The UW-Platteville Faculty Senate passed a resolution on Sept. 12 opposing the 2005 Senate Joint Resolution 53: Amendment to Marriage Act, more commonly known as the civil union and gay marriage ban.

The faculty senate took this action because of the effect it will have on employee benefits in the UW System.

Support for the resolution was led by Rea Kirk, and the final wording was authored by both Kirk and Julia McDonald.

The resolution did not pass unanimously, and during the debate, the resolution’s original wording was edited before it was finally passed.

The opposition was not focused on debating the pros and cons of the marriage amendment itself, but on whether or not the Faculty Senate was the right body to make that kind of a statement.

The resolution encountered resistance from professors who felt that the Faculty Senate should not get into moral issues at all.

However, while the amendment definitely involves a moral issue, “it will adversely affect the ability of UW schools to recruit and retain faculty who will not be able to receive benefits if the amendment is passed,” Kirk McDonald said.

The UW System has already lost faculty members because of the state legislature’s rejection of Gov. Doyle’s plan to allow benefits for domestic partnerships last year.

Rob Carpick, a top researcher at UW-Madison, recently left to work for the University of Pennsylvania because they offer health insurance benefits for his partner, as reported by the Capital Times.

His research had won $3.4 million in grants since 2000, and he is not the first faculty member to leave the UW System because of the lack of benefits.

The Faculty Senate resolution cites that state law already defines marriage as between a man and a woman, and that the proposed amendment which “prohibits granting identical or similar legal rights to any unmarried couples” could adversely affect current and future employee benefits in the UW System.

“ The amendment writes discrimination into the state constitution; it sends a strong message of bigotry that reaches even beyond campuses,” McDonald said.

The UW-P Faculty Senate joins hundreds of other groups and organizations that have passed resolutions or made public statements opposing the ban, including the United Council of Students, United Faculty and Academic Staff and the Teaching Assistants Association of UW-Madison, according to www.fairwisconsin.com, an organization that opposes the ban.

The proposed Amendment to Marriage Act has passed two consecutive legislative sessions and final approval hinges on the referendum Tuesday, Nov. 7. If Wisconsin voters pass the referendum it will become part of the state constitution.