University Corps Urged for Service to Mankind

SACRAMENTO — ‘It’s an appropriate request of somebody who is subsidized by the taxpayers.’--Assemblyman John Vasconcellos

Assemblyman John Vasconcellos says he wants all college students “to study life” before they graduate by taking time away from book learning and partying to enlist in a “human corps” to serve others.

He is leaving the details of his plan to university officials, but Vasconcellos suggests that the students could be required to help fight toxic pollution, visit with the elderly, teach disadvantaged youngsters how to read or encourage teen-agers to stay in school.

The chairman of the powerful Assembly Ways and Means Committee slipped his idea into the Legislature’s version of the 1986-87 state budget, only to have it vetoed by Republican Gov. George Deukmejian as an improper way to launch the program.

Undaunted, Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara) expects college officials to hand him a report on the feasibility of the human corps by February, as requested in the budget.

“I’m thinking more ideally that it should be required as a condition of being a student, not just serving before you graduate, but every semester. You put in one hour a week, helping somebody,” Vasconcellos said.

Point of Opposition

“It’s an appropriate request of somebody who is subsidized by the taxpayers at thousands of dollars for a top-class education. The most important thing is to study life, not live in some ivory tower.”

University officials have not objected to studying the idea, and some are proceeding with the study requested by the Legislature. What they do not approve is being told what to require for graduation.

“We certainly are opposed to mandating that all students participate in order to receive a baccalaureate degree,” said Jeff Stetson, a spokesman for Ann Reynolds, California State University chancellor. “We don’t have any projection as to the administrative bureaucracy we would need to establish to certify this program.”

As envisioned by Vasconcellos, the human corps would be a mandatory program on each of the nine campuses of the University of California, which enrolls 138,000 students, and at the 19 campuses within the California State University system, which has 330,000 undergraduates. Annual state support for the campuses exceeds $3 billion.

Students interviewed at UC Davis, 20 miles from the state capital, resisted the notion of conscription but conceded that few undergraduates would be likely to participate voluntarily.

“I think it’s a good idea to do volunteer work, but I don’t think most students are going to do it out of the kindness of their heart,” said Rosemary Becerra, 22, of Concord, a pre-med senior studying psychology and physiology at the Davis campus. “All they care about here is studying and partying.”

Goals of Students

James Nakamura, 22, of Pleasant Hill, a graduating senior in mathematics and computer sciences, similarly doubted voluntary participation by most students “who just want to get their degree and get out, stepping into their Mercedes, three-bedroom house and a high-paying job.”

Vasconcellos said he got the idea from a friend, John O’Neil, president of the California School of Professional Psychology. O’Neil plans to expand his school’s internship program so that clinical psychology students, before they graduate from campuses in Berkeley, Los Angeles, Fresno and San Diego, will help homeless mentally ill people.

“The idea struck me as very, very timely and appropriate,” said Vasconcellos, who is known for advocating humanism in government policies. “I believe that learning, developing oneself, is best accomplished doing something in the real world. It’s time for California to lead the nation in designing ways to build a healthier state and better communities.”

Vasconcellos, as chairman of the budget conference committee this year, outlined the intent of the human corps in nine paragraphs of “supplemental language” added to the budget.

It said the corps should “promote public service and address social problems within existing resources.” It said students could serve as “mentors to disadvantaged students or by participating in a community organization dedicated to public service addressing problems such as illiteracy, dropout prevention, environmental contamination, inadequate housing or others.”

Need for a Survey

Since lawmakers were unaware of any similar statewide programs elsewhere, they asked for a survey and evaluation of programs that may exist.

David Gardner, UC president, called the human corps a “laudable concept of instilling an enhanced sense of social responsibility in those who are receiving the benefit of a public postsecondary education at a relatively low cost.”

But, he said in a letter to Vasconcellos, the program should be “voluntary rather than mandatory and, in any event, should not be linked to the granting of university degrees. The program will be more successful in meeting that stated objective if it is voluntary and not coercive.”

University officials said many students already perform public services as part of their classes. They added that some college students who commute to school or have families would be hard-pressed to join a human corps.