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Loading ...U of Alabama considering domestic partnership benefits
10.22.2009 12:21pm EDT
The Univeristy of Alabama is considering providing health benefits to the domestic partners of employees, though administrators want to be sure such benefits would be legal.
“We want to do what’s right for faculty and staff here, but we want to do it in a manner that won’t be disruptive down the road,” University of Alabama President Robert Witt said, according to Tuscaloosa news.Domestic partner benefits are already in place at sister schools University of Alabama at Birmingham and University of Alabama in Huntsville, where they are called “sponsored adult dependent benefits.” Administrators should know by the end of the year whether these benefits will be able to survive potential legal challenges.
Alabama started considering the benefits when the school realized that they were losing employees to other big research medical schools, such as Duke and Johns Hopkins.
Gay marriage is not legal in Alabama.
I’m a college prof, and when I was applying for jobs a couple of years ago I didn’t even consider any school that didn’t offer equal benefits to its employees. If you’re a top academic candidate, you can get a job elsewhere, since most private and public schools do offer equal employment benefits. Does this put UA at a competitive disadvantage? You better believe it. And who ultimately pays the price? UA’s students, since they miss out on some of the best faculty.
May a bunch of the neo nazi religious right will have a stroke or heart attack when they see this.
Proof of evolution – the homophobes will die of their own hatreds.
Just as mammals and man replaced dinosaurs, while kinda – we still have lots of people with the minds of those cold blooded beasts. Maybe they were heartless also?
Jay, the state may be backwards in many areas, but you’d be surprised to know that all the largest cities (Bham, Mob, Mont, Hunts, etc) are generally comprised of mostly blue (there are some exceptions, depending on the individual running), as is in the middle range of Bama (check out this link: http://philhardwickblog.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/2008_election_map-counties.jpg ).
Not only is gay marriage not legal in Alabama, the state is one of the most homophobic in the country, one of the 13 that stubbornly refused to repeal sodomy laws until the US Supreme Court finally struck them down. I wouldn’t count on that backward state doing anything that could potentially help any homosexual couple.
This is a huge issues right now. The UA system has approved the benefits but it is up to each school to offer them or not. As stated in the article, UAB and UAH are now offering DP benefits but UA-Tuscaloosa is not. Every major voting body on campus- faculty, staff, students- have approved of DP benefits but administration is holding out.