A large crowd of several hundred gathered on the University of Texas campus Wednesday to rally for domestic partner benefits for UT employees.
Their reason is twofold: to give equal benefits to all UT staffers and to make the university more competitive when it comes to hiring employees.
"UT touts itself -- and I think is -- a university of the first class. If it is to be that, it needs to be competitive. It's critical," UT Domestic Partner Benefit Committee Chair Lynne Milburn said.
UT administrators back the idea. So do many students.
"I think it's definitely fair, and I even think it's probably essential to our social evolution," freshman Sage Pierce said.
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Benefits for all
Many say allowing domestic partnership benefits is part of keeping the university competitive with other similar universities.
 
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But, there's a legislative conflict with offering the benefits on a state campus. The state's insurance code only allows benefits to men and women married to the opposite sex. Also, there is a law that UT must be competitive with other universities when it comes to hiring. Many competing schools have domestic partner policies.
"Several states that have the defense against marriage act also have domestic partner with their state schools, so there are ways that other universities have done this," Milburn said.
The plan is to look for ways around the legal quagmire. It may even involve getting legislators to change the laws.
"This is not just a UT issue. This is a higher education issue, it's a business issue, it's an issue for the State of Texas as well as the nation," UT's Institutional Equity and Workforce Diversity Associate Vice President Linda Millstone said.
Supporters of the initiative want UT President William Powers to publicly support domestic partner benefits. They say he is behind their cause but hasn't offered his support in any sort of public way.
Click to read more about UT's Pride and Equality Faculty Staff Association.
