Columbia accepted the Institute partly because it was judged an apolitical research agency

Evidence

The only possible entanglement in this whole affair lies in the fact that the Institute is on the liberal-radical side. I have called this to MacIver’s attention, and think he is pretty well aware of it. From what little I have seen of their work, and from my conversation with Gumperz, I think it is fair to conclude that they are a research agency with high standards and not interested in propaganda. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 584

Categorization

• XREF: Reinforces the theme of ambiguity/self-camouflage as survival strategy for exiled critical theorists. — connects to: Lazarsfeld positioned his institute as an apolitical research service organization. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 997; Columbia’s turn toward empiricism and the war loosened the Institut’s ties with the university — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 655

Broader Connections

• Lazarsfeld positioned his institute as an apolitical research service organization. #corroborates (0.90) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 997
• Columbia’s turn toward empiricism and the war loosened the Institut’s ties with the university #corroborates (0.75) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 655