Twenty-one New Jersey Colleges and Universities Charged with Bias

An analysis of application forms now in use by 21 public and private church-affiliated colleges and universities in New Jersey made by chapters of the New Jersey Region of the American Jewish Congress revealed that although public colleges and universities in this State do not require the applicant to supply information concerning racial, religious or ethnic backgrounds, private church-affiliated schools require the applicant to state his religious affiliation and some also ask the applicant to state his “race” and “nationality” or that of his parents.

The data collected has been referred to Dr. John Milligan, Director of the Division Against Discrimination of the New Jersey Department of Education. Adrian Mr. Unger, chairman of the New Jersey Commission on Law and Social Action of the American Jewish Congress, under whose jurisdiction the survey was made, stated, “application forms of the private church-affiliated schools are more varied and inconsistent than those of the public institutions. For example, the survey revealed that none of the public colleges in New Jersey requires a photograph of the applicant, while many private schools impose such a requirement and request religious or nationality information.”