Jewish students constitute 8.2 percent of the total enrollment in colleges and universities of the United States and Canada, according to preliminary findings of the Decennial Census of Jewish College students, Leon Obermayer, chairman of the B’nai B’rith Vocational Service Commission, announced today.
The percentage is based on enrollment data of 1,565 schools out of 1,720, which takes the census 91 percent complete. Additional returns are now being received, enough they are expected to have a negligible effect on tabulations already made.
A similar census taken by the B’nai B’rith Hillel research bureau in 1935 indicated the Jewish proportion to be 8.8 percent in 1,511 schools out of 1,645 in the United States and Canada. The 1935 survey was 92 percent complete.
The decline in the proportion of Jewish students from 8.8 percent to 8.2 ##ans that there are today about 7,500 fewer Jewish students than if the proportion ## remained entirely stable. The decline is probably due to the effect of the G.I. ##ll of Rights in stimulating enrollment of non-Jewish students to a greater degree ##an Jewish students.
Preliminary figures of the 1946 census indicate no change in the breakdown ## sex among Jewish students, though the change has been substantial in the total enrollment. In 1935, 66.4 percent of Jewish students were men and 33.6 women. Figures for 1946 are 66.5 percent and 33.5 percent.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
