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In the strongest statement to date, the faculty senate overwhelmingly passed a resolution Monday in support of domestic partner benefits, threatening to take their grievances to UT's board of trustees and writing that "any further delay is without warrant."
The resolution, which was confrontational in tone, was delivered sometime Wednesday to President Ronald Vaughn and Provost Janet McNew.
The resolution states that faculty are:
1) "Calling for immediate action by the university trustees and president to institute domestic partnership benefits,"
2) "Requesting a full and detailed accounting of the administration's actions to date and planned for instituting domestic partnership benefits," and,
3) "Requesting a presentation of this full accounting to the faculty senate in April."
The faculty, which voted 19 in favor of the resolution with one abstention and no one opposed, attached a DPB fact sheet to the resolution for the president and provost.
The fact sheet contained statistics and research findings in support of extending DPB. It said studies have shown that same-sex DPB coverage costs less on average than provisions for opposite sex couples.
It also said that a Human Rights Campaign study found not a single reported case of a DPB package being fraudulently used, that 88 percent of the top 50 ranked American universities offer DPB, and that the other three Tier One Regional Universities-UT being the fourth-all offer DPB.
The fact sheet also included a timeline of events ranging from 1994, when the Human Resources Director first met with faculty concerning DPB, to the present situation, which faculty feel to be one of "expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of meaningful response from UT's President's Office." THE RESOLUTION
This dissatisfaction has led to more confrontational language in the adopted resolution. The document's tone, described as "too negative" by one faculty member led to a debate over its tone. Several faculty members agreed but said the strong, confrontational tone was warranted. The resolution was then passed nearly unanimously, seeing one abstention from economics professor Dr. Charles Skipton, and no opposition
Part of the resolution reads:
"WHEREAS a denial of the legitimacy of spousal equivalents and their families constitutes a fundamental lack of 'dignity and respect' and 'fair and consistent' action with regard to these employees; and…
WHEREAS the faculty's request for action to institute domestic partnership benefits has been under discussion and unresolved for 14 years; and…
WHEREAS the faculty's request for followup and updates from the administration have resulted in vague responses from administration that allude to further delays in taking any action…
BE IT RESOLVED…that the Trustees and the President of the University are requested to take immediate action to institute domestic partnership benefits."
Faculty members ended up agreeing with one professor's contention that a "cautious, more balanced" approach has failed in the past, and that direct language was necessary this time.
WHAT'S NEXT
The faculty asked for the administration to respond, "at the latest," in time to allow the faculty's executive council to brief the next senate meeting Tuesday, April 8.
A cover memo delivered to the president and provost spoke directly to president Vaughn, who three months ago was named Tampa Bay CEO of The Year for Community Action.
The memo praised Vaughn's leadership on other issues and urged him to apply the same skills to DPB.
"As president, you have shown extraordinary leadership in many areas of the university's development and planning--taking timely action that has allowed UT to thrive in ways previously unimaginable," the memo said. It then urged President Vaughn that "it is again time for The University of Tampa to rise to the occasion."
The faculty memo stated that "any further delay is without warrant," since DPB have been benchmarked by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), UT's Benefits and Salary Committee, and others, and "are perhaps one of the most highly monitored phenomena in higher education."
The memo said that "continued cooperation remains our sincerest hope and intent," but also warned that if "the administration does not offer us timely and detailed answers to this inquiry, or chooses to impose further inexplicable delays, the faculty is prepared to submit our grievance directly to the Board of Trustees."
Maureen Dunkel, the Board of Trustees Chairwoman, said in a November interview with The Minaret that DPB have never come before the board.
"We haven't been asked to act or give opinions on any of this," Dunkel said.
Stating that it was a human resources issue, Dunkel said that "I have no idea if there's a precedent for it; I don't know that a human resource issue like this would be ever at the board level."
ELSEWHERE At another UT, the University of Texas, a hunger strike by a lecturer caught student and media attention in January and led to change, according to the student newspaper there.
The school "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," The Daily Texan wrote.
Last fall, Palm Beach Community College caught national attention for offering insurance benefits to employees' pets but not their domestic partners.
Check back with www.theminaretonline.com for a response from UT's administration, president or provost in the days to come. Post your thoughts below.
Domestic Partnership Benefit Facts
* Domestic Partnership Benefits usually refer to participation in applicable retirement programs, compensation for work injuries and life and health insurance benefits for both same- and opposite-sex domestic partners. * More than one half of the Fortune 500 companies offer domestic partnership (DP) benefits. * Eighty percent (80%) of Fortune 10 companies offer DP benefits. * Several Board of Trustees member companies provided DP benefits, including Verizon, Wachovia, SunTrust Bank, City of Tampa, and Holland & Knight. * Approximately 300 institutions of higher education offer domestic partnership benefits. * Forty four of the top 50 (88%) ranked US universities offer some type of DP benefits. * Seventy five percent (75%) of the top 20 public research universities offer some type of DP benefits with 65 percent offering health insurance benefits. * Eighty percent (80%) of schools in the Association of American Universities offer same-sex benefits. * There are four Tier One Regional Universities in Florida, including UT. The other three (Rollins College, Emory-Riddle and Stetson University) offer DP benefits. * U.S. News & World Report ranking of top southern universities lists Rollins College as #1, Stetson University as #2, and Emory-Riddle #13. UT is ranked at #22. * NOVA Southeastern offers DP benefits, and they comprise nearly half of ICUBA's enrollment. * Multiple research studies on the cost of domestic partnership benefits show that most employers that offer domestic partner benefits to same-sex partners found expenses increased no more than 1 percent. For employers that offer them to same- and opposite-sex partners, expenses rose no more than 2 percent. * According to studies collected by the Human Rights Campaign, there are no reported cases of the fraudulent use of a domestic partnership benefit package. * Employers are no more at risk when adding domestic partners than when adding spouses to benefit plans. * Providing benefits to domestic partners is no more expensive than coverage for spouses or other dependents. In fact, studies find that same-sex domestic partner coverage, on average, costs employers less than covering opposite-sex couples.
History of DPB Actions at The University of Tampa
* 1992: The University added sexual orientation to its nondiscrimination policies. * 1994: A faculty focus group met with the Human Resources director regarding domestic partnership benefits. * 2002: UT faculty approved a motion to adopt domestic partnership benefits and requested administration to follow suit to initiate this action. * 2004: The City of Tampa began providing domestic partnership benefits. * 2005: The Benefits and Salary Committee worked with HR and had a benchmarking study done comparing top universities in preparation for the benefits and salary survey that subsequently included domestic partnership benefits. * 2005: In an annual report from the Benefits and Salary Committee, HR Director Donna Popovich reported, "UT is closer to providing these benefits than it was in the prior year." * October 2006: Benchmarking data from research conducted by faculty on domestic partnership benefits at other universities and colleges was presented to the full faculty for review and consideration. * October 2006: UT faculty voted unanimously to support domestic partnership benefits. * 2007: The Benefits and Salary Committee year-end report identified the next order of business to develop an affidavit for domestic partners that would be used to define and declare a domestic partnership. * March 2007: The domestic partners affidavit was presented and approved at the March general faculty meeting. * October 2007: Committee for Benefits and Salary requested that the Faculty Senate create an ad hoc committee for the implementation of domestic partner benefits. * December 2007: An alumni and long-time UT donor withdrew his commitment to support UT due to the lack of domestic partnership benefits. This drew attention from The Minaret, which covered the issue over the past two months. * December 2007: The Faculty Senate requested an update from UT administration on its actions toward instituting domestic partnership benefits. * December 2007: The Senate Executive Council met with representatives from administration. President Vaughn subsequently provided a written statement of their actions and projected timeline. * January 2008: The Faculty Senate expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of meaningful response from UT's President's Office and requested a more concrete response and timely action to institute domestic partnership benefits this year.
