Monro Avoids Prediction On Peace Corps

A cautious "wait-and-see" characterized the reaction at Harvard yesterday to the Peace Corps demonstration in Nigeria.

Dean Monro, the chairman of the Peace Corps advisory committee here, would only reaffirm his confidence in the 23-year-old girl whose intercepted postcard touched off the demonstrations. He described her last night as "fine and dedicated."

Monro also pointed out that the summer training session here for the Nigerian Peace Corps delegation had covered all possible phases of the cultural and sociological differences between Nigeria and the United States.

Student leaders at the University College of Ibadan in Nigeria had denounced the corps after discovering Miss Margery Michelmore's comments on these differences in a card to a friend in Cambridge. In a statement to the CRIMSON last night, the Peace Corps Information Office in Washington, D.C., said this denunciation has almost no chance of getting the Peace Corps out of Nigeria.

Miss Michelmore's status, however, is still "very much in doubt," according to the Office. Whether she remains in the Corps will depend on the wishes of the Nigerian government. The Office said the situation at Ibadan was "calm," adding that the total number of demonstrators had never exceeded 150--barely a tenth of the early estimates.

There is still no reliable word on the circumstances of the letter's interception, although Associated Press and New York Times correspondents are investigating the problem in Ibadan.

Byron Stookey, Jr. '54, who served as dean of Administration at the summer training sessions, pointed out that at least 15 native Nigerians had discussed conditions in Africa with the Corps members this summer. He said that their preparation had also included reading everything available on relevant African problems.