 "Photo: Photo illustration by Alex Palomino/The Observer")
The United Student Government (USG) passed a resolution on Feb. 4 in support of providing health benefits to legally domiciled adults, which includes same-sex partners. The move comes on the heels of a Dec. 4 faculty senate meeting, in which Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, told senate members that he is in no position to act independently against the wishes of the archdiocese of New York. Members of the committee for equality have said that they will continue to fight for equal benefits for all faculty members.
In 2006, the university senate passed a similar resolution that would provide health benefits to “an adult who has a close personal relationship with the employee, lives with the employee, and is financially interdependent with him or her.”
Mathew Rodriguez, FCLC ’11 and secretary of USG, said that the resolution was drafted for several reasons. “First, we believe that a student’s foremost reason for attending Fordham is to obtain a good education and we believe that the current policy hinders students from obtaining the best education possible due to its oppressive, discriminatory denial of the full personhood of many of its faculty.
“Secondly, we believe it is important for the students to advocate on behalf of their faculty members in hopes of creating the tight-knit intellectual community that Fordham desires. Lastly, as the USG of a Jesuit institution, we believe it is mandatory that we make students aware of any injustices that are present on their campus,” Rodriguez said.
USG’s resolution calls for “the extension of medical benefits to legally domiciled adults,” saying that it “would only serve to benefit the University by promoting its Jesuit traditions, maintaining the University’s position as a leader among Jesuit institutions and promoting the University’s image as a beacon of tolerance, acceptance and social justice.”
At the Dec. 4 senate meeting, McShane cited the Manhattan Declaration, a statement from the Archbishop of New York in which clergy members are urged to disobey same-sex marriage laws, as a reason why he cannot currently support the senate’s resolution. McShane went on to say that he plans on discussing the matter with the Archbishop.
However, in a Sept. 20 article in New York Magazine, Archbishop Dolan spoke about the rights of same-sex couples. “It’s not that e’re saying, ‘You don’t have the right.’ We would say that if people feel that the concomitant rights of friendship and companionship are being violated—for instance, insurance coverage, or the ability of one to visit a sick partner—we would defend those rights. There are ways to ameliorate some of the disadvantages that same-sex couples feel without tampering with the very definition of marriage,” Dolan said.
In an official statement, Fordham said, “The University’s position on benefits for legally domiciled adults is part of an ongoing conversation with the faculty and its leadership. McShane addressed the faculty on such benefits in January; he and other administrators will continue to work through the issue with the faculty.”
Arnaldo Cruz-Malave, chair of the Modern Languages and Comparative Literature department and a member of the Equality Committee, said that the fight is not over. Cruz-Malave cited a decision by the Senate to allow Fordham’s salary and benefits committee to draw up a plan for implementation of LDA benefits and include it in this year’s negotiations with the administration as a major step forward. “In the meantime while we await the result of such a plan, we are maintaining formal and informal talks with our supporters, who were energized by our presentation at the Faculty Senate, inside and outside of the University.
“It would seem from [Dolans’s] statement [in New York Magazine], as well as the support of the faculty, deans, and students, that the university is becoming increasingly isolated in its opposition to LDA benefits.”
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