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November 29, 2007

EKU students, teachers rally

EKU students, teachers rally
EQUAL ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE BENEFITS URGED
By Greg Kocher
GKOCHER1@HERALD-LEADER.COM

RICHMOND --The issue of domestic-partnership benefits is one of human rights for all and not just a matter of sexual orientation, students and faculty members said yesterday at a rally on the Eastern Kentucky University campus.

English professor Meg Gunderson said benefits should be extended to all EKU employees "regardless of with whom they may live, regardless of whom they love."

"We support equal access to health care," Gunderson said. "Equal access to a dentist visit. Equal access to an eye exam. Equal access to a pap smear. Equal access to an X-ray."

About 100 people attended the student-organized rally at the campus amphitheater. Student Zana Durbin, vice president of EKU's Pride Alliance, noted that other public institutions such as the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville offer health benefits to gay and heterosexual couples that are not married.

Durbin and another student met with EKU President Doug Whitlock on Nov. 12 to press the case for the university to offer such benefits.

"I've always been a believer and practitioner in fundamental fairness, and there's an element of that in this issue," Whitlock said yesterday.

Whitlock has not spoken about the issue with the EKU Board of Regents, but he said a benefits committee composed of faculty and staff will probably give a recommendation on the matter before the end of the academic year. Whitlock said he won't presume what that recommendation will be.

"If it appears to be right for EKU faculty and staff, I'm going to be for it," Whitlock said.

The rally was an outgrowth of a class on minority group politics taught by Jerry Thomas. He gave students the option to either write a paper or work on raising public awareness about a minority issue.

"They chose this as their issue and it's gone really well," Thomas said.

Christina Gilgor, executive director of the Kentucky Fairness Alliance, praised students "who are not afraid to question the policies and underlying values that govern our public institutions."

"Fairness for all is not a radical idea. It is a mainstream Kentucky value," she said. She said that 73 percent of Kentuckians support fair workplace policies.

"The difference between you and most Kentuckians is that you're willing to speak up," Gilgor said.

Durbin said for those with domestic partners "equal benefits means more time spent at work can be used on focusing on work and focusing on our students."

"There have been so many professors leave EKU because they don't wish to enter a tenure track that doesn't offer benefits to their partners and their families," Durbin said. "When professors go elsewhere, students lose the chance to learn from their knowledge."

Marta Miranda, director of women's studies, read an excerpt from an EKU strategic plan that says the university honors and pursues a "community climate that respects and celebrates the diversity of peoples, and seeks to embrace all individuals and prohibits judgment based on race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation and physical disability."

"This is one of EKU's values," Miranda said. "We don't live up to that value."

Benefits at Kentucky's universitiesStatus of domestic partner benefits at Kentucky's state-run colleges:
Offering benefits:
University of Kentucky
University of Louisville

Discussing benefits:
Eastern Kentucky University
Northern Kentucky University

Not currently discussing benefits:
Kentucky State University
Morehead State University
Murray State University
Western Kentucky University
Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS has no control of benefits, they are set by the state)

Posted by jodycofer on 11/29/2007

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