[Vision2020] UI Faculty Senate Discusses Benefits-Related Policy Changes

[Wayne Price]

Only big problem will be amending the State Constitution:


CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF IDAHO

ARTICLE III LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT

     Section 28.  MARRIAGE. A marriage between a man and a woman is  
the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in  
this state.




On Sep 8, 2010, at 3:24 PM, Tom Hansen wrote:

> Courtesy of today’s (September 8, 2010) Moscow-Pullman Daily News.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Faculty Senate discusses benefits-related policy changes
> Proposed revisions include spousal employment, reduced student fees  
> for dependents
> By Holly Bowen Daily News staff writer
>
> Faculty Senate discusses benefits-related policy changes
> Proposed revisions include spousal employment, reduced student fees  
> for dependents
>
> By Holly Bowen Daily News staff writer
> September 8, 2010
>
> The University of Idaho Faculty Senate has resurrected a set of  
> three proposed benefits-related policy changes that didn't make it  
> to the final approval stage last year.
>
> The senators' hope is that by sending the proposals back to the  
> originating Faculty Affairs Committee, further revisions will  
> respectively align them with state law and ensure they are  
> compatible with the financial challenges the university is facing.
>
> Senate Chairman Dan Eveleth said Tuesday that UI President Duane  
> Nellis shot down one of the proposed new policies and the one  
> proposed policy revision in question because they potentially  
> violate Idaho's constitution.
>
> The proposed new policy would provide dual career accommodation for  
> the married spouses or domestic partners of UI employees. A UI human  
> resources staff member would assist the spouse or partner with  
> finding local employment, including at the university.
>
> Spouses and partners participating in the dual career accommodation  
> could even be eligible for jobs open only to existing UI employees,  
> and the university could alternatively create a one- to three-year  
> temporary position for the person if his or her skills met a need at  
> the institution.
>
> Eveleth said the major issue with that proposed policy, as well as a  
> proposed revision to an existing policy that grants student fee  
> discounts to spouses of UI employees, is the wording that extends  
> the benefits to domestic partners.
>
> "From what the president told me, he likes the idea in spirit, but  
> it was the partner distinction that really causes a challenge," he  
> said.
>
> In 2006, a majority of Idaho voters approved an amendment to the  
> state constitution that made a marriage between a man and a woman  
> the only type of valid and recognized domestic legal union in the  
> state. Because the UI is a state institution, it is bound by that  
> rule.
>
> Sen. Dale Graden, a history professor, said the UI's legal counsel  
> visited the senate last year and concluded the domestic partner  
> wording was unconstitutional. However, he said the wording in  
> question was intentional because there are faculty members who want  
> the domestic partnership issue addressed.
>
> "I don't think we're going to be swinging the State Board of  
> Education to our way of thinking on this issue," he said. "I want to  
> pursue this, but I want to do it strategically."
>
> Senators discussed the idea of using the general word "family" in  
> lieu of more specific terms like "spouse" and "partner" before  
> voting to send the proposals back to Faculty Affairs for further  
> assessment and tweaking.
>
> The other proposed new policy that senators revisited and returned  
> to Faculty Affairs would grant a 50 percent reduction in in-state  
> student fees to the dependents of UI employees. The proposal's  
> paperwork states the goal is to promote employee recruitment and  
> retention and improve culture and climate at the university by  
> expanding employee benefits.
>
> Several senators expressed a desire Tuesday for more information  
> about the potential financial impacts of such a policy on the  
> university. They also wanted to know how other universities have  
> fared with similar policies.
>
> "I feel that if we're making suggestions about something that has a  
> financial impact, we need to know what that is," Sen. Anne Marshall  
> of the College of Art and Architecture said.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Seeya round town, Moscow.
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
> “Domestic partner benefits are among the most tangible ways that an  
> employer chooses to express the value it holds for a loyal employee.  
> Without domestic partner benefits, gay and lesbian employees will  
> forever remain a separate and unequal group of workers.”
>
> — Human Rights Campaign
>
>
>
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