Although UW System officials responded positively overall to the state budget passed last week, UW-Madison officials say they were disappointed by the exclusion of domestic partner benefits, which have been proposed in numerous budgets.
UW-Madison is the only Big Ten university that does not offer partner benefits to faculty and staff.
We do not have the same public image commitment to social justice relative to our peer institutions,"" said Laurie Beth Clark, vice provost for faculty and staff programs. ""Both people who need these benefits don't choose Wisconsin and people who don't need these benefits don't want to be a part of an institution that does not offer them.""
The economic interest of the university is one motive to provide benefits to staff, Clark said, and without these benefits UW-Madison has a competitive disadvantage compared to its peer institutions and the business world.
Consequently, a few faculty members have left UW-Madison in recent years to pursue careers at other universities specifically because they could not receive domestic partner benefits.
State Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, agreed that the recruitment and retainment of top faculty is becoming more and more competitive and that the UW System is ""losing some of our potential people who potentially offer a great deal to the state of Wisconsin because we do not offer domestic partner benefits.""
UW-Madison's reputation of not providing benefits may discourage prospective staff from wanting to be a part of the institution, Black said.
Provost Patrick Farrell said he believes a main reason for the state Assembly's continuous exclusion of benefits in the state budget is cost, which would be somewhere between ""several hundred thousand dollars to a few million.""
However, Farrell said he thinks some members choose to exclude the benefits for a more deep-seeded moral reason.
John Murray, spokesperson for Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, said this is a controversial policy and many members of the Assembly strongly believe taxpayers should not have to pay for these benefits when ""they do not philosophically agree with them.""
But Clark said the exclusion of partner benefits for employees reflects poorly on the university because Wisconsin does not provide a public image of commitment to social justice and human rights.
""We have not been able to provide equal rights to members of our community,"" Clark said.
According to Farrell, UW-Madison faculty see the exclusion as a signal that Wisconsin does not approve of people who view the world differently.
""Many prospective faculty, or faculty that are here, sort of see the lack of partner benefits as an indication of the overall [university] open mindedness and acceptance of different lifestyles,"" he said.
Despite the setback in the 2007-'09 biennial budget, supporters of partner benefits continue to pursue the issue.
""We are going to be pursuing a number of different roots to resolve this,"" Clark said. ""I would like to stay hopeful.
