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Edited on Sat Sep-17-11 12:18 PM by yardwork
The University of Michigan is currently ranked the #4 public research university in the nation. All public universities are struggling with severe budget cuts. Private universities have plenty of money, as they can charge tuition as high as they want and they have lots of alums with very deep pockets who donate to endowments. AND private universities can offer domestic partner benefits - health insurance, university housing for graduate students, etc.
The leading public universities are all in states that are seeing an all-out attack on gay rights: California, Virginia, Michigan, now North Carolina. This will make it even more difficult for those states' public universities to recruit and retain the best faculty and graduate students. Why should faculty or graduate students choose a public university that treats them and their partners like pariahs when they can go to a private university that treats them equally? This affects both gay couple couples and the increasing number of straight couples who choose not to marry.
This is creating yet another barrier for public universities competing with the privates. This is a NEW problem. In a world where more and more countries, private universities, and companies are granting gay people equal rights, state universities that are denied the opportunity to do so because of reactionary right-wing decisions fall further and further behind.
The loss of influence by state institutions of higher education is a very profound loss to our country's culture and ability to compete in a global market.
The country is going to hell in a hand basket.
edit for typo
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