James Payne oral history interview

James (Jim) Payne was born on December 31st, 1945, in Cleveland Ohio. Payne grew up in Cleveland Heights, before moving to Akron for high school. Payne became the first member in his family to attend college when he matriculated at Dartmouth College as a member of the class of 1968. While at Dartmouth, Payne studied English and was a member of the Palaeopitus Senior Society, as well as the Foley House fraternity, where he hosted several teach-ins. As a student, Payne co-founded the Dartmouth Experimental College, based upon a similar concept at Berkeley University. Payne, through Palaeopitus, attended an Ivy League consortium conference to make a statement on the limiting of the graduate school deferment for draft-eligible adults. In the summer after graduation, Payne worked with the Neighborhood Youth Corps in Hindman, KY helping to teach and procure job opportunities for impoverished youth. Payne stayed for several months before moving to Cleveland, OH. There, Payne helped to administer a family health clinic, serving about 30,000 residents and funded by the Office of Economic Opportunity. Continuing to law school at the University of Minnesota, Payne became an environmental lawyer and has lived in Minnesota since.