Chancellors to UT Faculty: No Change in Benefits for the Unmarried

University of Tennessee leaders say faculty attempts to extend benefits to unmarried and gay partners won’t work. They contend such a move would be against the law.

The Faculty Senate at UT-Knoxville drafted a resolution this spring calling for unmarried couples to get the same education, leave, and health benefits given to married professors and their spouses. A letter to the senate from UT Chancellor Jimmy Cheek and Agriculture Chancellor Larry Arrington calls the proposal, quote, “inconsistent with the public policy of our state.” The letter indicates such a change would violate both state constitution and statutes, but does not point to any particular laws.