Partners of homosexual University employees may soon enjoy the same benefits extended to spouses of faculty and staff.
A group commissioned by President Nan Keohane has drafted a proposal that would allow the domestic partners of homosexual employees to receive benefits including health insurance, pension plans and access to University facilities, said Judith White, special assistant to the president and sexual harassment prevention coordinator. White chaired the group that created the proposal.
To qualify for benefits, domestic partners would have to demonstrate a mutual financial commitment through evidence such as a joint mortgage or a joint checking account.
The Academic Council will probably discuss the proposal in the early fall, said council chair Richard Burton, a professor in the Fuqua School of Business.
Although Keohane does not need the council's support to implement the policy, she will not enact any changes until she gathers faculty and employee input, said John Burness, senior vice president for public affairs.
"There has never been a major benefits change not brought before some faculty body," said Dale Martin, assistant professor of religion and chair of immediate-past President Keith Brodie's nondiscrimination committee.
Brodie's committee drafted a proposal two years ago that provided the framework for the current policy, Martin said.
Some employees said the proposal is both overdue and necessary to prevent discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or preference.
"Duke's health coverage and benefits are phenomenal, and they tried to distribute them as best as they could, but at the same time they weren't accepting a segment of their employee population," said Diana Swancutt, coordinator of volunteer services at the Community Service Center.
The Duke policy has also won support on campus because it may help the University retain faculty who might otherwise go to schools where their partners can get coverage, Burness said.
Universities, corporations and city governments nationwide have been enacting similar policies for about two years, said Kurt Shepard, director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Campus Project.
About 25 to 30 campuses nationwide have implemented domestic partner policies, including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Chicago. The University of California system is currently evaluating a similar proposal.
White said she does not know how much it will cost to implement the proposal. At Stanford, the cost has been negligible, said University Vice Provost Leonard Beckum, a Stanford trustee.
The Duke plan does not extend benefits to unmarried, heterosexual partners. Supporters of the proposal said that this is because heterosexuals can use marriage as means of demonstrating interdependence; homosexual couples cannot.
"Gay and lesbian domestic partners have no other vehicles to access these benefits," Burness said.
Few domestic partner policies at other universities include unmarried heterosexual partners, Shepard said.
Some supporters of the Duke proposal said they sympathize with heterosexual couples who choose not to get married, but they said that homosexual partnerships were more in need of recognition.
"I would be perfectly willing for unmarried, straight couples to have access to benefits too, but I also don't believe straights are in the same situation," Martin said.
Burton said the Academic Council would probably discuss coverage of heterosexual couples, but he doubted that the council would recommend a change as drastic as extending benefits to unmarried partners.
Two years ago, Brodie formed the University committee on nondiscrimination, a group which drafted two reports on benefits for partners of homosexual employees.
"The proposal was never actually rejected, but those who questioned it were able to stonewall it because Brodie's powers of persuasion were limited because he was on his way out," Martin said.
Nevertheless, discussion of benefits for gay couples during Brodie's tenure has helped Keohane forge a consensus, Burness said.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.