Council OK's Eldersveld Appointees

Council OK’s Eldersveld Appointees

Sallade, Dennard Also To Serve On New Commission

The 10 members of the city's new Human Relations Commission were appointed last night at the City Council meeting. The commission will have the Rev. Henry Lewis as chairman and will include slate Rep George W. Sallade.

The membership was appointed by Mayor Samuel J. Eldersveld and approved unanimously by the council members present.

Eldersveld, with council approval, also appointed the Rev. Mr. Lewis as chairman of the commission for its first year of operation. The Rev. Mr. Lewis is rector of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church.

Dennard Named

Councilman Richard Dennard was appointed to be the first council representative on the commission with a term lasting until April 14, 1958.

Appointed with terms expiring the first Monday of May next year were the Rev. Mr. Lewis; Richard J. Mann, an attorney and member of the Ann Arbor Board of Education; and George E. Wedemeyer, businessman and president of the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce.

Receiving terms extending to the first Monday of May, 1959, were Sallade; Dr. Herman Jacobs, director of the B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation; and Dr. Albert H. Wheeler, University assistant professor of bacteriology who has been active in affairs of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Ann Arbor Civic Forum.

Others Appointed

Appointed with terms lasting until the first Monday of May, 1960, were Mrs. Gerald Davenport, chairman of the county Republican human relations committee; James A. Lewis, U-M vice-president for student affairs; and Mrs. Arthur J. Carr, who has been active in Ann Arbor Civic Forum affairs and in human relations activities of that group.

The commission will go to work under terms of an ordinance passed by the council June 3 to establish a Human Relations Commission and to set its objectives and functions.

The commission was established basically to assist in the elimination of prejudice and descrimination because of race, color, creed, national origin or ancestry.

Objectives Given

Its objectives are to disseminate information and educational materials, investigate problems and situations of discrimination, aid in co-ordination of private organizations’ activities concerned with human relations and advise the City Council on appropriate steps to deal with conditions which strain human relations and make recommendations to the council in that respect.

Eldersveld, in presenting his appointments, said he thought the names constituted a “competent” and “broadly representative” group.

He related that after the ordinance to create the commission was passed, more than 100 names were submitted to him for consideration relative to appointments to the commission.

Many Interested

In making his study prior to deciding on persons for appointments, Eldersveld said he discovered that many persons were interested in serving on the commission. The number was “rather astonishing to me,” the mayor commented.

Eldersveld remarked that he was sorry that all persons interested in serving on the commission could not be appointed.

He related that in making his study relative to appointments, he discovered leadership qualities in many persons interested in serving Ann Arbor.

The Rev. Henry Lewis