Eunice L. Burns has been active in Ann Arbor civic and community affairs and city politics since the mid-1950s. For more than four decades, she has been a keen observer and sometime participant in Ann Arbor city government. Beginning first with her involvement in the revision of Ann Arbor's city charter in 1955, Burns went on in local politics with her successful campaign in 1962 for a seat on the Ann Arbor City Council. While on council, Burns's principal interests were in the areas of civil rights and city planning. She was a strong advocate for the landmark Ann Arbor Fair Housing Ordinance which was enacted on September 16, 1963.
Burns was re-elected to her council seat in 1964 and again in 1966. In 1965, in the midst of her second term on council, Burns decided to run for mayor. Hoping to be the first woman mayor and the first Democratic mayor elected since 1957, Burns lost to incumbent Republican Wendell Hulcher by more than three thousand votes. Despite her defeat, she continued to represent the first ward on council for another three years. In 1968, she decided against running for a fourth term, choosing instead to become a member of the Ann Arbor Planning Commission. She served on the commission until June 1974, serving as chair of the commission from May 1970 to August 1971.
Before coming to Ann Arbor, Burns had received her BS degree from Wisconsin State College and had done graduate work at the University of Wisconsin and New York University. In 1967, she began pursuing her Master's degree in the political science department at the University of Michigan. Specializing in urban planning, she received her Master's in 1970. Burns became Assistant Dean of the School of Education at the University of Michigan in the 1970s. When, in 1973, Marcia Federbush filed a complaint with the University of Michigan Athletic Department listing 125 instances where women athletes were treated unfairly, Burns was asked by U-M President Robben Fleming to chair the Committee for Study of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. Burns, with the rest of the committee, did a survey of programs at other large universities, collected testimony from Michigan women athletes, and issued a report.
In 1980, Burns was elected vice-chair of the Huron Watershed Council. She has also been active in Ann Arbor's Downtown Development Authority (DDA) since 1979.
From the guide to the Eunice Burns papers, 1960-2011, (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)
