KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Two administrators at the University of Tennessee say they can’t support health insurance benefits for same-sex partners of UT employees.
According to The Knoxville News Sentinel, a letter from university Chancellor Jimmy Cheek and Agriculture Chancellor Larry Arrington was read to a UT Faculty Senate meeting yesterday. In it, Cheek and Arrington stated that offering benefits to unmarried gay partners would violate state statute.
The faculty group drafted a resolution in April that education credits, family leave and family health care coverage be extended to all UT employees.
The chancellors says the proposal is, as the letter reads "inconsistent with the public policy of our state outlined in constitutional and statutory provisions."