The Association of American Colleges, which meets in Cincinnati next week, will bear a report on discriminatory admission practices in institutions of higher learning which condemns such activities but opposes “coercive legislation” to solve the problem, it was reported here today.
The report, drafted by five university and college heads under the chairmanship of Chancellor William P. Tolley of Syracuse University, takes cognizance of the fact that many colleges discriminate against religious and racial minority groups, but asserts: “It is our conviction, however, that the problem of discrimination should be solved by education and voluntary action and not by coercive legislation. However well intentioned such legislation may be, it would place in the hands of the state a threat to the freedom of colleges now independent of political control.”
As their recommendation for a voluntary solution of the problem, the members of the committee offer the opinion that “the most practical approach” is the “appointment under the auspices of the Association of American Colleges of a national commission” to investigate all complaints and “establish the facts as accurately as possible.”
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