THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, August 19, 1977 13

uota' Statement Sought III

(Continued from Page 1)
quotas and lead to discrimi-
nation against or in favor of
the individuals identified."
The agencies urged that ex-
isting regulations be re-
vised to:
• Prohibit colleges and
universities from request-
ing religious data from ap-
plicants, except where ap-
propriate (such as by semi-
naries and other religious
institutions);
• Require that informa-
tion for student enrollment
surveys be obtained on a
strictly voluntary and anon-
ymous basis;
• Apply the same rules
for faculty surveys, both be-
fore and after employment.
The urgency the Jewish
leaders attached to the prob-
lem of quotas was under-
scored at the meeting with
Califano when they cited
the Bakke case now pend-
ing before the U.S. Su-
preme Court.
The case, on appeal by
the University of California,
involves a qualified white
Christian applicant who
was barred by virtue of his
race from its medical
school at Davis under an ad-
missions policy guaran-
teeing 16 seats for minority
candidates.
The appeal was filed
after the California Su-
preme Court ruled it was
unconstitutional for the uni-
versity to exclude Allan
Bakke solely because he is
white.
The Jewish representa-
tives reiterated their advo-
cacy of affirmative action
through recruitment and
special training for the dis-
advantaged.
Such special programs,
the Jewish leaders said,
should be "based on cri-
teria of disadvantagement
rather than on criteria of
race in order to give all dis-
advantaged applicants an -
opportunity to compete."
Two Jewish and six, eth-
nic groups joined in a
friend-of-the-court brief in
the Bakke case last week
supporting affirmative ac-
tion to speed the entry of ra-
cial minorities into higher
education but opposing the
use of racial quotas.
Signing the brief were the
American Jewish Com-
mittee, American Jewish
Congress, Hellenic Bar As-
sociation of Illinois, Italian-
American Foundation, Pol-
ish American Affairs Coun-
cil, Polish American Educa-
tors Association, Ukrainian
Congress Committee of
America (Chicago Division)
and Unico National.
In their brief, the eight or-
ganizations cited with ap-
)roval the majority deci-
sion of the California Su-
preme Court that medical
school admission need not
be based solely on academ-
ic test scores. In the
Court's words:
"We observe and empha-
size...that the University is
not required to choose be-
tween a racially neutral ad-
mission standard applied
strictly according to grade
point averages and test
scores, and a standard
which accords preferences
to minorities because of
their race...
"While minority appli7

cants may have lower
grade point averages and
test scores than others, we
are aware of no rule of law
which requires the Univer-
sity to accord determina-
tive weight in admissions to
these quantitative factors."
To avoid the "false dich-
otomy" between absolute re-
liance on numerical scores
on the one hand and racial
preference on the other, the
brief declared:
"Schools may and, we
think, should evaluate both
grades and test scores in
the light of a candidate's
background; whether he
came from a culturally im-
poverished home; the na-
ture and quality of the
schools attended; whether
family circumstances re-
quired work while attending

school;
whether
he...demonstrated concern
and interest in the broader
community by political ac-
tivity or volunteer work
among the sick or under-
privileged; and whether he
had manifested leadership,
industry, perseverance,
self-discipline and intense
motivation.
"Because grades and test
scores alone may not meas-
ure the true potentialities of
such candidates," the brief
added, "weight should be
given to the reality that
some disadvantaged candi-
dates have demonstrated
the capability of surmount-
ing handicaps, whether
such handicaps were occa-
sioned by discrimination,
poverty, chronic illness or
other factors."

Holocaust Study Title Misleads

By

DR.
MILTON
STEINHARDT

Books dealing with cer-
tain aspects of the
Holocaust continue to flood
the market.
As I scan the books, the
question arises as to what
is the purpose of recounting
the most painful and shame-
ful episode in modern his-
tory: genocide not only of
six million Jews but of mil-
lions of Slays and others.
Is it like touching a pain-
ful tooth with your tongue
— to ascertain its origin
and so perhaps master the
situation? Or is it a sense
of t uilt for surviving? Is it
an affirmation never to for-
get or forgive? Is it to in-
sure that "it cannot happen
here?" Is it to learn a les-
son from the complacency
of some Jews in Germany
prior to Hitler? Is it to
maintain our Jewish identi-
ty by this common expe-
rience?
Or is it further demonstra-
tion that the only realistic
solution to the Jewish "prob-
lem" is the viability of the
state of Israel which, were
it in existence during the
Hitler period would never
have allowed the extermina-
tion of a third of its people.
The most shocking aspect
of the Holocaust was the
deafening and con-
spiratorial silence of the
Western world, the Church,
and world powers.
In "German Jews Fought
Back" by Julius Keller
(Vantage Pliess), the au-
thor is a bit presumptuous
in his title, for he describes
only a handful of Jewish
members of a sport organi-
zation who made an abor-
tive effort to save the Ber-
lin Synagogue from destruc-
tion on "Kristal Nacht" by
resistance to the initial on-
slaught. He relates how sev-
eral managed to cross the
border to France. Perhaps
the title should read:
"Some Young German

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Jews Hoped to Wished to
Fight Back".
Though this book does not
add significantly to the
chronicle of the Holocaust,
it has merit in its sim-
plicity, in the description
how the fateful event, the
first violent attack in the
Nazi period, appeared to an
affluent Jewish youth of 17.
Of the three who escaped to
France and managed to
reach the U.S. with the aid
of French Jewry, he was
the only survivor. All three
volunteered to serve in the
U.S. Army despite their des-
ignation as "enemy aliens".
Two were killed — one in
the Normandy invasion, the
other in the Battle of the
Bulge.
The psychological reac-
tion of one young person to
a specific event has a uni-
versal appeal, perhaps
greater than numerous his-
torical data. It is similar to
the emotional impact of
"The Diary of Anne
Frank". Even though there
were hundreds of Anne
Franks, we are touched by
the courage, tenderness and
humanity of one young per-
son.
The author's story about
his parents' attempt to es-
cape and the tragic after-
math, the letter the author
received in Sept., 1942 from
his colleague, a prisoner in
an extermination camp,
who bribed a guard with his
gold watch to smuggle out
that letter which clearly de-
scribed the fate of the pre-
vious trainload of arrivals
in the camp and how the liv-
ing inmates were forced to
sort out the shoes, clothes
and gold teeth, etc. — all
this gives the reader a jolt
hard to forget.
Perhaps the author con-
veys his message in the last
chapter. He asks!': "What as-
surance can we give our
children that there will not
be persecution or pogroms
in their lives?" He replies:
"The state of Israel", and,
"the Holocaust has taught
American Jewry a valuable
lesson — to organize re-
sources the moment anti-
Semitic activity becomes
known anywhere in the
world, and to act, instead
of assuming 'It cannot hap-
pen here ".

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