Wisconsin Governor calls domestic partner benefits critical for university

A story published today in the Daily Cardinal reports that, in an attempt to bring UW-Madison up to par with other Big Ten schools, Gov. Jim Doyle will present a controversial proposal to the state Legislature Tuesday to fund domestic partner benefits for all University of Wisconsin employees.

"We at UW offer all the rights and privileges to domestic partners that are under our control, use of facilities for example, but we are not able to offer health benefits. That's the key to this," UW-Madison Provost Peter Spear said.

Same-sex couples and unmarried heterosexual partners would also be covered under the proposal, which would help UW-Madison in retaining and recruiting faculty and staff.

"It makes it more challenging to attract quality LGBT faculty, staff and graduate students without available benefits," LGBT Dean of Students Eric Trekell said. "I have heard a number of faculty and staff question, myself included, do I really want to stay here at UW, it's a wonderful place, but quite honestly it's an issue of financial parity."

LGBT individuals do not always receive the same financial compensation for their work because benefits are part of the financial compensation package when all is calculated, Trekell said.

"It's not just an issue of what your take-home pay is," he explained.

Doyle's proposal calls for $500,000 each year over the next two years for domestic partner benefits for all UW-System employees, according to Gov. Doyle's Press Secretary Melanie Fonder.

"Unfortunately this is a case of us catching up. It really puts us behind, at a competitive disadvantage with other universities," she said. "We don't want the top nuclear physicist in the world to be considering coming to Wisconsin, [and] have them decide not to because of this."

The proposal, which according to state officials, is estimated to cost 1 percent of the $642 million the state spent on domestic-partner insurance coverage in 2004, amounting to approximately $6 million.

Although there is support for the proposal, there is question of whether or not the Legislature will pass it due to its provisions for same-sex as well as heterosexual partners.

With some state legislators now pushing for a constitutional amendment that will redefine marriage, Trekell expressed doubt on whether the amendment would be passed.

"I think on campus there will be widespread support for it and in fact, most people, certainly in the Madison community and possibly in the state are in favor of this, but I think it will be a very contentious issue in the state Legislature," Spear said.

Fonder said the governor's office felt the proposal was something critical to the university, as well as the long-term economic benefit of the state as a whole.

"It's important to do both to keep UW-Madison competitive and because it's the right thing to do," Spear said.