Students are following faculty in calling attention to the lack of domestic partner benefits at UT.

The LBJ School’s Graduate Public Affairs Council passed a resolution on Feb. 12 supporting a change in UT policy that would extend health benefits to any member of an employee’s household. The resolution requests that President William Powers explore the possibility of implementing a policy for domestic partner benefits that will not run afoul of the Texas Constitutional amendment that bans such benefits.

Public affairs graduate student Brandon Jass, who proposed the resolution to the council, said he learned of the issue after Arabic lecturer Uri Horesh’s hunger strike in January.

“I thought, ‘Well, I’m in the policy school and I care about this issue,’” Jass said. “I’ve got a really good response from it so far. I’ve gotten almost universal support from the students at the LBJ School.”