Date: Sun, 5 Mar 1995 11:49:13 -0800 From: Jessea Greenman (Please feel free to cross-post and download/print with proper attribution.) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE UC Group Stepping Up Domestic Partners Benefit Campaign March 6, 1995 Contacts: Jonathan Winters, 510-642-3653, Angela Hunkler, 510-643-5768, After years of preparatory work, the Domestic Partners Task Force (DPTF) at the University of California, Berkeley is poised to launch the last stage of a long campaign. The principle of domestic partner benefits has attained the support of faculty on all nine UC campuses, the majority of UC Chancellors, and many allied student and staff organizations. However, the endorsements of the Office of the UC President and the Board of Regents must still be secured. "We're very excited to be at this critical juncture," said Jonathan Winters of the DPTF. "We hope to obtain the support of both outgoing UC President Peltason and whomever is chosen, later this year, to be the new President. We don't want this issue to fade away with Peltason's departure." The current campaign is aimed to generate letters of support from the public to help move the issue up on the Regents' agenda and to persuade Regents to vote for such a domestic partners' benefits measure when introduced. According to Task Force member Susan Hagstrom, "We've already amassed supportive letters from UC faculty and staff, alumni, and students throughout the state. Now we also need a show of support from taxpayers, parents, voters, and California's residents in general." Winters stated "It is high time that the University of California join its peers, many of which already provide domestic partner benefits." Of the eight institutions which UC uses for comparison, five currently provide domestic partner benefits and they are under active consideration at a sixth. "These include both private and public institutions such as Stanford, Harvard, and the State University of New York," Winters added. "But these are not the only ones," Hagstrom noted. "Many other comparable universities, such as Columbia, City University of New York, Princeton, the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Minnesota, have been providing domestic partner benefits for some time." Angela Hunkler summed up the sentiments of the DPTF by declaring "This is a simple matter of justice. It is an issue of equal pay for equal work and is fully in keeping with the University's longstanding policy of nondiscrimination of the basis of sexual orientation." Bay Area residents are urged to write to the following Regents: Glenn Campbell, Hoover Institution, Stanford CA 94305; fax=415-725-3076 Delaine Eastin, State Superintendent of Public Instruction POB 944272, Sacramento CA 94244-2720; fax=916-657-5701 David Flinn, President-UC Alumni Associations; c/o Leland, Parachini, Steinberg, Flinn, Matzger & Melnick, 333 Market St., 27th Flr San Francisco CA 94105; fax=415-974-1520 Arnold Leiman, Professort, Dept. of Psychology, Tolman Hall, UCB, Berkeley CA 94720-1650; fax=510-642-5293 Ex Officio Regents: J.W. Peltason, UC President , 300 Lakeside Dr., 22nd Flr, Oakland CA 94612-3550; fax=510-987-9086 Gray Davis, Lieutenant Governor, State Capitol, Room 1114, Sacramento CA 95814; fax=916-323-4998 Pete Wilson, Governor, State Capitol, Sacramento CA 95814; fax=916-323-7134. ##30## Jessea Greenman "Two wrongs are only the beginning." T-shirt slogan