Chancellor Biddy Martin hosted a reception Monday to mark the expansion of domestic partner benefits for UW System employees.
Martin said both same-sex and opposite-sex domestic partners within the UW System have been fighting for these benefits for over a decade.
""This community has argued for a very long time, that it's essential to students, staff, faculty and the rest of the community to have domestic partner benefits because it's the right thing and because we can't recruit and retain quality people or keep a quality institution without what's fair and right,"" she said.
Steve Stern, UW-Madison vice provost for faculty and staff and chair of Domestic Partners Health Insurance Task Force, said the new policies will close the gap between same-sex and opposite-sex healthcare benefits.
""Domestic partner health insurance matters a lot,"" he said. ""It's an issue of fairness and it's an issue of competitiveness and it's also a human issue.""
During the ceremony, Stern read a letter of appreciation from a UW System doctor thanking him for his efforts to make these benefits a reality.
""Domestic partnership success is truly outstanding and a testament to tireless and dedicated work. So many people around the state are appreciative and will have immeasurable enrichment in their lives because of this, including us. For the first time now, my partner can be on my family health insurance plan with the kids,"" the letter said.
Kate Siberine, a UW-Madison junior and employee at the LGBT Campus Center, said the new benefits will make the UW System more competitive against other schools in the Big Ten who already have domestic partner benefits.
""It will help us as far as professor retention and recruiting professors that really are the best in their field,"" Siberine said.
According to Ingrid Rothe, an academic staff researcher at the Institute of Research on Poverty, the new benefits will have positive impacts on everyone on campus, not just the LGBT community.
""[The benefits] make a huge difference in terms of making the campus an appealing place for all people to come to work here,"" she said.
