[pauloalto]

Many of my Jewish friends at Stanford believed, strongly, that the University had a "Jewish quota," a cap on the number of Jews who could be admitted. None of them had anything that could even charitably called evidence. At the time, I was skeptical. I still am, but the disclosures over the years that some of the Ivies did have caps on Jewish admissions earlier in the 20th century has made me think it's not crazy to wonder if Stanford did the same.

In terms of the student body, I wasn't aware of any discernible current of anti-Semitism, but it's not something I would have been extremely sensitive to. Talk of divestment in those days centered on firms doing a lot of business with DoD (in the early 70s) and South Africa (in the mid-70s). I don't recall a single instance of Israel coming up in those conversations back then.

When I applied to Stanford back in the sixties we had to send a photo along with our application. Universities in in some other states were not allowed by state law to require photographs. I was later told by a friend that requiring photographs was one way of screening for prospective racial mixes. I can't say for sure whether or not Stanford screened in this way, but a friend in my freshman dorm sent a picture of his dog and he got in OK, so it can't have been that serious.

And did Stanford disinvest in companies that did business in South Africa? I don't think they did.

[pauloalto]

Many of my Jewish friends at Stanford believed, strongly, that the University had a "Jewish quota," a cap on the number of Jews who could be admitted. None of them had anything that could even charitably called evidence. At the time, I was skeptical. I still am, but the disclosures over the years that some of the Ivies did have caps on Jewish admissions earlier in the 20th century has made me think it's not crazy to wonder if Stanford did the same.

In terms of the student body, I wasn't aware of any discernible current of anti-Semitism, but it's not something I would have been extremely sensitive to. Talk of divestment in those days centered on firms doing a lot of business with DoD (in the early 70s) and South Africa (in the mid-70s). I don't recall a single instance of Israel coming up in those conversations back then.

When I applied to Stanford back in the sixties we had to send a photo along with our application. Universities in in some other states were not allowed by state law to require photographs. I was later told by a friend that requiring photographs was one way of screening for prospective racial mixes. I can't say for sure whether or not Stanford screened in this way, but a friend in my freshman dorm sent a picture of his dog and he got in OK, so it can't have been that serious.

And did Stanford disinvest in companies that did business in South Africa? I don't think they did.