After Tuesday night’s drawn-out City Council meeting, Madison may see the creation of a Department of Civil Rights in the near future.

This department would oversee the Equal Opportunities Commission and Affirmative Action Department.

The creation of an ad hoc committee consisting of an EOC staff member and commissioner, an AA staff member and commissioner, two of Mayor Dave Cieslewicz’s advisory committee members and another two Madison residents will determine the course of the Department of Civil Rights’ creation.

There have already been four public hearings about the department. The committee will hold another three public forums downtown to report recommendations at the Mar. 1 2005 City Council meeting.

Ald. Austin King, District 8, said he is slowly warming to the mayor’s proposal.

“I’m hopeful that it will be produce dialogue,” King said.

The department will provide additional services for fair housing testing, language assistance programs in Spanish and Hmong, minority recruitment for city jobs and the enforcement and education of the new minimum-wage ordinance.

King said he is in favor of these services but worried the final vote in March may not receive full support.

Melanie Conklin, communications director for the mayor, said Cieslewicz is “very happy” with the proposal to create the new department.

Conklin said the civil-rights department is one of the most public initiatives in his budget, and it has received immense discussion.

“Council members, in general, were supportive of the vote and we’re still getting public impact, but we do realize it’s happening very fast,” Conklin said.

King said the creation of this department would help minorities and students around the city. A minority student denied housing could go to the newly created Department of Civil Rights to seek remedy, he said.

The EOC currently handles these situations.

King added “student status” is a protected class in the city’s housing ordinances and regardless of race students can experience discrimination.

“If a landlord says they can’t rent to you because you’re not a family, that’s denying you housing because you’re a student,” King said. “And they can’t deny you because you’re a student or because of your race.”

Lauren Woods, president of the Wisconsin Black Student Union, said there are problems in the creation of the civil-rights department.

“The Wisconsin Student Black Union, along with different community leaders and other civic organizations, should have been consulted,” Woods said.

Woods added dialogue with students is necessary for the creation of any department regarding civil rights. According to Woods, a mayor who is not a minority should have contacted groups and organizations before beginning the governmental process in creating the Department of Civil Rights.

“To have a civil-rights group at this point and to not have consulted those members in that community is a strong conflict of interest,” she said.

King agreed the planning of the proposal has been a sticky mess.

“It seems to me like there are positive ideas [in this proposal], but we’ve been rushed into this and it’s been an awful process,” King said.

Jen Garfield, a UW senior and member of a Jewish environmental group on campus, said she has not looked into the issue fully but feels the creation of this department could affect the campus positively.

“I think if this new department … will bring the Madison community more equality for all people, then as a student and a member of the community, I would support it,” Garfield said. “But if it will cause more internal strife between community members then I would be opposed.”

King said there is still a long road ahead, raising questions about the new department.

“Will it be as efficient as the Affirmative Action and EOC departments? Will it be as good at its job? Those are the questions we need to answer,” King said. “I don’t think we’ve had the debate we need to have and we haven’t analyzed the proposals.”