Faculty health benefits might be expanded

By Jill Burke
The Metropolitan

Domestic partners of faculty and staff at Metro and the other three state colleges in Colorado might soon be eligible for health benefits.

The Domestic Partner Benefits Proposal, if adopted, would extend insurance benefits to long-term, committed partners of unmarried faculty at Metro and state colleges. Those are Western State College in Gunnison and Adams State College in Alamosa.

Domestic partners would have to be jointly responsible for each otherās common welfare and share financial obligations to qualify for the program.

The proposal must be approved by both the Board of Trustees for the state colleges in Colorado and the state legislature to be enacted. It includes a rationale for the policy, configuration of the plan and budget implications.

It also addresses the possibility of abuse and the impact the proposal would have on the educational community at large.

Adoption of the policy would provide tangible proof that the state colleges in Coloradoās claims of commitment to quality, diversity, and leadership are grounded in practice as well as theory, the proposal says.

Offering domestic partnership benefits also allows the colleges to be competitive in the recruitment of faculty it says, citing more than 100 colleges and universities and 220 businesses nationwide that provide domestic partnership benefits.

An inclusive workplace would time previously spent on obtaining equitable benefits to now be focused on achieving the highest quality educational environment, the proposal says.

Michael Gallagher, president of Mesa State College in Grand Junction, said in a letter of support that similar proposals adopted elsewhere have proved to be neither complex nor extremely costly.