The University of Texas lecturer who began a hunger strike last week after the university reiterated that it could not offer benefits, such as health insurance, to the same-sex domestic partners of employees ended his campaign Sunday night after seven days.
Uri Horesh, a lecturer of Arabic in the department of Middle Eastern studies, wrote in an e-mail that he was ending the strike due to “physical weakness” and “personal obligations.”
He wrote that he is glad the issue has received substantial attention and support from the UT community and beyond.
“From now on, same-sex spousal benefits at the University of Texas is an issue at the forefront of the public discussion in this community,” he wrote.
Horesh, 37, added that he received a job offer from another college that offers same-sex partner benefits.
“I’m likely to accept their offer and have notified my supervisors at UT that I will not be working at UT after the end of the current semester,” he wrote.
UT’s nondiscrimination policy prohibits unlawful discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, but the university cannot offer spousal benefits to the domestic partners of employees because doing so would violate state law, said Linda Millstone, UT’s associate vice president for institutional equity and workforce diversity.
The university is examining the policies at other schools to see how they handle domestic partner benefits, she said.
Read last Wednesday’s story in the American-Statesman for more.