Jews in American Higher Education 1 Running Head: JEWS IN AMERICAN HIGHER EDUCATION A History of Jews in American Higher Education

Throughout the history of American higher education, Jews have been both marginalized and unaccepted in collegiate life. Their history of discrimination in the United States led to the founding of religious and secular institutions in which Jewish American culture could be explored and celebrated. Today, these colleges and universities espouse Jewish and nonsectarian values and produce graduates from all religions. The following paper provides an historical account of the persecution of Jews and their subsequent responses in the context of American higher education and offers implications for student affairs practitioners. From the inception of higher education in America with the founding of Harvard College in 1636, Jews were cast as outsiders beyond the realm of normal college life. Participation and eligibility in extracurricular activities was limited for centuries by the dominant Protestant paradigm; for example, institionalized anti-Semitism across the country denied Jews the opportunity to join historically Christian fraternities (Horowitz, 1987), and similar sentiment drastically affected the admission of Jews to medical schools in the United States (Halperin, 2001). At the turn of the twentieth century, quota requirements limited Jews ’ matriculation in college and forced them to compete against one another for the few spots elite colleges ha