KU
kansan
A student newspaper serving KU LAWRENCE, KANSAS
78th Year, No. 84
WEATHER WARMER
See details below
Monday, February 26, 1968
Recruiting crisis hits Peace Corps
WASHINGTON —(CPS) —The Peace Corps, once the Mecca of many student idealists, is on the threshold of what could be the most crucial period in its seven-year history.
Few will deny that the Peace Corps has been one of the most successful and popular of the New Frontier programs initiated during the Kennedy Administration. But the Peace Corps now faces many new and delicate problems, most of them a direct result of the war in Vietnam.
the tactfulness with which these problems are solved within the next few years may well determine whether the Peace Corps can survive on a large scale, and if it can, how effective it will be in accomplishing its original mission.
Peace Corps officials—who in the past have had little trouble convincing young people to give up two years of their life to work in an underdeveloped country—now find themselves on the defensive. The major problem is the Peace Corps' close association with the federal government at a
POPP profitable for KU graduate
The POPP buttons left after a KU graduate came back to capitalize on his investment will be sold to the highest bidder.
Dave Holt, now a graduate student at Southern Illinois University, agreed not to sell the buttons for the KU-K-State football game after Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe said it would "hurt the University's dignity."
But Holt came back to KU to try to earn back the $300 the buttons originally cost him by selling them for the K-State basketball game.
Holt not only earned his original investment, he also made a profit of about $600. About 1,600 of the original 3,000 are left.
time when the government is unpopular among young people.
Peace Corps officials, including Agency Director Jack Vaughn, are not ready to admit the Corps has problems. But some other high-ranking government officials have confirmed privately that the Corps may be in trouble.
Recruiting figures alone indicate the Peace Corps has less appeal now than it had a year ago. In November, 1966, the Peace Corps received 7,097 applications from college seniors. Last November, applications were filled out by only 3,768 seniors, nearly a 50 per cent reduction.
Overall, the Peace Corps received 9,661 applications last November, compared with 12,411 in November of 1966. Recruiting also was down in December, with the Corps receiving 7,095 applications last December, compared with 8,288 in 1966.
Peace Corps officials, however, claim these figures should not be interpreted as meaning the Corps is losing its appeal to students. "The decrease is attributable to the style of recruiting in the fall of 1966 compared to that in 1967," one official explained. "In late 1968, we put on a major recruiting drive which hit its peak in November. In 1967, however, we visited 25 per cent fewer schools in the fall. During the current academic year, we will have our major recruiting effort in the spring."
Since most Peace Corps volunteers come directly from the campus, the Corps' recruiting figures are based on the academic year. So far, applications this year are running about 4,000 behind last year. "But with our major recruiting drive still ahead of us, we expect to at least equal last year's figures," Vaughn said.
Despite efforts by Corps officials to convince the public that it is not losing its appeal, officials admit the Corps is more contro-
See Peace Corps, page 9
KU receives $1.2 million yearly in defense contracts
Each year KU receives more than $1.2 million from the U.S. defense department and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for research projects.
The electrical engineering, geography and geology departments at KU are under contract to develop ways of interpreting radar information and converting it into usable form.
NASA contracts of $500,000- $750,000 plus more than $500,000 from the defense department are given annually to KU researchers, said William P. Smith, dean of the School of Engineering.
Radar information about crops is being collected by planes flying over Kansas. These same planes are gathering snowfall information.
"We are learning to interpret this information, and when we do,
He said the engineers also will be able to measure the moisture in the snow, giving farmers the amount of moisture available for their spring crops when the snow melts.
we will be able to tell the difference in types of vegetation, and will even be able to spot diseased crops." Smith said.
The agency feels much of the information collected in these research projects will be useful for things other than the space program," Smith said.
Each of the projects require regular monthly and quarterly progress reports.
NASA spends more than $5 billion a year on research.
"The reports have caused many problems and complaints, because we spend almost as much time writing them as we do on research," Smith said.
THE BIG LOSS
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Here are KU fans seen before . . . and after the K-State game Saturday night.
Ore ship floated
BALBOA, C.A. — (UPI)—Panama Canal Company workmen today refloated the Japanese super ore ship Shozan Maru which had sunk in the channel and 84 waiting ships resumed their passage through the canal.
A company spokesman said workers pumped air into the flooded sections of the ship, which hit the east bank and gashed a 75-foot long hole in her hull. The action raised the bow "so that she was clear of the bottom of the channel," the spokesman said.
"They put four tugs on the thing and moved her north to Gambao, over a ile, to a mooring," he said.
Divers were studying the damage today trying to figure out a
way to patch the gaping hole but no one could suggest a method
A board of inquiry was called for Tuesday to determine who was responsible for the accident, the first to block passage through the Panama Canal.
The ship rammed a canal bank; knocked a hole in its forepeak and settled to the bottom of the canal in a section known as Gailiard Cut near the Pacific end of the 50-mile-long waterway.
The canal company spokesman said the ship had a 75-foot-long rupture in its forepeak.
All traffic through the canal stopped. Officials reported 63 ships anchored at both the Atlantic and Pacific entrances, includ-
Phi Gam house razed for new construction
Bids have not been let on the new structure, which is expected to be completed in February 1969 at an estimated cost of $450,000. It will be of brick in a contemporary design.
The Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house, gutted by fire last May, is being razed this week in preparation for construction of a new house.
In the old house, freshmen slept on the third floor and had less room than upperclassman. This will be changed in the new house, with members sharing equal space in large dorm-like sleeping rooms flanked by two- and three-man living rooms.
There will be two lounges in the new house's basement, one for
WEATHER
The U.S. Weather Bureau predicts clear to partly cloudy today and Tuesday with warmer temperatures. High today near 50 and low tonight in the lower 30s.
--meetings and the other for relaxation. Also in the basement will be a weight room and a television room.
On the first floor will be the dining room, living room and a library. A fireplace from the living room of the old Phi Gam house will be installed in the new one. This and a crest which hung over the door of the old house are the only items to survive the fire.
The top two floors will hold the members' sleeping and living rooms.
Student sentenced for drug violation
John I. Tyler, former KU student, received three years probation for possession and sale of a prohibited narcotic drug, marijuana, today in District Court.
Tyler was arrested July 20,1967.
Kansas statutes define the offense as a felony and prescribes a one to seven year sentence.
District Judge Frank R. Gray sentenced Tyler under conditions of the State Board of Probation and the terms established by the court.
ing 20 which had to drop anchor in the middle of the canal.
Capt. A. L. Gallin, navigation division chief of the Panama Canal Company, said the forepeak tanks of the ship were flooded.
Bill Cosby to come April 4th
Bill Cosby, nationally-known comedian and star of the "I Spy" series, will appear at 7 and 9:30 p.m. April 4 at Hoch Auditorium. The concert sponsored by the Student Union Activities (SUA) will mark the last of the Special Hooh Concert Series.
Randy Corbet, SUA Special Events committee chairman, said he signed the contract with Cosby's agent in Kansas City Sunday night. Correspondence with the agent began two months ago, Corbet said.
Cosby has recorded six comedy albums and two singing albums. He will star in a weekly comedy hour "The Bill Cosby Show," scheduled to begin on NBC-TV in March.
Scheduled to backstop Cosby at the concert are the Pair Extraordinaire, a duo consisting of Carl Craig, singer, and Marcus Hemphill, bassist, whose repertoire ranges from soul numbers to rock music.
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WHAT'S INSIDE
The Black Muslims are at it again. page 3.
Rockefeller says he'll run, Lindsay says its good news, page 4.
The KU basketball team flops; the swimming team wins, page 6.
Pictures, some of them worth a thousand words, portray a disheartened KU crowd Saturday night. page 7.
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