[UPDATE] with information from Cornell Study Abroad.
There are currently 17 Cornell students studying in the North Africa and Mid East region, in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Morocco, and Turkey. The one student currently studying in Egypt through Middlebury College’s program is scheduled to leave soon, but specific dates were not given. Israel is the only country under a U.S. State Department Travel Warning, and Cornell has not instructed students to return from any of these locations, according to Study Abroad director Richard Gaulton.
“The last time I remember Cornell withdrawing students being from a country was in 2008 when a group of students volunteering in Kenya was brought out of that country due to serious post-election violence,” he told The Review in an email tonight. “It is sound safety advice to tell students to avoid protests and demonstrations,” he added.
Dozens of Cornell students are just beginning their semester abroad programs as protests continue to spread throughout the Middle East. Cornellians studying in Egypt undoubtedly find themselves in the most precarious situation- protests have turned violent in several major cities and telephone and internet communications are not available.
Robert Morrissey ’12 spoke with The Review about the situation in Amman, Jordan, as well as the status of other Cornell students in the region:
The protests in the region have affected class discussions and provided excellent material for our class studying Arabic language used in the media, but have yet to affect daily life in Amman. Munther Younes (the coordinator of the program and coordinator of NES’ Arabic program) has told me he is following developments closely, but fully does not expect the situation in Jordan to deteriorate. At this point the approach Cornell is taking with the IAP (Intensive Arabic Program) is that “we’ll cross the bridge when we come to it” should unrest in Jordan grow. In terms of Cornell students studying in Egypt (I am unaware of any who planned to study in Tunisia), one student who planned to study in Cairo had her program canceled when the situation deteriorated before she left the United States. Another Cornell student has been studying in Alexandria since January 8 through Middlebury College’s “School in the Middle East” Arabic Program. Middlebury is hoping to get its students out tomorrow and I expect that will mean returning to Cornell.
Morrissey is participating in a Cornell-run program with other Cornell students in Amman, Jordan. He has more excellent coverage of the protests here. Below is a video from his YouTube account, filmed in Amman, Jordan yesterday.
Jordanians are more confident in their government, Morrissey says on his website. “While protests continue, they have yet to exceed 5,000 people in a capital city of two million people and have remained exceedingly civil,” he says.
We are still awaiting an official university statement on the situation. More updates to come.
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