Editor's Note 4/19

Story by Jacob Zlomke 

| Published Apr 19, 2011

There are a lot of things about the Nebraska University system that are kind of embarrassing. We’re not a University on the progressive edge of just about anything we do anymore. And being part of an un-progressive University puts me, as a student, and you, as a student, staff or faculty member, at a huge disadvantage to other top schools. The best professors, the best researchers, the best students--everything that makes a University upper tier--aren’t going to be attracted to a school that falls well below the standards of comparable schools.

This could very easily be about the recently announced budget cuts, but its not. It’s about the soon-to-be proposed to the Board of Regents Employee Plus One benefits package. What this offers to University employees is the opportunity to enroll dependents that aren’t a spouse or children in their benefits package.

What does that mean? Let’s say a University employee has a domestic partner. Currently, that employee’s partner can’t be part of the employee’s benefit package. And it’s not just in favor of same-sex couples. Employees that have a dependent parent, sibling or other relative that is, for whatever reason, unable to work, can’t include that relation on their benefits package under current rules.

We don’t offer the plus one package, and we’re among the last of public University systems to not offer it. 83% of Fortune 100 companies and every Big 10 institution offer some form of the plus one package. It’s been brought up before--several times since 1989, most recently in 2002--and struck down each time. The movement is gaining support again, though.

According to Emily Schlichting, who’s spearheading the initiative, adding the package would cost, at most, $600,000 a year, which is less than 1% of what the University already spends on employee benefits.

Lacking these benefits is costing the University far more than the $600,000 it would take to implement.

Like Schlichting said, “In my work on the Plus One campaign, I've encountered top-tier professors who almost declined their positions at UNL because we lack that benefit structure. As our institutions grow, we need to be competitive in attracting the best professors who will aid that growth and development, which in the end directly benefits the students whom they educate.”

Even though the movement is well under way and gaining support, it needs help. The administration is on the fund-cutting path these days and the Regents will probably be reluctant to add any extra expenditures to the budget, so this needs help from all corners.

You can get involved by following @PlusOneNebraska on Twitter and joining the Facebook page, Plus One Nebraska. Most importantly, visit www.plusonenebraska.org and sign the petition to the Board of Regents. Show the Board that you don’t want to be part of a school system that continually falls behind the competition.