Rebecca Shapiro Thesis (11 May 2011).pdf - Brandeis Institutional ...

were restored." 120 Other organizations feared becoming involved in a controversial andpolitical fight, fights in which fraternities traditionally did not engage.By the mid-to-late 1930's, both members and organizations began to act on theiranxiety about the situation. Students volunteered and worked for organizations such asthe Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and other organizationsthat promoted Jewish defense and human rights. Students used campus organizationssuch as the Jewish Committees on Religious Affairs to educate other campus members.In 1936, Jewish fraternity men at Dickinson College used the weeks in which they weredesignated to speak to refute allegations of Jewish economic dominance, a popular anti-Semitic accusation at the time.One response to rising Nazism, the German Jewish Student Refugee Program,initiated by Phi Sigma Delta fraternity in 1934, gained momentum quickly. From 1934-1941, the organization brought intelligent German refugees to America to study inAmerican universities. 121 ZBT created a similar program called the Zeta Beta TauÉmigré Student Program, which functioned from 1935-1940. The ZBT "adopt" a refugeestudent began at the Cornell and at the Franklin and Marshall chapters, and continuedthere and at other chapters until the Nazi government prevented emigration. The studentsresided in Jewish fraternity and sorority houses free of charge. ZBT's program providedstudents with books and spending money in addition to room and board. 122Otherorganizations’ participation with the German Jewish Student Refugee Program can bereflected in organizations materials, such as the minutes from a 1937 Supreme Governing120 Toll, 144121 Sanua, 236122 Sanua, Here's To Our Fraternity, 13133