For the past several years, the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents has demanded domestic partner benefits for its employees in its proposed budget. Sadly, the state Legislature has repeatedly blocked this request. But with Democrats winning control of both the state Senate and Assembly on Nov. 4, bringing domestic partner benefits to the university system must be a high priority for state lawmakers when the Legislature reconvenes in January.
In the past, opponents of domestic partnership benefits have declared these benefits as too costly. Certainly, with the dire state of the current economy and
Still, pursuing these benefits at UW is almost certainly a positive step toward fulfilling its moral obligation to unmarried staff and maintaining the quality of that staff, who are also often major breadwinners for the university. In the past five years alone, the Legislature’s unwillingness to provide these benefits for professors has contributed to the loss of faculty like Rob Carpick, former associate professor in the engineering physics department, and Lary Wu, a sociology professor. During their time at UW-Madison, both brought in nearly $6 million in external grants for the university.
As it stands, the University of Wisconsin-Madison is the only Big Ten university that does not offer domestic partner benefits or a similar program to its faculty. It’s about time — no, long past due — for the UW to catch up to its peers.
