Employment Office Refuses To Aid Biased Companies

The Student Employment Office will probably deny use of its facilities to any company admitting discrimination against national, racial, or religious minorities, Director Louis L. Newby said yesterday.

Newby spoke in response to a survey by the Illinois Committee on Discrimination in Higher Education, published Sunday in the New York Times, which revealed that less than half the placement offices polled refused to handle discriminatory job orders.

"Although I have never had a statement from a company before it held an interview that it would not hire members of a minority group," Newby said, "I expect that if the situation were to arise, I would tell the company that it could not use our facilities for interviews."

No Warnings

The Employment Office does not, however, now warn companies that it will not tolerate discrimination, Newby admitted. "I do not think it is necessary to state explicitly that the Office will not allow companies which use its facilities to indulge in such practices," he explained. "Such action would be superfluous," he said, "because the University's position on discrimination is already well known."

The Illinols Committee's survey found that "a significant number of placement officers ask information about race, religion, or national origin on their own forms. A small number," it continued, "supply this information to employers on a routine basis and a larger number only if requested."

No Racial Data

Newby's office neither supplies information about race, religion, or national origin, nor allows its applicants to answer such questions on company forms.

Whether or not Newby has learned that a company uses racial or religious quotas, he sends all applicants for a particular job to the company's recruiting officers.

"Nevertheless," he pointed out, "Companies can reject men for positions, particularly in management training programs, citing vague personal grounds for their decision in place of discriminatory reasons."