SA Student Association senator was denied a seat on DeKalb’s Human Relations Commission because she might “shake things up,” Mayor Greg Sparrow said.

Sen. Kelly Marie McDonald asked to be appointed to the commission by Sparrow and the city council, but Sparrow refused to recommend her.

“I don’t want anyone in who is going to be an agitator,” Sparrow said. He said McDonald would go into the commission with a closed mind and her own goals.

But McDonald, also a member of NIU Womens’ Alliance, said she is a “human rights sympathizer” and that she would join the commission with an open mind. “He’s not giving a good enough reason,” McDonald said.

She said 17 people, including teachers and her employer, agreed to write recommendations for the position.

McDonald said when she first showed interest in the commission, Sparrow agreed to hold a meeting to talk about it. But Sparrow said he decided not to recommend her before their meeting.

The commission held their first official meeting Tuesday after being inactive since June of 1989, member George Shur said.

Shur added the chairman and several members had left the commission in 1989, and new members were not appointed until recently.

“I had no idea who the (new) chairman was until October,” Shur said. All but one of the seats have been filled.

No students are on the commission.

Sparrow said he did not want McDonald to cause problems similar to the gay rights ordinance proposal in the spring of 1989. The ordinance would have protected homosexuals from discrimination based on their sexual preference.

The commission unanimously supported the gay rights proposal, but after emotional debate and a deadlock, the city council decided to return it to the commission for more discussion, Shur said.

He said the commission has not talked about the proposal since then, and unless a member brings it up, the issue is dead. Shur doubts the ordinance will be discussed soon.

“I don’t think anybody wants to go through that again,” he said.

The main purpose of the commission is dealing with complaints about unfair treatment of minorities in DeKalb, Chairman Del Lawson said.

Lawson said the commission needs “people who are open to try to justify some of the wrongs that are taking place. People who have some compassion.”