University files brief in Marriage Amendment lawsuit

Updated 10:00 AM July 11, 2005

University files brief in Marriage Amendment lawsuit

By Laurel Thomas Gnagey

U-M and Wayne State University (WSU) jointly filed an amicus brief late last month in support of an organization seeking legal clarification of the intent behind the Marriage Amendment to the Michigan Constitution.

In the brief, the universities agreed with National Pride at Work, Inc., an organization that says voters approved the legal definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman but did not intend that same-sex domestic partner benefits (DPB) should be eliminated. The organization has filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Ingham County to clarify the parameters of the amendment.

"The plain language and circumstances surrounding the adoption of the Marriage Amendment compel the interpretation that it does not affect the Universities' ability to offer partner benefits, or to design benefit programs to meet their need to recruit and retain the best talent the country and the world has to offer. The Marriage Amendment nowhere references employers, benefits, health care, or similar language," according to the brief.

In a memo to the campus earlier this year, President Mary Sue Coleman declared that the University would "vigorously defend our ability to offer these benefits."

"We do not believe the state's definition of marriage is relevant in any way to our decision about what benefits to offer our employees and their dependents, and we do not intend to make any changes to our benefits based on it," Coleman said.

In the brief, the universities said the ability for institutions to offer domestic partner benefits is critical to their success in attracting and retaining the brightest and best employees.

"In the last decade, private and public employers have sent a clear and consistent message: DPB are good for business and imperative to remaining competitive. There are currently 8,277 employers in the United States offering DPB," the brief states.

Some 300 colleges and universities offer such benefits, including all but one of the Big Ten, the University of Wisconsin.

"Nowhere is the economic need for DPB greater than in higher education, where colleges and universities compete not only with each other in a nation-wide and world wide search for the best talent, but also with private business, particularly in the fields of medicine, science and technology," according to the brief.

U-M and WSU faculty and staff are able to elect coverage for a spouse, same-sex domestic partner, children and other eligible dependents. At U-M 196 employees currently have enrolled a domestic partner; at WSU the number is 26.

"These employees include, among others, administrative associates and assistants, lecturers, computer programmers, systems consultants and technologists; assistant, associate and full professors; research scientists, associates and fellows; nurses, custodians, office assistants, clerks, counselors and retirees," the brief states with regard to U-M. It goes on to cite specific incidents of faculty and staff members with same-sex domestic partners who have needed particular benefits, or where the absence of or threat to such benefits hurt recruitment efforts.

The brief also argues that the autonomy of the state's colleges and universities to design and offer benefits programs and determine how funds should be managed, as set forth in the state's constitution (1963, article 8, sec. 5), would be at odds with an interpretation of the amendment that disallowed DPB.

To read the brief, go to the section entitled "Voices of Leadership" on the SSDP Benefits page: http://www.umich.edu/~hraa/ssdp/index.html.

University files brief in Marriage Amendment lawsuit

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