Presidential Aide Defends Plans For New Student Jobs Program

Newspaper articles on the new Kennedy Administration plan for processing student job applications are "inaccurate," a White House assistant said yesterday.

The official denied reports that the White House "has taken control over patronage of student summer jobs in Government." "You can call it a 'clearing house' if you want," he said, "that's just a matter of semantics."

He explained that though lists of jobs and background information on each individual who applies for work will be submitted to the White House, each government agency will still do its own recruiting of job applicants.

The White House central office will have three tasks. It will handle longrange programs for student employment in the government, help each agency arrange training programs for students, and find work for as many applicants as possible.

"It's simply a way to see that bright young people are not losing out," the official said. He explained that the new system will increase students' chances for getting a job, by making sure "that every application is given full consideration." If someone is not hired by the agency to which he applies, the White House office might be able to place him in another job.

The aide denied that the program would in any way influence current Congressional bills to establish a state-by-state quota system for student summer employment.

The Government Department recently agreed to sponsor summer work in Washington for about half a dozen Harvard students.