Park to Honor Kennedy's 70th

Members of the Kennedy family will congregate at the Kennedy School of Government today to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the birth of President John F. Kennedy '40 with the dedication of the new five-and-a-half acre Kennedy memorial park.

The ceremony, which will be highlighted by speeches from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54, Caroline Kennedy and Massachusetts Governor Michael S. Dukakis, will take place in the $2.5 million park, situated next to Harvard's school of government which bears the former president's name.

A private luncheon and a Kennedy School panel discussion on Kennedy's vision of public service will complete the day.

A committee which included President Kennedy's daughter Caroline and representatives from 20 neighborhood organizations planned the park, which was funded through allocations from the Massachusetts state legislature, said Leanne M. Delveccio, a spokesman for the Metropolitan District Commission which oversaw the park's construction.

Construction of the Kennedy Memorial Park began November of 1985 and was completed 18 months later, she said.

Kennedy School Dean Graham T. Allison '62 has also announced a program of four public service intiatives to mark the anniversary and to reaffirm the school's commitment to President Kennedy's vision of public service.

"JFK's call to 'Ask what you can do for your country' rings loud and clear at the Kennedy School," Allison said. "Especially in an era when public service is unfashionable, the school must redouble its efforts to give greater recognition to this high calling."

The programs, which include a community service clearinghouse, a summerinternship fund, a public service award and anexpanded loan forgiveness program, mark a shift inpriority toward public service at the KennedySchool, according to K-School officials.

"As the school gets a little older, a littlemore mature, it's time to revisit the notion ofpublic service in this country," said AssociateDean Calvin M. Mosley, who has coordinated thepublic service loan forgiveness plan since itsinception in March.

"The Kennedy School went through a period oftraining smart, bright analysts. Although that isan important function of the institution, wemissed some opportunities to worry about theproblems of the disenfranchised, which is verymuch a role for us," he said, adding that in thepast the Kennedy School has concentrated more onthe academic rather than the professional aspectof social service.

Mosely said that students have provided much ofthe initiative for the new programs.

The summer internship program, which this yearwill provide funding for seven Kennedy Schoolstudents who would otherwise be unable to takepublic service summer jobs, is a student-runorganization, said Judy F. Kugel, the director ofthe Kennedy School's director of career services.

She said that the now-permanent program, whichhas existed as an experiment for the past twoyears, came out of her frustration with theinability of Kennedy School students to takepublic service summer jobs.

The seven students will receive grants rangingup to $3000 from funds raised by the studentorganization and donated by the K-Schooladministration, Kugel said.

The community service clearinghouse will employa computer data bank to match Kennedy Schoolstudents with local non-profit organizations, saidChuck J. Supple, an MPA candidate who isorganizing the program in conjunction withAllison.

In addition, the clearinghouse will act as a"temporary agency for those interested involunteering," by listing general volunteeropportunities and working in conjunction with theundergraduate public service organization,Phillips Brooks House, he said