'Annual' Memo Again Suggests End to UFS

The director of the Urban Field Service (UFS) released the "annual" memorandum this week recommending that the UFS--a community-oriented planning consultant group funded by the Graduate School of Design--cease operations until adequate funds are provided for community projects.

Mania M. Seferi, assistant professor of City and Regional Planning, said in her second memorandum in 13 months to the same effect that the GSD should reevaluate the School's commitment to field work for academic credit.

Seferi wrote an almost identical memorandum in September 1971, but decided to continue the Field Service after she realized the overwhelming student interest in field work at the School.

Seferi regards her decision as a mistake, and it seems that the students have changed their minds also. The same day that Seferi sent the memorandum to Maurice D. Kilbridge, dean of the GSD, she explained her position to 20 students, who then unanimously approved her efforts to terminate the present UFS.

Kilbridge said that the GSD has no intention of dropping the Field Service from its curriculum. "The UFS is an integral part of the School," he said, "and it will be here long after Seferi leaves."

The Field Service began operation in 1968 when the GSD obtained a $25,000 grant from the Stern family. The UFS was originally set up to allow students credit for field work, and to provide technical assistance for poor community groups.

Before Seferi took over at the UFS, the director supervised two projects annually, and the remaining ones were usually handled by a paid outside supervisor. Last year, Seferi directed five of the six projects herself, and a volunteer architect assumed responsibility for the sixth.

Seferi maintains that Kilbridge has never made clear what kind of Field Service the GSD supports. "It's obvious that the Design School is just not committed to a community program," she says. "We can't accept projects on the funds provided by the GSD."