Friday News Snippets

Michigan’s Supreme Court upheld a ruling earlier this week barring public universities and government agencies from providing health benefits to employees’ same-sex partners, Hurley Goodall reports on The Chronicle’s News Blog:

The Supreme Court, in a 5-to-2 decision released on Wednesday, ruled that Michigan’s constitutional ban on gay marriage also covers employee benefits. Recognition of domestic partnerships is considered no different than marriage, the court said.

See an article in the Detroit Free Press for more details.
Elsewhere on the News Blog, Eric Kalderman reports that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has tapped Holden Thorp, dean of its College of Arts and Sciences, to become the university’s next chancellor.
The University of Florida announced a plan Monday to lay off 20 faculty members and 118 staff members and reduce undergraduate enrollment by 4,000 over the next four years in order to combat a $47-million budget cut, the Orlando Sentinel reports. See an item on the News Blog for more details.