With the spring 2014 deadline on Tuesday, SU Abroad is still offering the opportunity for students to study in the Middle East, despite ongoing conflicts in the region. 

Students may visit Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia or Turkey, according to SU Abroad’s website. The American University in Cairo, one of SU Abroad’s world partners, is the only program to have been closed, said Debbie Goddard, counselor for exchange, World Partner and short-term programs.

Heather Rounds, a sophomore Middle Eastern studies and magazine journalism major, said she is determined to completely immerse herself in the Arabic language in Jordan next spring, and will not let the conflict in its neighboring country of Syria stop her.

Rounds, a contributing writer for The Daily Orange, said she had originally hoped to study Arabic in Egypt next semester, but the program was closed due to the country’s recent political instability.

“The program in Amman is one of the few language intensive programs left open to Syracuse University students,” Rounds said.

Last month, the United Nations found evidence of chemical weapons being used in an attack outside Damascus, Syria, which led the United States to consider military strikes in the country.

“My first choice was to study in Lebanon at the American University of Beirut,” said Brian Ives, a junior international relations and broadcast and digital journalism major. “But I didn’t want to go to some place across the border from Damascus because there’s always the chance that it gets closed down.”

Ives said he was concerned that if security issues were to arise, he would have unfinished credits, which would set him back for graduation. It ultimately led Ives to apply to Morocco, which he said would be the best choice for an Arabic speaking country.

Last spring, the Istanbul program ended a few days early due to security concerns from protests. To accommodate students’ needs, program officials allowed students to take their final exam in their residence halls, and had their professor proctor the exam, said Mary Fedorko, counselor for Istanbul, Beijing and Hong Kong.

The Istanbul center, the only SU program in the Middle East, is still open to students, despite a travel warning the U.S. Department of State issued on Sept. 6.

Erika Wilkens-Sozen, director of SU’s Istanbul program, explained in an email that the reason for the warning was because of a “drawdown of U.S. consular in the Turkish city of Adana.”

“We continue to monitor all potential security issues and currently determine that it is safe for students to join our program,” Wilkens-Sozen said.

The program director, program staff, associate provost for international education and engagement, key SU Abroad staff and members of the upper administration at SU are some of the people involved in making the decision on whether a program will be closed, she added.

To further assure the safety of students studying abroad in Istanbul, students are prohibited from traveling to regions where there are higher security risks, such as in southeastern Turkey and the Syrian border region, she said.

Students who do not comply with these restrictions are expelled from the program, she also said. A similar policy applies to students studying abroad in other programs where such threats exist.

Wilkens-Sozen recommends students prepare for studying abroad in Turkey and its neighbors by reading up about ongoing conflicts in advance as well as familiarizing themselves with the geography of the region.

Said Wilkens-Sozen: “Student safety and security is our number one concern and is taken very seriously by all of our SU Study Abroad centers and all issues related to student safety and security are assessed on a case-by-case basis.”

Published on October 1, 2013 at 12:50 am

Contact Rahimon: rnasa@syr.edu