Dr. Frederick B. Robinson was burned in effigy yesterday before 1,500 students of the College of the City of New York, of which he is president. The student composition of City College is predominantly Jewish.
The burning was done on the campus during a demonstration which was the climax of a student strike whose goal is to force the college authorities to reinstate twenty-one students expelled for participation in an anti-Fascist riot in the Great Hall last month.
The effigy, a seven-foot cardboard affair, carried two heads, one that of Dr. Robinson, the other that of Premier Mussolini of Italy. In one of the hands of the figure was an umbrella, reminiscent of Dr. Robinson’s use of an umbrella in a campus riot last April.
Flame was applied to the effigy shortly after noon in front of the Administration Building while the strikers and their sympathizers cried:
“Oust fascist Freddy!”
“Smoke Robbie out!”
Dr. Robinson was at Mount Sinai Hospital, where he has been under observation for appendicitis since last week.
The demonstration opened at 11 a. m. under the sponsorship of the National Student League and the League for Industrial Democracy Police arrested two strikers, Matthew Amberg, seventeen, of 2830 Olinville avenue, and David Wolfthal, twenty, of 1037 Longfellow avenue, both of the Bronx, on charges of disorderly conduct.
A blue flag bearing the inscription “strike” was removed only after a steeplejack’s services were resorted to, grease on the pole having rendered police efforts along that line futile.
Managers of the demonstration announced they will repeat the show daily until Dr. Robinson is replaced as head of the institution.
Dean Morton Gottschall, who opposed the original expulsions, issued a statement saying that, as far as his office was concerned, no disciplinary action was contemplated against participants in today’s incident. He pointed out, however, that he could not speak for the entire faculty.
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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.
