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Ban drives faculty away
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While most Wisconsinites are proud to reside in the Badger State, one University of Wisconsin faculty member has been looking to leave since this fall.
Concha Gomez, UW faculty member in the mathematics department said the proposal and recent passage of Wisconsin's gay-marriage amendment led her to look for jobs outside the state. Voters passed the amendment in the Nov. 7 election, effectively banning same-sex marriage and civil unions.
"Early in the fall I started thinking about how it would feel if the amendment passed, and how likely it would be for my partner and I to feel that we could stay here long-term and grow old and retire," Gomez said.
Gomez said she and her partner moved to Wisconsin two years ago and added that she would be sending out "feeler" applications to see what kind of response she gets.
According to Gomez, when she accepted a job at UW the math department supported her relationship and assured her that Wisconsin would eventually be able to offer domestic-partner benefits.
"They said the domestic-partner benefits was a big problem in the recruitment, but the university was committed to get full domestic-partner benefits for employees, and that was pretty sincere," Gomez said. "Perhaps they were naíve — and so was I."
Gomez said she will continue working at UW until she finds a job elsewhere, but added California is her destination of choice.
California recognizes domestic-partner benefits, Gomez said, and added the Golden State does not appear to have a marriage amendment similar to the one in Wisconsin on the horizon.
"It is really important to us that we are able to support each other if something were to happen," Gomez said of her and her partner. "We are not so much interested in marriage as we are in security and being recognized by our government as a couple."
However, author of the amendment Rep. Mark Gundrum, R-New Berlin, said he does not know why UW faculty and staff's sentiments about working at the university have changed since the Nov. 7 election because "nothing has changed."
Gundrum said faculty and staff leaving the state in reaction to the amendment was not a concern of his while he was writing the amendment. He added that he does not think UW faculty and staff leaving the state will affect the UW students.
"Maybe the faculty that replace them won't be as much of liberal activists," Gundrum said. "But other than that, I can't imagine. I'm sure they'll hire replacements that are very qualified."
UW Interim Dean of Students Lori Berquam noted the amendment impacts unmarried heterosexual couples as well as same-sex couples. Before the amendment passed by a vast majority, there was hope that domestic-partner benefits could be obtained in Wisconsin, Berquam said. That hope, according to Berquam, is now gone.
"With the passing of the amendment it's pretty clear it's not going to change for a while," Berquam said. "It's pretty clear that if you want to be in a domestic-partner relationship and you need those benefits, or you want those benefits, then obviously you'll have to go elsewhere to get them."
UW Provost Patrick Farrell acknowledged the fact that faculty who "held out hope" that domestic-partner benefits would eventually be offered at UW could see the passage of the amendment as a "discouraging message."
Farrell added that it is possible those faculty have "since taken that message to decide that maybe they don't see change happening in a timeframe that they are happy with."
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IP hash: 24c7be7e
Don’t let the cheese log hit you on the way out
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Ms. Gomez, you need to toughen up. The people who are going to create change in Wisconsin aren’t the ones who get pissed and leave, but the ones who stay and fight and don’t quit after one defeat.
The fight for acceptance is like pi, it’ll go on forever and there’s no way you can stop it. You can’t just call it quits because you calculator only displays the first 9 digits, you gotta perservere and keep on memorizing, if not for yourself then for the benefit of future generations.
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Who needs math anyway?
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What a piece of excrement Rep. Mark Gundrum(R-New Berlin) is. He hints that his motive in pushing the marriage amendment might have been to drive “liberal activists” from Wisconsin.
That’s more Republican name calling, and shows how irrational their philosophy is. There’s no suggestion in the Badger Herald story that Ms. Gomez is a “liberal activist.”
So what is Gundrum afraid of?
Gays? “Liberal activists?” Or the kind of folks who helped turn people of Mark Gundrum’s ilk out of office Nov. 7?
But Ms. Gomez shouldn’t leave. She should stay and help continue the work that was begun Nov. 7 to turn the rascals out of office.
The referendum vote notwithstanding, Wisconsin will return to its progressive roots.
IP hash: c59479f0
“Liberal Activists”?
She was a math teacher. Unless she was teaching New Math or creating mathematical proofs as to why George Bush is the worst president ever I can’t really see how her “liberal activism” would be invading the classroom.
IP hash: 4d073417
The title of this article is a little misleading. It says “faculty” but it appears only one professor is leaving. Maybe others will too, we will see. If she thinks she will be more comfortable in a state that better accomodates her lifestyle, then that is certainly her right.
I agree with Gundrum that the marriage protection amendment (the proper name, I think) probably won’t negatively affect UW. I doubt gay professors are better than heterosexual ones. I am not saying they are worse (before anyone jumps on that) but I don’t think that one’s ability to be a college professor is related to their sexuality.
Also, I think it’s misleading to say that the amendment affects unmarried couples and somehow bans private contracts. I think that’s a smokescreen put up by gay activists to scare people into not supporting the amendment. In Virginia the attorney general actually had to issue a rebuttal to clarify that the amendment will NOT affect private contracts or hurt unmarried heterosexuals. Then again, maybe the VA and WI amendments are somewhat different.
If people disagree with me, I ask that they don’t employ the usual tactics of name calling and insults.
From an alumni.
IP hash: 97454428
This is just like all the people who were gonna move to Canada in 2000 if Bush won… and then threatened again in 2004… and they’re still here.
Save the drama for your momma.
BH, can you report news please? Like events that actually occur? Not political messages disguised as an interview.
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I love lesbians.
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From the first sentence of this article, I knew it would be bad and I was right. Joanna, you need to learn to keep your opinions out of your “news” writing. I’m sorry to see faculty have to leave because of the idiocy of my fellow Wisconsinites.
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To all the idiots like the person who said “Don’t let the cheese log hit you on the way out,” I don’t think you understand how valuable these faculty members are. They bring millions of dollars worth of research grants to the university every year, funding their own salaries as well as those of other university employees. Their ability to bring in so much funding from outside the university and the state helps keep tuition from rising even more. Fully funding benefits for domestic partners would cost only a tiny fraction of what the state and the university stand to lose if all the faculty members affected leave the university.
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This amendment will, unfortunately, affect us all in ways that we may not have forseen. This is definately a negative when choosing where to live for not only faculty but also students post-graduation.
What an unfortunate loss for our state.
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Who honestly cares? It’s her own choice to leave, tough if she’s a lesbo
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her reviews on ratemyprofessor.com are pretty negative. good ridance.
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Several other professors have already left over this bigotry.
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Not hurt the students, liberal activists? The ban does hurt us, we are living in a state that promotes discrimination and as students we are losing good professors. Gundrum says maybe non-liberal activists will take over the spots, is he saying that they are liberal, for all he knows they aren’t, he is expressioning a general term for what all Madisonians have been called lately. Perhaps in a progressive college setting we need those that are more liberally thinking to spawn new ideas that lead to new inventions/great ideas, and further our generation, as far as I see it, this hurt us more than anyone could have realized before hand. Don’t get me wrong I still love Wisconsin, I just don’t agree with some of the majorities way of thinking.
IP hash: 5199b78a
I had Prof. Gomez for a 400 level math course last semester. She cancelled two tests and 3 assignments in addition to completely changing the syllabus half way through the semester. Needless to say, we did not learn even half of the required content. Several of us students brought this issue to the head math professor, and he wrote us off. I doubt that the math department will be trying to keep her here. Her cause needs a better poster girl.
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Her ASM evaluations are actually pretty good. Maybe the math department blew you off for a reason.