Pat Gill, Associate Chancellor from the Office of Access and Equity, spoke
with a crowd of
over 30 people who had assembled to hear a report on the history of Domestic
Partnership as
it applies to employees from the University of Illinois at Chicago on Wednesday,
February 14
from 3-4:30 p.m.
Pat started with introductions and then slipped into her discussion.
She noted that the
Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
Issues began
addressing this issue in 1993 under the leadership of Jo Campbell and
Curt Winkle.
The Urbana Senate voted in 1995 to expand the coverage of domestic partner
benefits to
include both same-sex and opposite-sex partners. By 1997, all three University
Senates at
Springfield, Urbana-Champaign, and Chicago had passed a resolution stating
that they were in
favor of providing DP benefits for U of I employees. Furthermore, the
city of Chicago, in
1997, was granted the right to define partners independently of the State's
definition of
spouse. Champaign county has passed a similar measure.
In October 2000, University of Illinois President James Stukel stated
in a memo that the
University of Illinois is under state legislation. He wrote, "As
a state entity created by
the General Assembly, it is my view that we should not be taking a position
seemingly at odds
with the current statutory framework." The position of the Office
of Access and Equity, as
directed by the University President, is that this is a political issue
and one that needs to
be taken up with the Legislature.
Pat Gill did emphasize that the University does have a nondiscrimination
policy that has been
in publication for over a decade and includes to its same-sex domestic
partner employees:
A) sick leave
B) bereavement/funeral leave
C) death/survivor benefits-if the partner is the named beneficiary.
President Stukel has suggested "mobilization" on this issue,
acting independently of
University resources. Ms. Gill noted that the President does not discourage
individuals from
using the political process to effect change on the DP issue. She noted
that the State has
not defined certain rights: adoption, sick leave, bereavement and funeral
leave, family and
parent leave; employee assistance and thus the University can (and does)
support same-sex
couples on these issues.
While 129 colleges and universities provide DP benefits to its employees,
including six of
the Big Ten schools, 100% of the Ivy-League schools, and the entire University
of California
system, it is clear that the Illinois system does not support DP benefits,
specifically
health benefits, to its non-married employees.
Members in the crowd indicated a desire to further explore the apparent
contradiction between
providing DP benefits (equal pay for equal work) with the nondiscrimination
clause. Possible
solutions cited during the meeting included lobbying, educating members
of CMS, creating an
entity outside CMS which provides our insurance, meeting with and educating
the Board of
Trustees, supporting State nondiscrimination bills, lobbying the unions
on each campus,
building ally support, and creating a small group to further strategize.
While AFSCME let individuals down in the last collective bargaining session,
it is clear that
there are individuals from all three campuses who want to continue to
explore this issue.
For this to be done, however, employees must confine their view to state
institutions and
reach out to other state employees to build cohesion.
Individuals seeking more information on the history of this issue at
UIC may go to the
website at:
http://www.uic.edu:80/depts/quic/ccslgbi/policy/domestic_partnership/
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