Graduate student breakfast serves politics, lacks pancakes

There were no pancakes at the first of the Pancakes & Politics breakfast series.

“What really got me here today was the pancakes,” Congressman Mike Doyle joked, “and when I got here there are no pancakes to be found!”

Instead, the group’s organizers served French toast.

Dan Jimenez, the president of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, said he wanted to get Pamela’s Diner to cater the free event. But the University has a policy that allows Sodexo to cater its events. Since Jimenez missed the deadline to ask Sodexo for an extension, the 50 or so students who gathered in the William Pitt Union Lower Lounge to hear Doyle speak munched on French toast instead.

“We kept the name because we liked the alliteration,” Jimenez said.

Free food aside, the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly hopes its new breakfast series will give students the opportunity to ask public officials about issues that interest them.

Currently the program is geared toward graduate students, but Jimenez said that might change in the future.

“It all depends on the level of interest and support,” he said.

About 50 students turned up in the William Pitt Union Lower Lounge to hear Doyle speak about health care at 8:15 yesterday morning.

“Health care is the biggest thing happening in Congress right now,” Jimenez said. “And it is what is going to be affecting us for the rest of our lives.”

Doyle spent the first half of the forum talking about health care and the second taking questions from the audience.

Doyle spoke about specific concerns young people should have for the current health care crisis. With current medical costs rising faster than inflation and significant co-pays and deductibles leaving Americans bankrupt, many students are worried about future repercussions when entering the job market.

“One in three Americans are underinsured,” Doyle said. “And half of all bankruptcies in America are due to medical costs. What do we do to reign in health care cost, and in doing so, how can we provide access for all?”

“Doing nothing is not an option,” Doyle said. “It would be a grave mistake to let this opportunity pass.”

Carol Haines, a part-time student in the business school, came to the breakfast to ask Doyle how the government expects to run the proposed health care plan “when they have failed to run programs such as Medicare effectively.”

At her question, Doyle defended the success of Medicare.

“When people say that Medicare is going bankrupt, they’re looking into the future. When we fund Medicare, we’re going to make adjustments to the program to accommodate the baby boomers. We will have a problem by 2025 if we don’t make adjustments.”

“I don’t apologize for what we’ve done in the federal government,” Doyle said. “I think we’ve done a darn good job with Medicare.”

Haines later said she was not satisfied with Doyle’s answer.

“I am a health care provider, and I know that Medicare doesn’t provide a lot of the services he said,” Haines said.

Haines expressed mixed emotions about Doyle’s talk.

“I think a lot of the reforms he’s proposing are accurate,” she said. “But he didn’t explain how the 40 million people who can’t afford health care now will be able to afford the public program.”

Kate Faunce, a third year audiology student in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, was happy with Doyle’s address.

“All in all, I liked what was said,” Faunce said. “I’m going into a medical field, and it’s really important to pay attention to what’s going on in the government.”

Faunce said that she liked the program and planned to attend more.

“Pancakes and politics — two of my favorite things! I will definitely be interested in coming in the future,” Faunce said.

Jimenez expressed high hopes for the continuation of the Pancakes & Politics breakfast series. GPSA invited U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Allegheny County, for a future session on a still undetermined date and is also interested in hosting other federal politicians, including Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa. Local politicians, such as Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, are also on the list of future invitees.

“We’re thinking about involving more students, involving more faculty,” Jimenez said. “We’ll see where it goes from here.”

In October, GPSA will be co-hosting another health care forum with Pittsburgh Urban Magnet Project. Jimenez said he would have more complete information in the upcoming weeks. The forum will be open to all University students, with 20 to 40 minutes devoted to student questions.