Purdue U Students and Alumni Say University’s Policy Virtually Bars Jews

Students and alumni of Purdue University complained today that recent modification of the university’s admission policy which virtually barred admission of Jewish and other minority students from the New York metropolitan area has been nullified by administrative practices. An admissions policy of some 20 years’ standing which restricted admissions from the New York metropolitan area to the sons and daughters of Purdue alumni, was modified last November to govern admissions in 1970. The restriction on admissions from the metropolitan area was removed and, instead, statewide quotas were established for New York and New Jersey based on “the approximate percentage of the population of New York and New Jersey to the total population of the nation.”

No such restriction is applied to any other state or part of the country except the overall limit on out-of-state students to 25 percent of the student body. Under the policy modification, 120 applicants could be admitted this year from New York and 44 from New Jersey. Rabbi Gerald Engel, director of Purdue’s Hillel Foundation, wrote to alumni who had expressed concern over the university’s restrictive admissions policy that the new policy “has been nullified by a special admissions procedure.” The Student Senate is expected to take up the question after the examination period.

OFFICIALS DENY POLICIES ARE DISCRIMINATORY

University authorities staunchly deny that its restrictive policies were intended to be discriminatory of any minority group. Letters from alumni questioning the admissions policy are being answered by John W. Hicks, assistant to President Frederick L. Hovde, who makes this denial very strongly and describes the policy modifications as intended “to remove the least shadow of doubt” as to the University’s intentions. Mr. Hicks points out that the blanket restrictions applying to the New York metropolitan area have been removed “and the director of admissions is authorized to admit a quota of students from the states of New York and New Jersey, based on their academic standing with preference still extended to sons and daughters of Purdue alumni as in the past.”

But critical students and alumni pointed out that prospective applicants from the two states are discouraged from filing applications. Harlan White, director of admissions, advises applicants from New York and New Jersey of the preference being given children of alumni and advises them that the few remaining places will be available to other applicants only after April 1. “This letter,” Rabbi Engel told the JTA, “perpetuates the myth that children of alumni from this area have come to Purdue in large numbers. However, the Fall 1969 record of admissions to undergraduate schools from New York and surrounding counties indicates that almost no children of alumni came from this area.”