UW-Madison faculty members and students spoke in favor of domestic partner benefits at a town hall meeting Tuesday in the Red Gym.
The event, which was hosted by the Office of the Provost for Faculty and Staff as well as several UW-Madison student organizations, consisted of speakers and a question answer session.
The meeting comes after Gov. Jim Doyle's 2009-2011 biennial budget proposal in February and the inclusion of domestic partner benefits.
Steve Stern, UW-Madison vice provost for faculty and staff, said it is important for UW-Madison to provide domestic partner benefits for faculty and staff in order to remain competitive with other Big Ten universities.
Leia Ferrari, founder of the Wisconsin Coalition for Domestic Partner Benefits, said many faculty members have left the university because UW-Madison lacks domestic partner benefits.
""There are also a lot of [faculty members] who have never come,"" she said. ""So, sometimes you never really even know what your losses are.""
She said the low retention rate of faculty members ultimately reduces the quality of education provided to students at UW-Madison.
According to Don Nelson, senior administrative program specialist from the Office of the Chancellor, the legislature is currently discussing providing mutual health insurance for domestic partners.
""There are a lot of benefits that apply only to spouses that are now going to be applied to domestic partners, and the biggest is health insurance,"" he said.
Stern said if the legislature passes the budget by Aug. 1, 2009, the starting date for domestic partner health insurance coverage will be Jan. 1, 2010. If it is not passed by August, the benefits will not be provided until 2011.
""Its very important, whatever our views are, to not lose sight,"" he said. ""We do have a ticking time dimension here.""
Stern said providing domestic partner benefits would cost UW-Madison less than $600,000 a year.
""[Domestic benefits are] a high-impact issue in terms of fairness, discrimination and competitiveness on campus,"" he said. ""It's an incredibly low-cost item in terms of the [general purpose revenue] contribution to UW-Madison's budget.""
Nelson said it is important for students and faculty members who feel strongly about the issue to voice their concerns about domestic partner benefits to their local lawmakers.
