MassPIRG

A GROUP of Boston-area college students, under the guidance of Ralph Nader, are attempting to establish a local public itterest research group with the somewhat ungainly title, "MassPIRG East." The organization, modelled on similar ones in Oregon and Minnesota, would hire full-time experts (doctors, lawyers, scientists) and use part-time student help to expose and attempt to eliminate local injustices such as industrial pollution, property tax abuse, slumlording, etc. It would perate in general as a countervailing nuisance to corporate power and government collusion on the local leve, just as Nader does in Washington. The organization would be funded by a $2 per semester "surcharge" on student tuition bills at all area universities where this can be approved. (Anyone not wishing to participate could get a refund.) Student representatives would hire and fire the full-time professionals and determine the issues to be tackled. Needless to say, there's a wide selection. If successful, the organization could be expanded to include other Boston-area community members; but meanwhile, this unique solution recognizes the fact that students are the most cohesive, supposedly motivated, and therefore easily organized group around. Student participation in PIRG activities for credit (through institutions such as independent study) could also heavily influence curriculum reform and, as Nader said at Lowell Lec on Saturday, "break down the town-gown barrier, whose pernicious existence depletes both."

Here are a few statistics:

PIRG organizations in Oregon and Minnesota have enlisted the participation of 60 per cent of the students in those states.

An organizational effort at the University of Texas enrolled 10,500 students, over 50 per cent, in three weeks.

The average students spends $250 a year on dope, soft drinks, movies, etc.

At $4 a head, a conservative estimate of the potential annual funds for MassPIRG East is $250,000, enough to establish the second largest public interest group in the country.

IT'S NO coincidence that these organizations have sprouted out in corn country long before coming to Boston, or that Harvard is one of the last schools in the Boston area to join the organizational effort. Nader said, "There are very major differences between Harvard undergraduates and graduates and the other people of the world--most of them manufactured by Harvard undergraduates and graduates." There will probably be a MassPIRG East next fall whether Harvard deigns to participate or not. But by making a small organizational effort now, and by suffering an infinitesimal financial loss each year. Harvard women and men not only can greatly facilitate a major effort to improve the lives of Boston-area citizens, but can greatly enrich their own student existences as well. MassPIRG East deserves our support.