A Congressional proposal to start a federal public-service academy is drawing controversy, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Experts gathered at the American Enterprise Institute yesterday to discuss a proposal to create a U.S. Public Service Academy, introduced in the Senate by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York.

Under the bill, the U.S. Public Service Academy would be an undergraduate institution, free of tuition, that would offer both typical college courses and training in public service. After graduation, students would be required to spend five years in public-service jobs.

Chris Myers Asch, a co-founder of the movement to establish the academy, envisions the school as a “West Point for public service” and said it is needed to recruit young people to replace retiring baby boomers.

However, Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, president emeritus of George Washington University, called the proposal “a bad idea, terribly well advocated.” He said plenty of colleges already offer programs that steer students into careers in public service and that the reason top students don’t choose public-service careers is that the pay is too low.

Said Mr. Trachtenberg: “The academy is an answer in search of a problem.”

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