The Peace Corps, once the Mecca of many student idealists, is on the threshold of what could be the most crucial period in its seven-year history.

Few will deny that the Peace Corps has been one of the most successful and popular of the New Frontier programs initiated during the Kennedy Administration.

But the Peace Corps now faces many new and delicate problems, most of them a direct result of the war in Vietnam. The tactfulness with which these problems are solved within the next few years may well determine whether or not the Peace Corps can survive on a large scale, and if it can, how effective it will be in accomplishing its original mission.

Peace Corps officials--who it the past have had little trouble convincing young people to give up two years of their life to work in an underdeveloped country---now find themselves on the defensive for the first time. The major problem Is the Peace Corps' close association with the federal government at a time when the government Is unpopular among young people.

Peace Corps officials, including Agency Director Jack Vaughn, are not ready to admit the Corps has problems, But some other high-ranking government officials have confirmed privately that the Corps may be in trouble, Recruiting figures alone indicate the Peace Corps has less appeal now than It had a year ago. In November, 1966, the Peace Corps received 7,097 applications from college seniors,

Last November, applications were filed by only 3,768 seniors, nearly a 50 per cent reduction. Overall, the Peace Corps received

9,661 applications last November, compared with 12, 411 in November of 1966. Recruiting also was down in December, with the Corps receiving 7,095 applications last December, compared with 8,288 in 1966.

Peace Corps officials, however, claim these figures should not be interpreted as meaning the Corps is losing its appeal to students. "The decrease is attributable to the style of recruiting in the fall of 1966 compared to that in 1967" one official explained. "In late 1966, we put on a major recruiting drive which hit its peak in November.

In 1967, however, we visited 25 per cent fewer schools in the fall. During the current academic year, we will have our major recruiting effort in the spring."' Since most Peace Corps volunteers come directly from the campus, the Corps' recruiting figures are based on the academic year. So far, applications this year are running about 4,000 behind last year.

But with our major recruiting drive still ahead of us, we expect to at least equal last year's figures. Despite efforts by Corps officials to convince the public that it Is not losing its appeal, officials admit the Corps is more controversial on the campus today that at any other time in its history.

The main reason for this, Vaughn said, "is a feeling that we are an official part of the Establishment. One government official explained, "Before the United States became deeply involved In Vietnam, young people did not mind so much being associated with the government, but now they do,"

However, Vaughn says the expanding group of student radicals who want to be completely disassociated with the government is not affecting the Peace Corps. "We don't in any sense, or never have, tried to tailor a message for the activist. Our message is more to the concerned, and the concerned can be of almost any political stripe, " he said in an interview.

But Vaughn admits Peace Corps recruiting on campuses is more difficult now than it was several years ago. " Most campuses are boiling ," he said. "There is more noise and more turmoil, which makes it much harder for us to get our message through." "A few years ago it was easy for a recruiter to talk with students." he said. "But now there's a lot of rivalry, and it's harder to get that conversation for a half hour."

Although the Peace Corps is associated with the "Establishment", there have been no problems between recruiters and student radicals, Vaughn said. "Words have been exchanged on occasion, but nothing to consider a confrontation."

The major problem for Corps recruiters comes when a college or university gives them space in their placement office rather than in a prominent open area on campus, such as in the Student Union Building, Vaughn said.

"We don't seek respectability. All we seek is a chance to talk, and if nobody knows where you are, your exposure is so limited you don't have a chance to talk." When Vaughn talks about the present status of the Peace Corps, he emphasizes that the total number of volunteers  overseas--now about 15,000--is higher than ever before, and the Corps is expanding at the rate of about eight new countries a year.

Whether this expansion can continue  or not, however, is uncertain.  "In the past," Vaughn admits, "the only thing holding us back has been the lack of  enough candidates to serve as  volunteers."  Since the Corps now  must appeal to young people who as a group are becoming more and more anti-government, this problem may be just beginning.