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The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers

By Jeralyn, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 05:28:07 AM EST
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The Peace Corps has released a list (pdf)of colleges providing the most volunteers since its inception in 1961. The college with the most volunteers is the University of California at Berkeley.

Looking at the top tier brings back so many memories of the good old days, when protests ruled and war was out of vogue:

1 University of Wisconsin – Madison 129
2 University of Colorado – Boulder 104
3 University of Washington 98
4 University of California – Berkeley 94
5 University of Texas – Austin 90
6 University of Michigan – Ann Arbor 85

I can't help but wax nostalgic for those good old days. Without the Internet, cell phones, bloggers, text messaging or e-mail, we managed to bring down a war. With all the new age technology at their disposal, why can't the college kids bring it home now?

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    The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers | 32 comments (32 topical)
    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 04:00:13 AM EST
    YES - Back then we had thousands of young people in the streets. They said we didn't support the troops or America, but the point of the protests was to bring our boys home and end an illegal, irrational war. We showed the coffins and death toll and that even got the old folks on our side. We are living in Orwell's 1984. Good is bad, up is down. And, it was a sense of community we created. My father always said the the service would "make a man out of me" - when my draft number came up 14, my dad came to my house and said that he and my mother had money saved and that they wanted me to go to Canada. He had fought in WW2 and new the horrors of what was considered a just war. Now our young people do very little to address this wrong. Where have the "barbarians at the gate" gone? I don't miss those times as I truly believe in peace, but peace at home while creating havoc in the world is not peace. War is not freedom - death is not liberty - occupation creates hatred. We are fools. When the draft is reinstated and our fight for "democracy" is taken to Iran or Syria, it will be too late. The average and poor kids will fight and die. The rich will prosper from it all as they always have, and in 20 years we will say "what a mistake". Now is the time to stop the insanity - write letters, protest, cause trouble through civil disobedience - Just Say No

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 05:25:18 AM EST
    Rik Wenger writes - "Where have the "barbarians at the gate" gone?" If you didn't see them when the USS Cole was attacked, on 9/11, etc., you never will. What the protests did was prolong the war by convincing North Vietnam that they could win a political and cause thousands of our troops to be killed in the prolonged fight that had, basically been over after Tet in '68. TL writes - "...why can't the college kids bring it home now?" Maybe because North Vietnam didn't fly airplanes into the WTC?

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 06:12:58 AM EST
    Cal Berkeley did not provide the most volunteers --The University of Wisconsin is ranked number one.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 06:15:26 AM EST
    Jim, sounds like you will go to your grave mouthing the same platitudes the Nixon WH fed you. Your response to Rick W. and TL also are veritable non-sequiturs, invoking a general jingoistic phrase to rationalize an unrealted action, Iraq. But if you accept the line that we are "fighting the terroists in Iraq so we wont have to fight them at home" of course you are convinced, no matter how wrong you are. We sure have bought ourselves a war in Iraq, though there was no need. Having said that does not mean you need to keep trotting out the same justifications and lies. But I imagine you believe what you are saying. Maybe you can join the auxiliary?

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#5)
    by DonS on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 06:16:29 AM EST
    BTW,that's me above, out of retirement. Also, a VISTA volunteer, FWIW.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 06:29:53 AM EST
    As a fairly recent college grad from a small liberal arts school I can say that our generation has reacted to events in other ways, but for the most part has been utterly disappointing. I would say that ‘protests’ have shifted somewhat to the blog world. I think this is evident in the overwhelming response to the Sinclair Kerry video, but it works two ways because the same is true of the Rather situation. I think that measures taken by the administration have quelled the right to protest and more importantly be heard and this has placed a great burden on those who want to express their opinion. No one wants to protest from four blocks away. While I can only speak for the friends I have and what I see in graduate school, I must say at times I am ashamed to see young people driving around with Bush stickers on there car or wearing Bush pins or esp. the much hated young Republican groups. I could almost forgive the older folks, traditionally they tend to be conservative, but kids, why? What pushes you to vote as your parents do? What 'tax' exactly are you concerned about? What happened to that rebellious spirit of youth? Have you become that arrogant and selfish? I would say most of it is ignorance and misinformation. So despite any advances on the internet, the younger generation has done nothing to stop some of the ill conceived ideas coming from Washington and we are the ones who will live with these decisions after Bush and his generation are long gone.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 06:31:43 AM EST
    Maybe because North Vietnam didn't fly airplanes into the WTC? No but most of the men who did were Saudi nationals, I am pretty sure no Iraqis Jim.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 06:31:46 AM EST
    "why can't the college kids bring it home now?" Some of us are trying to. But most students these days are preoccupied with beer and finding an I-banking job post-graduation (or maybe that's just where I am). So it's a bit difficult to get people mad. But we try.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#9)
    by pigwiggle on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 06:36:47 AM EST
    "why can't the college kids bring it home now?" They don’t care. Perhaps things would be different without a voluntary military and the low death toll. This isn’t Vietnam folks, and Berkeley is hardly representative of US politics.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 06:37:02 AM EST
    Berkeley has provided the most over the life of the program. Wisconsin is highest now:
    For more than 10 years, the University of Wisconsin at Madison has been the overall top producer of volunteers nationwide. This year is no different, as UW-Madison keeps their No. 1 title with 129 volunteers serving in the field. Among the all-time top producing schools, the University of California at Berkeley continues to be No. 1 -- the only school to have produced more than 3,000 volunteers since the Peace Corps' inception in 1961.


    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#11)
    by desertswine on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 08:00:13 AM EST
    What the protests did was prolong the war by convincing North Vietnam that they could win a political and cause thousands of our troops to be killed in the prolonged fight that had, basically been over after Tet in '68.
    Surely this must be sarcasm because it has no basis in reality. I, also, a former Vista Vol.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 08:05:00 AM EST
    College students are poorer, and have much less leisure time now than in the '60s. It's much harder to organize people to defy the system when they are totally dependent on it. In the '60s I think people felt they could drop out and be okay financially.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#13)
    by kdog on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 08:35:37 AM EST
    tenantlaw has a point. If you weren't drafted in the 60's, you had money, and didn't have to worry about the next meal. Though a lot of college kids today still don't have to worry about money, more and more working class kids are putting themselves through school living on Ramen Noodles. That doesn't leave much time for worrying about world affairs.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 08:57:08 AM EST
    With all the new age technology at their disposal, why can't the college kids bring it home now?
    New age technology cuts both ways; and in the 60s the media was, I think (and this is before my time), though certainly not sympathetic, proudly independent of the government and jealous to maintain the image of integrity, while in the 00's, the media is proudly and openly sycophantic to the administration (and, it is increasingly apparent, often on the administration payroll, as well).

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 09:01:05 AM EST
    You still think you brought the end of the war??? It was the 60's protest that brought along Nixon and the southern strategy that you still see today. Instead of Humphrey being President, it was Nixon. The actions of the counter culture made a lot of families recoil from the left and they are now the suburban moderates that swing elections toward the right. Since the 60's, 7 out of 10 presidential elections have been won by the right. Get over yourselves.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 09:28:46 AM EST
    Boca Jeff, take a history lesson. According to the Oxford Companion to American Military History:
    The American movement against the Vietnam War was the most successful antiwar movement in US history. During the Johnson administration, it played a significant role in constraining the war and was a major factor in the administration's policy reversal in 1968. During the Nixon years, it hastened US troop withdrawals, continued to restrain the war, fed the deterioration in US troop morale and discipline (which provided additional impetus to US troop withdrawals), and promoted congressional legislation that severed US funds for the war. The movement also fostered aspects of the Watergate scandal, which ultimately played a significant role in ending the war by undermining Nixon's authority in Congress and thus his ability to continue the war. It gave rise to the infamous 'Huston Plan'; inspired Daniel Ellsberg, whose release of the Pentagon Papers led to the formation of the Plumbers; and fed the Nixon administration's paranoia about its political enemies, which played a major part in concocting the Watergate break-in itself. Based on that, one of the lessons to be learned as a result of the experience of the United States in Vietnam would seem to be that popular opinion can, in fact, change policy at the highest levels of power. Enough people, saying 'This is wrong', loudly enough and long enough, can make a difference.
    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 09:36:22 AM EST
    I hate to be a parade rainer, but these stats don't really mean anything--all of the schools on your list are huge, with at least 20,000 undergraduates. A more meaningful statistic would be percentage of undergrads who go into the Peace Corps. (OK, I'm being a curmudgeon, but I just read innumeracy.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 09:41:08 AM EST
    desertwine - Read some history. Particularly books written by General Giap. BocaJeff - Indeed. cmdicely - I take you are unaware of Walter Cronkite's pronoucement that the Tet Battle was a loss to the US, even though it was the exact opposite. pigwiggle - Exactly. I would postulate that 95% of the protestors during Vietnam were against being drafted, not the war. Two percent were there to meet girls. Two per cent cared. GregZ. Repeat after me. A terrorist is a terrorist is a terrorist. What was the nationality of those who attacked the US Cole? What was the natiionality of those that violated the UN santions? What is the nationality of those car bombs? What is the nationality of the suicide bombers in Israel So that is a lame excuse. This is a multi national group with no rigidly defined borders, or suppporters,.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 09:43:45 AM EST
    TL - But his comment is dead on. You stopped the war, but lost the peace. Millions left the Demos. I was one of'em. I know dozens more.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#20)
    by Che's Lounge on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 09:55:43 AM EST
    PPJ, You keep talking about how the antiuwar movement caused the prolongation of Vietnam and more american deaths. That is simply your ( and Giap's) opinion and you have never given any data to back it up except for Giap. And his credibility is suspect. It's official. You are a troll. Same old arguements that were long ago discredited.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 10:02:00 AM EST
    This is a multi national group with no rigidly defined borders, or suppporters. Why are we invading countries that they do not associate with than? I'm no military expert but it would seem more advantageous to invade the countries where this group operates. Good call Che. The Giap theme is getting old and cliff and PPJ refuse to give it up and accept the word of historians because they frankly just don't like what they have to say.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#22)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 10:08:29 AM EST
    "What the protests did was prolong the war" You mean the U.S. would have lost sooner if there hadn't been any protests? I'm soooo confused.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#24)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 10:52:00 AM EST
    The good old days, my old you know what! the 1960s were nothing but hell, It was the Army for the poor of all races and no jobs when you came back to the real world, the bull was all over the place, and I thank god for cell phones the internet and all the great things that we have today. the 1970s was nothing but one big joke and the 1980s was evil as hell and once more jobs education and the great lie! and the start of the special rights people and all the poor kids who fall for that myth and god only knows people that had money still have it and want more and more and want nothing but the mass number of poor always poor and homeless and in some-ones army to fight for gods and countries; the list is endless and it is all part of this insane world, to the poor kids of the world " do not listen to the great myth of the old ones" see it for what it is, and guys don't die for some god or non idea it means nothing in the end, and god is nothing but that really great myth of lies on lies. in other words get real about your world.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#25)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 11:12:49 AM EST
    talkleft- I also wish that the college campuses were more active in the anti-war movement. Don't forget that it took years for students and others to organize against the Vietnam War. In the first years of the war, the vast majority of the country, including students, was in support of the war.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#26)
    by desertswine on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 12:39:14 PM EST
    Yeah, but in Vietnam and then General Giap said... oh I almost forgot about the disaster in Iraq.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#27)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 05:43:02 PM EST
    Talk Left: I can't help but wax nostalgic for those good old days. Without the Internet, cell phones, bloggers, text messaging or e-mail, we managed to bring down a war. With all the new age technology at their disposal, why can't the college kids bring it home now? Am way too tired tonight to give this question the response that it deserves. I've spent countless hours contemplating how the Internet, et.al. is changing our culture. Here are some bullet points in lieu of a drafted reply: * We have exponentially increasing access to increasingly distorted information. Garbage in, Garbage out. * Our urban cultural centers are abandoned. An isolated world of techno-gadgets, email, IM, etc. Today's youth celebrates egotism and individualistic impulse even when they do socialize (learned behavior, to increasingly ill-end given the reduced access to upward mobility through education). Lost creativity; poor social skills. Corporatist monoculture. * Generational disjoint between "GenX" and "GenY". Size of "GenX" vs "GenY". Communication barriers between "GenX" vs "GenY"...conflict between those born into the information age and the last generation to experience American life before Microsoft and Cable News. The Market before Michael Milken & consolidated institutional investment and the market as it is today. etc. I could go on, but must sleep.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#28)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 06:36:43 PM EST
    DA - All he said last year was that rebels always win. I don't know why you thing that has any particular significance. And maybe he was lying, and so was his second in command when they said that after Tet they were beaten, until they heard that they had won Tet. Surprise, surprise. At that point they understood that they could win by not engaging in place battles with the US, but by killing a few and falling back, waiting for the Left to do the job in the US. Quaker - We know you are. Don't worry. It'll get worse. Che - If always having the same position makes one a troll, you and I will be 1 & 2 in the troll movie line. GregZ - I agree. You are no military expert. Since the terrorists are not associated directly with, say, Iran, it is difficult to build a case to invade Iran

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#30)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Jan 27, 2005 at 08:26:17 AM EST
    DA - It may surprise you, but I have no particular interest in what Giap said last year, or twenty years, or thirty years ago beyond his comments explaining why he changed his strategy of fighting in place battles, which was successful against the French. It didn't work against the US. He lost Tet and was out of men, material and he was also losing the war of ideals. At that point he was ready to settle and withdraw to the boundries of North Vietnam. But, after hearing that Tet had been declared a US loss by the US press, he knew he could win a politicial battle if he could just hold on. And he made/wrote the above comments long after the war, so your inane excuse/reason to say he was lying is just that. Inane. That you don't, and will never understand that, speaks volumes about your education and the times you grew up in. As for being a dupe for propaganda, needing independent study, etc.... I lived through all of that as an adult. I didn't need to read a book or listen to a teacher. I heard the news, saw (some) of the demonstrations and saw (some) Walter Cronkite telling us: That's the way it is. Well, it wasn't. One of the points of this post was why the "kids" can't change the war. Because when the new Walter come out to tell us the truth we have the Internet, and dozens of cable channels. God no longer lives at CBSNBCABC.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#32)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Jan 27, 2005 at 07:55:17 PM EST
    DA - So you were part of the problem. Nothing new in that. ;-) The thrust of all of this is simple. Giap and his second in command wrote the books and made the comments after the war. If they were being made to inflate their personal importance I don't think they would first admit defeat on the battlefield and then give credit to US radicals for help in the political war.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#34)
    by Che's Lounge on Thu Jan 27, 2005 at 10:05:15 PM EST
    Jim, Touche' Like it or not, agree with it or not, the antiwar movemet of the 1960's will always be a part of americana, and there were lessons learned by millions of us who lived in that time that are not forgotten today. Small minded people like Boca Jeff cannot handle the truth, so to speak. The truth is, we learned a lot about our leadership back then. Maybe we don't have the power, but we won't ever be fooled again.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#35)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 05:42:44 AM EST
    DA - You are obtuse. When they made their statments the war was over. They had no self interest in lying. You, on the other hand, have a self interest in denial. If you do not, then you must face the fact that the Left's activities needlessly prolonged the war and killed thouands of US and Vietnam troops.

    Re: The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers (none / 0) (#36)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 07:20:03 AM EST
    DA - You are obtuse. When they made their statments the war was over. They had no self interest in lying. If it makes them appear triumphant, and 'explains' what happened in Vietnam, then they have all the reasons in the world to lie. You can't get over the fact that the 'proof' of your theory relies on the say-so of two Commie military officers, with no other evidence to back them up. Oh, and glad to know you think that being anti-Nixon was being on the wrong side. Do you have an enemies list, like he did? TTFN

    The Peace Corps List of College Volunteers | 32 comments (32 topical)