Student Leaders Say 'Draft Must Go,' Call for System of Voluntary Service

WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 5--Representatives of 18 student groups from the political left, right, and center met here today and unanimously agreed that "the draft must go." To replace it, they want a program of voluntary national service.

They voted to distribute "voluntary service cards" across the country, which would commit students to some kind of social service, like the Peace Corps or VISTA. These cards will some day replace draft cards, predicted Sherman B. Chickering, publisher of MODERATOR magazine, sponsor of the conference.

Chickering hopes to sell cards to 500,000 students at 50 cents each, to give the groups enough political leverage to get their program considered by Congress.

Speaking before television cameras in the plush Diplomat Room of the Shoreham Hotel, Chickering said. "We are all seeking the freedom to serve. Right now the draft stands in the way."

Chickering read a policy statement that had been endorsed by groups as far apart on the political spectrum as Young Americans for Freedom and Students for a Democratic Society.

"The present draft system with its inherent injustices is incompatible with traditional American principle of individual freedom within a democratic society," the statement read. "For this reason the draft should be eliminated.

"An urgent need exists within our society for young people to become involved in the elimination of such social ills as ignorance, poverty, racial discrimination and war."

With SDS and the Americans Friends Service Committee dissenting, the representatives also called for a volunteer army to replace the present volunteer-and-conscripted one.

Gregory Calvert of SDS, wearing a full mustache and orange pin that read "resist," explained that SDS opposed volunteer army because it is the same thing as a professional army.

Before reading his prepared remarks, the SDS Executive Secretary told the conference that he had decided "to resign from the Selective Service System" He has sent his draft card back to his local draft board in Washington state and will face a prison term.

David Franke, editor of the right-wing YAF publication New Guard, said that he like other conservatives, disliked the present draft system because it limits individual freedom.