Michigan universities are looking for a legal way around a February court ruling banning state universities from providing health and other benefits to same-sex partners (also see a previous blog item) because it would violate the state’s marriage amendment, an article in the Detroit Free Press reports. According to a survey conducted by the Free Press:
• Michigan State University will launch a pilot program July 1 to provide benefits to domestic partners regardless of sexual orientation in an apparent effort to continue coverage for same-sex partners of some employees.
• Wayne State University is developing a similar policy that it hopes to enact within the next year.
• The University of Michigan is continuing coverage, but will have to make adjustments later this year for non-contract employees whose benefit plans expire Jan. 1. No estimate of how many university employees would be affected was available.
• At Eastern Michigan University, negotiators dropped same-sex benefits from a recently adopted faculty contract. But the university is exploring options to extend coverage without violating the law, an EMU attorney said, and so far no one has been dropped from the policy.
Meanwhile, an appeal of that ruling is still pending before the Michigan Supreme Court, but a final decision is unlikely to come before next year.
In related news, the University of Kentucky also has a plan to expand its health-care coverage to any adult who lives with a university employee — “a sponsored dependent” — and that person’s children, according to an item on The Chronicle’s News Blog.
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21 Responses to More on Domestic-Partner Benefits
nuffsed - September 8, 2011 at 8:07 am
Mr. Selingo,
I sincerely hope the four-year colleges and the universities hear and heed your message, but all of this is old news in the community colleges. We do all of these things, and more, and have done them for years, and yet we are still sorely underfunded. The one thing we continue to do poorly is tooting our own horns. We need to get more state legislators visiting campuses and taking tours so they can see what we are doing and realize what a bargain we are for both the student and the state.
glorenzo - September 8, 2011 at 9:17 am
All great suggestions, but the one element that seems to be missing in all the conversations about education and careers is that students need to be more self reliant and realize that it takes a lot of hard work and determination to be successful with or without a degree (for more on this topic, see a three-part post at http://edpath.typepad.com/source_scholars/ ).
115thDream - September 8, 2011 at 9:22 am
“gateway majors that help students learn how to learn for the jobs that don’t yet exist.” Aren’t those–or some of those–majors that increase critical thinking, argument, and writing ability?
“Could academic programs be designed in a way that allows students to
sample courses across a range of disciplines yet graduate on time?” Great idea. let’s call them breadth requirements in degree programs.
“And should colleges be required to provide more advice and career information…” Who is going to do this requiring? Surely subjecting colleges to that structure will make them better, and more efficient too.
dude. please.
Prof_truthteller - September 8, 2011 at 9:36 am
About the “more help in picking a major,” that’s partly the reason why general education core courses are undergraduate requirements. Forcing students to pick a major too early- before they’ve had a chance to explore the various fields of knowledge- is one of the negative and unintended consequences of the poorly thought out drive to quantify everything.
kburke121452 - September 8, 2011 at 9:57 am
Colleges of Professional Studies and Continuing Education units often have such programs in place, and we also do surveys of employers (already). Prospective students who cannot get financial aid, however, often cannot afford to come to such programs. This is especially true for those who are unemployed or who are underemployed. Serious consideration needs to be given to changing the parts of Title IV funding regulations that impede non-traditional and adult learners, and, especially, part-time students.
Andy Brantley - September 8, 2011 at 11:11 am
Great ideas for helping higher ed institutions better prepare students to help fill the skills gap. Many institutions do demonstrate their commitment to this effort, but the bottom line is that we have to take even more responsibility for creating the workforce needed today AND tomorrow. It’s not just preparing students for the skills needed now, but preparing them to be able to learn that skills that will be needed next. As we all know, the problem is much bigger than higher ed. Here’s a quote from an August 10 WSJ article written by Senators Landrieu and Murray:“…high-school graduation rates are falling—1.2 million students in America drop out of school every year, and young adults are now less educated than their parents’ generation was.”Changing this very troubling trend has got to be one of our country’s top priorities.Thanks for posting about this critically important issue.
22206458 - September 8, 2011 at 11:46 am
Good comments and suggestions that are very relevant to today’s higher education marketplace. Students (and alumni have reinforced this with us in our research) want better guidance in understanding how certain majors/areas of study tap into personal passions, career interests, and finally, are relevant to a sustainable life.
Victoria Baardsen - September 8, 2011 at 12:26 pm
Colleges need to seriously re-evaluate their role in the market place.. they need to be a working force towards helping students to get jobs…as well remaining relevant… afterall…we could kick them to the curb..and get degrees online…from just anyone .. anywhere… for less …
Guest - September 8, 2011 at 1:26 pm
Bravo to nuffsed! Thanks so much for this. I agree that community colleges should be the model for 4-years rather than the other way around. I was horrified that Obama laid out $500 million for Harvard, Stanford, Carnegie-Mellon, MIT, Berkeley and one other elite school, to do research into job skills, when there are community colleges that have direct contact with employers and could put the money to use right away.
As a Cal State professor, I can say community colleges are a great resource since most of my students transferred in after their Associates. These are the people who need jobs and would be willing to do the jobs that are out there. We have to abandon Harvardthink.
tech_prof - September 8, 2011 at 3:15 pm
I’m surprised we have not had any snarky ‘factory-like curricula to fall in line in the workplace’ type comments from those who despise the concept that a college education might be for actually getting a job outside of academia.
The author seems to get the idea that the vast majority of students get a degree to have the possibility of getting a better career and build a better life beyond college.
Education elites, where are you…..?
Socratease2 - September 8, 2011 at 6:00 pm
I’m right here, what’s your point? Setting up false divisions between “education elites” and…what would you like to be categorized as…”education proletarians” does nothing to further any useful discussion. Why would faculty despise the concept that education is important for jobs outside academics? They don’t. Those are your words and you are creating a straw man argument.
UnitekSteve - September 8, 2011 at 6:57 pm
This article, without meaning to, is suggesting changes that only need to happen to community colleges and state-sponsored schools. Private for-profit colleges already meet the 3 criteria recommended to “Play a Central Role in the Jobs Agenda” :
> Colleges are great at creating new programs in response to growth areas in the economy,
> but not so good at eliminating those programs when demand falls.
That’s true of government-sponsored colleges, not so much private for-profit schools, which are very quick to eliminate under-performing programs.
> colleges be required to provide more advice and career information, including such things
> as earnings by major
Here in California, our state Bureau of Private Postsecondary Education requires private for-profit schools to make this info available. So, as above, private for-profit colleges are already meeting the criteria suggested.
> How much do colleges know about how well their students succeed in the workplace
> after they graduate
Same thing here. Unlike most (if not all?) government-sponsored colleges, including many non-profits, private for-profit colleges are required to collect this information and report it to Accrediting Agencies.
austinbarry - September 8, 2011 at 8:54 pm
The most helpful career skills I picked up in college were how to think, how to learn, and how to write. I was a math/comp-sci major, though I haven’t made use of any of the math I learned, and the 1980′s comp-sci might help me win an old-folks trivia contest but otherwise is of little use in my daily life. Teach students how to think, learn, and write and they can prepare for the “career of the future” at their local library.
dpmccain - September 10, 2011 at 9:21 pm
At my age I should know better, but occasionally I dip my toe into the sea of “woulda, coulda, shoulda”. Whenever I am harsh with the lethargy of my students, I remind myself I was a lackluster undergraduate student. I started in Radio Broadcasting, had my own on campus radio show, then stupidly (hindsight is great) became involved with, and eventually married (ohhhhh foolish woman), someone who convinced me my major was “not for me.” I swtiched to Home Economics (no laughing…in the 70′s it was called Home Ec) with a focus in clothing and textile design. Aside from a wonderful class in costume history, I hated the major. The instructors were dowdy, students cheated in pattern drafting (tracing patterns from Vogue and earning A’s) while I struggled with my own designs. I still cannot put in a zipper…but I can do some incredible beadwork..which I taught myself to do well after college.
So why am I rending my garments on this snappy new-name blog? As a word of warning. Learn how to do something other than what you think you should or want to do. Prepare yourself and advise your students to be prepared to at least have the ability to move into three different markets depending upon what the forecast looks like.
As the author states, conduct workplace surveys, read all of the comments you can about companies, and what employees are writing about them, and know what skill set you will need. Watch market trends. I agree that colleges have to look at what is going to happen after college so students will be prepared for change.
While I would like to believe that college should be an opportunity to think, read, and write. Students need to be prepared for more than coffee clatch chatter. College for college sake is silly. Very few of us can afford to be professional students (I am going back for an additional Master’s Degree to broaden my teaching platform). Am I thrilled…kind of…but we’ll see what goes on in the classrooms.
I wish we would allow students to “sample courses”. I have had students reach the culminating class of their Associate degree, only to admit they really hate connecting cables and wires to computers. Very sad…and all of that debt.
And for heaven’s sake…don’t let anyone convince you that your dream is wrong…but at least have a back-up plan.
I should have been an English Literature major,and there is still time. Maybe an MBA? PhD? EdD? Woulda, coulda, shoulda….will.
dale1 - September 14, 2011 at 9:39 am
That’s one problem that’s significant wrt major selection. The other thorny issue is the budgeting systems that encourage departments and programs to (a) make their curriculum exclusively their own – crowding out electives and (b) satisfying (a) by creating courses such as “liberal arts topic for X majors” or equivalent, which further stratify students and discourage interdisciplinary collaborations and student contact.
The real world is not made up of graduates just like you.
sandler - November 4, 2011 at 3:10 pm
Does the writer know if the activities include females, or is it an all male program?
dwheelermd - November 6, 2011 at 12:42 am
Excellent question, thanks for asking it. Mr. Husseini tells me
that as of the end of August, 59 percent of program participants were female. –David L. Wheeler
telaviv12 - November 9, 2011 at 5:25 pm
I wonder why the students can’t also study in Israel?
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camarie - November 20, 2011 at 10:19 pm
Leveling the field of education for those who can afford the tuition and those who can’t is brilliant. Developing the minds of talented motivated students is commendable.
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