A Harvard University student organization decided today to withdraw from participation in a project sponsored by CARE in Jordan because that country would have barred Jewish students from taking part.
The project, known as “Operation Jarba,” had been adopted by Phillips Brooks House, a Harvard student social service organization, which was planning to send a group of 20 or 30 students to Jordan to help resettle displaced Bedouins. Recent discussions with CARE officials, however, warned representatives of Phillips Brooks House that there would be no chance of including Jewish students in the project.
The decision to withdraw from the project was made by the service organization after consultation with the Faculty Committee which declined to approve the plans for participation by Harvard students. Student applicants were notified by mail of the cancelation of the project.
Harvard Dean John Monro, who is a member of the Faculty Committee, told the service organization: “I don’t want Phillips Brooks House, representing Harvard, to be involved in a project where you ask questions about religious belief and make a decision on this basis.”
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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.