by Justin Boulmay
Staff Writer
Members of the Student Government Association (SGA) are in the process
of addressing domestic partner benefits for Appalachian State University
faculty.
SGA Director of State and National Affairs Paul A. Funderburk and
Appalachian Heights Senator Amanda G. Zeddy support legislation
calling for faculty with domestic partners to receive the same benefits
married faculty members currently receive.
A domestic partnership is defined as two people who are 18 or older
and plan to reside together, Funderburk said.
Domestic partners include both heterosexual and homosexual orientations.
The legislation is expected to go to the Rules Committee after Spring
Break. After the committee reviews the resolution, it will be presented
to the senate.
Two pieces of legislation will be written, Zeddy said. One piece
covers soft benefits, such as library and fitness center access.
The second piece of legislation addresses hard benefits, under which
health and life insurance fall.
“Some soft benefits domestic partners can use right now, because
of the way the system is, but some of them aren’t covered,
so that’s why we think there is a need legislation,”
Zeddy said. “Under hard benefits, there is not anything.”
Such benefits are already given in University of North Carolina
school system for life insurance policy, she said.
The bill was started as a way to increase diversity on-campus, Zeddy
said. With the same benefits given to faculty members with domestic
partners and married faculty, more faculty will be encouraged to
work at Appalachian State, she said.
“It’s something that I think is needed for equality,
because we keep preaching diversity and equality, and to have domestic
partner benefits is living that out,” Zeddy said.
Funderburk said one reason these benefits are not currently available
is because no faculty members have complained about the issue.
Funderburk said it would be a good way to recruit faculty members
of differing sexual orientation by offering these members equal
benefits.
Dr. Linda Robertson, director of the Equity Office, said she had
“never heard that a faculty member had a difficult time living
here because of their sexual orientation.”
If any faculty members left due to those complaints, Robertson said
she had not heard about it during exit interviews. Exit interviews
are conducted with a faculty member upon his or her departure to
learn why he or she is leaving and his or her thoughts on the university,
she said.
Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity Dr. Harry S. Williams said
the number of gay and lesbian faculty members at Appalachian State
is unknown. He said that information is not asked upon employment
as to ensure no applicant is discriminated against on the basis
of sexuality.
Funderburk is not alone in addressing the issue of domestic partner
benefits. Robertson said Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic
Affairs Dr. William H. Ward III said he wants to edit a policy in
the faculty handbook to allow professors to take time off from work
to care for domestic partners.
The handbook currently allows for faculty members to take time off
to care for their spouses, children or family member.
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