A survey of the application blanks of 171 leading non-sectarian colleges with a student enrollment of more than 500 persons revealed that 135 colleges or 79 percent ask questions referring to the applicant’s race, religion or national ancestry, Dr. David Petegorsky, executive director of the American Jewish Congress announced today. “This survey clearly shows the necessity for the immediate passage of state laws outlawing discrimination in education,” he said.
Among the questions found on application blanks were those relating to the applicant’s race, color, religion, church, descent, or ancestry, nationality, birth place, mother tongue, language spoken at home, mother’s maiden name, and date of parents’ arrival in the United States. Similar questions on application forms have been declared illegal by the New York State Commission Against Discrimination created by Ives-Quinn law.
Among the nationally known colleges whose applications contained discriminatory questions are: Adelphi, Amherst, Arizona University, Barnard, University of California, Carnagie Institute, Columbia University, Cornell, University of Florida, Goucher, Harvard, Indiana University, Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanics, Johns Hopkins, University of Minnesota, New York University, University of North Carolina, University of Oregon, University of Pittsburgh, University of Purdue, Radcliffe, University of Rochester, Sarah Lawrence, Skidmore, Swarthmore, University of Toledo, Tufts, George Washington University, Wellesley, Yale University.
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.
