Obstruction or Promotion of Nondiscrimination at UIC

or

Why are you hearing about the domestic partnership

resolution in this unconventional way?

The process starts:

· A two-year consultation with the Chancellor and health-benefits administration led to the development of a position paper on domestic partnership benefits at UIC by the Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Lesbian, Gay and Biseuxal Issues.

· In fall of 1994, a resolution requesting the Board of Trustees to provide equal benefits to lesbian and gay employees in committed same-sex relationships was submitted to the Faculty Affairs Committee of the Campus Senate.

· THE FACULTY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE APPROVED THE DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP RESOLUTION

The process is interrupted:

The Executive Committee prevented the resolution from going to the full senate for Consideration and the resolution was not placed on the agenda.

The process is resumed:

· The resolution was introduced at the last full Senate meeting from the floor under new business and sent directly to the Faculty Affairs Committee. The Committee was asked to make a report on the resolution to the full Senate.

The process is obstructed. The full Senate is circumvented from discussing the issue.

· Members of the Chancellor's Committee requested to attend the next Senate Executive Committee meeting and were told they would not be allowed to be present.

· The Senate Executive Committee sent a memo to Faculty Affairs Committee suggesting this issue "lies beyond the Senate and the University." In fact, the Board of Trustees does have the power to provide benefits and the Senate has the power to make the recommendtion to the Board.

· A co-chair of the Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Issues offered to attend the Faculty Affairs Committee meeting but was not invited.

· The three members present at the last Faculty Affairs Committee meeting decided to take the advice of the Senate Executive Committee and recommended that the issue be sent to the State of Illinois Central Management Systems rather than to request action by the Board of Trustees. This action is equivllent to the University turning its back on gay, lesbian, and bisexual faculty, students and staff, thus sanctioning discrimination in violation of its own policy.

What happens at the next meeting of the Senate is up to you.

Distributed by the Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Issues