Students are following faculty in calling attention to the lack of domestic partner benefits at UT.
The LBJ School's Graduate Public Affairs Council passed a resolution on Feb. 12 supporting a change in UT policy that would extend health benefits to any member of an employee's household. The resolution requests that President William Powers explore the possibility of implementing a policy for domestic partner benefits that will not run afoul of the Texas Constitutional amendment that bans such benefits.
Public affairs graduate student Brandon Jass, who proposed the resolution to the council, said he learned of the issue after Arabic lecturer Uri Horesh's hunger strike in January.
"I thought, 'Well, I'm in the policy school and I care about this issue,'" Jass said. "I've got a really good response from it so far. I've gotten almost universal support from the students at the LBJ School."
Lynne Milburn, co-chair of the Pride and Equity Faculty Staff Association, said she is delighted about the council's resolution. Milburn said the association is compiling a report to Present Powers on April 21 regarding domestic partner benefits issues such as health benefits and housing.
"I want to applaud this group of students who are representing what public policy is all about. I really admire their empathy and compassion. They're working on this because they see it's important to see a more fair and just world," Milburn said.
Jass said he plans on personally taking the resolution before the Senate of College Councils this semester.
"Our domain is strictly academic, so I'd have to see how they're taking the issue," said Stephen Myers, chair of the Senate of College Councils. "It seems like this would also be a good issue for Student Government to address - but I can't speak for that."
President of the Graduate Public Affairs Council Stephanie Chiarello said she thinks this is an issue the senate should take up because of the current policy's academic effects, which could deter graduate students and faculty from coming to UT.
According to the resolution, the issue of competitive employee benefit packages is one that transcends same-sex couples. In order to attract and retain the most qualified faculty and staff, leading academic institutions are offering access to benefit plans that support the employee as well as qualifying household members.
Joanna Caravita, a Hebrew studies graduate student, is one of the graduate students affected by the policy. She began working as a teaching assistant in fall 2007 and took advantage of the health benefits offered to her. Her partner was denied benefits by the Equal Opportunities Office under the Texas law, but a spouse of the opposite sex would have been granted health coverage.
"I came to UT knowing and being very sure of the fact that sexual orientation was included in non-discrimination policy, but the non-discrimination policy is not as strong as state law," Caravita said. "It's non-discrimination in terms of hiring. You can't be discriminated against when you're up for a promotion or be fired for sexual orientation, but anything besides that you're on your own. It's incredibly frustrating especially because my wife and I are legally married. We were married in Ontario, where I grew up."
Same-sex spouses of graduate students are denied University housing unless they are also enrolled at UT. Spouses of opposite genders are guaranteed housing, if available, without both having to be enrolled as students.
Latin American studies and regional planning graduate student Peter Almlie said the University would not grant him graduate student housing because his live-in partner does not attend UT.
In September 2006, Almlie brought the issue to University Housing, which forwarded him a copy of an earlier e-mail written by Vice President for Legal Affairs Lee Smith to Ryan Miller, the then-co-director of Queer Students Alliance.
"I think it would be helpful for you to understand at the outset that the University of Texas at Austin is a state agency. As such, the various classifications and definitions that we use are necessarily dictated by the classifications and definitions established by the Texas Legislature, which is a body charged with the authority under the Texas Constitution to make public policy determinations about the definition of such things as 'marriage,'" Smith wrote in the e-mail.
In the e-mail, Smith wrote that the privilege to live in University student housing is dependent on being a student in good standing - a privilege limited to that individual only.
Smith said the University does not assign opposite gender students as roommates unless a student is married and/or has children. There is special housing where a student can live with their spouse, but they must present proof that they are legally married as defined by the Texas Legislature.
"My partner and I are from California. If I had known this was the case, we would have stayed there," Almlie said.
Jass said he was not aware of the graduate housing policies, but will consider adding them to the council's resolution.
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