Investigation of “discrimination and inequalities of opportunity in schools of higher education” was urged today upon the City Council in a letter addressed today to City Councilman Joseph T. Sharkey, vice-chairman, and Walter Hart, chairman of its Rules Committee, by ten leading civic agencies.
The signatures include the American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, Brooklyn Church and Mission Federation, Order of the Sons of Italy in America, Jewish Labor Committee, Jewish War Veterans of the U.S., National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Association of Business and Professional Men, Urban League of Greater New York.
The letter cited the recent “Report on Inequality of Opportunity in Higher Education” issued by the Mayor’s Committee on Unity as declaring: “Discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color or national origin affecting opportunities for education is a denial of the American creed of equality of opportunity at a most sensitive point. Freedom of opportunity to enjoy the full educational advantages for which a person is qualified…should be regarded as fundamental. The consequence of its denials are a grave injury not only to the persons discriminated against but to the welfare of the community.”
Noting that the Mayor’s Committee on Unity has recommended the need for an official city investigation of the causes underlying the difficulty which graduates of the city-maintained colleges have in obtaining graduate and professional education, the organizations call upon the City Council to order such an investigation.
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