The Jewish seniors of Harvard University who were required to take divisional examinations in romance languages yesterday were each provided with a proctor to whom the Jewish students dictated their answers to the examination questions, thus partly overcoming the difficulty arising from the conflict between the examinations and Yom Kippur. This concession by the University authorities was expected by them to clear up the strenuous objections voiced against what was said to be a discriminatory attitude against Jews.
The difficulty became known on the eve of Yom Kippur when the Jewish seniors were faced with the alternative of violating the precepts of Judaism by taking the examinations or suffering a year’s delay before they could obtain their degrees should they fail to take the examinations. The Harvard University officials maintained that the dates for the examinations were set last Spring and no objection was voiced by the Jewish students until it was too late to change the dates.
Leaders of Jewish student opinion here, however, point out that this is no excuse as the Harvard administrative offices have been supplied with a ten-year Jewish calendar sent out by the Synagogue Council of America. It is evident, however, that few, if any of the Jewish students were aware of the conflict at the time the examination dates were set. There is no ill-feeling on the part of the Jewish seniors, some of whom pointed out that some high Catholic fast days are not observed by Catholic students either.
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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.
