Not So Progressive After All

Professors may be a liberal lot, but university policies aren’t as progressive as many professors might think, at least not when it comes to the treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered employees, Astrodyke writes.

She notes that while 92 percent of the top 25 colleges on U.S. News & World Report’s list of America’s best colleges provide equal health coverage to domestic partners and spouses, only 64 percent of the top-100 colleges on the U.S. News list cover domestic partners, and that percentage sinks the farther one goes down the list. In addition, U.S. government laboratories and observatories, where many academic scientists work, do not offer domestic-partner benefits, she writes.

The issue at stake is equal pay for equal work, Astrodyke argues:

If my straight colleague gets health coverage for his wife, and I can’t for my wife, then I’m getting paid less for the same work.