New York City’s teachers’ union has withdrawn its sponsorship of a spring study-tour in the Soviet Union after many of its members objected to it because of the treatment of Jews in Russia. An announcement of the withdrawal appeared in the current issue of the United Teacher, the weekly newspaper of the 65,000 member United Federation of Teachers. The same issue published “two typical letters” of objection from teachers protesting the tour. One, from Kenneth J. Tewel, a Queens high school teacher said, “I would consider it morally wrong for us to encourage or support tourism to the Soviet Union under the aegis of our union” because of the treatment of Jews. The second letter, in a similar vein, was signed by Henry Heitner, a union chapter chairman and 44 other teachers. The tour to Russia was one of two Easter vacation travel projects sponsored by the UFT and arranged by the Professional Seminar Consultants. Inc. The Russian trip, described as a “Soviet-American Symposium on Primary and Secondary Education and Teacher Training Program,” was scheduled to take place from April 8-17 and was first advertised in the UFT newspaper last Nov. 22. Initial response was described by a spokesman for the organizers as “quite good” but as the treatment of Jews in the Soviet Union developed into a major issue, there were many cancellations from teachers. The tour will take place nevertheless but according to the spokesman, without UFT backing “it is not going to be a successful venture.” The second Easter vacation tour, a trip to Italy, will continue to be sponsored by the UFT.
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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.
