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Student Same-Sex Domestic Partner and Marital Spouse Registration

Posted on Wednesday, January 16, 2013 in Get Involved!.

Student Same-Sex Domestic Partner
and Marital Spouse Registration

Dean of Students Office, Vanderbilt University

The student and marital spouse or same-sex domestic partner should visit the Dean of Students office, each in possession of a state- or federally-issued identification [1].  The Dean of Students office is located in 310 Sarratt Student Center, and generally open Monday through Friday, 8am-5pm.  For more information, please call (615) 322-6400.

Students and their marital spouses or same-sex domestic partners will be asked to complete a form affirming that they meet the following criteria:

  1. We are not related by blood in a manner that would prohibit us from being married under Tennessee state law. [2]
  2. We are at least 18 years of age. [3]
  3. We are not legally married to anyone else.
  4. We reside in a common household or share responsibility for the household.

Upon completion of the affidavit, the Dean of Students representative will notarize it, photocopy the affidavit and identification, and provide paper or digital copies to the student and spouse/partner and the Commodore Card Office.  The student and their spouse/partner should then visit the Commodore Card Office together in order to obtain a Commodore Card for the registered spouse/partner.

If at any point the marriage, civil union, or/or domestic partnership is dissolved, students are expected to notify the Dean of Students office within 60 calendar days, and non-student spouses/partners must return their Commodore Card to the Dean of Students office.

Further Considerations

Benefits of Registration

  1. Student Recreation Center offers spouse/partner memberships with an additional fee and registration, using the Commodore Card for access.  With membership, spouses and domestic partners would also be eligible for participation in some Outdoor Recreation Center programs.
  2. Sarratt Box Office offers discounted movie tickets and certain free/discounted event tickets through the Commodore Card.
  3. Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries provides library reading and borrowing privileges to spouses/partners through the Commodore Card.
  4. Athletics Ticket Office allows spouses/partners to validate their Commodore Card for season tickets by paying a fee every season at the Ticket Office in the McGugin Center.
  5. Vanderbilt Human Resources offers general discounts for Vanderbilt affiliates at http://hr.vanderbilt.edu/benefits/perqs.php; eligibility for spouses/partners varies and is often linked with possession of a Commodore Card.
  6. In addition, domestic partners are able to put Commodore Cash or Meal Money on their cards for use in laundry machines, Commodore Cabs, copiers and printers, vending machines, on-campus food service, and other vending locations that allow payment with a Commodore Card.

Footnotes

  1. A state driver’s license or non-driver ID; passport; a federal ID such as a military identification card, state, county or local government ID; or lawful permanent resident cards (often called “green cards”)
  2. Tennessee code states, “Marriage cannot be contracted with a lineal ancestor or descendant, nor the lineal ancestor or descendant of either parent, nor the child of a grandparent, nor the lineal descendants of husband or wife, as the case may be, nor the husband or wife of a parent or lineal descendant.”
  3. For marriages or domestic partnerships involving a student or partner under the age of 18, the student and partner and parent(s) or legal guardian(s) of the person(s) under 18 must meet with the Associate Dean of Students for a review of the proposed registration.

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