Stanford University is issuing an apology more than 60 years after administrators intentionally limited the Jewish student
Published: 14-10-2022 10:30
In the wake of World War II and amid fears of an influx of Jewish students, then-Stanford President Donald Terman reportedly instructed his admissions staff to use a "holistic" approach that would consider each applicant as a whole person, rather than just their academic credentials.
The result was a dramatic decrease in the number of Jewish students being admitted to Stanford, from more than 30 percent in the early 1940s to just 10 percent by the end of the decade.
Now, after being approached by a group of alumni, Stanford is owning up to its past and issued an apology on Wednesday for the "hurt and harm" caused by the anti-Semitic admissions policy.
"We apologize for the hurt and harm caused by this policy and reaffirm our commitment to being a diverse and inclusive community," Stanford said in a statement.
The university also announced that it would be establishing a scholarship fund in honor of Abraham Joshua Heschel, a prominent Jewish theologian and civil rights leader who was denied admission to Stanford in 1939 because he was Jewish.
This is not the first time Stanford has been forced to confront its dark history with regards to Jewish students. In 1992, the university admitted that it had engaged in similar discriminatory practices against Jewish applicants in the 1920s.
