Legal Services

To the Editors of The Crimson

I was disgusted by the New Right's latest tactic: a full-page Crimson advertisement by the National Defeat Legal Services Committee (May 8). I searched in vain for any facts in their propaganda. The legal services program, administered by the Legal Services Corporation, handled 1.5 million legal matters in 1980, benefiting millions of low-income people. Most of the issues involved the areas of consumer law, housing law, administrative benefits and family law. These problems may seem routine, but they are of critical importance to poor people. Over 97 per cent of legal services funds are used for the support and direct provision of services to the poor. Contrary to the popular belief of the conservatives, the advice, counseling, referrals, representation and community education currently provided by legal services cannot be replaced by pro bono work of the private sector, regardless of good intentions.

People who are being evicted from their apartments don't have time to engage in subversive activities with the "political armies of the left," and they don't have $381.10 to pay for advertisements in The Crimson. Elana Shavit '82