[media-credit name=’BRYAN FAUST/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]In accordance with today's elections, University of Wisconsin Chancellor John Wiley spoke about the implications the marriage amendment could have on the university in his annual State of the University address Monday.

Wiley presented his speech to the UW Faculty Senate and drew applause from the audience when he urged the faculty to vote against the marriage amendment.

The university usually does not take a collective stance on political issues, according to Wiley, unless all governments within the university agree on a particular position.

"This Senate has passed a resolution opposing the marriage amendment," Wiley said. "The Academic Staff Assembly has, the students have, the regents have … so I urge you to vote 'No' on that one."

As of now, UW is the only Big Ten university that does not offer domestic partner benefits to its employees. Wiley said UW cannot offer domestic partner benefits because of the way "family" is defined with regard to health benefits.

So according to Wiley, regardless of what Wisconsin voters decide about the marriage amendment tomorrow, there will not be any immediate changes in university policy because the state statute would still stand.

"It just creates a climate of intolerance that is antithetical to the university, and that's unfortunate," Wiley said. "It's unfortunate for the whole state."

Wiley also spoke about Wisconsin high school students' access to the UW System. According to Wiley, the biggest public relations problem at UW does not have to do with the UW Marching Band or Kevin Barrett, but with people that are not even on this campus. Wiley said Wisconsin students' access to UW is the biggest public relations problem now because he too often hears, "my kid didn't get into Madison."

The university population — approximately 41,000 — is not going to get much bigger because if the university were to accept any more students, Wiley said, and classes would be overcrowded and would not provide a beneficial learning environment.

UW political science professor and Faculty Senate member Donald Downs said it is a shame the chancellor is right.

"The university is kind of between a rock and a hard place," Downs said. "We don't want to have too many students so we have too many large classes … and we need people from out of state because they bring in more money — tuition — and they add to the geographic diversity."

One way to appease in-state applicants would be to accept fewer out-of-state applicants and more Wisconsin applicants, Downs said. But that would take away from UW's status as a "national university," he added.

Wiley suggested that more students begin their college education at a different school and transfer to UW-Madison for their junior and senior year. The plan would leave freshman and sophomore introductory classes not overcrowded, and students would still get the benefit of a UW-Madison education.

Wiley also addressed the UW budget and said the model of public higher education funding is changing, and state funding is now the smallest contributor to the UW budget.

"Things that we once assumed must be covered by state funds can no longer be covered by state funds," Wiley said. "They have to be covered by different mix of other kinds of funding.

Downs, who is also president of the Committee of Academic Freedom and Rights, said this change in funding means the university is becoming less public than it once was. The university looks to fundraising and large donations much more now, Downs added.

"Will it compromise the independence of the university because we have to please people?" Downs asked. "I hope that doesn't affect our academic freedom."