Public affairs graduate student Brandon Jass' semester-long attempt to convince UT administrators to implement domestic partner benefits gained more momentum Thursday evening.
UT Senate of College Councils voted to support a resolution Jass authored that calls for equal health and housing benefits for professors and graduate students, regardless of their sexual orientation.
The LBJ School of Public Affairs' Graduate Council passed the resolution on Feb. 12.
"Hopefully, this sends a signal to the administration that the University of Texas supports a progressive, open and forward-looking institution," Jass said.
There was practically no opposition when Jass first presented the resolution to Senate on April 10, though one member said it circumvented the Texas Constitution.
"From what I gather, she was ideologically opposed to the whole idea, which is fine," Jass said. "But most people were either supportive or just had a lot of questions about it."
There was no debate when the resolution passed unanimously at Thursday's meeting, though Senate Chair Scott Fulford prefaced the discussion with a caution to avoid religious and moral opinions.
"We're not going to pass any moral or religious judgement on [the resolution]," Fulford said.
Jass said universities that do offer domestic partner benefits may seem more attractive to top professors.
"Education at UT is suffering because of this," he said. "Students are at a disadvantage."
Texas' constitutional ban against gay marriage might be why UT administrators have yet to support equal benefits, Jass said.
"That's the excuse I've heard from a lot of people," he said. "But I thought it was unconscionable when I found out that a major university in a town like Austin didn't have domestic partner benefits."
The University of Iowa, where Jass received his undergraduate degree, has domestic partner benefits despite the state's constitutional ban against domestic partnership.
Private Texas institutions such as Rice University, Baylor College of Medicine, Southern Methodist University, Trinity University and Southwestern University offer employee benefits that include domestic partners, according to the Senate resolution.
"You can make the qualifying criteria such that it is gender neutral, or not gender specific," Jass said.
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