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University of Iowa Committee on Human Rights policies, 1958-1986

The University Committee on Human Rights Page 1

THE UNIVERSITY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Iowa City Council
Civic Center
Iowa City, Iowa

Gentlemen:
The University Committee on Human Rights wishes to express its deep concern for the proposed fair housing ordinance for Iowa City. The State of Iowa, Represented primarily by the university and university hospitals, is the largest employer in the area. These institutions are fully committed in a spirit and letter to the idea of equal opportunities for all citizens. In a practical sense the institutions, in order to maintain their superiority, must be able to hire all kinds of people and must be able to offer these employees full access to the goods and services of iowa city. The university has particular interests in housing not only because of the number of employees but also because of the unusual mobility of both employees and students in higher education. The problem of finding proper housing for staff and students is even greater than numbers alone would indicate. 

The problem of finding housing in iowa city is seriously complicated by discrimination. Unfortunately, reports from non-white students and employees, from university officials concerned with housing, and from the city commission indicate that discrimination does exist in iowa city. This discrimination is injurious to the university in numerous ways now, and we expect the problem to become even more serious as competition for staff increases and the student body grows and diversifies still more. We believe it is also injurious to any large employer who must seek varied and superior talents. No economy can long thrive if it irrelevantly withholds the full fruits of the society from some of its citizens. Both public good and private need require the elimination of invidious discrimination.

In furthering human rights, some conflicts are inevitable. In most difficult decisions the claims of several rights bust be balanced. For example, the city council must find a formula of exclusions under the ordinance which will protect the right of a person to choose his companions while still requiring that anyone doing business for money shall not discriminate and therefore help to deprive a citizen of his right to the market place. Conceivably a landlord pay rent a room or two in his house primarily "to have someone around the house." If he rents to as many as five people, we may be justified in assuming that he is really in business to make money and should be judged as one rendering services. therefore, we urge the council to reduce the exclusions under the ordinance to those renting to less than five in their own residence. 

The council should not be deterred by claims for the traditional rights of free use of property. Zoning codes, building codes, sanitary codes--to name a few--all restrict the free use of property. All are instituted to limit the use of property in order to protect the rights of the people of the city

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THE UNIVERSITY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS Iowa City Council Civic Center Iowa City, Iowa Gentlemen: The University Committee on Human Rights wishes to express its deep concern for the proposed fair housing ordinance for Iowa City. The State of Iowa, Represented primarily by the university and university hospitals, is the largest employer in the area. These institutions are fully committed in a spirit and letter to the idea of equal opportunities for all citizens. In a practical sense the institutions, in order to maintain their superiority, must be able to hire all kinds of people and must be able to offer these employees full access to the goods and services of iowa city. The university has particular interests in housing not only because of the number of employees but also because of the unusual mobility of both employees and students in higher education. The problem of finding proper housing for staff and students is even greater than numbers alone would indicate. The problem of finding housing in iowa city is seriously complicated by discrimination. Unfortunately, reports from non-white students and employees, from university officials concerned with housing, and from the city commission indicate that discrimination does exist in iowa city. This discrimination is injurious to the university in numerous ways now, and we expect the problem to become even more serious as competition for staff increases and the student body grows and diversifies still more. We believe it is also injurious to any large employer who must seek varied and superior talents. No economy can long thrive if it irrelevantly withholds the full fruits of the society from some of its citizens. Both public good and private need require the elimination of invidious discrimination. In furthering human rights, some conflicts are inevitable. In most difficult decisions the claims of several rights bust be balanced. For example, the city council must find a formula of exclusions under the ordinance which will protect the right of a person to choose his companions while still requiring that anyone doing business for money shall not discriminate and therefore help to deprive a citizen of his right to the market place. Conceivably a landlord pay rent a room or two in his house primarily "to have someone around the house." If he rents to as many as five people, we may be justified in assuming that he is really in business to make money and should be judged as one rendering services. therefore, we urge the council to reduce the exclusions under the ordinance to those renting to less than five in their own residence. The council should not be deterred by claims for the traditional rights of free use of property. Zoning codes, building codes, sanitary codes--to name a few--all restrict the free use of property. All are instituted to limit the use of property in order to protect the rights of the people of the city