When Michigan voters passed the ban on gay marriage in 2004, they made a mistake. When Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox used his position to further his personal beliefs and ban same-sex benefits as well, he made the voters' mistake much worse. Now, the University is in a tough spot as it must mitigate these realities. Its attempts to deal with the dumb law and Cox's dumber interpretations are flawed. The only solution is that Michigan voters must abolish the nonsensical gay marriage ban.

The problem with the University's same-sex benefits policy goes back to the Michigan ballot initiative in 2004 that banned gay marriage and civil unions. Although this shouldn't have affected the University's benefits policy, Cox made it so. Subsequently, the state Supreme Court ruled last February that the University and other public institutions must follow this interpretation.

So it was back to the drawing board for the University. Instead of specifically providing benefits to same-sex couples, it expanded its benefits policy to include anyone that meets a list of criteria. These criteria, which denote an "other qualified adult," specify that to receive benefits one must cohabitate with the partner for at least six months, share a joint bank account, be a primary beneficiary of the partner's will and possess the power of attorney.

While this is exactly the type of benefit policy that the University should be providing to same-sex couples, there is one big catch: The new policy also states that non-married heterosexual couples are only eligible for benefits if they marry. This is a hypocritical, discriminatory stance by the University against unwed couples, but what choice does the University have? Striving for inclusiveness, it has inadvertently taken an exclusive stance.

Although the effort to equalize the distribution of benefits within the law is flawed, its failure is not due to the University's own views but the insurmountable obstacle of Michigan's ban on same-sex marriage. It is an unconstitutional law, stretched by Cox and the state Supreme Court to further block the rights of same-sex couples.

While it is a strong public institution, the University doesn't have the power to protect those who should already be protected by state and federal law. It's time for the state's voters to take responsibility for their mistake and abolish the gay marriage ban.