Princeton University Urged to Check Anti-jewish Bias in Student Clubs

The Princeton Undergraduate Council today moved into the controversy over charges of bias in Princeton’s private eating and social clubs by sending a petition to the University administration asking whether University officials condoned religious discrimination by the clubs.

A number of private student groups also were drafting petitions to University officials, asking the immediate construction of an alternate to the traditional system under which sophomores are chosen for membership in the 17 clubs by invitation.

In this year’s selection, 23 sophomores, including 15 Jewish students, complained that they had received bids from only one of the clubs, the Prospect, and asserted that this was an effort to dump them in the “least desirable” club. The Prospect club is made up almost entirely of Jewish students. The 15 Jewish sophomores signed statements asserting they believed they had been discriminated against on religious or racial grounds, a stand rejected Thursday by Dr. Robert F. Goheen, Princeton University president.

Picketing and counter-picketing was another development on the campus. Ralph B. Schoenmon, 22, of Burbank, Calif., picketed a campus building, carrying signs that challenged the administration and students to change the club system immediately. Then, seven club members began a counter–picket with signs poking fun at Schoenman, who, when he was a sophomore, was the only member of his class who refused to apply for a bid to the eating clubs.

The petition of the Undergraduate Council, official voice of Princeton’s undergraduate students, asked the University to set a date for the completion of an alternate eating and social house for which University officials announced plans last year when there was similar controversy over the club pledging system.

Asking the administration how it planned to “remedy” the problem of the men who remain out of clubs this year, the Council challenged: “Does the University administration condone the existence of private autonomous groups within the Princeton community which assert their right to discriminate religiously?”