UNIVERSITY graduates Andrew Bond and Andrew Borchini made a splash last week when they announced a campaign, centered around the Web site www.DontGiveToUVA.com, which encourages patrons to withhold donations to the University until administrators agree to provide domestic partner benefits to gay and lesbian employees. Bond and Borchini have been commended for bringing the issue of partner benefits to the forefront, and have been accused of being both sensational and immoral. But everyone seems to be overlooking the most important issue: DontGiveToUVA.com completely disregards the University's central value of education and threatens to undermine students' opportunity to learn. This is unacceptable.
Bond and Borchini have a noble goal. The University should without question extend partner benefits to gay and lesbian couples, and it is perfectly reasonable for concerned groups and individuals to lobby the administration and the General Assembly in hopes of enacting change. Critics have contemptuously labeled DontGiveToUVA.com a "publicity stunt." Sure it's a stunt, but what's wrong with that? Generating discussion and voicing protest are the best ways to instigate reasoned debate and enact change in a free society.
But DontGiveToUVA.com crosses into destructive territory when it threatens to withhold much-needed resources from students at the University in order to further its organizers' goals. Just as it is unreasonable for marching protestors to clog streets, vandalize property and impinge on bystanders' liberty in order to make a point, it is unfair for Bond and Borchini to use our education as a lever against officials. In fact, to assault education is even more insidious.
The University receives less than 10 percent of its funding from the Commonwealth, which has already relegated education to the scrap heap of programs that can be nipped and tucked in the political game in order to make ends meet. But while road repair funds and other expenditures can be briefly withheld and recouped when cash is available with only temporary inconvenience, every educational cutback does irreparable damage to specific individuals. Most students spend only four years at the University. Thus, what amounts to only a temporary cut in school funding in the grand scheme of things can destroy an individual student's entire experience.
Apparently, it did not take Bond and Borchini (CLAS '03) very long to forget what it is like to be a student. Everyone on Grounds has suffered direct effects of recent budget shortfalls: diminished course offerings, larger classes, pay-to-print charges and, of course, rising tuition. The last thing we need are more cuts. For Bond and Borchini, a few hundred thousand dollars over a few years might not seem like a big deal. That's easy to say with a diploma hanging on your wall. For those of us here, $100,000 could translate to noticeable staff decreases or the elimination of courses key to our intellectual development.
What's more, it appears administrators can do little in response, as the General Assembly mandates protocol governing partner benefits. But this has not convinced Bond and Borchini to take their fight to Richmond. In a letter to President Casteen posted on their Web site, the pair boldly asserts: "If it is in fact true that the law prevents the University of Virginia from offering the benefits -- which certainly may not be the case -- you must be the one to persuade the General Assembly to change the law."
This is ridiculous. If Bond and Borchini want to influence the Assembly, their campaign should target the people of Virginia and the politicians charged with representing them, not overworked administrators who already have before them the impossible task of upholding the University's standards with insufficient funds.
Today, too many people feel comfortable claiming their cause is so righteous that it justifies the temporary sacrifice of other people's livelihood in order to achieve greater goals. Bond and Borchini would likely be horrified at the suggestion that homosexual couples be deprived of benefits in order to protest insufficient school funding. They should be similarly embarrassed to endorse the sacrifice of students' educations in hopes of generating outrage over their own concerns.
Overall, activists who battle for "equality" and "fairness" should remember who they are trampling in order to see their visions realized. And when it comes to schools, everyone needs to remember that education is not a political game. Hopefully, donors will remember they give to the University to support students, not social policy, and will not be swayed by DontGiveToUVA.com's destructive logic.
There are plenty of responsible ways to fight for the noble goal of partner benefits. This is not one of them. Bond and Borchini must end their campaign before they do irreparable harm to thousands of gay and straight students who are at risk of being disadvantaged for life.
(Nick Chapin is a Cavalier Daily viewpoint writer.)
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