University May Renew Peace Corps Program

University officials are considering the reinstitution of a Peace Corps summer training center at Harvard, Dean Monro said yesterday. The possibility has been under discussion for several weeks, according to Monro, but no final solution has been reached.

The University is currently continuing its negotiations with Peace Corps officials about the program. Although there are no specific obstacles to the summer center, Monro said that a "balance of minds" must still be reached.

In 1961, the first year of the Peace Corps, Harvard ran such a center, preparing volunteers for service in Nigeria. A contract was not negotiated for the following year, however, and the program was discontinued. Monro said that the reopening of discussions this year was not prompted by success of the current campus enlistment campaign.

Recruitment Drive Attracts 150

The recruitment drive attracted 150 applications, 20 per cent more than were expected, according to Robert S. Kuhn '46, Deputy Director of the African Regional Office and one of the six Corps officials at Harvard this week. He said that there was a "surprisingly high number of applications" from the Law School.

Kuhn said that the aim of the campaign had been mainly to "answer questions and clear up misconceptions."

"We are most interested in people with special skills," he said, but added that liberal arts concentrators are needed to teach English and work in community development projects. Of the 84 Harvard volunteers, 73 have specialized in liberal arts fields.

70 Students in Program

The 70 Harvard students now serving in the Peace Corps constitute one per cent of the volunteers in the program. They work in 24 of the 46 participating countries. Over half of the 49 volunteers who were undergraduates at Harvard graduated with honors; one in ten graduated magna cum laude.

All the Harvard Houses are represented; Leverett leads with 12 volunteers, followed by Eliot with 11, and Kirkland with ten. Fifteen of the volunteers concentrated in English, 10 in History, and 15 in Government, while five concentrated in Mathematics, which has the largest representation in the science field. Three of the 11 graduates who completed their srvice last year won Ford Fellowships.