Jewish Groups Urge Senate to Ban Federal Aid to Religious Colleges

Major Jewish organizations today urged the Senate to limit Federal aid in the Administration college assistance bill to institutions “not under the supervision or control of any religious denomination or sect.” The appeal was made as the Senate neared a vote on one portion of the legislation, that dealing with loans for construction of college facilities.

Speaking for the National Community Relations Advisory Council–the coordinating body of six national Jewish organizations and 61 Jewish community councils in cities throughout the United States–Lewis H. Weinstcin, NCRAC chairman, made the recommendation in identical telegrams to Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, Senate Minority Leader Everett M. Dirksen, and Senator Wayne Morse, the Oregon Democrat who is floor manager for the pending legislation. A final Senate vote was expected tonight.

The Senate yesterday approved an amendment sponsored by Senator Morse, limiting aid to purely educational and non-sectarian facilities in beneficiary colleges. He said this would prevent any violation of the doctrine of separation of church and state. Under the Morse amendment, loans would be denied for the building of facilities for religious worship or teaching. A similar amendment was approved by the House of Representatives last week.

The more far-reaching limitation urged by the NCRAC was incorporated in an other amendment, pending in the Senate, which was introduced by Senator Sam J. Ervin, Jr. North Carolina Democrat. His amendment would deny loans for all private or church-sponsored colleges. Some 60 percent of United States institutions of higher learning would be barred under the Ervin amendment. However, it was rated as having little chance of approval. The bill provides $1,500, 000, 000 for construction loans to colleges as part of a larger $2, 600, 000, 000 aid-to-higher-education measure.

ORTHODOX JEWISH BODY ABSTAINS FROM N.C.R.A.C. RECOMMENDATION

The NCRAC appeal to the Senate had been authorized by its executive committee at a meeting last Sunday as consistent with the long-standing positions of the NCRAC and its constituent agencies that the preservation of religious freedom required separation of church and state and no use of public funds for advancement of religious purposes.

In commenting on the telegram, Mr, Weinstein observed that the executive committee had reserved for further study the question whether scholarships and certain other indirect forms of Federal aid were consonant with the general position against the use of public funds for the support of institutions under religious control.

He also noted that the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, one of the six national member agencies of the NCRAC, had abstained on the vote in the executive committee. The membership of the NCRAC includes also the American Jewish Congress, Jewish Labor Committee, Jewish War Veterans, Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the United Synagogue of America, in addition to 61 Jewish community councils throughout the United States.