A press release issued Wednesday by the State Joint Committee on Finance stated the committee will not include domestic partner benefits for UW System faculty in the state budget, potentially resulting in lower recruitment and retention of UW-Madison faculty, according to university officials.
Joint Committee on Finance Co-Chair David Ward, R-Fort Atkinson, said the benefits most likely will not be included because the state wants to keep a handle on tuition increases and maintain adequate faculty salaries.
\We have a $1.6 billion deficit,"" Ward said. ""We can only afford to do so much.""
Domestic partner benefits offer health benefits to UW faculty partners and their partners' children.
If the benefits are rejected by the state Legislature, UW-Madison will be the only Big Ten school without faculty benefits.
Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, said this could seriously hinder the university's ability to maintain quality faculty.
""The people who would have come had the benefits been added could have brought jobs to Wisconsin and benefited the state and the university,"" Black said. ""But because of the ideological rigidity and extremism of the Republican leaders, Wisconsin will now be handicapped.""
Ward said one reason the domestic partner benefits may not be included on the state budget is that the university stressed the necessity of a pay plan that is competitive with other states.
""We need a higher increase to compete with other states and retain key faculty,"" he said. ""Maybe this is an issue for another day when we have enough dollars.""
Ward said he is concerned that without necessary salary increases for key faculty members, UW-Madison could lose ground in areas such as stem-cell research. UW-Madison Provost Peter Spear said he is disappointed with the decision.
""We still hold out hope that it will be a part of the budget,"" he said. ""No matter what you do with salary, if we don't have adequate health benefits we won't be able to retain faculty or recruit them.""
The press release issued by the committee maintained the decision is purely a fiscal issue. However, Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, said it is completely about politics.
""We know that we've lost a number of people at UW because of the domestic partnership issue,"" he said. ""If the cost is minimal and it allows us to retain good staff people it would make a lot of sense to do that.""
The proposed cost for the benefits is around $1 million a year.
Pocan explained UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley told him every time UW-Madison loses faculty, it costs around $3 million by the time the university gets a person tenured and they bring money back in to the institution.
Eric Trekell, director of the UW-Madison Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Campus Center, said this small amount of money is a drop in the bucket when it comes to the state budget.
""It's a tiny amount of money even for a school like Madison,"" he said. ""It's Republican conservative planned politics.""
Ward said the full Legislature still has to go through the budget, and there is a chance the university could find the money for the benefits elsewhere.
The budget is currently under review by the Joint Committee on Finance and will go before the full Legislature sometime in June.
