A public hearing on the Steingut-Mahoney bill which calls for a $50,000,000 appropriation to establish a new discrimination-free state university will be sought tomorrow by Democratic leaders of the State Legislature at Albany, it was learned here today. No opposition is expected.
The bill was introduced last week by Assemblyman Irwin Steingut and Senator Francis J. Mahoney, following the disclosure that the Mayor’s Committee on Unity had before it a report charging that universities in New York and elsewhere discriminated against Jews, Catholics and Negroes from New York in considering entrance applications.
Mayor William O’Dwyer, in a prepared speech read before a meeting of leaders of the Brooklyn Jewish Community Council, yesterday said that New York’s colleges and universities do not deserve public financial support if they practice discrimination in any form.
Pointing out that the tax laws of the state and city provide tax exemptions to educational institutions only if they do not discriminate and deny their facilities to students because of race or religion, Mayor O’Dwyer said “that is the law and it must be enforced.
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