Two Student Projects for Peace

IN today's tension-filled world people are once again hoping to find the answer to that age-old question, "How can a lasting peace be established?" Several theories have been advanced, but the right answer is not easy to find.

Some believe, however, that it may lie in projects which help to improve international understanding through person-to-person relationships. This thesis is not a new one, but in the years immediately ahead its soundness will be put to a rigid test.

The American public is aware of the large-scale project proposed by President Kennedy and known as the Peace Corps. But more important, people are recognizing that college and university students are taking the lead in the programs to improve international understanding.

Dartmouth is no different from any other college where interest in foreign affairs is stimulated, but Dartmouth students have gone one step further. They have elected to take an active part in two projects where the theory of improving international understanding can be put into practice. One is national in scope; the other was initiated by the William Jewett Tucker Foundation.

On the national level, six Dartmouth undergraduates have volunteered to join some 150 students on Operation Crossroads Africa. OCA as it is termed by the students is a private corporation founded by the Rev. James H. Robinson, pastor of the Church of the Master in New York City. Through this program, which had its start in 1958, hundreds of American youths have spent a summer in Africa living, working, and studying the African way of life. This year marks the first Dartmouth participation in the project.

The second program to improve international understanding has been named Dartmouth Project Asia. It had its beginning in the spring of 1960 and will be put into actual operation in June 1962. Under this project, four Dartmouth graduates, after receiving their A.B. degrees, will teach in Asian colleges where they can render a genuine service.

Behind both of these projects is the Tucker Foundation and its Dean Fred Berthold Jr. '45. Under his guidance students are preparing themselves for the job that lies before them.

Operation Crossroads Africa had its start on this campus earlier this year when the Rev. James Robinson spoke before a group of Dartmouth students. Stimulated by the motives and aims of OCA, and with Dean Berthold's assistance, the question of Dartmouth's possible participation was raised.

Though time was limited, a faculty committee interviewed and screened prospective candidates. Each student understood that his eight- to ten-week visit to Africa would not be a vacation. There would be a certain amount of work involved and he would, upon occasion, have to live as the Africans do in a primitive manner.

The six Dartmouth men chosen for OCA are Albert T. T. Cook Jr. '62 of Cleveland; Kenneth L. Foran '63 of Hicksville, N. Y.; Richard J. Hannah '62 of Weston, Mass.; Frederick Z. Jaspersen '6l of Chevy Chase, Md.; Richard D. Lucy '64 of Merion Sta- tion, Pa.; and William F. Roth Jr. '62 of Jenkintown, Pa.

This year the Africa-bound students will assemble from all parts of the country in Washington for a few days of briefing and background meetings. They will then divide into teams of ten or twelve, each headed by an adult leader. The students include high school seniors, as well as college and graduate students. The adult leaders for the most part are made up of men and women in education and religion. The Crossroaders will spread over twelve to fifteen African nations. The Dartmouth contingent, divided among six different teams, will cover a large area of Africa.

Upon their arrival in Africa, the students will spend their first three or four weeks working on special projects, together with an equal number of Africans. These projects might range from building a new church or school to constructing a new hospital. It is during this period that the Crossroaders will face the test of living under African conditions.

Their remaining time in Africa is spent on the move meeting the leaders of different countries. It is hoped that each student will be able to see more than one country, but this is dependent upon the availability of visas.

It is hoped that through this "venture in understanding," as it has been called, both the American and the African will gain a better understanding of how the other lives. For the Crossroader, he may find that his most demanding task will be to answer honestly all questions about the United States, whether they deal with rock 'n roll or segregation.

Returning to the United States and the classroom, each member of OCA agrees to speak on the average of once a week for a year, if he is asked, to various groups such as Rotary, local high schools, and his own college classes. For the most part the Dartmouth students plan to speak in their home towns and in the Hanover area.

It is interesting to know the reason why students volunteer for a project like Operation Crossroads Africa. No two reasons are alike.

For Kenneth Foran, an international relations major, it means the opportunity to study at first-hand an area of major interest. But more important, he expresses the desire of furthering the chief aim of the project which is to "achieve a person-to-person relationship in depth between African and American young people."

William Roth, who will travel in Brazzaville, Nigeria and Cambia, looks upon OCA and projects like the peace Corps as the first step toward establishing better diplomatic relations. He points to England as a prime example of a country where a corps of trained young men was developed for such a purpose.

Frederick Jaspersen, another international relations major and the only senior, volunteered because of an interest in the problems of undeveloped countries. Last year he worked in an undeveloped area of Mexico and following his venture with OCA he hopes to be accepted for the government's Peace Corps. He feels that our country faces the challenge of accepting the desires of emerging nations and this can be accomplished in part through cultural exchanges and economic aid.

Albert Cook was attracted to the Crossroads projects through the dynamic personality of its leader, Dr. Robinson. He joined as he put it "so that the cause of peace might be furthered."

Dahomey is the destination of Richard Hannah, who became interested in Africa through a talk given on the campus by Ernest A. Boateng, senior lecturer in geography at the University of Ghana. A pre-medical student, Hannah feels that OCA will provide him with the opportunity to meet and better understand people.

Richard Lucy, the sixth member of the Crossroads group from Dartmouth, was led to volunteer through an article on Operation Crossroads Africa he read in a church magazine and through the talk given here by Dr. Robinson. A freshman, Lucy will spend most of his time in Cambia.

The number of students able to participate in Operation Crossroads Africa is limited to some extent by the fact that each student must assume part of the financial burden. The corporation pays about half of the total cost of the project, leaving $900 for each Crossroader to raise.

Thus far at Dartmouth financial aid has come from two sources. A local Hanover group which annually sponsors a Community Ambassador abroad is this year helping also to send one Crossroader to Africa. According to the announcement already made, the group of interested citizens plans to sponsor Albert Cook as a Community Ambassador from Hanover to the Republic of Mali.

The Undergraduate Council of the College has earmarked $1000for the Crossroaders. It is hoped that the remaining funds can be raised through special projects and from other sources.

Dartmouth Project Asia

The students volunteering for Dartmouth Project Asia are faced with an even greater challenge than their Africa-bound counterparts, for they are offering their services as teachers in an Asian college for a period of two years. The project, if successful, will be the most extensive in scope yet attempted by an American college.

When the idea of sending students abroad to teach was first conceived, no country or specific area was specified. Rather a letter was issued by Dean Berthold to all the members of the Class of 1962, which read in part, "Are you interested in: teaching for two years in an undeveloped nation, upon completion of your Bachelor of Arts degree; the opportunity to exchange ideas and aspirations with the future leaders in such an undeveloped nation; and preparing for such service by participating in a monthly seminar during the last two Dartmouth years?"

Some eighty students responded to the invitation. From this group, the students themselves selected a steering committee, which has formalized the foreign teaching program. The members of the program voted overwhelmingly in favor of Asia as the area of concentration and chose the name Dartmouth Project Asia.

A member of the steering committee Francis Kehl '62, is quick to point out, however, that in the future, if Project Asia is successful, other emerging nations even in Africa might be included, if they have institutions which are willing to accept American teachers.

The first team of graduates will be assigned to Kambawsa College in Burma and Chung Chi College in Hong Kong, with two students attached to each school. In June 1963 it is hoped that at least two members of the Class of 1963 can be sent to a third Asian college, thus giving each graduating class the opportunity to participate in this program.

Currently there are still fifty to sixty students, all juniors, applying for the 1962 Asian teaching assignments. Next fall this number will be reduced to about ten or twelve when a preliminary selection is made. At that time each applicant will be interviewed by a committee composed of faculty, alumni and Asian experts. Selection will be based on the interview, a written statement by the candidate and various other criteria including grades and knowledge of the area and of contemporary American problems. Final selection will be made sometime next winter.

At present all prospective candidates are undergoing a training program, which includes talks by Asian experts such as Wing-tsit Chan, professor of Chinese culture and philosophy, and Prof. Robert E. Huke '48 of the Geography Department. Next year following the preliminary selection a more intensive training period is planned.

Candidates are not expected to show a high proficiency in either Chinese or Burmese, but they will undoubtedly acquire this during their tenure there. The students selected will teach English, mathematics, or one of the sciences.

One of the problems facing Project Asia is the limitation on the number of graduates who can be sent abroad. This is due partly to the excessive cost of transportation. Dean Berthold, however, has expressed the hope that the financial burden upon the graduate-teacher can be lightened through donations from interested individuals. At the same time, if the Peace Corps is established, the project members are hopeful of obtaining federal aid, possibly in the form of free transportation with members of the Peace Corps going to the same area.

The long-range aim of the Tucker Foundation program is to build a closer relationship between Dartmouth and the participating Asian schools. Kambawsa and Chung Chi Colleges were selected by members of the program on the basis of certain criteria: location; need for teachers; willingness to cooperate in the program; and the absence of racial or religious preference in regard to the members of the team sent to them.

Chung Chi is a liberal arts college with an enrollment of 500 students. Founded in 1951, it is supported by the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia, an American group of church and college organizations that support several colleges and universities in Asia.

Kambawsa College is a college in the European rather than the American sense, for it embraces the secondary school years as well as the first two years of college. With an enrollment of 600 students, it was founded by the government of the Shan State of Burma.

The students participating in Project Asia realize that their task is not easy, for if selected they will be representing not only the College but the United States in a foreign country. The members of the program are in agreement that they have an obligation to explain democracy, but that propagandizing is not the purpose of their program. What should be emphasized, according to a member of the steering committee, are the teaching aspects and the general value of services rendered to the participating colleges.

Though the part played by Dartmouth students is small in the overall picture for improving international understanding, the desire and the aim of the Dartmouth programs are a valuable link in the search for a lasting peace.

Africa-bound students this summer, include these five students who are members of Operation-Crossroads Africa. They include (l to r) William Roth Jr. '62, Richard Hannah '62, Frederick Jaspersen '61, Albert Cook Jr. '62 and Richard Lucy '64. A sixth student, Kenneth Foran '63, was not present when this picture at the senior fence was taken.

As part of a training program for Dartmouth Project Asia, students attend a monthly lecturegiven by anAsian expert. Stefan Mason '62, chairman of the student steering committee, introduces Dr. Andrew T. Roy, former president of Chung Chi College, Hong Kong.