The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton (review)

Reviewed by: The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton Harold S. Wechsler (bio) The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. By Jerome Karabel. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005. viii + 711 pp. A skeptical professor once asked if archival materials existed to document the discriminatory admissions practices of elite colleges and universities; and if yes, could scholars gain access to those documents? The Chosen answers yes to both questions. The respective archives amply document the gap—sometimes chasm—between the public pronouncements of many Harvard, Yale, and Princeton (HYP) authorities, and their prejudices and covert practices during much of the twentieth century. Marcia Synnott used these records when writing The Half-Opened Door (1979), as did Dan Oren in Joining the Club (1985). Now, Jerome Karabel deepens our understanding of the historical background to today's politically charged debates over admissions policies: the rise of public high schools, the expanded list of subjects acceptable for admission and graduation, and above all the growing diversity of the applicant pool. The Chosen analyzes the effects of the early twentieth-century influx of East European Jews into higher education: a backlash leading to immigration and academic restriction, implementation of "intelligence" tests for college admission, and denigration of "greasy grinds" in favor of students with "native ability." Focusing on HYP's undergraduate divisions during the first decades of the last century—The Chosen makes only passing mention of admission to medical and other professional schools—Karabel discusses the elite prep school's role in preparing students for Ivy League colleges, demonstrating how the academic achievements of Jewish students threatened this mutually beneficial and exclusive relationship. Catholic students were counseled to remain aloof from non-Catholic colleges that might challenge their religious beliefs; while Harvard and Yale (but not Princeton) admitted handfuls of African Americans. Thus Jewish students—many residing near Harvard and Yale and successfully adjusting to every change in their academic entrance requirements—represented the greatest challenge to the status quo. Karabel offers two explanations for why alumni, faculty, trustees and administrators fretted over this "Jewish Problem." The first—considering all but a few Jews "unsuitable" for entrance into the national leadership cadre they wished to produce—appears less convincing since he describes efforts to enlist these few Jewish members to the contemplated discrimination effort. He gives greater weight to his second explanation—fear of Jews—especially commuters whose mental acumen challenged Harvard's [End Page 269] social order, and whose perceived political radicalism might upset the university's and the nation's social and political order. The visibility of Jews in liberal and radical movements after World War I and during the 1930s first spurred and then appeared to vindicate the secret decisions of administrators. The rules of admission, therefore, needed changing to produce the desired results—what Karabel calls the "Iron Law." He examines Harvard president Abbott Lawrence Lowell's 1922 public announcement of an intent to limit acceptance of Jewish applicants, the ensuing uproar, faculty assent and resistance, the covert mechanisms later adopted, the unintended and somewhat unpredictable effects of admissions policy changes on the demographics of enrolled students, and the personalities and motives of key administrators. By most accounts James B. Conant implemented meritocratic admissions criteria during his Harvard presidency (1933–1953). Conant, Karabel notes, made the right public pronouncements about equality of opportunity. But he also appointed a dean of admissions with years of boarding school administrative experience, gave that dean broad discretion in admissions and scholarship awards, and trusted him to produce a class of "desirables." Karabel then analyzes the denouement of the "Jewish Problem"—returning GIs, revelations about the Holocaust, and a more liberal domestic politics placed the Ivies on the defensive and led to legal regulation. Invidious discrimination waned over the next generation, but we're left with its legacy today: selective admissions—the ability of private (and "privatizing" public) colleges, acting for the supposed public good, to choose the next generation of leaders. Colleges admit students according to internally determined criteria, including "the emphasis on 'character,' the preference for alumni sons and athletes, the widespread use of interviews and photos, the reliance...