Starting next year, domestic partners of University of Nebraska employees will have access to university health insurance and other benefits.

The NU Board of Regents approved a controversial plan Friday that will extend eligibility for coverage to same-sex or opposite-sex adults who share an employee’s household and with whom the employee is financially interdependent. Benefits include health, dental and vision insurance, sick and bereavement leave and eligibility for the Dependent Scholarship Program.

“This is important to our ability to recruit and retain talent,” NU President J.B. Milliken said. “There is a more important reason to do it. It is the right thing to do for our employees.”

Five of the eight regents voted for the proposal, while three voted against it. All four student regents, whose votes don’t count toward the total, supported the proposal.

The vote ended an emotional afternoon of testimony, including claims by a university professor who said she was forced from her home because of discrimination by a neighbor angered by her sexual orientation. Others urged the regents to preserve the institution of marriage by voting against the proposal.