Students at City college yesterday demonstrated against a decision of the New York City Board of Higher Education exonerating Prof. William E. Knickerbocker, former head of the college’s Romance Languages Department, of charges of anti-Semitism.
The students gathered outside the office of college president Harry ?. Wright during a change of classes when several attempted to see the president in order to state “personal opinions on the Knickerbocker case.” Others seeing them, joined the group near the office door and soon a sizeable demonstration was in progress Petitions were hastily drawn up and signed, calling for Prof. Knickerbocker’s dismissal and protesting the Board’s action. Further demonstrations against the Board’s repudiation of a City Council committee report condemning Prof. Knickerbocker’s conduct are expected.
Rabbi Arthur Zuckerman, director of the Hillel Foundation at the college, declared that there is “an ebbing away of public confidence” in the Board as a result of its action. The American Jewish Congress, one of the organizations demanding Prof. Knickerbocker’s ouster, has decided to defend students who last week boycotted the professor’s class if they are threatened with disciplinary action as a result.
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