Education: Reactionary and Stupid

If a foreign student arriving in the U. S. outside his nation’s quota last week had sought to earn 50¢ at his college by rocking a professor’s baby or washing dishes in a chophouse, he would promptly have found himself under investigation, subject to arrest and deportation. He might work in exchange for room & board or part of his tuition fees, but he could earn no U. S. cash. If he did, or if in entering he lacked adequate expense money—and immigration officials could make certain by demanding $500 bond—he had to go back where he came from. This new immigration ruling was communicated privily by Secretary of Labor William Nuckles Doak to U. S. educational institutions early last month. As a concession to immediate protests, it was modified to permit students admitted prior to last August to work out their tuition and keep. Nonquota students could continue to hold scholarships. From 1,500 to 2,500 foreign students were affected, chiefly in New York and California. Last week arose a great hue & cry, led by Dr. John Henry MacCracken, associate director of the American Council on Education, U. S. Commissioner of Education William John Cooper, President Livingston Farrand of Cornell University, President James Lukens McConaughy of Wesleyan, President Cloyd Heck Marvin of George Washington (Washington, D. C.) and President Nicholas Murray Butler of polyglot Columbia, who cried, “Reactionary and stupid!”