The University cannot meet the demands of two alumni who asked University President John T. Casteen, III to initiate efforts to provide employee benefits for gay and lesbian domestic partners by Saturday, Casteen said in an e-mail this week.
In response, a Web site set up by the two alumni will begin accepting donations Saturday. Donors are encouraged to contribute to DontGivetoUVA.com instead of the University.
Casteen discussed the Web site with the Board of Visitors at a full Board policy discussion last Saturday.
"I don't want to take a position on this at this time other than to report it," Casteen said. "Most of what is demanded is beyond what the Board can lawfully do."
According to a press release, Casteen's e-mail response suggested founders Andrew Borchini and Andrew Bond make their appeal to the General Assembly. The General Assembly has the ability to change the Virginia Code and state policy that authorizes the University to provide benefits only to conventionally defined married persons, Casteen said.
Borchini said he believes the University does not need the approval of the General Assembly to offer health benefits to gay and lesbian domestic partners.
"It is a misconception -- people blamed the General Assembly and the state, but the fact is that if U.Va. wanted to offer the benefits they could," Borchini said. "The law on this matter is vague at best -- top legal scholars differ on their opinions on whether or not the University can offer the benefits."
University Spokesperson Carol Wood said in a statement yesterday the decision to grant partner benefits to same-sex couples is determined by state law.
"As a state agency, we are bound to abide by the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, which currently state that only married couples (defined by the state as opposite-sex couples) are eligible for partner benefits," the statement said. "The Attorney General also has ruled that providing partner health insurance is a matter of state law rather than of university policy, and that universities have no flexibility in this area."
In their initial e-mail to Casteen Feb. 3, Borchini and Bond requested the University immediately grant "soft" benefits, such as gym memberships and library privileges, to gay and lesbian domestic partners employed by the University, and begin efforts to institute "hard" benefits, like health insurance.
According to Borchini, the issue has received a great deal of support.
"I am actually pleasantly surprised," he said. "More that 250 people signed the petition, including students, alumni and a lot of current faculty members, so I think this is an issue that resonates well with everyone who is concerned about civil rights."
Former Faculty Senate Chair Michael Smith, an openly gay professor at the University, said he believes the Web site's focus may be misguided.
"I understand the impulse behind the Web site but I think that it is ultimately not going to be very helpful and may even be counterproductive," Smith said. "Gay faculty and alumni have been working hard with University administrators to open up a space for domestic partner benefits within the constraints of state law; and Andrew's Web site, in my view, unfairly focuses on the University as if it were completely a free agent."
Borchini said while he and Bond want to maintain communication with the University, they plan to intensify their efforts.
"We really hope to continue working with President Casteen to change this policy as soon as possible, but once we start accepting donations this Saturday we are going to launch a huge effort to pull in as many people as we can to support this important cause," Borchini said.
Smith said he believes the University will advance toward increased equality among faculty and staff, regardless of the Web site's petition.
"I hope and expect that the University will make progress towards treating all of its faculty and employees equally, but I doubt that this Web site is the best way to go," he said.
Borchini and Bond hope to amass $100,000 in donations in 2004 and will put the funds toward providing health benefits for gay and lesbian domestic partners and creating an increased awareness of civil rights issues, Borchini said.
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