32 American students chosen for 2003 class of Rhodes Scholars

WASHINGTON -- Thirty-two American college students have been selected as Rhodes Scholars, the scholarship trust announced Sunday.

Eight regional committees selected the winners from 981 applicants who were endorsed by 341 colleges and universities throughout the nation.

Rhodes Scholarships, created in 1902 by the will of British philanthropist Cecil Rhodes, provide two or three years of study at Oxford University in England. Winners are selected on the basis of high academic achievement, integrity, leadership potential and physical vigor, among other attributes.

Former President Bill Clinton, former Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White, and former NATO Supreme Commander Gen. Wesley Clark are among those who have been Rhodes scholars.

Harvard University placed four students, the most of any institution, on this year's list of winners. Columbia, Cornell, Duke and Yale each had two winners.

Yale activist

Kathy Boudin learned her son, Chesa, had been named a Rhodes Scholar in a phone call to prison, where she has spent all but 14 months of his life.

Chesa Boudin, a senior at Yale University, is majoring in history. Kathy Boudin was a former Weather Underground radical who is in prison for her role in a 1981 armored car robbery in New York that left a security guard and two police officers dead.

Chesa Boudin is active in criminal justice reform and has spoken around the country about the problems facing children of prison inmates.

Boudin often is invited to speak at conferences, to prison officials and other groups as an advocate for children whose parents are imprisoned. He also is member of Yale Coalition for Peace, helping organize protests against military action in Iraq. He hopes to pursue a career fighting for human rights and social justice issues in developing countries in Latin America.

Nader campaigner

An environmental and labor activist who worked on Ralph Nader's 2000 presidential campaign also made the cut Sunday.

John A. Henderson, 22, a senior at Emory University majoring in political science with a focus on Latin America, said he is interested in progressive politics and the parallels among developing countries worldwide. The native of Little Rock, Ark., plans to earn a doctorate in political science.

Biochemical scientist

Jeremy L. England, 20, a senior studying biochemical sciences at Harvard, wasted no time getting back to his lab Sunday after hearing the news he had won a scholarship.

"My combination of my interest in science -- and my interest in not ignoring the rest of the world as a result of my interest in science -- probably resonated with some of the interviewers," he said.

England, a native of Durham, N.H., is interested in pursuing postgraduate work in physics. He also wants to act, plays the violin and eventually hopes to become a professor at Harvard.