From Capitol To Campus

Senators Evan Bayh, an Indiana Democrat, and John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, have introduced a bill in the Senate that would expand the AmeriCorps national-service program to increase public service, help shore up homeland security, and create a new short-term military service program.

The Call to Service Act would increase annual enrollment in AmeriCorps to 250,000 over the next ten years, with half the new participants working on projects that involve homeland security or public safety.

The bill also creates a new, short-term military enlistment option that would provide an $18,000 post-service reward for those signing up for 18 months of active duty followed by 18 months of reserve duty.

"Americans are eager for ways to serve at home and abroad," the senators note in a New York Times op ed article. "Government should make it easier for them to do so."

The Corporation for National Service, AmeriCorps parent organization, reports that, since September 11, inquiries into the national service program have increased by 30 percent.

President Bush has nominated Sally Stroup to be assistant secretary for postsecondary education.

Stroup is currently the director of industry and government affairs for the Apollo Group, the parent organization of the University of Phoenix. She has had a long career in student finance.

As a top aide to former Representative William F. Goodling (R-PA), chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce from 1995 until 2001, Ms. Stroup helped draft the 1998 Higher Education Act.