Students, faculty and staff members expressed their disappointment about the recently approved marriage amendment and discussed UW-Madison's plan to fight for domestic partner benefits at a second listening session held Wednesday.
As an outcome of the amendment's approval, students and staff said they are increasingly concerned about the retention and recruitment of faculty because of UW-Madison's lack of benefits.
Opinions surfaced that the university did not do enough to promote their opposition of the marriage amendment and the actions they did take were too little, too late.
""A message that I heard from our students is they're really afraid for our faculty and staff,"" Lori Berquam, interim dean of students, said. ""They didn't want to see mass exodus.""
School of Library and Information Studies Director Michele Besant, Institute for the Research on Poverty computer programmer Dan Ross and associate engineering professor Rob Carpick—who is leaving at the end of the semester to pursue an academic career at University of Pennsylvania, where domestic partner benefits are offered—called for a point person to be hired by Provost Patrick Farrell immediately, to conduct research on the retention and recruitment ""crisis"" at UW-Madison due to its lack of domestic partner benefits.
They said curious UW-Madison community members have been asking for statistics regarding domestic partner benefits at other Big 10 schools and claimed the questions are taking up time during their work days.
Carpick said the effort would be to create a ""well-informed picture to present to the legislature"" of UW-Madison's benefits situation.
Farrell said Wisconsin's budget process, including actions of the UW System Board of Regents, Gov. Jim Doyle and the state legislature, will help the university take its next steps—the budget passed by the Regents Friday, which included a request for partner benefits, was submitted to the state for review by Doyle last week.
""I think it's critical that while we wait for the governor ... and wait for some number of legislatures to do the right thing, that we at the same time be exploring alternatives,"" Ross said. ""So when it comes time and somebody with control says there is no money for this, or says it's immoral, that we have answers ready.""
