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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 2000)
-ASUN— ASUN votes for partner benefits By SaraSalkekl Staffuriter ASUN passed a bill Wednesday to to encourage the university to adopt domestic partner benefits for faculty, students and staff. jr Senators ended up amending the bill to include heterosexual couples. According to the bill, a domestic partnership is “an ongoing extra-famil ial relationship between two adults who are sharing a residence, over the age of 19, emotionally interdependent and intend to reside together indefinitely.” Couples who say they are in a domestic partnership also must sign an affidavit and prove their partnership. Benefits would include health insurance benefits and bereavement and family leave. ' No one spoke against the bill during the open forum. George Wolf, an associate professor ofEnglish who has been with hrs partner for 27 years, voiced his perspective. “(My partner) pays $1,000more for insurance than if he were covered by the university,” Wolf said. “It is an issue of fairness and compliance with the uni versity’s policy on diversity.” Two of Wolf’s students spoke on behalf of gay faculty members. One of them was Government Liaison Committee Chairman Andy Faltin. “Dr. Wolf is the first gay professor that I knew I had, and one of the first gay role models I have ever had,” Faltin said “Having Dr. Wolf allowed me, coming from a conservative background to open my eyes.” Second Vice President Trisha Meuret disagreed with the bill. “I feel for these people, but I think that if you want these partnerships or marriages to be legalized you should take it to the Supreme Court or the state,” Meuret said No other members spoke in agree ment with Meuret, but most senators said the bill should be more inclusive. The bill was originally intended to focus on UNEs failure to adhere to its nondiscrimination policy. After an amendment made by General Studies Sen. Andy Mixan, the bill was changed to include domestic partnership for heterosexual couples. Arts and Sciences Sen. Jason Mashek supported the amendment “There are people out there who simply do not believe in the institution of marriage; to be totally equitable we must include heterosexual couples,” he said. The amendment was passed unani mously, and die bill was passed with few dissenting votes. In other ASUN business, the bill recommending next year’s Husker migration game to be Notre Dame was also passed. Kidd wants students, alumni treated equally KIDD from page 1, “We care about other things such as domestic partner benefits, but we want to talk about things that are interesting to students,” Kidd said. Kidd said his running mates help balance Duff’s platform. “Betsey focuses on education, and Kevin focuses on the alcohol policy,” Kidd said. Kidd said he wants to be involved in ASUN because he has always been interested in student government “This has nothing to do with my own political aspirations,” Kidd said. “I always wanted to be involved in a stu dent government.” v He said he had never been involved jin student government because his par ents were transferred a lot when he was in junior high and high school. Kidd was appointed as an ASUN senator at the beginning of the month, and the experience has shown him a lot. “It is helping me see a lot of why people in ASUN aren’t respected or looked up to,” Kidd said, j He said it seems the senators talk only to their friends and people who have die same views as they do. ' Kidd’s experience has also shown 'him other things he would change. ' 1 “I didn’t know senators had office hours or who my senators are,” he said. He said by displaying who the sena tors are in their colleges and having the senators hold office hours there would : help constituents know who they are. Kidd said his candidacy has caused 1 people he did not expect to hear from talk to him about issues, f “People who don’t usually open up 1 to me have talked to me in the hopes that j I’ll make a change if I get elected,” Kidd said. i Kidd initially did not intend to run U We want to talk about things that are interesting to students.” Jason Kidd Duff presidential candidate for president; he was going to run for second vice president under Sypal as the presidential candidate. Sypal said Kidd was not an original part of the Duff party. The Duff party’s student election group form was turned in just before the deadline, without Kidd’s name on it. Sypal said that after the news of the Duff party ran in the Daily Nebraskan, he came home to about 20 messages. “Jason left five or six messages, and he sounded really enthusiastic, and we decided to let him in,” Sypal said. Kidd said Saunders makes the Duff ticket more diverse. “We didn’t want to be perceived as three drunken guys who want to make this campus wet,” Kidd said. Saunders said she was interested in being a part of ASUN when,Ki<Jd approached her. “Jason came up to me and started talking to me about what he was doing’ with ASUN, and it struck some points with me and I wanted to get involved,” Saunders said. Kidd wants to use his leadership abilities to stand up for UNL students. “My main motivation is standing up for the average student who doesn’t have a voice,” Kidd said. “We’re sick and tired of politics as usual on this campus.” Correction Amy Ellis is running as Impact’s second vice presidential candidate and Brad Bangs as its first vice presidential candidate. The positions were stated incorrectly in Wednesday’s Daily Nebraskan. Did you knew... ...Dr. Levi Watkins, Jr., an African American, helped develop an automatic defibrillator for the human heart? The University Health Center celebrates February as Black History Month. University Call 472*5000 for Health Center an appointment. I feedback! www.dailyneb.com I Homeless mat..keel ATTACK from page 1 Throughout the day, hygiene packets, donated from local motels, were collected and later distributed to the People’s City Mission, the Friendship Home and the Matt Talbot Food Kitchen and Day Watch, Hoover said. Because of the day’s success, Students at Large, a group that does one large-scale community service project each semester, was formed, Hoover said. The most recent project was last November Mien the group teamed up with the Student Impact Team and col lected 1,500 hygiene packets because the People’s City Mission was in great need, Hoover said. please recycle your Daily Nebraskan Parking Problems? Need a Place to Park? Guaranteed Parking Park by Day M $2.00 1 Park by Month $25 Don’t Fight for Parking Enter at 8th & S Streets, 1 block west of Memorial Stadium National Garages, Gold’s Galleria, Suite 120 • 474-2274 > Career Services Snapshot ...see what’s developing in Career Services ^On/y 11 weeks until GRADUATION!!! Are you ready? What happens next? WmMkMW ^ILJN^areerServices~230N^Uniorw^1^Eas^ampu^Jnion^