This photograph of Jeanette and Miriam Calmenson appeared in the Gopher Yearbook page devoted to the Scroll and Key Literary Society, 1923. This literary society was for Jewish girls, which was one more example of the social segregation of Jews and non-Jews on the campus. The Calmenson sisters were asked to leave their boarding house because “too many Jewish girls,” they were told, lowered the university’s ranking of boarding houses. This was an early example of antisemitism in student housing. Just like African American students who were not allowed rooms in dormitories, Jewish students were also “blamed” for their own exclusion. If other students did not want to be near Jewish or African American students, then the administration built a policy on keeping white, Christian students “comfortable.”
If you have information about the University of Minnesota in the 1930s that you would like to add, or reflections on other campus struggles, please contact us at prell001@umn.edu
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