The Wisconsin State Journal has an article about something that really kind of bothers me. It’s an attitude about, and indeed discrimination against, students. It’s something that I hear from time to time about buildings being built in the downtown. Often a developer will refer to a project and say something like “we won’t be renting to students”. It’s often an upscale nicer building and they say that to get approval from some of the downtown neighbors.
I continuously remind people to be careful about what they are saying and remind them that students are a protected class both in the Madison General Ordinances and the Dane County Ordinance. It usually doesn’t change what they say, and its very frustrating.
Here’s the language from the ordinance:
(jj) Student means a person who is enrolled in a public or private high school, college, university, technical college, accredited trade school, or apprenticeship program.
and
(4) Housing . It shall be an unfair discrimination practice and unlawful and hereby prohibited for any person having the right of ownership or possession or the right of transfer, sale, rental or lease of any housing, or the agent of any such person:
(a) To refuse to transfer, sell, rent or lease, to refuse to negotiate for the sale, lease, or rental or otherwise to make unavailable, deny or withhold from any person such housing because of sex, race, religion, color, national origin or ancestry, age, handicap/disability, marital status, source of income, including receipt of rental assistance under 24 Code of Federal Regulations Subtitle B, Chapter VIII [the “Section 8” housing program], arrest record or conviction record, less than honorable discharge, physical appearance, sexual orientation, familial status, political beliefs, or the fact that such person is a student as defined herein, the fact that a person declines to disclose their Social Security Number when such disclosure is not compelled by state or federal law; or the fact that such a person is a member of a domestic partnership as defined herein; or (Am. by Ord. 13,708, 10-12-04; ORD-07-00016, 2-22-07; ORD-07-00029, 3-15-07)
and
(c) To falsely represent that a dwelling is not available for inspection, sale, or rental because of discrimination because of sex, race, religion, color, national origin or ancestry, age, handicap/disability, marital status, source of income, arrest record or conviction record, less than honorable discharge, political beliefs, physical appearance, sexual orientation, familial status, or the fact that a person is a student as defined herein; the fact that such a person is a member of a domestic partnership asdefined herein; or other tenants in such a manner as to diminish their enjoyment of the premises by adversely affecting their health, safety and welfare. A person who has received written notice from the Madison Police Department that a drug nuisance under Sec. 823.113, Wis. Stats., exists on property for which the person is responsible as owner may take action to eliminate the nuisance, including but not limited to, eviction of residents, provided such action is not a subterfuge to evade the provisions ofthis ordinance. (Am. by ORD-07-00029, 3-15-07
