Brown and White Vol. 100 no. 33

              president clinton's plan to al low college students to repay their educational costs by performing public service met rave reviews from democratic senators who at tended his speech monday clinton's call to america's young people to help solve the nation's problems was well-re ceived not only by the nearly 1 0,000 people at rutgers university's lewis brown athletic center in piscataway n.j but by prominent former civil service volunteers - senators harris wofford d-pa edward kennedy d-mass and jay rockefeller d w va and r sargent shriver who ran the peace corps in the 19605 wofford who volunteered in the peace corps more than 30 years ago said clinton's plan would at tract droves of students to public service i think it will catch fire wofford said it will be contagious by court harson news editor educational repayment plan garners praise from senators lehigh university friday march 5 1993 the brown and white clinton offers new plan for national volunteer core vol 100 no 33 see clinton page 17 for a national core of student volunteers working to improve america in exchange for scholarships to the land grant colleges estab lished by abraham lincoln following the civil war it is an american tradition that merit not money should give people a chance for higher education he said the target cost for the first year is 400 million for 25 000 students and is expected to reach 3.4 bilhonfor 100,000studentsin 1997 the administration will also establish a pilot program this summer servicing ap proximately 1,000 students in four to 10 communities throughout the country he hopes the summer program will show the public what national service can do and de velop a core of leaders for the future . clinton did not offer many specifics on how the program will work as details are still being worked out by his advisors clinton encouraged the students in the audience to help him prove to the skeptics that the service program can work they believe this call to service will go unanswered clinton said but i believe president clinton asked the youth of america to think about what they can do to help make america great again in a speech unveiling his national service education pro gram monday afternoon at rutgers univer sity piscataway n.j if financing for clinton's program is ap proved by congress this spring it would enable young people to participate in com munity service programs such as tutoring and fightingpollution in exchange formoney for college or training volunteering can be done before during or after college the program would also establish in come-contingent student loans in which payback plans would be based on a percent age of earnings clinton hopes that this method of repayment will encourage young people to accept lower-paying public service jobs clinton's rallying cry challenging stu dents to rekindle the spirit of national ser vice and restore the torn social fabric of america was well-received by the capacity crowd in the lewis brown athletic center in a speech that was long on emotion and short on detail clinton likened his proposal by jennifer montemurro editor in chief b&w photo by court harson president clinton introduced his national service program monday to a capacity crowd at rutgers university's lewis brown athletic center see hero page 8 lehigh alumnus ron bezoza 91 helped a woman down al most 80 floors to the bottom of the world trade center last fri day after a bomb exploded in the parking garage causing a cha otic evacuation of the towers bezoza a public accountant for ernst and young said he was on the 95 th floor when he felt the explosion the build ing shook and people joked a little until we smelled the smoke bezoza said he said that he doesn t work in the building but was meeting with clients he said he has done business in the world trade center periodically over the last year bezoza said people started rushing toward the stairs then as we got lower the smoke got worse he said everyone was going down together by kevin kniffin assistant news editor alumnus trapped in world trade center helps woman escape to safety on the 80th floor bezoza started to help a woman down the stairs she was very weak due to a recent operation according to bezoza bezoza said there were no lights after the first half hour it became pitch black he supported the woman down approximately 80 floors all the way to the bottom but the travels were not without adventure bezoza said that somewhere in the 60s we were forced into a room it was necessary because the smoke was making the air unbreathable on the 20th floor there was a biomedical setup where the woman was taken and may have had oxy gen administered according to bezoza the medical assistance was located in a room with broken win dows bezoza took the time to use the phone to inform loved ones that he was ok towering inferno see senators page 17 throughout their lives i thought clinton's speech was an excellent challenge to young people he said thepresidentgave a road map to young and old alike rockefeller said clinton is at tempting to restore a sense of self lessness and responsibility in the 1 980s he said we lost our way this plan feeds into the basic human instinct rockefeller who was an asia scholar in the 1960s and performed service overseas said clinton'splan shows he is sincere prudent and visionary that's what presidents are b&w photo by court harson senator harris wofford d-pa the plan will need strong sup port in congress in order to have the impact clinton wants although the program will employ 1 000 stu dents this summer clinton hopes to have 100,000 students involved by 1997 wofford said the plan has bipar tisan support in both houses of congress i think it crosses party lines he said kennedy whose brother un veiled the peace corps 32 years ago this week said the program's small start will give it the momen tum it needs to eventually make an impact we want this program to crawl and then to walk and then to run kennedy said shriver agreed that it is wise to start small . simply because you can't do everything doesn't mean you shouldn't do anything he said kennedy said the service pro gram would benefit its participants campus political clubs where are they now page 9