Volume 4 No 1 - Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

100 JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF ANTISEMITISM [ VOL. 4:89
liberties could lead “to those other denials of freedom so well demonstrated
in Nazi Germany.” 30 Dean Hawkes denied Burke’s charge that the administration’s
refusal to take any disciplinary action against the student rioters
who had torn down the Barnard fence indicated that his expulsion was
politically motivated. Hawkes claimed that the rioters had merely engaged
in a “usual pre-examination outburst,” while the anti-Nazi demonstration
was an “invasion of the sanctity of Dr. Butler’s home.” 31
The ASU immediately rushed to Burke’s defense. James Wechsler, the
ASU director of publications, announced that his organization was planning
a nationwide campus protest against Burke’s expulsion when the fall 1936
semester began. Wechsler demanded to know why the Columbia administration
had singled out Burke for punishment when “hundreds of students
joined with him in the protest meeting.” He accused the administration of
expelling Burke because of his activities supporting the building service
workers strike at Columbia the previous March. 32 The Columbia ASU
charged that President Butler was responsible for Burke’s expulsion, declaring
that subordinates carried out his instructions “while he circles the globe
paying lip-service to freedom.” 33 The ASU, while the Heidelberg festival
was in progress, cabled Nazi Germany’s minister of education Bernhard
Rust, who delivered a blistering antisemitic speech there, warning that
Burke’s expulsion would not quash protest against American university
complicity in Nazi Germany’s propaganda campaign. 34
American and British press dispatches from Heidelberg described the
550th anniversary ceremonies as a massive Nazi propaganda festival. The
London Times reported that “the city [is] smothered in Swastika flags and
students marching through the town as Nazi Storm Troopers or Nazi
Guards.” Both the London Times and The New York Times emphasized that
the German ministry of propaganda tightly controlled the entire festival.
The New York Times reported on the first day that the top Nazi leaders were
either present or expected to arrive shortly, including propaganda minister
30. Burke, “Why Columbia Told Me Not to Return,” 12.
31. Dismissal of Bob Burke, 9.
32. The New York Times, June 30, 1936; New York Herald Tribune, June 30,
1936.
33. The Washington Post, June 30, 1936. The ASU was referring to the frequent
trips to Europe Butler made as president of the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace. Butler considered himself an international statesman and peacemaker.
He made several trans-Atlantic voyages on German vessels flying the swastika
flag, in defiance of the boycott of German goods and services announced by American
Jewish groups in 1933 and endorsed by the American Federation of Labor.
Norwood, The Third Reich in the Ivory Tower, 78, 82.
34. Daily Worker, July 1, 1936.