Monday, August 19,2002
Nevada university stalls on domestic partner benefits plan
A story published today Las Vegas Sun reports that the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) movement to get domestic partner benefits for university system employees is paralyzed. Existing state laws does not allow for benefits. Committees within the system have also stalled any decision and Question 2, a ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriages in the Nevada Constitution, has made for an unwelcoming political climate.
"Given the nature of the current Legislature, I think we've pretty much been told to just wait," said Phil Pownall, UNLV coordinator of disability services. "We don't want to rock the boat tremendously."
In 1999 faculty senates at the Community College of Southern Nevada and UNLV voted to support domestic partner benefits. It seemed like a big step forward for supporters. Since then the issue has languished in a Board of Regents' campus environment committee.
The committee first met on the issue in December 1999 to discuss the definition of a "partner."
In November 2000 the committee requested more information on what benefits regents were allowed to offer.
The issue came up in discussion another four times in 2001 with little movement.
Then on March 5 this year, after deciding that state laws made it impossible for the university system to extend health benefits, the committee voted to send it back to the campuses. Little has been heard about it since.
"It seems to have gotten bogged down either in the committee system or at the individual institutions," said Mary LaFrance, a professor at UNLV's Boyd School of Law. "It's frustrating."
"The Defense Against Marriage Act is undoing some of the work that we have done on this issue," said Linda Foreman, a Community College of Southern Nevada professor, who advocated for domestic partner benefits at her institution.
Recent cuts to university system budgets have also changed that outlook, Jane Nichols, Nevada's higher education chancellor said.
"In this fiscal climate, it would almost be impossible to start a new initiative that would cost more money," Nichols said.
Nichols said that while universities and colleges may not be able to offer the state's health-care coverage to non-married couples, there are other benefits. Benefits like tuition coverage for domestic partners and other perks extended to married couples within the system are still a possibility.
"I think the board made a commitment to follow up on this," Nichols said. "I think we just need to prod them a little bit."
