ROTC Volunteers Rise; Peace Corpsmen Deferred

"The recent increase in monthly draft calls does not seem to have affected the granting of deferments during Peace Corps service," Sargent Shriver, Director of the Peace Corps, has revealed in a letter to Archie Epps, assistant dean of the College and Peace Corps liaison at Harvard.

Shriver's letter is in response to a request from Epps for a formal statement of Peace Corps policy regarding volunteer deferments.

Epps declined to speculate yesterday whether the draft was one of the reasons for the increase in Harvard Peace Corps volunteers this year. Only 26 seniors took the special exam given last Fall, while over 40 showed up for this year's exam on Thursday.

In his letter, Shriver quotes the section of the original Peace Corps Act that forbids volunteer exemptions from military service. Shriver notes, however, that draft boards have consistently granted volunteer deferments in the "national interest", similar to those granted students.

In addition, Shriver says that sentiment does exist for a peace-time exemption from military service for people who have served in the Peace Corps.

Policy Review Appropriate

Although he does not personally support such an exemption in the letter, Shriver speculates that "perhaps now that the Peace Corps has been in operation for more than four years, it might be appropriate for the Congress to review the question of whether a different policy from that expressed in the Peace Corps Act should be followed."

Epps said yesterday that he firmly supports exemptions for Peace Corps volunteers. "We can't have students sign up for the Corps and then be told they must go into the service," Epps declared.