University of Texas Policy Reveals Competitive Weakness for State’s Public Colleges and Universities
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Chuck Smith, Deputy Director
Equality Texas
Office: 512-474-5475
Cell: 512-294-3506
Competitive Benefits are Critical to Employee Recruitment and Retention
University of Texas Policy Reveals Competitive Weakness for State’s Public Colleges and Universities
Austin, Texas – (January 16, 2008) – A University of Texas at Austin lecturer is in his third day of a hunger strike to draw attention to the lack of competitive employee benefits at the state’s largest public university. Uri Horesh, a 37-year-old Arabic lecturer in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies, wants the University to offer employee benefits, such as health insurance, to employees’ same-sex partners. The University, to its credit, has acknowledged that employee benefit packages are critically important in the recruitment and retention of employees, faculty and staff. However, they insist their hands are tied by state law prohibiting recognition of same-sex partnerships.
“The issue of competitive employee benefit packages is one that transcends same-sex couples,” said Paul Scott, Equality Texas Executive Director. “In order to attract and retain the most qualified faculty and staff, leading academic institutions are offering access to benefit plans that support the employee and members of the employee’s household. If the University of Texas truly aspires to be a first-tier academic institution, it must be able to offer competitive employee benefit plans.”
According to U.S. News and World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges 2008”, fully 100% of the top 20 ranked national universities offer health insurance coverage to employees’ domestic partners. U.S. News’ “Top 20” listing includes Rice University in Houston, a private institution that offers employee benefits to same-sex and opposite-sex domestic partners.
“Indeed, leading private colleges and universities in Texas are already offering employee benefits programs that include domestic partners,” said Scott. “In addition to Rice University, Baylor College of Medicine (Houston), Southern Methodist University (Dallas), Southwestern University (Georgetown), and Trinity University (San Antonio) offer domestic partner employee benefits.”
At the present time, none of the state’s publicly-funded colleges or universities offers employee benefits packages that include domestic partners. However, it may be possible for them to do so without running afoul of Texas law. “While offering benefits only to same-sex domestic partners might be interpreted, however wrongly, by the Attorney General as a violation of Texas law, public colleges and universities could elect to offer employee benefits using an approach that does not mention marriage, unions, or same-sex domestic partnerships,” says Scott. “In Kentucky and Michigan, states with recent constitutional amendments defining marriage similar to Texas, university benefit policies have been adopted that don’t distinguish between same-sex and opposite-sex living arrangements. Ultimately, it comes back to colleges and universities offering benefit plans that will enable them to compete for the best and brightest talent,” Scott added.
“It is truly unfortunate that an employee of this state’s flagship public academic institution has found it necessary to go on a hunger strike in order to shine a light on the lack of benefits that are otherwise available at every single one of this country’s top twenty universities. Equality Texas hopes the University of Texas will become the first public university in the state to offer competitive benefits to its employees, faculty and staff,” Scott concluded.
Equality Texas works toward the elimination of social, legal, and economic discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression through lobbying, education, and research directed toward the Texas Legislature and other state governmental agencies.
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