The views of the government, the Jewish Deputies and the National Democratic Party to the proposed limitation of the autonomy of the Universities in Poland were expressed recently in the course of a debate in the Sejm on the proposed measure.
The government spokesman, the Minister of Education, openly declared that the bill was designed to prevent the recurrence of anti-Semitic disturbances at the Universities. This statement was warmly applauded by the Jewish Deputies.
The organ of the anti-Semitic National Democratic Party, however, openly derides the measure for the reason that it aims to offer protection for the Jews.
The National Democrats have been renewing their agitation against the Jews for this reason, which has in some cases led to attacks on Jews.
The ire of the National Democrats has been aroused by the outspoken statement in favor of limiting the autonomy of the Universities by Minister of Education, M. Jedrzejewitz, speaking at a meeting of the Educational Commission of the Sejm.
The measure would enable police to enter the University interiors if there are any fresh outbreaks of violence there.
The Government is compelled to enact such a law, he explained, because it considers it the duty of a Government to protect the right of all students to attend the University lectures, and to work in the University laboratories. This right has of late been denied to some students by brutal violence, he went on. I am determined to prevent anything like that occurring in the future. It is disagreeable to me personally to take such measures, but my sense of duty demands it.
Deputy Sommerstein, the spokesman of the Jewish Club of Deputies, said:
Our position on this bill is entirely practical. We realize that the question of our Jewish student youth is not an isolated question, but is dependent on the law regulating the universities. It is only a fragment of the Jewish question in Poland. Restrictions in admitting students to the universities, unequal distribution of self-aid funds, the unjust distribution of stipends, discrimination in the recognition of foreign diplomas, all these methods are applied by the University authorities against Jewish students, and their purpose is to prevent our Jewish youth entering those professions which require University training. If our students did not enter the professions for which they are
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.
