Rappaport Asks Educated Men Give Time, Energy, Money for Civic Good

People with the advantages of a university education owe a debt to the community to "stick their necks out" for civil good, Jerome L. Rappaport '45 said yesterday. Rappaport, an early leader in the New Boston committee, gave an informal address at the Tuesday Coffee Hour in Harkness Commons.

Educated men have a responsibility to spend time, energy, and "even part of their income," he said, in the interests of good government.

He pointed to a recent enabling act which was defeated although Mayor Hynes and Rappaport blamed much defeat of worthwhile legislation on the 22,000 city employees who form a "strong and solid bloc of voters to oppose municipal reform fearing that a change or reform will jeopardize their jobs."

To counter this, Rappaport added, "we need people to talk and to persuade."

Another example of Rappaport's stand was the recent N.B.C. showings in which the reform committee took the City Council but lost the School Committee. Joseph Lee, an N.B.C. endorsee, finished fifth in the Schools race, with Independents filling five of the nine posts. Leading the field in the Schools vote were Michael J. Ward and Mary K. Fitzgerald, both of whom are on record against the "Harvard Plan" of school consolidation.

Raymond King, a Law School student, was responsible for arranging the series of coffee hours. They are held each Tuesday.