Diversity committee tackles marriage benefits, gender and disability issues
With the recent change in marriage equality laws in Idaho, policies have been clarified by Human Resources to ensure all marriage benefits are available to same-sex spouses of University of Idaho employees.
Jeff Dodge, UI faculty member and Ubuntu committee member, said he reached out to the department shortly after gay marriage was legalized in Idaho last year, and HR has made it clear that being married — regardless of the couple’s genders — is accepted for benefits purposes.
Ubuntu is a university committee focused on diversity issues.
Dodge said there were a few alterations to the current policy to streamline spousal benefits. All employees are required to report a “life event,” such as marriage, and include proof, but new employees are not required to show proof of marriage when initially using benefits, he said.
Dodge said Ubuntu members are satisfied there will be equality with the clarification of policy language.
“We were very comfortable (with) the result,” he said.
The language amendments for employee marriage benefits were part of an Ubuntu update Dodge shared with Faculty Senate members last Tuesday.
Dodge said other issues Ubuntu is working on are gender inclusive restrooms and lactation rooms. He said there are maps available on Ubuntu’s website to show where each facility can be found.
A project in the works for Ubuntu is a collaboration with Disability Support Services (DSS) to address challenges in the classroom. Dodge said Ubuntu has asked DSS for a list of their “top five concerns” the committee should address.
He said he expects online learning to be the No. 1 problem on the list, and the committee would likely use the UI Faculty Staff Handbook to determine its approach to the issue.
Additionally, Ubuntu is looking at a self-assessment tool for faculty used at another university to see if it would be applicable to UI. Dodge said the tool would help judge if materials were “truly accommodating for people with disabilities.”
Dodge also provided Faculty Senate with a review of a completed project, the Martin Luther King Jr. Art and Essay Contest.
The event was a first for Ubuntu and Dodge said it was a success.
“It really sort of surpassed our response expectations,” he said. “It was kind of unexpected.”
He said students from each of UI’s colleges participated.
“Students really engaged in which art mediums they were comfortable with,” he said. “Which was what I think was the entire point. In addition to the volume of submissions, a lot of them were really high quality.”
The contest contained four categories — best essays for undergraduates and graduates, and best art for undergraduates and graduates. Dodge said the committee received 23 undergraduate submissions and 11 graduate submissions.
The winner in each category received $500 and honorable mentions received $100. There were three undergraduate art honorable mentions awarded, Dodge said.
The office of Human Rights, Access and Inclusion, ASUI, Graduate and Professional Student Association, College of Law and the College of Graduate Studies sponsored the contest.
Award recipients were announced during the February Shades of Black event.
Dodge said after reviewing the event, the committee voted unanimously to transform it to an annual occasion.
Moving forward, Dodge said some changes to the event may include creating additional art categories.
“It just kind of felt like apples and oranges being compared,” he said.
Dodge said although links to the artists’ work were available online, there is a need for a physical display of the submissions.
“There was tons of art that felt like it needed to be displayed somewhere,” Dodge said. “It felt like a lost opportunity.”
Katelyn Hilsenbeck can be reached at [email protected]