91PRIMMw - - 9w '04101pw I - - 1- - W s V.- -- Continued from preceding page college students, patrolled by white po- licemen with dogs; there was "Blowin' in the Wind" on the hit parade and there were James Baldwin novels; and finally there was the culmination of this sum- mer of civil rights, the August 28 march on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It was a giant spectacle, a "gentle ar- my" said the New York Times. Many peo- ple were talking of the "festive, Sunday picnic" atmosphere, and how smoothly the whole day passed without incident. But it must be realized that the tensions beforehand had reached a fever pitch; restaurants were closed in the downtown area, and half of Washington stayed home that day. Lincoln Rockwell had threat- ened a massive counter-demonstration. There were rumors on Capitol Hill of helicopters with tear gas bombs ready to hover menacingly over the crowd. Nothing of the sort materialized, but when it was all over the city of Washing- ton breathed a sigh of relief which cor- responded with the catharsis felt in Ne- gro communities all over the country. With two other interns, I organized over 100 Capitol Hill employes to march as a group from the Capitol to Washington Monument, there joining the main body of marchers headed for the Lincoln Me- morial. We had barbers and folding room clerks, legislative aides and administra- tive assistants, all singing and marching under an improvised banner advertising "Capitol Hill Employes for Civil Rights." The banner was hastily constructed with two sticks and a rubberized baby sheet. At day's end, the Memorial grounds were deserted of all human activity, and Abra- ham Lincoln was left alone again, his grounds strewn with twenty tons of pa- per posters, and discarded lunch boxes. The voice of Martin Luther King, Jr. still echoed, "I have a dream (a roar from the crowd) when my child and a white child in Alabama can learn and play in the same school in perfect harmony; (anoth-: er roar) I have a dream . . ." And then the deep slow tones of A. Philip Ran- dolph, the chairman of the march com- mittee: "We are in the vanguard of a great social revolution . ." These words and feelings were carried back with every bus and car leaving Washington that eve- ning, to Albany, Georgia, and to Engle- wood, New Jersey, and to towns and neighborhoods all over the country. THERE ARE TWO POINTS which I can cite in conclusion, and which help to give an overall evaluation of the sum- mer. Analyzing what I learned about the government, the first point is that few classrooms are able to teach the "per- sonalized" approach to government, an approach which is .learned in the first few weeks in Washington. Legislators be- come identified with faces and not mere- ly names. Issues become identified with names and not merely groups. Every sen- ator's personality is known, and his friends in the senate are identified. One' learns how he will react to every issue. Black and white preconceptions slowly fade into gray, as former philosophical "villains" show they are honestly trying to grasp an issue, while some former "her- oes" reveal themselves as weakling op- portunists. And the personality element makes many issues more meaningful and interesting as the decisions and processes of government unfold as products of rec- ognizable human figures. The intern in Washington is constantly exposed to this process, meeting and talking with and hearing stories about various govern- ment officials. The list of government officials I had an opportunity to see and hear is extensive. For example, one after- noon an intern softball team played the White House staff. I was pitching (also playing was Michigan student Chris Coh- en and Ann Arbor residents Tom Rowe and Mike Staebler) against New Fron- tiersmn in sweatshirts and Bermuda shorts, among them Secretary of the In- terior Stewert Udall, Ted Sorenson, Spe- cial Counsel to the President Meyer Feld- man, and other lesser notables. Unfor- tunatly, they were in too good physical shape (from fifty-mile hikes) and whip- ped us handily. Afterwards, all the in- terns went into the White House, changed in the locker room downstairs, and then discussed world affairs for an hour with McGeorge Bundy, probably the most im- portant of the President's close advisors. Experiences like these added immensely to my already great appreciation of the summer in Washington. The second point is more vague, but in the long run I believe more important. Every employe working in a congression- al office is made to be aware of every major issue facing our government to- day. The intensity of the issues is accen- tuated by the sensitivities of the Wash- ington nerve centers designed to handle them, and by the various lobbying groups attempting to bring pressure to bear from all angles of the-argument. The person exposed to these forces cannot help but gain by the experience. I was especially fortunate to be in the office of a legis- lator who is genuinely concerned with problems facing the country today and who approached the difficulties of his office with intelligence and integrity. I was able, therefore, to appreciate how de- manding our complex government system can be, even for highly competent public servants. HOPEFULLY, the University of Michi- gan will someday have an internship program which will place qualified Mich- igan students in government offices. At present, several students, faculty and ad- ministrators are discussing both the ra- tionale and the practical feasibility of a program, which would be tremendously rewarding for the individuals who took part but for the University as well. After all, ten thousand college interns can't be wrong. - ~-- S - - - V 4 _#. PLAN FOR A WASHINGTON SEMESTER By CHRISTOPHER COhEN WORKING for the federal government during the summer is an interesting and enlightening experience but one which few Michigan students have been able to have. This is not so much due to lack of interest as to lack of information about how, when, and where to apply for jobs in Washington, D.C. During this past summer, the federal government employed 7500 other tem- porary workers in Washington, most of them university and college students. Only about 25 of these students came from the University of Michigan. Many Eastern colleges and universities have or- ganized programs for their students who work summers in the nation's capitol. Yale, for example, has a program that brought 75 student "interns" to Wash- ington for jobs and coordinated lecture and tour activities last summer. In order to eliminate the lack of in- formation, I propose that the University develop a Washington intern program which would give similar aid to our stu- dents in finding available jobs, arranging living accommodations, and in establish- ing discussion sessions with leading gov- ernment officials during the summer in Washington. A T THE PRESENT time there are four intern programs operating in the state of Michigan. One is a Lansing in- tern program run by Michigan State University. This program places MSU students in jobs with the Michigan legis- lature and state agencies in the capitol city. A second Lansing intern program is operated on a cooperative basis by Mich- igan's three major universities. Four graduate students and law graduates are chosen from a nationwide competition to spend one year working for the Michigah Senate. This is similar to existing pro- grams in Indiana and California. The four are assigned to the Senate Business Committee and the chairman, John Fitzgerald (R-Grand Ledge) refers them to individual senators. Applications are accepted on a national basis although the four interns are currently from this state. Three are from the University of Michigan and the fourth is from Mich- igan State University. The three pro- fessors who operate the program are Eugene Feingold (U of M), Charles Press (MSU), and Dale Vineyard (Wayne State). Every Monday these three men journey to Lansing to participate in a seminar with the four graduates on state legislative behavior. In addition to re- ceiving an annual salary of $4000, paid for jointly by the Ford Foundation and the Michigan Senate, the students re- ceive four hours of academic credit. A third Lansing intern program is op- erated by the Michigan Committee for Education in Politics (MCEP). Winners of the state-wide competition spend one week working for members of the state legislature. Any college student may ap- ply for this program which usually sends six Republicans and six Democrats to Lansing during March or April, usually during Easter vacation. A fourth intern program is also oper- ated each summer in Washington and Lansing by the MCEP, the successor to the Michigar Citizenship Clearing House, which originated the plan in the sum- mer of 1961. Students are chosen for jobs with the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO, the Republi- can State Central Committee, the Demo- cratic State Central Committee, one Democratic U.S. Senator, one Congress- man from each party, and the Republi- can Policy of the U.S. House of Repre- sentatives. THE PROGRAM would be administered at the University of Michigan by an intern counselor. The counselor could be a faculty member whose knowledge and experience with Washington procedures and personalities would facilitate the program's operation. An intern coun- selor should be available on campus for one or two days a week throughout the academic year to answer questions from students, to correspond with offices and agencies in Washington, and to screen applicants. The overall program would be under the general supervision of a faculty ad- visory committee, drawn perhaps from each of the departments in the College of Literature, Sciences and Arts. AN INTERVIEW would be scheduled to determine the particular phase of government work most interesting to the candidate-legislative or executive, the particular offices he had in mind (spe- cific senators, congressmen, committees, agencies), and the kind of work the stu- dent is best prepared for in terms of his previous summer jobs, academic back- ground, etc. Resumes of the student's qualifications would be sent to offices and agencies, either legislative or executive, where the candidate would seem to "fit in" best. Any single department, agency, or in some cases, divisions or bureaus, in Washington might receive resumes of from three to twenty students. From this point on, the decision would rest with the Washington "employer." Most Congressmen hire only students whose homes are in the Congressmen's state. Students would be informed how to do their part in obtaining political clearance for possible employment in the Senate or the House. Ideally, each Con- gressional office would pay its interns at the prevailing rate of $50 weekly. In a minority of cases an interested member of Congress can pay only part of this salary, or none at all. If the contem- plated program at the University of Michigan could be shown to be a con- tinuing and successful program, it might later be possible to request supplementary PROFESSOR ARTHUR BROMAGE, chairman, Department of Po- litical Science: The Department is extremly interested in the program and is enthusiastic about it. We believe there should be a more formal method of recruiting college undergraduates here and funnelling them to jobs in Washington. We intend as a department to assist in every way possible. We feel this is properly a college-wide program to attract students from all areas of study. One greatest education in life is practical experience, either in politics or in public administration. Book learning is no sub- stitute for working in this type of pratical experience. DEAN WILLIAM HABER, College of Literature, Science and Arts: We will contine to explore the possibilities for this program. It's an ex- cellent ;dea and it could be a great program, as it would enrich the edu- cational experience of students at the University and would provide some realism to the theoretical studies which students undertake on the cam- pus. This plan merits the most sympathetic conisideration and hopefully we will be able to implement it. ASSOCIATE DEAN JAMES ROBERTSON, College of Literature, Science and the Arts: This is a wonderful proposal because it allows students significant experience with the people and programs relevent to government activity which the campus cannot provide. It's eminently educational. ASSISTANT PROFESSOR EUGENE FEINGOLD, Department of Political Science: This program is a desirable one. There is a great de- mand from students interested in these jobs. Up to now all I've been able to do is su gest where students might write for most of them are unable to go to Washington. This is an excellent chance for students to have a satisfying experience while they are earning money. Page Eight The interns, Lowenistein and Cohen help from private sources or foundations to support part of the students' expenses in connection with jobs with the Con- gress. Even without such support, some students might be found who would be willing to work "for experience only" in such cases. FIRST ASSIGNMENTS would be made shortly after Easter vacation. A list of suggestions for living accom- modations could be furnished to new interns as they are assigned to positions. Interns would be urged to join together in small groups in order to benefit from the exchange of experience. Some consideration should be given to offering university credit for the intern's summer work. I T IS MY feeling that such a program would provide a challengingaand edu- cational experience for students at the University of Michigan in either the legislative or executive branches of the federal government. It would enrich their on-campus education and would give them the opportunity to begin to use some of the skills which they have acquired in the course of their college work. The program might even encourage some of the participants to become active in public service or to take employment with federal, state or local governments upon completion of their college train- ing. A detailed draft for this Washington Intern Program has been circulated among members of the University ad- ministration and has drawn considerable favorable comment and enthusiasm. It appears that while everyone is sym- pathetic, there is some question as to whether adequate funds for the pro- gram will be immediately available. THE MICHIGAN DAILY MAGAZINE MAGA INE Vol. V, No. 5 Sunday, November 10, 1963