U. to host national service conference

Government officials, community leaders, and faculty and students from the University and colleges throughout the country will converge on campus Thursday and Friday for a conference on President Clinton's national service agenda. U.S. Sen. Harris Wofford (D-Pa.) is scheduled to give the keynote address -- via telephone -- on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in room 110 of the Annenberg School. It is open to the public. According to Amy Cohen, associate director of the Penn Program for Public Service, audience members will be allowed to ask Wofford questions on the topic. Ira Harkavy, director for community partnerships and vice dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, called the University's opportunity to host the conference "a great development for Penn happening at a very important time." Harkavy said the conference would make the University "the absolute center of helping to frame discussion of this most central issue," which Clinton touted during last fall's campaign and discussed recently at Rutgers University. Under Clinton's plan, which he has likened to a domestic Peace Corps, the government would forgive student loans in return for national service in areas such as public works and teaching. "[The conference] represents an enormous opportunity to have an influence on national policy," Harkavy said. "It will illustrate the role a University should have in analyzing and providing approaches to crucial national." Todd Waller, the director of the University's program for student-community involvement, said he expects more than 200 students to attend the conference and observe the making of the government's national service program at close range. "Right now, in D.C., the Clinton administration is in the midst of designing a national service commission," Waller said. "Young people who participate will have a chance to hear the experts and young people will also have a chance to participate and give their feedback and be a part of the dialogue." Waller said he thinks it was ironic that the "twentysomething" generation, which he said was maligned as the cynical, underachieving "Generation X," has been heavily involved in designing the national service agenda. "[The agenda] is really being led by young students," he added. Waller said that although many people have heard about the possibility of the forgiveness of college loans in exchange for national service, there is considerable debate in Washington "as to the best structure for national service and nobody seems to agree." Waller said he hopes that Clinton's national service program remains strong even after he leaves office. College sophomore Raj George, who helped to organize the conference, said he is excited about the conference. "A lot of people from across the country are going to be there," George said. "Students will have direct input into how the [national service] program is going to work." George said he hopes that by going to the conference, he might learn about the specifics of a national service program. "I really don't have firm grasp on how it's going to work, so I'm coming to the conference with questions," he said. Robert Gordon, a national service policy analyst in the White House, said Smita Singh, a program officer from the Commission of National and Community Service, will represent the Clinton administration at the conference. Wofford's speech and all of Friday's events will be open to the public. Schedules for the conference are being distributed on Locust Walk.