The Michigan Daily-Thursday, March 23, 1978-Page 9
ACTION recruiter visits
By STEVE SHAER
As part of a 50-city tour designed "to get the message to the
public that we're moving again," Larry Brown, national
recruitment director for ACTION, visited campus yesterday
in an effort to kindle student interest in the Peace Corps and
VISTA.
ACTION, a federal agency, was organized in 1971 to con-
solidate the Peace Corps, VISTA (Volunteer in Service to
America) and other federal public service groups under one
authority.
ACCORDING TO Brown, ACTION is "in the process of
rebuilding" after some rough treatment at the hands of the
Nixon Administration.,
"What happened in the Nixon Administration was that we
were one of its abuses," said Brown in reference to that ad-
ministration's attempt to eliminate the Peace Corps
program entirely.
"In 1968 the Johnson Administration allocated $125 million
dollars for the Peace Corps and Nixon cut the hell out of it to
$71 million dollars," Brown added.
AT AN INFORMAL session at the International Center
later in the day, Brown told students and ex-volunteers, "I've
seen confidential memos from the Nixon Administration and
they showed that there was a conscious plan to weed out ac-
tivists and cut back drastically on volunteers."
The attempt to limit the programs was foiled by the
willingness of many volunteers to work and keep them going,
said Brown.
Accompanying Brown at yesterday's session were two
Detroit area ACTION recruiters who elaborated on what kind
of individuals they were looking for.
"A MAJOR IN a specific field is not necessary for the
Peace Corps," said recruiter Joyce Howell. "There are so
many changes in the world that by the time you graduate
college who knows what is needed."
"We want people right off the campuses. We want skilldd,.
people, but we are opening the doors up for a broader rag
of Americans to work in these programs," Brown said.
He reiterated that the days of biased selection practices
seen under the Nixon Administration are over.
"OUR PROGRAMS have to look like our country looks,
young, old, black, white, male, female, skilled and un
skilled," he stressed.
At the private interview, Brown made it clear that times
have changed since Carter took office. Carter has given his
support for ACTION along with a budget allocation of oIr
$165 million dollars for the Peace Corps and VISTA:
programs. A bi-partisan coalition in Congress is also
throwing its support for the volunteer agencies.
To illustrate the Peace Corps experience, six former Peace
Corps volunteers at yesterday's meeting related their per=-
sonal experiences. Julia Meck, a former Peace Corps volun-
teer and present recruiter said, "It's so exciting to the
natives of the country you're in to see that we speak the
language. They become so pleased."
BROWN SAID ACTION programs are better able to deal
with national and international problems now because t
problems are better understood. ,
"We see ourselves working with people to solve problenrs!'
on a local level; to teach the local people to care for them-
selves," Brown stated.
Brown asked the students what they thought of the Peace
Corps working in countries with repressive governments,
such as Chile.
"It is your responsibility to help the village, even if it
means going against the government of the country," said
senior Rosanne Charles. "The responsibility is to help the
people there."
Daily Photo by WAYNE CABLE
ACTION National Recruitment Director Larry Brown and Detroit area Action recruiter Julia Meck discuss the future of
their organization yesterday at the International Center. Brown said ACTION is now in the process of rebuilding following
the Nixon and Ford administrations.
MSA filing deadline approaches
1975 under the now defunct Stude'
nt
By MARK PARRENT
Next month's Michigan Student
Assembly (MSA) election is heating up
as the filing deadline for candidates
nears. The deadline for all MSA can-
didates is Monday, March 27 at 5 p.m.
Thirty-nine spots, including the
president and vice-president, will be
filled in the election April 10, 11 and 12.
Candidate filing applications are
available in the MSA offices, 3909
Michigan Union.
THIS ELECTION is the first under
MSA's new election procedures.
Students of each school will elect a
number of representatives based on
number of students enrolled in the par-
ticular school, in accordance with an
amendment to the All-Campus _Con-
stituti6"n approved by students in
February.
The following schools and colleges
will have one seat on the Assembly with
one-half vote: Architecture and Urban
Planning, Art, Library Science, Phar-
macy and Public Health. The following
schools and colleges will elect . one
representative each with one vote:
Dentistry, Education, Law, Medicine,
Music, Natural Resources and Nursing.
Business Administration will have two
seats, Engineering, 3; Rackham, 6; and
the Literary College, 11.
While school and college represen-
tatives can only be elected by students
of their respective school, the president
and vice president will be elected as a
slate by the entire campus.
ERIC.ARNSON of the newly formed
Student Alliance for Better Represen-
tation Party (SABRE) and Nancy
Smith of the Move party are announced
candidates for president and vice
president respectively on an indepen-
dent slate. Irving Freeman and Jay
Barrymore of the Bullshit party are
also running as a slate. All four are
presently MSA members.
The president and vice president
were last directly elected by students in
Government Council. Since that time,
the president and vice president have
been elected by MSA members.
Also to be decided in the upcoming
election is a ballot proposal designed to
create a mandatory student
assessment of $2.92 per term to finance,
among other things, the Campus Legal
Aid office. Legal Aid is presently in
danger of losing its University funding.
Also included in the fee is an increased
cut for MSA itself. Currently, MSA
projects are funded by a voluntary $1.15
per term student assessment.
Any change in funding approved by
students must also be approved by the
University Regents.
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Dental clinic's fate hinges on election
(Continued from Page 1)
money away from other areas like
fixing the city's blighted streets.
THE DENTAL clinic is just one of the
community projects funded by CDBG
money, the others being the Model
Cities child care center and the legal
aid service.
Last Monday night, City Council held
a public hearing on how next year's
CDBG funds should be allocated, and
Doretta Taylor was there, like she has
been for the last four years, lobbying
for the dental clinic, pleading for con-
tinued refunding, and putting in a plug
for a possible new facility to replace
their present cramped confines.
Taylor said she usually trys to avoid
City Council appearances. She explains
that whenever she has to lobby for fun-
ds, she is accused of trying to protect
her own job, and charged with being a
puppet of Mayor Albert Wheeler, a sup-
porter of Model Cities.
"I'M HERE TO see that this place
runs, and runs well and for the people,"
Taylor says. "I am not a political per-
son. I don't want to get up there fighting
Republicans and Democrats on Coun-
cil."
"I'm not fighting for my job," she
says, pointing out that she quit a
position as a registered nurse at the
Veteran's Administration (VA)
hospital to come to Model Cities.
Model Cities serves patients from the
designated community development
area of the city. The dental clinic
charges people according to what they
are able to pay, and, for some patients,
charges nothing at all.
EMMA WHEELER, chairperson of
the dental clinic's board, says the den-
tal program has been "a great boost to
the people in the community."
"A number of people that we serve
have never had dental care before,"
Wheeler says, recalling the story of one
senior citizen patient who had been
living with her dental plate broken in
five pieces for years, and could not af-
ford to have it fixed.
"And braces on children's teeth -
that was a middle-class phenomenon,"
Wheeler says. "The people in the com-
munity are very happy with the health
care center. They're comfortable and
happy, but they're dissatisfied with the
facility."
THE FACILITY is the second floor of
a converted house that the center rents
for $400 a month. "A number of our
people with pacemakers can't climb the
y v
facility it's no longer an advantage to
have the program at all. We can't con-.
tinue with what we're getting now.'
Wheeler, unlike Taylor, is not reluc-
tant to talk about the problems with'the
present building. Where Taylor says
that "enemies" of the project may use
the condition of the building to try to
have it shut down, Wheeler says that
only if people know about the center's
problems can they begin to help.
And also unlike Taylor, Wheeler is
very much "a political person" who
readily fixes the blame for the clinic's
plight.
"We can't get'those Republicans on
Concil to give us the money to build a
new facility," she said. "Those damn
Republicans don't care. Heaven help us
if we lose this election."
TWO WEEKS ago, Mayor Albert
Wheeler introduced a resolution that
would have provided $450,000 of federal
funds for building a new facility.
Republicans on Council objected to the
proposal as too costly, and argued that
the location of the proposed center
would not serve the needs of the entire
city.
At that meeting, Councilman Ronald
Trowbridge (R-Fourth Ward) com-
pared the proposed new facility to the
pyramids of Egypt, the Arc de Triom-
phe and Ronald McDonald's "golden
arches."
"Now we have Mayor Wheeler
proposing $450,000 for a single
building," Trowbridge said.
COUNCILMAN Louis Senunas (R-
Third Ward) said the proposed new
building would "preclude any further
neighborhood development. It puts all
the money into a central facility," he
said.
Senunas insisted "we're not against
human service, it's a question of
allocated money."
Councilman Wendell Allen (R-First
Ward) agreed. "I've tried to stay non-
partisan in dealing with human ser-
vices," he said.
AT THAT POINT, Councilman Jamie
Kenworthy was overheard to say, "If
God were listening, He'd strike him
down right there."
One who agrees with Kenworthy's jab
is Ezra Rowry, chairman of the Model
City's now-defunct policy board. "The
Republican party is racist," he said.
"The Republicans on Council are insen-
sitive to the needs of poor people and
black people."
"We need a building," Rowry said.
"We share a building. The building is
too small. It's totally inconvenient.
We've tried to get larger quotas for four
years now."
And as the partisan struggle con-
tinues over the future of Model Cities,
the clinic is struggling to maintain its
daily routine from its cramped second-
floor confines. And if Doretta Taylor is
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worried that the political juggling may
lead to the loss of the clinic, then she
does not show her fear.
"We have chucked, banged and
pushed things together so we can be
more comfortable," she says, looking
around the tiny room that serves as
receptionoffice. "But it's time for us to
leave."
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CAMP WISE
The Resident Camp of the Jewish Center
of Cleveland, Ohio
IS NOW HIRING
Counselors and Specialists for the 1978 Season.
A representative of CAMP WISE will conduct Interviews
on the campus on Thursday, Mar. 30, 1978.
For Further Information, Applications and Interview Appointments, please contact the
Summer Placement Office, 763-4117.
NOTICE
NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH