay for their college
educations.
The grant will be used to pay
AmeriCorps members who need to
repay student loans or who finance col
lege in return for their work with
Habitat.
“The grant was desperately needed,”
said Bob Calhoun, executive director of
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OFFICE OF CONTINUING EDUCATION
News
CDS studied past eating times of stu
dents to determine when Lenoir should
stay open.
“Basically, we try to look at past pat
terns of what people eat,” Meyers said.
“The card office supplies us with cus
tomer count information and so we’re
able to see what time we’re busiest.”
However, there are times when
Lenoir remained open despite lagging
sales, Meyers said.
“Actually there are some hours that
we’re open that really aren’t profitable,
but stay open to service students - like
Union Station at one in the morning,”
he said.
Glinos said closing Lenoir for two
hours gave employees time to eat and
discuss staff issues.
“Usually at this
time, our associ
ates will take their
lunch breaks.
They clean up,
(and) they have
meetings," Glinos
said.
Tufts said the
decision of which
venues to keep
open depended on
the most economically feasible option.
“What we know is that a lot of people
eat on the weekends, and so it is a ques
tion of which areas to keep open from a
cost-effective standpoint.”
But some students said food hours
remained inconvenient.
Chris Allen, a senior from
the Durham branch of Habitat.
AmeriCorps, now in its fourth year,
solicits funds from national organiza
tions to sponsor workers who provide
services from child immunization to
public safety education.
Members are paid $4,725 a year in
return for their efforts.
There are more than 400,000 mem
bers working in 600 programs across the
country.
The North Carolina Commission on
National and Community Service will
fund the AmeriCorps grant for the sec
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Austin Hollar, a freshman biology major, waits Monday in Lenoir Dining
Hall. Food availability is a problem for students eating during off-hours.
Youngsville, said he has had trouble
finding food after working late hours.
“All they had left to choose from was
one cold pizza,” Allen said. “So, that was
my lunch -one cold pizza.”
Namita Shah, a sophomore from
Charlotte, said a lack of late-night
options left her with hungry evenings
after meetings.
“It’s a dining hall for students, but it
doesn’t have the hours that students
ond consecutive year.
Calhoun said the grant would be used
to hire four AmeriCorps members who
would serve to coordinate volunteers,
supervise at the work sites and help with
processing applications.
This year, 21 AmeriCorps members
will be hired to work in 10 different
counties in North Carolina, including
Orange County.
“It’s a great experience," said Webster
Grimes, Orange County volunteer coor
dinator and AmeriCorps member.
“I’ve met all kinds of people. It’s just
Man Breaks Into Fraternity
Staff Report
Chapel Hill police arrested Reginald
Lee Williams of 1126 Old Sawmill Road
early Monday morning after he entered
Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, police
reports state.
Williams was arrested at 2:23 a.m. on
Cameron Avenue and charged with one
felony count of first degree burglary,
reports state.
He was confined in Orange County
Jail around 4 a.m. and was held on a
$5,000 secured bond, police reports
state.
Williams’ trial was held Monday in
Orange County Superior Court in
Hillsborough, police reports state.
Fraternity member Will Sherlin said
one of the members saw a man enter the
Campus Calendar
Tuesday
12:30 p.m. - The Presbyterian
Campus Ministry will hold a commu
nity lunch forum on a student trip to
Haiti in the Breakout Room of Lenoir
Dining Hall.
3:15 p.m. - The University
Counseling Center in Nash Hall will
conduct a career clinic to help students
learn the steps to making an informed
choice of major and career.
3:30 p.m. - The Center for
THE GENERAL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
in conjunction with
THE ORIENTATION OFFICE
&
UNIVERSITY CAREER SERVICES
invites you to
"Major In Success"
90 CAREER-BUILDING MINUTES WITH THE DYNAMIC PATRICK COMBS
Thursday, October 1 at 6pm
Murphy Hall, Room 111
Make College Easier!
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You'll regret missing this program!
Guaranteed this is not a boring lecture.
The first 300 students at the lecture will receive a FREE copy of
Patrick's best selling book "Major in Success".
Questions? Call General Alumni Association at 962-3582
University Career Services at 962-6507 or
Orientation Office at 962-8521
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Sailg (Ear Uppl
have.”
Meyers said that CDS would contin
ue to arrange scheduling to better meet
student needs.
“There’s nothing set in stone that says
we have to be open at certain hours,”
Meyers said. “You’ll notice we’ll change
a lot of things throughout the year.”
The University Editors can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
such an eclectic mix,” she said.
Most AmeriCorps members said the
benefits were nice but that they were
more motivated by the work they were
able to do.
“I’d love to volunteer for the rest of
my life,” said Sid Pillai, an AmeriCorps
member from Long Island, N.Y., now
working in Southern Pines.
“It’s a very rewarding experience,
and I like the work a lot.”
The State & National Editors can be
reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.
house through the side door.
“He just pushed his way in through
one of die doors that wasn’t completely
locked,” Sherlin said.
“One of the brothers saw him, he left
and got on his bike, and one of the
brothers called the cops.”
Pi Kappa Alpha has been robbed five
times this year, but Sherlin said he did
not think Williams was involved in pre
vious burglaries.
Although nothing was stolen
Monday, the fraternity lost about SI,OOO
worth of prepackaged meat products in
a robbery Wednesday and has had its
kitchen targeted by robbers several
times this year.
Asa result of these robberies, Pi
Kappa Alpha members have had to pay
more for their meals.
Teaching and Learning’s Graduate
Teaching Consultants will present
“General Principles of Assessing Student
Learning,” a workshop for teaching
assistants, in Union 206. To register, call
966-1289.
5 p.m. - The Society of
Anthropology Students will hold a
meeting in room 313 of the Alumni
Building. Elections will be held.
6 p.m. - Students for Choice will
hold an informational meeting about
reproductive rights issues in North
Carolina and the country.
.-.tt" 3*..