On numerous occasions over the past three years the PSC PAT constituency has voted in support of domestic partnership benefits. Domestic partnership is defined in a broad and inclusive sense that includes both opposite-gender and same-gender families whose members can meet specific criteria.  We believe that broadening the definition of who among us can access benefits of employment brings us into compliance with January 1 changes in NH civil rights legislation and, more importantly,  makes us a more equitable organization and therefore, a better place to work.  How we are perceived as a workplace is important both in the recruitment, and retention, of students, staff and faculty.  The definition we have adopted is similar to that used by a significant number of other employers:
 

1.      The USNH employee must be eligible by policy for the benefit to be    applied.

2.      The USNH employee may add a partner to benefit coverage by    establishing one of the following conditions:

 a)      Certificate of partnership that attests to
 
     * a committed partnership of unspecified duration
                * that each is the sole partner of the other, and not otherwise     married
                * that the partners are financially responsible for each other
     * that the partners are not related by blood to a degree that would     bar marriage in the state of residence
   or
 b)      Legal marriage certificate

US Federal Tax laws apply.

With that said, and acknowledging that we must not abandon fairness to least-cost alternatives,
we do understand that financial considerations will impact the way that such a program can be implemented by USNH.

Therefore, we agree that if a financial model cannot be developed which allows for implementation of an inclusive package across the board in the first year of offering,  we support offering benefits to domestic partners in same-sex families as a first-step option within the larger plan.  We continue to endorse most strongly funding of a plan that allows for total implementation of domestic partnership benefits for all qualifying families by XXXX.

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3/5/98 Trustees Personnel Committee
New England Center  UNH

Notes on Domestic Partnership presentations

This was a well-orchestrated presentation, organized and orderly, without whining and contradictory or repetitive information, neither strident nor maudlin.  Each UNH employee was first introduced by Judith Spiller, each had many years of service (8-26), many are alumni or at least one if not more than one USNH institution.  Chief of Police, Roger Beaudin, was in uniform.  Everyone looked and spoke professionally and thanked the
Trustees for the opportunity to be heard.  There were some strong political moments.
One young woman spoke about how good it is that her family has the opportunity to make a change in how they are living.  Her husband was able to leave his job, begin free-lancing, and stay home and care for their infant.  Michelle was followed immediately by an older
woman with far more years of service whose partner has not been able to do this.
Support from top level UNH administration is evident.  They worked this topic in to other
conversation during the day (within affirmative action report).

Individuals and some of their comments included:

1.  Judith Spiller, Student Academic Affairs and special asst. to pres. for g/l/b/t issues

 Fairness, equity, security for all employees]
 Cost of not doing it:  opportunity lost
    recruiting fac/staff/students
    remaining competitive
    litigation, grievances
 Referenced their handouts, cost, taking care of most needy population
 
2.  Roger Beaudoin, chief of Police, Alum PSC and UNH  15 years
 Meet and work with so many good people.  This enriches our community.  We need to stand up in the public eye

3.  Professor John Seavey, Health and Human Services; vice chair, Faculty Senate; 16 yrs.
 In all these years I have never been treated like an equal; President Leitzel is moving us forward in important ways;We are learning to resolve our differences;There is no season on equity or fairness; this is currently inconsistent with USNH and State policies
 We are asking you to implement what the Governor and Legislature have already approved -- nondiscrimination in the workplace; costs:  competition, bad business
eliminate discrimination

4.  Terri Winters, PAT chair  18 yrs.  alum
 Director,  academic services and instructional services
 We have supported this on many occasions; the legal issues are important -- same-sex couples can’t marry; 600 names on a petition

5.  Jean Smith, OS Senate chair, Mgr. publications, coop ext.
  read their resolution
 Please support this proposal

A member of the UNH community, didn’t get her name
 Alum/os/pat  24 years; 18 years domestic partner -- told her story

Suzanne Huard, 16 years -- story about partner being laid off and how they struggled

Michelle Holtstein, Ed. Coordinator, Student Affairs
 my husband was able to leave his job, being a freelance career, and stay at home
  with our child; this has been so good for our family
Barbara Wilson, Training/planning specialist, Browne Center -- partner can’t do what  Michelle’s husband did.  Took some courses, had to quit and stay in dead-end job;  too expensive to do otherwise; my compensation is not equal to Michelle’s
Sharon Keeler, News Bureau - 8 years
 Partner was laid off, they have been paying medical costs, and education costs, used up savings, have loans, can’t continue, no security. Are my years of service worth less than someone elses? Are you telling us our families don’t count? We look to you to stand up to critics, as leaders must;  We need to build community.
Kim Billings, Dir. News - alum
   (referring to last year) Same partner, same house, different dog.  Please support    initiative.
Greg Sanborn, executive asst. to Pres. (formerly student affairs) 26 years.  This is  important to do; great kids, great people, diverse community
Gov. Walter Peterson
 called Bill Marston to tell him he was sorry he couldn’t be present and to share with those in attendance that this doesn’t reflect lack of interest; he remains
sympathetic to this issue.
Nancy Adams, extension educators council.  We have talked about this for a long time.   Please support the resolutions.
Roger Tinnell, PSC faculty observer to Trustees.  Roger talked about article in Concord  Monitor re student dance at UUA through Concord Outright.  He related how different it was when he was an adolescent and how good it is to see kids speaking out and putting their names in the newspaper -- “out” at a very young age.  He pointed out that these adolescents will soon be in our applicant pool and drew DP benefits in as a recruitment issue.

Emery Booska, Assistant to dean for Administration, UNH, 31 years
 We are looking to you for leadership; you have tackled tough issues with us in the past and we need you to do so, again.

Betsy Cheney, PSC 25 years, alum, chair SPPC/fac-pat
 We’d like to take the UNH model a step further and expand access to anyone able to complete DP certificate.  This would allow us to bring the issue to the table only one time.  According to the last national census only 27% of American families now meet the
stereotypical model of two parents of the opposite sex raising one or more children under the same roof.  That is the model our benefits package was designed to accommodate, and it is out of date.  Benefits are about social values -- protecting what we think needs to be protected.  Present policy excludes many; not honest, not fair, misrepresentation.  Important to recruiting and retention of employees and students.  Don’t be driven by least-cost alternatives.  Use a model like Ed Wixson’s to fund this, once and for all.

 3/5/98  Message to Personnel Committee, USNH BOT re DP Benefits -- B. Cheney

     My father tried hard to teach his seven children positive social skills.  I remember him saying something to the effect that if you don’t want a conversation to get contentious, stay away from politics and religion.  I think today he would add sexual orientation to this list of conversation taboos.
     But our conversation doesn’t have to be contentious. We don’t have to talk about right and wrong or solve the moral conflicts of our generation to resolve this issue.  We DO have to talk about WHAT IS.  And what is, is this:
 According to the last national census fewer than 1/3 of American  families now match the stereotypical model of two parents of the opposite sex raising one or more children in a single household.  The benefits program for USNH was designed to accommodate that outdated model. Approaching the new millennium it is no longer an appropriate  model for us.
     Last week at SPPC someone said, “Benefits are not about equal pay for equal work.  They are about social values -- protecting what we think needs to be protected.”  Some of us might not agree with the equal pay part of that statement.  But we all agree with the social values part.
 Plymouth PATs have voted to protect our sense of community.  But the current policy puts an exclusionary boundary around that community.  Some perceive lack of welcome and equity, some perceive deception and say we are not the community we claim to be. Some say we “talk” inclusion but practice exclusion.
     PSC’s PATs suggest that we take the domestic partnership model a step beyond the UNH recommendation  so that it will only come to the table one time.  We believe that broadening the definition of who among us can access benefits of employment brings us into compliance with the January 1 changes in NH civil rights legislation and, more importantly, makes us a more equitable organization and, therefore, a better place to work.  How we are perceived as a workplace is important in the recruitment  and retention of students, staff and faculty.
     To be the best workplace we can requires a shift in the benefits paradigm.  We support the offering of benefits to all employees who meet broadly defined criteria  of domestic partnership.  We hope that we will not be driven to accept the least-cost alternative of extending benefits to same-gender partners only, but that models such as that conceived by  our own faculty bean counter, Dr. Ed Wixson, will show that it is financially possible to visit this issue only one time -- that we will fund the extension of benefits to all who choose to provide a certificate of domestic partnership.
     Thank you for your welcome here today.