DP Benefits Update January, 2006:

From: Patrick Finnessy <pkfinn@uic.edu>
Date: January 17, 2006

Subject: U of I Domestic Partnership Update

On Thursday, December 15, representatives of the U of I Domestic Partnership Task Force met with individuals from Urbana-Champaign, Springfield, and UIC. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the current status of DPBs (Domestic Partnership Benefits) within the U of I system. The meeting included U of I Vice President Steve Rugg and John Loya, Associate Vice Chancellor of the Healthcare System.

Topics for discussion included the definition of a domestic partner; shared residency (a married couple do not have to have a joint address and thus can have a long-distance relationship while the DPs cannot); recruitment and retention; children of DPs; opposite-sex and same-sex DPBs; and the number of people who are participating.

Currently, 23 individuals from UIC are registered, 11 from Urbana, and 1 person from Springfield. Thus, the costs of DPBs for the U of I system is negligible.

As of July 1, 2006, after negotiations with AFSCME, a domestic partnership statute must be in place for all state employees. The theory is that this will have a "trickle up" effect and will benefit all employees at the U of I. U of I officials are claiming this is a decision of the Central Management System and not the U of I administration. Therefore, we will remain with the current inequitable plan until after July 1, when it remains to be seen what changes, if any, will be made.

There was also a discussion of using better language to recruit candidates that included nondiscrimination language. For example: The University of Toronto is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from visible minority group members, women, Aboriginal persons, persons with disabilities, members of sexual minority groups, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of ideas. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply.

Within the Big 10, all universities now offer DPBs except Wisconsin. The University of Iowa's program offers it to both same and opposite sex partners (they're the only ones) and has done so since 1992. Interestingly, they were the first Big 10 school to offer DPBs, and they did so to both sexes.

There was discussion about scheduling another meeting as a follow-up to this one sometime in March. If you are interested in participating, please let me know.

Patrick Finnessy, Director/Lecturer
Office of GLBT Concerns
University of Illinois at Chicago
1007 W. Harrison #1172/MC 369
Chicago, IL 60607
VM 312.413.9862 FAX 312.996.4688
http://www.glbc.uic.edu

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