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February 7, 2002

Report on domestic partner benefits expected by end of term

The committee studying whether Pitt should extend health benefits to employees' domestic partners won't issue any interim reports prior to giving its final findings and recommendations to Chancellor Mark Nordenberg.

Faculty Assembly had approved a resolution last month, requesting an interim report from the committee by Feb. 26, the scheduled date of the next Assembly meeting.

But Nordenberg told his fellow Senate Council members on Feb. 4 that the domestic partners committee will make no such report.

"It is important to note that this is not a committee of the Senate," Nordenberg said. "It is a committee that was appointed by me, charged by me, and that ultimately will report to me."

The chancellor said that, in charging the committee, he pledged not to "intrude" on its deliberations unless asked for guidance or support. The committee should be allowed to work independently, Nordenberg said, "and so I am not prepared to direct them to issue an interim report or anything else."

The domestic partners committee has been meeting regularly since last summer and expects to complete its work by the end of the current term, according to Pitt's administration.

Trustee William Lieberman chairs the 12-member committee, which includes two representatives each of Pitt's administration, alumni, faculty, staff, students and trustees.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents seven current and former Pitt employees who had sued the University over denial of health benefits for their same-sex partners, agreed last May to a "moratorium" on litigation while the committee did its work.

Recently, some members of the ACLU as well as the University community have voiced impatience with the pace of that work.

But Nordenberg pointed out: "I think that, at this point, the committee probably has been working for about the same number of months that the litigation has been pending in number of years. And I can say that the discussions leading to the moratorium that permitted the appointment of the committee took more time than the committee has taken so far in considering the issue."

The original plaintiff in the same-sex partners litigation, former Pitt legal writing instructor Deborah Henson, initiated her lawsuit against the University in 1996.

— Bruce Steele


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