Senate To Hear Report on Climate Toward Gays

UW–Madison should establish a gay, lesbian and bisexual (GLB) studies program and work harder to end discrimination against GLB faculty, staff and students, a new committee report suggests.

The report from the Committee on Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Issues contains 18 recommendations in all, including advocating for extending health insurance to domestic partners of GLB faculty, staff and students; funding a GLB campus center; and providing safer campus housing for GLB students.

Richard Keeling, director of University Health Services and professor of medicine, chaired the GLB committee this past academic year. He will present the report to the Faculty Senate May 5.

“The report, through its research, demonstrates the vitality of gay, lesbian and bisexual scholarship and offers that scholarship as an important addition to existing courses, to the curriculum as a whole and to the university’s standing in academia,” Keeling says.

Three years in the making, the report documents that many individuals and offices have made sincere efforts to improve the campus climate for GLB students, faculty and staff. But Keeling says there is much work yet to be done as members of the GLB community still experience violence and discrimination.

Following the Faculty Senate meeting, the GLB report will be discussed at a public meeting May 5 at 7:30 p.m. in Great Hall at Memorial Union.

The report recommends establishing a certificate program in gay, lesbian and bisexual studies, possibly leading to a full major in five years. More than 100 courses on campus include GLB content, the report says.

Other recommendations include creating a full-time GLB university liaison; providing sensitivity training; and encouraging faculty and staff to examine the “assumption of heterosexuality.” Following presentation of the report to the Faculty Senate, the University Committee will consider the recommendations.

The Faculty Senate on May 5 will also consider a motion to immediately take actions to obtain for the faculty the right to collectively bargain, should it so choose. The UW Board of Regents would act as the bargaining agent under the proposed motion.

First introduced in October 1996, the original proposal from Professor Anatole Beck was tabled at the December 1996 Faculty Senate meeting and referred to the University Committee to study the issue. The University Committee will present its report May 5.

The report recommends opposing the current enabling legislation bill now before the Legislature. And it asks senators to affirm a 1994 Faculty Senate resolution that directs the University Committee to oppose collective bargaining legislation unless it meets specific criteria.

Those criteria call for giving the Board of Regents the sole responsibility for collective-bargaining agreements; giving UW–Madison faculty the right to decide if they want to bargain collectively; permitting faculty at each UW institution to decide if they want to bargain collectively; and not diminishing academic freedom, tenure or shared governance in the process.

The UW System opposes the current collective bargaining bill in the Wisconsin Senate, saying it would hinder shared governance.

In other business, the senate will continue its consideration of the proposal to establish equity and diversity committees. A vote on the measure was postponed at the April 7 meeting.

In addition, senators will consider resolutions to establish a standing committee on retirement issues; approve recommendations on the use of student course evaluations; and urge the Legislature to restore library funding in the proposed 1997-99 state budget.

The resolution from the University Library Committee, as part of its annual report, seeks to restore library funding to the $5.2 million level proposed by the Board of Regents. The proposed state budget does not include any new money for UW libraries as part of increased technological investments.

If the senate doesn’t finish its business on May 5, it will hold an extra meeting May 12 at 3:30 p.m. in 125 Agricultural Hall.