AAUP WORKS FOR YOU

A publication of the 

University of Cincinnati Chapter, AAUP

October, 2005

DOMESTIC PARTNER BENEFITS UPDATE

Contract Re-opener

This July the AAUP and the Administration reopened contract negotiations on Domestic Partner Benefits.  This is the fifth time we have brought this issue to the table. In recent years the provision of Domestic Partner Benefits has become the norm at universities.  In Ohio alone, over the past year and a half Youngstown State, Ohio University, Miami, OSU and Cleveland State have begun to offer domestic partner health coverage.  Other state universities provide for domestic partners in other ways.  Most recently, the collective bargaining agreement negotiated this summer at Central State added domestic partners to coverage under the sick leave policy.

The AAUP continues to view domestic partner benefits as a way for the University to treat all faculty members fairly. 

Since benefits are an important part of compensation, this concept is included in “Equal Pay for Equal Work.” The Ohio Faculty Council, in its 2000 “Resolution on Domestic Partner Benefits,” declared “the extension of health and related benefits to unmarried domestic partners is viewed by faculty at universities throughout Ohio as a matter of basic human rights.”  Currently, the lack of Domestic Partner Benefits at UC seems in conflict with UC’s policy of a “Just Community.”

Competitive Advantages

Domestic Partner Benefits are used as a measure of the institutional climate by faculty.  If, as our new academic plan suggests, we are interested in attracting and keeping high quality faculty, we must consider Domestic Partner Benefits as an issue for those faculty who might seek to utilize the benefits, AND for those faculty who will find domestic partner benefits to be a signal of the climate at the University of Cincinnati.  To be the only major public university in Ohio which does not offer Domestic Partner Benefits will not enhance our ability to attract quality faculty to this institution.

Domestic Partner Benefits, UC|21, and the US News and World Reports Rankings

1) The ranking criteria for the US News Index give 35% of the total ranking to Faculty Compensation

2)  The 2005 US News ranking for the National Universities: Top Schools reveals the following:

              a) of the top 25 universities, only 3 do not offer DP benefits

              b) of the top 50 universities, all but 10 offer full DP benefits

              c) of the top 75 universities, all but 16 offer full DP benefits.

3) Of the National Universities: Tier 3 in the US News Rankings for 2005, 11 offer full domestic partner benefits; 47 do not, UC is among the latter

Whether or not there will be Domestic Partner Benefits is now up to the UC Board of Trustees.  The Board meets next at the end of November.  We hope that the Board will act quickly to provide Domestic Partner Benefits so that, in this regard, UC’s policies are not contradictory and so that UC can continue to make gains in academic quality and national reputation.