Princeton Pushes Public Service

Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson school has opened another front in its effort to fight off a lawsuit filed by major donors who charge that the school has failed to fulfill its obligation to try to place graduates in federal jobs. The school has launched a new initiative, "Scholars in the Nation's Service," with the Partnership for Public Service (which also happens to work with Government Executive on the Service to America Medals).

The effort, modeled on the Rhodes and Marshall scholarship programs, will take students starting in their junior year in college and put them on a track to join the government. It will include a summer internship at an agency, two years of federal service after college, and then a master's degree in public affairs from the Wilson School. The idea is "to ensure that a wide range of Princeton undergraduates, and eventually undergraduates at other colleges and universities, appreciate the range and impact of positions available to them in government service," the two organizations said.