Students still overseas despite security concerns

David Lizzo's semester in Israel is a bit different from the college life he left behind in Bloomington. \nA week before the war in Iraq began, Lizzo said he received a gas mask as a precautionary measure. Now all students who attend Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva, Israel, including Lizzo, must carry their masks in order to pass through heavily guarded entrances that prevent suicide bombers from entering campus buildings.\nLizzo, a Jewish studies major, is one of hundreds of IU students currently studying abroad. Though the Office of Overseas Study suspended all their programs in Israel about a year ago due to strong U.S. State Department travel advisories, he thought it was more important to study in Israel while he still had the chance and enrolled in a different university's program. \nInternational students at BGU have had constant updates and security meetings to keep them informed about the war. This is just one of the steps many universities are taking to ensure the safety of all students.\nIn a March 20 statement, the Office of Overseas Study said it does not anticipate to cancel or postpone any IU programs or to have students return home early because of the war in the Middle East. The statement also said the safety of IU students overseas remains their highest priority and emergency plans have been made if a crisis arises.\n"We have a series of documents for our office and the staff at program sites abroad," Associate Director for the Office of Overseas Study Susan Carty said. "In case of a given emergency, there is a protocol for responding to it."\nThe statement also calls for all students to continue their normal routines abroad, avoid crowds and demonstrations, avoid calling attention to themselves as Americans and recommends that students be selective with their travel plans.\nCarty also said the Office of Overseas Study works closely with all its students abroad. However, the issued statement said it will not support any IU students in any location listed for a travel advisory by the U.S. Department of State, including Israel. Carty said to her knowledge, no students have returned home as a result of the war in Iraq.\nCarty said while participation rates for summer and fall programs are similar to past years, there have been individual expressions of concerns for summer and fall applicants to overseas programs.\nThe Office of Overseas Study is also becoming more flexible with stipulations like refundable deposits. According to a press release, IES, the organization that administers the summer program in London, has announced that in order to be as flexible as possible for students and parents it has adjusted its policy to allow the $500 confirmation deposit to be refundable and refunds will be available upon written request up until May 1 for summer 2003 applicants.