Students to Discuss Budget Law

The Kennedy School of Government and former presidential candidate H. Ross Perot's United We Stand America will sponsor a student convention on the constitutional amendment process this spring.

In the interest of balancing the budget, 33 states, one shy of the minimum required, have called for a Constitutional Convention.

"Harvard's convention comes at a time when such a convention is plausible on the national level," Goffman said.

So far 40 students from the Kennedy School, Harvard College, Tufts, B.C. and B.U. have committed themselves as delegates to the convention, said its chair, Mark A. Goffman, a Kennedy School student.

The event will take place on May 16 and 17 and is limited to 100 participants, who will discuss the possibility of adding a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, organizers said.

"The convention will attempt to raise the level of deliberation and awareness around the constitutional convention and balanced budget amendment," said Goffman.

It will also serve as a symbol of young people's commitment to our government's fiscal responsibility," he added.

Goffman said he invited Perot to make a keynote address on the second day of the convention, but that Perot has not yet replied.

Although the event is co-sponsored by United We Stand America, Goffman said it is "non-partisan."

He said he has been given a great deal of control over the event's organization and participants.

"United We Stand told me to run it as I see fit and try to make it as open as possible," Goffman said. "We want this convention to include students and organizations from a broad spectrum of student life."

A petition of 100 peer signatures is required of all prospective applicants for the convention.

Thomas D. Horan, Jr. contributed to the reporting of this story.