Ibadan and the Corps

The interception of Miss Margery Michelmore's post card has put the Peace Corps in a precarious situation. Self-styled cognoscenti will undoubtedly take this opportunity to repeat a favorite charge: the Peace Corps does more harm than good. Their audience will be larger than they deserve, for the "African Rioting" headlines immediately after the incident created an impression not easily dispelled by the more accurate reports of the next day.

That certain Nigerian factions do not like either the United States or the Peace Corps has never been a secret, nor was it any surprise that a few student leaders at Ibadan shared their resentment.

Aware for many months of the possibility of trouble, neither Nigerian nor American officials have given any sign that the Peace Corps will be recalled. Both groups expected such an incident, even if the American public did not. Yet the public's reaction is important, for unfavorable impressions in the United States threaten the Peace Corps just as much as over-publicized "rallies" in Africa.

Unless someone can find a way to train Smith girls to act like secret service men, this kind of incident is bound to occur now and then. The public, like the Peace Corps itself, should take Ibadan in stride.