President Alger speaks on same-sex benefits for JMU faculty

Hello Readers!

This week, I wanted to talk about something interesting that hits a little closer to home. The JMU home that is. I was looking through articles on The Breeze’s website and came across a headline that read “Faculty Salaries, Same-sex partner benefits discussed.” Immediately, that grabbed my attention and I became excited that an issue of equality was about to be discussed by President Alger…

 

Alger recently spoke at the Faculty Senate meeting regarding his vision for JMU and how he plans to stay connected with faculty, staff, and students! He is going around, listening to the many different issues that JMU faces and he expresses his desire to remain engaged with the JMU community. I think this is great! It shows how much President Alger wants to be involved and how he genuinely cares for our student body. As I continued reading, the article discussed different issues from the integration of technology in classrooms to the importance of our athletes and making academics their top priority.

All of this information was very informative and important to our school community. However, I wanted to get to the part where same-sex couples were supposedly talked about! I kept reading and eventually at the end of the meeting/article President Alger spoke about how JMU faculty are facing issues of increasing health care costs and “the fact that JMU’s benefit packages don’t cover both partners in a same-sex domestic partnership.”

Alger stated that…

“This is an issue of competitiveness as well as civil rights in our society. It certainly affects us as we try to recruit and retain the best talent that we can … we certainly want to have an environment that is welcoming and inclusive.”

He also went on to say that JMU is working with other constituents such as the Council of Presidents, the Office of the Attorney General and the governor’s office even though JMU is still restricted by the state law on this same-sex benefits issue. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am super excited that this topic was even brought up in this meeting and that President Alger wants JMU to be a “welcoming and inclusive” environment. I just wish there was a bit more discussion about the issue.

Later on, Physics Professor, Kevin Giovanetti asked about alternative ways JMU could help those faculty affected by the law and that maybe we could award them some other benefits. David McGraw, the speaker of Faculty Senate and professor of integrated science and technology, quickly responded however, saying that

“This is an issue that kind of puts our president in a difficult spot. He’s made a statement already that’s kind of as much as I think he can say, given his responsibility to the state of Virginia and to the Board of Visitors, who are his bosses, so I would rather not put him on the spot and ask him to respond further to that issue.”

…Okay? I mean I kind of wanted President Alger to respond to the question and I also wanted there to be more discussion towards the issue. Could there really be some alternative benefits that same-sex couples could receive from JMU?? There was no clear answer to that. I was also kind of shocked that sports got such a large chunk of coverage in this meeting, while the same-sex issue was quickly swept under the rug. At least that is what it seemed like to me.

Like I said. I think there are great things to be said about JMU and President Alger wanting equality and rights for same-sex couples. That is awesome! I just think in order for that to happen, there may need to be more time devoted to the topic…and not just by JMU.

What do you all think?!