Proponents of gay rights asked University President John T. Casteen, III yesterday to extend domestic partnership benefits to University employees, threatening to launch a Web site discouraging donations to the University if action is not taken.
Visitors to the Web site, dubbed DontGiveToUVA, are encouraged to donate to the site's fund instead of to the University. The money raised by the Web site -- organizers have set a goal at $100,000 over the next year -- would go to University employees whose same-sex partners currently are not offered benefits by the University.
Andrew Borchini and Andrew Bond, both 2003 College graduates, created the Web site and co-authored an e-mail to Casteen requesting that he immediately offer "soft" benefits, such as gym access, to same-sex partners and formulate a plan for providing "hard" benefits, such as health insurance, in the near future.
If an agreement with Casteen cannot be reached by Feb. 14, the Web site will begin accepting donations on that date, Borchini said.
"We are willing to take it down and work with President Casteen if he is willing to work with us," Borchini said.
Casteen declined to comment on the possibility of providing either hard or soft benefits before consulting with the Virginia Attorney General in order to determine whether the Board of Visitors has the authority to meet such demands under the state code.
In their e-mail, Borchini and Bond said denying benefits is an injustice.
"We do not need to explain to you how denying basic domestic partner benefits to hardworking U.Va. employees epitomizes intolerance and serves to only fuel the prejudices about gays and lesbians that are already too prevalent in our society -- that their relationships are worthless; that discrimination against them is acceptable," the e-mail stated.
Borchini emphasized that the creation of the Web site was motivated by a love of the University.
"We want to try to help the University to become a place that truly provides equal opportunities," he said.
According to the e-mail, the University is one of only three top-25 research universities in the country that does not offer domestic partner benefits. Georgetown University and the University of Notre Dame are the other two.
"U.Va. has fallen behind," Borchini said. "We hope that this Web site will trigger President Casteen to act on this issue."
Queer Student Union Co-President Anna McCrerey said the lack of domestic partner benefits has severe repercussions for the academic environment of the University.
"U.Va. is actively losing good candidates for professor positions," she said.
Schools that offer domestic partner benefits have a greater population of gay and lesbian professors, McCrerey said. Consequently, gay students will decide to attend these schools instead of the University because they seek gay role models, she said.
McCrerey added the issue affects heterosexual students as well.
"Straight students should be concerned because [the University's] ranking will drop in the next five years if U.Va. continues to lose students to other schools with better domestic partner benefits," she said.
College Republicans Treasurer Jeremy Williams, however, said the University should not offer such benefits.
"It's perfectly legitimate for the Web site to ask for money, but it shouldn't be the University's place to provide these benefits," he said.
While the Web site currently is not open to donations, Borchini said the response from supporters has been "very positive."
"People realize that this is an area where U.Va. has fallen far behind," he said. "It is long overdue."
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