Brooklyn College President Calls for Cooperation to End Campus Tension

President John W. Kneller of Brooklyn College, whose campus was the scene of black-Jewish fisticuffs on May 4 and 5, has issued a statement that does not try to affix blame for the incidents but rather recommends that “We should try all the harder to work together.” He said: “It will avail us nothing to make any group bear the brunt of the blame. This is a campus problem and we must deal with it together. We must reestablish the principle of community.” The “campus problem” referred to by Kneller is the continuing tension at Brooklyn College between black and Jewish students. “I deeply believe that we must reestablish dialogue,” the college president said, “and have initiated a series of meetings with all groups under the auspices of the Dean of Students. This campus is big enough for everyone. No group, no interest, no legitimate activity will be left behind or kept out or ignored.” “Let us not,” Kneller continued, “forget that we are different people, with different consciences and causes. But let us not, simply because we dwell in such close quarters, underestimate our unity–our great need to stand together despite disagreements against the forces that threaten us all.” Kneller added that while Brooklyn College was “often unwieldy, sometimes mistaken and occasionally unjust,” it “nonetheless offers a truer representation of its citizens’ aspirations than much of the society that surrounds it.” Kneller also stated his support of open admissions and announced the hiring of a security director and the expansion of the campus security force. “But crime will stop,” he stressed, “only when we all have the will to make it stop.” Continuing, Kneller declared: “In Vietnam, thousands and thousands continue to die in a needless, unconscionable war. In Soviet Russia Jews are kept captive and are prevented from going to their homeland. In the Mideast tensions continue to build–the security of Israel is endangered–and the possibility of a new war grows. I have supported and continue to support peaceful activities against these wrongs…(and) all of us must convince those in authority that we will no longer acquiesce to evil.” But, the executive concluded, “Let us not wanted our efforts bickering and fighting among ourselves. We have wars to end, Jews to free, racism to destroy and poverty to abolish.”