M'Y' March 6. HM

SCARLET AND BLACK

Page Fly.

 

Alt, Johnson, Spence Recount
Variety of Political Experiences

March 15 is the deadline for
submission of applications for
this summer's Political Interne
ship p r o g r a m. Application
forms are available in Room
207, Carnegie, from C. Edwin
Gilmour, PPPE director, or
from his secretary.

By Suzanne Gelber

A summer of superlatives,
responsibility and hard work,
a three-month madhouse de-
scribe the political internships
sponsored by PPPE as seen by
last summer's interns—Mari-
lyn Alt, Phil Johnson, and Jack
Spence.

Chosen by application (which
lsenow open), interns receive
a $500 stipend for two months
work from PPPE; a third
month of work and salary is
the option of individual con-
gressmen with whom interns
are placed. Election years
mean work on Congressional or
gubernatorial campaigns, while
years between elections find
tnost interns at Work in Wash-
ington, D. C., on Congressional
offlce staffs.

From pasting labels to sec-
retarial work, from greeting
constituents to background re-
search on legislation, Marilyn
Alt expended her energies in
the office of Neal Smith, Dem-
ocratic representative from
Des Moines. Fifth District. “I
did what other staff members
couldn’t get to," stated Mari-
lyn. A political science major,

 

Marilyn attended open commit-
tee hearings and spent a day
with 6|) Methodist Youhh Fel-
lowship members when Civil
Rights was under debate.

Acting as legislative assistant
to Congressman Fred Schwen-
gel, 3 Republican from Daven-
port, Iowa, Phil Johnson en»
joyed close contact with legisla-
tive affairs and techniques.
Johnson had a desk in Schwen-
gel's inner office from which he
called Congressional commit-
tees to discover the status of
pertinent legislation, as part
of his duties or legislative re-
search. Phil wrote synopses of
bills for Schwengel and actual»
ly wrote sections of bills the
Congressman intended to intro-
duce.

As did the other interns,
Jack Spence noted that “an-
swering constituent mail pro-
vided an interesting exercise
in knowledge of Congressional
style, and demanded a com-
plete knowledge of the stand
the Congressman took on a
Wide variety of legislation."
Jack spent his summer in Wis-
cousin in Senator William Prox-
mil‘e's ”informal workshop.”

‘The typical senatorial staff
has 15 members," stated Jack,
“and the atmosphere of each
office reflects the Congression-
al personality it houses." Com-
menting on the mail situation,
Jack explained that the office
received 400-500 pieces of mail
daily, about 80 per cent of
which had to be answered per-

 

Newa-formed Grinnell Civil Rights Club
To Replace Civil Rights Talk with Action

By Ann Showalter

”We want to stop talking
about civil rights and start act<
lng," stated Susan Goldberg,
one of the organizers of the re
cently formed Grinnell Civil
Rights Group.

In view of the significance of
the civil rights movement and
of the role of students in it, the
group has been formed “to pro-
vide the college community
with an opportunity to learn
about and to become active
participants in this nationwide
movement.”

Susan stressed the group's
concern with getting the towns-
people of Grinnell involved in
the program. “Some members
of the Grinnell Ministerial As-
sociation seemed very interest-
ed, and none were hostile” at a
meeting Monday with represen—
tatives from the civil rights
chapter.

“We plan to take a survey of
town opinion on the civil rights
problem in general and on spe.
cific issues such as willingness
to sell houses to Negroes," she
continued.

The group plans to hold a

hindralsing work day before'

the spring recess. Members
will wash Wllltlows, do spring
cleaning and outdoor tasks ap~
propriate to the weather ior
(acuity and townspeople.
Another pie-v cation project

 

will he a Showing of ”I’ll Never
Turn Back,” a Student Non-
violent Coordinating Committee
iilm about voter registration in
the Mississippi Delta.

“We would like to send some
one to work in one of SNCC’s
summer programs," S u s a n
said.

A civil rights bulletin board
will present current develop-
ments ill the field and opportun-
ities for students to continue
their work in their hometowns.

K e n n 2 th A, Christiansen
(biol.) heads the group’s board
of faculty advisers which in<
cludes Howard R. Burkle
(phil.). R o g e r L. Eldridge
(chaplain), Robert H. Have-
rnan (econ), Alan R. Jones
(hist.), and James s. Magee
(poli. sci.). .

Long range plans includes
sending members to the April
NAACP Convention in St.
Louis, to a concert by Dick
Gregory and the Freedom
Singers May 12 in Iowa City,
and to a tenth anniversary cel-
ebration of the Supreme Court
decision on public school inte-
gration May 14 in Des Moines.

The local organization plans
to work With the exchange pm-
gram between Grinnell and
Les Molnes College in Tennes-
see. The program llas the back-
ing of faculty and adminis a-
tion of both schools and awaits
a grant so it can get underway.

 

sonally. ”When I answered
mail, I had to assume the char-
acter of William Proxmire,
down to the last detail," ob-
served Jack. Mail is divided
into several categories: legisla~
tive, case, and personal mail.
Legislative m a i l originated
from both individuals and
groups and dealt with or re—
quested tha Senator’s opinion
on hills. Case mail consisted
of communication regarding ap«
pointments and other requests.

In a basement room, which
the Senator shared with a lobby
group and a second Senator,
was located an automatic let-
ter—typer and automatic pen to
deal with form letters. Activia
ties within the senatorial office
itself ranged from publishing a
newsletter, to speech composi—
tion, to wrlting books, to case
work on bills, and Spence found
his job a great opportunity “to
really get to know staff mem-
bers who were on the inside
track.”

Intense exposure to a sum-
mer of politics led Phil to com-
plete an independent research
project on minority staffing and
Marilyn to set up the campus
political symposium. Spence
hopes to find a place on Sena-
tor Proxmire's campaign staff
this summer. All three interns
agreed that the internship was
an “extremely valuable experi-
ence,” as Johnson put it,

“Learning how a Congress~
man operates just isn’t in text-
books,” commented Phil, who
also mentioned discovering the
importance of personal contacts
in politics. Despite a lack of
formal orientation and a “pert-
Od of adjustment,” the interns
commented on Congressional
helpfulness and the air of re-
sponsibility which accompanied
their positions. “I came away
with the conviction that Con-
gressmen are people after all,"
joked Marilyn.

Informality characterized the
interns’ living arrangements.
Marilyn lived with four June
graduates, riding to work on a
bus and fixing meals with the
other girls. A rented room in
the middle of American Uni-
versity housed Phil Johnson,
while Jack Spence commuted
from suburban Bethesda, Mary-
land,

The intern trio attended a
number of discussion groups
slated particularly for the thou-
sand or so interns which Wash-
ington accommodated last sum-
mer. Hours of less formal dis
cussion vied with lectures, con<
certs, parties, and committee
meetings for the interns' free
time. The late President Ken-
nedy addressd the student
group, as did congressmen who
spoke on their areas of special-
ization.

Applicants must state
preferences as to winch sena-
tors or representatives or can-
didates not presently in office
they want to serve and the rea-
sons for their choice. Ques-
lions asked of applicants reier
to relevant courses they have
taken at Grinnell as well as
their motives ln applying

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Grinnell. Iowa

 

 

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