Anti-Semitism found an outlet in the Wisconsin state assembly at Madison when this body ordered an investigation into communism on the University of Wisconsin campus and into the number of out-of-state students getting legislative scholarships.
Over the opposition of President Glenn Frank of the university and of a number of legislators who charged that a religious issue would be raised, the assembly, by a vote of 65 to 23, decided upon the “red ###“
One of the leading opponents Assembly man E. M. Rowl##s, of Cambria, declared the resolution was aimed at a group of students from the eastern states, many of whom, he added, are Jews. He urged the defeat of the resolution, asserting the religious issue should not be injected at the university.
Passage of the measure was an outgrowth of a recent hearing on a bill to make military drill at the university compulsory. Several hundred students appeared to protest the bill, and legislators upon questioning them came to the conclusion that many had communistic tendencies and that too many had won the state’s scholarships, thus paying no tuition.
The committee, directed to inquire into communism, was also instructed to investigate “particularly the legislative scholarships and why such a large percentage of the students to whom these scholarships were granted are extreme radicals.” A large majority of the exceptional non-resident students holding the scholarships, are Jews, it was stated.
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.
