August 22, 1995 Minutes

UCLGBA Meeting
with Peltason and Office of the President Staff

In attendance from UCOP were:
President JW Peltason
Interim Provost CJ "Jud" King
Sr. Vice President V.Wayne Kennedy
Asst. VP Student Affairs Dennis Galligani
Special Assistant Janet Young
Asst. VP University Relations Celeste Rose
Academic Personnel Myron Okada
General Counsel Jim Odonell
(absent but scheduled to attend were Asst VP Human Resources Lubbe Levin and Asst VP Benefits Carole Swartz)

Attending for UCLGBA were:
Berkeley--Jonathan Winters
Davis--Aaron Carrothers
Irvine--Robert Gentry
LBL--Brennan Keller
LLNL--Mark Costella
Los Angeles--Al Aubin
Riverside--Sue Brandt
San Diego--Sarah Archibald
San Francisco--Jeff Kilmer
Santa Barbara--Susan Dalton
Santa Cruz--Nancy Stoller
UCLGBA Chair--John Dixon

The meeting began at 10 am.

1. INTRODUCTIONS

After introductions, our Chair framed the discussion beginning with a summary of comments submitted to the UCOP report from UCLGBA. (Note: the UCLGBA response was sent out via internet to several lists; if you still need a copy contact me---JJW.)

2. UCOP DRAFT REPORT ON DPB'S

Peltason is hopeful that the finished document (at least the analysis) will represent a consensus of all interested parties. For this reason, he stated that it is more important to get the report right than to get the report done quickly. He stated that he had glanced at the UCLGBA response and thought that the comments were helpful. He stated that they had received a number of responses from campuses and questioned whether all lgbt groups agreed. UCLGBA Chair Dixon and others pointed out that the responses were similar, that individual campus responses showed that there is interest in the issue on each campus. Peltason said they would wait to see if any other replies came in. However there were few specifics discussed about what would be changed in light of UCLGBA's input.

At the urging of members of UCLGBA, OP has agreed to incorporate suggestions they have received and to distribute this once again prior to a target date of October 1 for an official second draft. President Peltason stated that September 30 is his last day and Atkinson will become President on October 1. He feels that Atkinson will respect the work that has been done to date and that there should be no momentum lost in the transition.

He was asked if he might make a statement supporting DP benefits before leaving office. He stated that he would not do this. He also mentioned that the report serves an educational purpose and will not carry a recommendation. However, he will discuss the existence of this report at the next Regents meeting and will emphasize that he believes this to be an important issue that merits serious consideration.

(Note: In a follow-up conversation on 8/28 with Janet Young, she clarified that Peltason will not make any "statement" to the Regents, as much as perhaps a cover letter that makes this point.--JJW)

Later in the meeting, when asked if UCLGBA could have access to the reports from General Counsel and Benefits used to compile the summary report, General Counsel rep. Odonell invoked the lawyer-client privilege, stating that it would be up to the President to decide whether to release the information in any reports. Peltason said he would have counsel look over any background reports and release any pertinent documents.

(Note: In the follow-up with Janet Young, she also asserted that there really aren't any reports to release. That much of the info might have been notes or memos. There is still some possibility of getting materials from General Counsel, but it is unclear what exists.--JJW)

3. UPDATE ON STUDENT HOUSING (FOR DP'S)

Asst. VP Galligani reported that a meeting was held with directors of housing from all nine campuses in August. They have stated that they would like to be able to provide access to DPs. Peltason has urged them to move forward and has asked that they develop a policy in time for the meeting of the Vice Chancellors in November. Peltason also stated that he believes they will move towards a policy that does not require a "marriage certificate" in order to be eligible to occupy university housing. UCOP's concern is that the policy be uniform, but allow campuses autonomy specific to their local conditions (ie, long waiting-lists vs. long vacant apts.)

4. ELIMINATION OF COVERAGE FOR "OTHER" CHILDREN

Members of UCLGBA raised the issue of a recent decision to disallow UC staff/faculty to insure children who are their dependents but are not their biological or adopted children (ie, primarily through domestic partnership.) They stated that this is a particular concern for lesbians since many of them have families and they may be in situations where they can provide health care for their own children but not their partner's children. OP staff were not aware of these changes in benefits, nor their effect, but SR. VP Kennedy was asked to look into the issue and report back.

5. HEALTH BENEFITS FOR DP's

Wayne Kennedy explained that Healthnet and other major providers have stated that they would not be willing at this time to consider employee paid benefits. He added that this year, they agreed to not increase rates and that OP is reluctant to open new negotiations because one always gives something up when asking for something in return. He was going to explore the possibility of asking the major insurance carriers to give DPs a better rate than market rate which anyone can purchase currently on their own (i.e., something between current UC group rate and market rate). Peltason said he thought that they might be willing to cut a deal (without reopening formal negotiations) for a client as large as UC. The question of using the UC Care Plan was raised as a possible venue for implementing an employee-paid plan; as opposed to waiting for all plans to agree on implementing employee-paid dp health benefits.

6. SICK LEAVE AND CATASTROPHIC LEAVE

It seems that each campus can implement a catastrophic leave policy for DPs. If a campus wishes to find out how to do this, they can contact Judy Rill at OP. There was also discussion about the right to use sick leave to care for DPs. Currently, this is not allowed. Peltason said that he thought this was not reasonable and instructed Kennedy to see how the University could change this.

7. UCOP DIVERSITY TRAINING/POSSIBLE ADVISORY GROUP

UCLGBA explained that they felt the UCOP would benefit from lgbt sensitivity training. Carmen Estrada said that she was putting together a Diversity Training program and that this would be appropriate to include. UCLGBA offered to recommend names of people/consultants with epertise in lgbt trainings for work-staffs.

Also discussed was the absence of any kind of lgbt group within the UCOP. Peltason said he would be happy to write a letter inviting staff to form such a group. After some discussion, it was decided that it might be most effective if local lgbt groups (Berkeley, SF) were to host a get-together that included UCOP lgbt staff. Carmen Estrada said that it could be advertised in the UCOP newsletter. There might be some advantage to holding it off-site for those who were concerned about anonymity