Peace Out for Volunteers

The Peace Corps recently announced which schools had produced the greatest number of volunteers. The results probably will not surprise you. “This year, University of Washington holds the top rank for large schools with 101 currently serving Peace Corps volunteer undergraduate alumni,” the federal agency announced. “This is the fourth year in a row that the University of Washington has taken the top spot.”

“In the medium school category, The George Washington University ranks number one for the second year in a row with 53 undergraduate alumni serving. For small schools, St. Olaf ranks highest, with 26 currently serving undergraduate alumni volunteers. This is the first time that St. Olaf has topped the small school category since the Peace Corps began ranking the schools based on the three tier enrollment system in 2003.”

“Historically, University of California, Berkeley maintains the number one all-time rank, with 3,412 Peace Corps total volunteer alumni.”

“For nearly 50 years, enthusiastic college alumni have contributed to the success of Peace Corps programs and our mission to promote world peace and friendship in host communities around the world,” Peace Corps Director Aaron S. Williams stated. “Peace Corps service is a life changing leadership opportunity and a great career foundation in almost every field, ranging from international development, education, public health, engineering, agriculture, and law, to name a few.”

Let’s name some others. “Our investigations affirmed troubling trends associated with the loss of productivity resulting from unauthorized and inappropriate computer use by agency employees and contractors,” the Peace Corps inspector general reported late last year. “These patterns emerged despite new employee orientation and annual information security awareness training that informs users that visiting pornographic and sexually explicit websites is not permitted on government computers.”

“This activity appears to continue with sufficient frequency to warrant additional action.” Additionally, according to the Peace Corps Office of Inspector General (OIG), two volunteers, one in Eastern Europe and the other in Africa, made rape charges against fellow volunteers found to be substantiated, although neither victim pressed charges.

Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia.