Allan Vigil (left), chair of the Board of Regents, stands with Erroll B. Davis Jr., the 11th chancellor of the University System of Georgia. (Photo courtesy Board of Regents)
Medical College of Georgia seeks DP benefits Faculty backs resolution to offer health insurance to unmarried partners
By
more
than
a
two-to-one
margin,
the
Medical
College
of
Georgia
faculty
endorsed
a
resolution
calling
for
the
ability
to
give
employees
domestic
partnership
benefits.
Citing
the
need
to
attract
high-caliber
faculty
and
staff,
126
professors
voted
for
the
resolution
while
58
voted
against.
Conducted
via
an
online
poll,
the
vote
was
the
culmination
of
almost
six
months
of
discussion
about
the
issue.
The
poll
was
in
response
to
increasing
interest
among
the
college’s
faculty
in
extending
health
and
other
benefits
to
unmarried
partners
for
heterosexual
as
well
as
same-sex
couples.
“I
would
say
this
was
not
a
heated
or
a
dynamic
debate
at
all,”
Associate
Professor
Bill
Andrews
said.
Andrews
oversaw
the
debate
as
part
his
duties
as
vice-chair
of
the
college’s
Academic
Council.
“There
were
people
who
sent
emails
pro
and
con,
and
the
biggest
question
was,
‘Gee,
do
you
have
any
idea
what
this
will
cost?’
But
this
[poll]
wasn’t
about
how
much
it
would
cost,
but
about
gauging
faculty
interest.”
The
Augusta-based
college
joins
a
number
of
Georgia’s
largest
schools
asking
the
state
Board
of
Regents
to
grant
them
the
ability
to
offer
domestic
partner
benefits
to
their
employees.
Decisions
on
health
benefits
must
come
through
the
Board
of
Regents.
The
board
is
made
up
of
18
members
appointed
by
the
governor
to
seven-year
terms;
it
oversees
35
colleges
and
universities
with
almost
40,000
employees.
University
of
West
Georgia
in
Carrollton
first
passed
a
resolution
in
2001
asking
the
Board
of
Regents
for
domestic
partnership
benefits.
But
the
university’s
president
at
the
time,
Beheruz
N.
Sethna,
refused
to
sign
it.
Georgia
State
University
in
Atlanta
and
the
University
of
Georgia
in
Athens
passed
resolutions
last
year
—
as
they
have
in
years
past
—
asking
the
Board
of
Regents
to
approve
domestic
partnership
benefits.
The
regents
have
consistently
declined
to
comment
on
the
issue
of
offering
domestic
partnerships
at
state
universities.
“All
we
can
say
is
that
we
have
taken
the
matter
under
advisement,
and
that’s
all
I’m
authorized
to
say,”
said
Diane
Payne,
spokesperson
for
the
Board
of
Regents.
Dr.
Adrian
Childs,
who
is
gay,
led
UGA’s
University
Council
Benefits
Committee
that
passed
a
domestic
partner
resolution
last
October.
“We
know
that
the
resolution
was
sent
to
the
Board
of
Regents
by
our
campus
president,
Dr.
Michael
Adams.
To
date,
there
has
been
no
response
from
the
BOR,”
Childs
said
in
an
email.
Andrews
of
Medical
College
of
Georgia
said
he
hopes
this
year
will
be
different.
“I’m
sure
they
will
thank
us
for
the
resolution,
but
whether
or
not
they
act
on
it,
I
don’t
have
a
crystal
ball,”
Andrews
said.
“I
would
hope
they
would
give
it
serious
consideration
before
making
a
decision,
but
I
don’t
know.”
Regents
are
political
appointees
by
the
governor.
The
current
18-member
board
have
all
been
appointed
or
re-appointed
by
Gov.
Sonny
Perdue.
The
governor’s
press
office
did
not
return
calls
seeking
comment.
Perdue
has
supported
“traditional
marriage”
between
a
man
and
woman
in
the
past,
and
worked
to
pass
the
2004
Constitutional
amendment
banning
gay
marriage
in
Georgia.
During
the
2002
campaign
for
governor
against
then-Gov.
Roy
Barnes,
Perdue
said
he
opposed
domestic
partner
benefits.
Private
colleges
have
been
offering
benefits
to
unmarried
partners
in
Georgia
for
more
than
a
decade.
Emory
University
has
offered
domestic
partnership
benefits
since
1995;
Agnes
Scott
followed
in
2001.
Spelman
College
also
offers
domestic
partnership
benefits.
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