The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents is the governing body for the Wisconsin school system, and while the board has many tasks, political activism is not one of them. Despite this minor detail, the UW Board of Regents voted last Friday to oppose a state amendment outlawing same-sex marriage.

SJR-53 will appear on November's ballot to ask voters to decide the future of same-sex marriage. Under present Wisconsin law, the only marriage recognized as legally valid is between a husband and a wife. This definition further explains that it is only applicable where the husband is a man and the wife is a woman. The referendum on November's ballot leaves voters with two choices. A "yes" vote would add the current definition to the Wisconsin Constitution and would not recognize a marriage between two people that are not a man and a woman, hence no legal status for any other type of domestic relationship would occur. A "no" vote would not change the current law or impose restrictions on any kind of domestic relationship between unmarried persons.

While the referendum is a debate in itself, the regents' opinion on gay marriage should not impact the UW System, thus it is completely inappropriate. No matter what the issue, no matter how extreme and no matter how much a person may or may not agree with it, each individual must approach sensitive issues with respect and an open mind. It is the regents' job to vote on UW issues, not political issues. This is not an issue of same-sex marriage, it is a political ploy aimed at emasculating the UW by claiming that with the addition of this ban, it may be difficult to maintain quality educators in the UW System.

Regent Charles Pruitt, chair of the Business, Finance and Audit Committee, said his committee became involved because of the potential threats the amendment poses.

He also claimed that this issue is one the regents felt they needed to examine, although the board should not take stances on all political issues.

"The language of this amendment creates uncertainty on the ability of employers to provide domestic partner benefits," Pruitt reportedly said at the regents' meeting Friday. "If this was a one sentence amendment, I think at least our committee would likely be urging you to do just that — take a pass, move on and consider something else."

The reasons for the regents' involvement is unclear, but releases from state Reps. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, and Mark Gundrum, R-New Berlin, accuse regents of providing political cover to Jim Doyle.

"In August, David Walsh [regent president] sat in my office and swore that the board doesn't have a political agenda," Nass said in a release.

"I may not be the most sophisticated member of the Legislature, but today's action to run interference for [Gov. Jim] Doyle certainly was political," he said.

While the regents had no right to involve themselves in political issues, their flawed reasoning is evident. The 18-member board, appointed by the governor of Wisconsin, appoints board members and two student regents to vote on academic positions and topics pertaining to the UW system, not political issues. Of the 13, only Regent Gerard Randall of Milwaukee voted in opposition of the resolution.

Abusing their power in this situation only makes it more difficult to trust the regents' reliability considering their track record in the past couple of years in terms of their compliance in the hiring of scandalous academics. Just as the regents were flawed in those decisions, the UW system can expect more let downs. As they continue to reap the benefits of political activism in the future, they will find more pressure to comment on other, more pertinent issues until inevitably, they will crack.

Joelle Parks ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in journalism and Spanish.