Students Lose Promised Jobs With Congressmen

Harvard students who received jobs with Congressmen under a summer intern program run by the Office for Graduate and Career Plans have discovered that they don't have the jobs after all.

John B. Fisher '41, who was to arrange for the jobs in Washington, notified the office that at least two students had been definitely accepted for positions with their Senator or Representative. But one Congressman said that Fisher had only contacted his assistant" about the chances for an appointment earlier this Spring. The Congressman told a junior from his state that he had already hired someone for the job.

Richard G. King, director of the Office, said yesterday that he didn't know why the students had lost their jobs, how many had actually been hired, or what would happen next. "We've been trying to contact Fisher all day," he said. [Fisher could not be reached at either his home or office yesterday.]

A University official has indicated that since the students had been guaranteed jobs, Harvard should give them at least $500 each, the minimum salary they would have earned during the summer in Washington. King said only that "appropriate arrangements" would be made.

One of the students turned down by a Congressman said that the Office should supply him a summer position of high pay or interest, since the sole reason he was willing to work for the low salary of $50 a week was in consideration of the other benefits of the job--working in Washington on Capitol Hill.

Fisher was supposed to interview the applicants in person, but canceled his April 27 visit to Cambridge due to an "unavoidable change of plans." Instead, he told the Office that the students should write directly to the Congressmen for whom they were supposed to work.

This the juniors did, asking when they were to begin work and what their salary would be. The Congressmen replied, thanking the students for their "applications." One wrote: "If you're ever in Washington, drop by my office."

The Office for Graduate and Career Plans claimed that it had definite commitments for seven positions with Congressmen from Massachusetts, Mary-land, California, and Nebraska in a notice that ran in the CRIMSON before Spring recess.