Students Will Discuss Plans for Peace Corps

Five hundred representatives from colleges throughout the country, including two from the University, will attend a National Conference on Youth Service Abroad opening today at American University in Washington, D.C.

Sponsored by the National Student Association, the three-day conference will serve as a mutual educational forum for student groups, independent committees, and legislators who have been studying the problem of President Kennedy's proposed Peace Corps.

In addition to providing an exchange of information among the students, NSA officials hope that the conference will show national officials the high degree of enthusiasm that has been generated on college campuses by the idea of a Peace Corps.

Since the initial Administration announcement that it will send American youth abroad, temporary headquarters in Washington have been swamped by inquiries from interested students, but many observers feel that the program is foundering in mass indecision and duplication of effort.

Schriver, Humphrey, Cooper Will Speak

With the purposes of education and clarification, the Conference will hear speakers representing both parties in Congress, the Administration, and American education.

The featured speaker will be R. Sargent Schriver, President Kennedy's brother-in-law and administrator of the Administration's Peace Corps proposal. Schriver will speak to the delegates tomorrow evening.

Other speakers include Sen. Hubert Humphrey (D-Minn.) and Rep. Henry Reuss (D-Wis.), who introduced the Administration bills in Congress. Sen. John Sherman Cooper (R-Ky.) will speak on behalf of the Republicans, with Dr. Harold Taylor, former president of Sarah Lawrence College, representing the nation's educators.

In addition to hearing speeches, the students themselves will have an opportunity to express their views on existing proposals and offer suggestions of their own at several workshops.

Phillips Heads Dissenters

In activity prior to the conference, a Committee for an Effective Peace Corps has been formed by about 50 delegates to "make sure certain safeguards" are included in any prospective legislation. Howard J. Phillips '62, Harvard delegate to the Conference and leader of the committee, cited security checks, a clarification of the legal status of students when they go abroad, and "a program designed to serve the interests of the U.S. in improving the standards of other countries" as the most important proposals his group would make.

Craig K. Comstock '61, a member of the Conference's coordinating board, welcomed the news of the protest group.

"The purpose of the conference is not to try to whip up support," Comstock said. "It is an educational forum on the Peace Corps. We want constructive disagreement, and a conservative voice can be very helpful in pointing out weaknesses in the proposals," he added.