Students study abroad despite
recent attacks
By Dave Stephens
Assistant
Campus Editor
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the ongoing
war in Afghanistan seem to have little effect on the number of Purdue
students studying abroad.
Jeff Sanson, assistant director of student services
for study abroad, said the number of applicants studying in foreign
countries this spring is about the same as last year.
"We've only had a couple of students withdraw from
a program they said they were going to take for safety reasons," said
Sanson. "(The terrorist threat) really hasn't had a significant effect
on our numbers."
Sanson said students from Purdue study in countries
that are relatively safe — the countries of Western Europe, New
Zealand and Australia but that safety doesn't depend on location.
"As evident by what's going on now, you have to
be concerned about your safety here, just as you do abroad," said Sanson.
When problems do arrive overseas, Sanson said efforts
are made to contact students by e-mail or by contacting the program
of study in that foreign country.
"We contact students whenever the U.S. Department
of State issues a travel warning or a public announcement," said Sanson.
"We pass information on to students so they are kept aware of what the
latest information is."
On Oct. 23, the state department issued a "worldwide
caution," which warned of violence against the United States and its
citizens.
"There is a potential for strong anti-American
sentiment and for retaliatory actions to be taken against U.S. citizens
and interests throughout the world by terrorists and by those who harbor
grievances against the United States," warns the caution.
The statement goes on to warn Americans travelling
abroad about possible attacks against U.S. military bases in Japan and
Korea, as well as informing about the possibility of anthrax attacks.
Sanson said the information in the caution was
passed to students abroad, but it didn't warrant further action. The
Purdue policy for study abroad is to not send students to any country
for which a "travel warning" has been issued. The policy also says it
will not send students to any country for which a "public announcement"
concerning security has been issued.
"We don’t have students in any country where
travel warnings have been issued," said Sanson. Countries were travel
warnings have been issued include Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yugoslavia
and Israel — a country that is often involved in study abroad.
Although it's Purdue's policy not to send students
to countries or regions where state department public announcements
have been made, Sanson said if students are already in that country,
the threat has to be analyzed.
A public announcement concerning Italy was issued
on Oct. 2, but of the several dozen Purdue students studying there,
none have returned home.
"We passed the information on to the students in
Italy," said Sanson, "but the public announcement doesn't warrant bringing
students back. The things we were hearing from people over there was
that the threat was only in certain areas, and it wasn't a danger to
our students."
The state department's announcement warned of possible
attacks against "symbols of American capitalism." The warning goes on
to urge U.S. citizens to keep a high level of vigilance and to increase
their security awareness.
Sanson said if a situation exists where a student’s
life is in danger, that student would be advised to leave the country.
"We have to look out for the students’ best
interests first," said Sanson. "But so far, this semester has gone really
well — no one has returned and the comments we are hearing are
typically of what we hear during most semesters."
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