Chorus May Visit War-Torn Lebanon

The tour manager of the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, an undergraduate mixed chorus, wired the Lebanese National Tourist Office yesterday that the chorus is considering the Office's invitation to sing in Lebanon in July.

The Collegium would be the largest American group to visit Lebanon since the outbreak of civil war in April, 1975, state department officials said last week.

In a cable to Marwan Himadeh, the Lebanese Minister of Touristry. Jane R. Regan '82 the Lebanese government for the invitation and said the Collegium would notify Himadeh in three weeks about the Collegium's final decision.

"We're putting them on hold for the moment," Theodore S. Stamas '82, the Collegium's president, said yesterday. "We just want to make sure the group is informed about the situation in Lebanon."

Stamas added that if the Collegium does decide to go to Lebanon the final acceptance will contain a provision allowing both the chorus and the Lebanese government to cancel the visit if sudden violence occurs in the area.

During the last 5 years civil strife between Palestinian and Christian forces has continued intermittently in Lebanon. Last week, two Iraqi diplomats were shot in Beirut, Lebanon's capital.

Regan said she asked Susan Miller, the country affairs officer for Lebanon at the United States International Communications Agency, to request a report on the current situation for Americans in Lebanon from the American Embassy in Beirut. She added she expects to receive a report from the cultural officer at the embassy in about two weeks. Miller declined to comment yesterday.

In addition to consulting the embassy, Stamas said he plans to ask advice from A.J. Meyer, professor of Middle Eastern Studies, and Nadav Safran, professor of Government and a Middle East specialist. Safran declined to comment yesterday, and Meyer was unavailable for comment.

The Lebanese National Tourist Office, along with the American University in Beirut and Middle East Airlines, invited the Collegium in February to visit Lebanon as part of the chorus's six-week tour of the Mediterranean this summer.

"I think the chorus should remember that Lebanon is not like Iran, where everybody hates Americans," Regan said. "But sure," she added, "we'd make good hostages."

"We're putting them on hold for the moment," Theodore S. Stamas '82, the Collegium's president, said yesterday. "We just want to make sure the group is informed about the situation in Lebanon."

Stamas added that if the Collegium does decide to go to Lebanon the final acceptance will contain a provision allowing both the chorus and the Lebanese government to cancel the visit if sudden violence occurs in the area.

During the last 5 years civil strife between Palestinian and Christian forces has continued intermittently in Lebanon. Last week, two Iraqi diplomats were shot in Beirut, Lebanon's capital.

Regan said she asked Susan Miller, the country affairs officer for Lebanon at the United States International Communications Agency, to request a report on the current situation for Americans in Lebanon from the American Embassy in Beirut. She added she expects to receive a report from the cultural officer at the embassy in about two weeks. Miller declined to comment yesterday.

In addition to consulting the embassy, Stamas said he plans to ask advice from A.J. Meyer, professor of Middle Eastern Studies, and Nadav Safran, professor of Government and a Middle East specialist. Safran declined to comment yesterday, and Meyer was unavailable for comment.

The Lebanese National Tourist Office, along with the American University in Beirut and Middle East Airlines, invited the Collegium in February to visit Lebanon as part of the chorus's six-week tour of the Mediterranean this summer.

"I think the chorus should remember that Lebanon is not like Iran, where everybody hates Americans," Regan said. "But sure," she added, "we'd make good hostages."