Design Students Vow Support For Field Work Curriculum

A meeting of 45 Graduate School of Design students expressed support yesterday for the continuation of field work in the GSD curriculum, and set up a working committee to restructure the Urban Field Service so the UFS could fully develop field work possibilities.

The meeting also instructed the committee to examine the alternatives to the UFS--a community-oriented planning consultant group funded by the GSD--without excluding field work from the GSD curriculum.

Under the original proposal that set up the UFS, students received academic credit for assisting on community projects. Until this year, a student could enroll in a UFS project as a planning problems option.

The UFS has been discontinued this year after the director, Mania M. Seferi, assistant professor of Cityland Regional Planning, refused to accept any projects.

Seferi recommended three weeks ago that the GSD drop the Field Service. In a memorandum sent to Maurice D. Kilbridge, dean of the GSD. Seferi cited a lack of financial and moral support on the part of the Design School.

Seymour M. Adler, a second-year Design student and chairman of the meeting, told the students that the UFS faced two major problems:

* financial support to continue the UFS through the summer:

* paying for professional supervision.

"The UFS needs funds to continue projects during the summer," Adler said. "The community groups still need help after the school year ends."

Last year, Sefari directed five of the six projects. When the program began in 1968, the director handled only one project, and the other 14 were supervised by salaried architects.

Kilbridge said Thursday that he would not recognize the ad hoc committee set up by the students since a UFS Advisory Committee already existed.