What happened here, in London, was irrational, indiscriminate,” said Cassie Vinograd, a Weinberg senior interning for the Associated Press in London this summer.

Vinograd interviewed students and tourists from the United States in London following the bombings on July 7, and said many were reluctant to let the events affect their plans.

“Everyone has been very, very impressed by the British response to what happened here,” she said in an online interview. “A lot of students have drawn comparisons to Sept. 11, and expressed the feeling that … they feel obligated to pay their respects here in the same fashion as was shown to us in the States following 9/11.”

Ten Northwestern students are studying abroad in London this summer and all of them are safe and accounted for, Study Abroad Office Director Bill Anthony said.

The office went through a series of steps to ensure students were safe, although none are studying through the NU Summer Study Abroad London program, which was cancelled this year because too few students were interested.

Eight students are studying at the London School of Economics, one is with a Boston University program, and one is studying at the Institute for International Economic Studies. There may be more students studying in London this summer, Anthony said, but unless they applied to get credit, NU doesn’t know they are there.

Vinograd has been abroad for the better part of the year. She studied in Dakar, Senegal with the Council on International Education and Exchange where, she said, her safety and security issues were very different from the current situation in London.

In Senegal she contracted dengue fever, was injured while being mugged, got lost in a burning field and dealt with the threat of pickpockets and Senegal’s “aggressive” men. But despite conditions that would make many head home, Vinograd said she wouldn’t trade her experiences for anything.

“My time in Senegal was probably the best year I’ve ever had. I loved every aspect of it — the good and the bad, the easy and the hard,” she said.

First Response

When they heard about the bombings, staffers in the Study Abroad Office began to contact students. It’s the same procedure they used during the SARS epidemic in Southeast Asia and China, the Madrid bombings and many less-publicized acts of terrorism and disaster.

The first thing they do is gather information. The office is constantly checking international travel and safety alerts for the 35 countries in which NU has affiliated programs.

Travel warnings issued by the U.S. State Department are the most important source of information for the office. If a warning is posted for a country where NU students are studying, every arrangement will be made to make sure the student goes home.

“If we ran a program (in a country with a travel warning) we’d have to close it,” Anthony said. “If we sent students through another program, we would see about getting them home.”

A student on a study abroad program or research program can stay in a country that’s under warning if the student and the student’s parents sign a waiver clearing NU of responsibility for “significant risks, including but not limited to terrorism, war, serious bodily injury or death, property damage, and other risks that may not be foreseeable,” according to the form. The same policy is in effect for faculty and staff.

Anthony also checks alerts from the Overseas Security Advisory Council, part of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, and Stratfor, a private strategic forecasting intelligence company which produces situation reports on world events.

“We can’t presume to know more than the U.S. government,” Anthony said about the potential for threats. “I feel very comfortable with (the travel warning policy).”

The office also contacts other schools with NU-affiliated programs. Sometimes the office will e-mail parents, too. But, Anthony said, if parents have concerns they can contact the office at any time.

“One student in London has not responded” to attempts to reach him or her from the Study Abroad Office, said Robin Kazmier, program assistant for the Study Abroad Office. “But we’ve heard from the program director that everyone is accounted for.”

Kazmier said the office generally talks to several sources, including parents, program directors and other students to make sure everyone is OK.

Playing It Safe

Security and safety are factors when NU chooses where to develop programs and with which schools’ programs to develop affiliations.

“We try to find locations where students can get out of the American bubble,” Anthony said, citing affiliations in Haifa and Ben Guiron in Israel, and summer programs in Arles, France and Verona, Italy.

In addition to safety, the Study Abroad Office looks at housing, health, location, and the quality of the students and course offerings.

NU has affiliated programs in 35 countries on 6 continents. Students who study in an unaffiliated program may still petition for credit toward graduation.

As of Wednesday, the State Department has travel warnings in effect for 28 countries. Three of those — Kenya, Israel and Nepal — are countries where NU has an affiliated program. Travel and participation in the programs has been suspended until the warnings are lifted, and students are encouraged not to travel there.

If a student is studying in a country on the list, NU doesn’t just drop the affiliation, Kazmier said. “Students just stop going there.”

After the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the Study Abroad Office changed some policies, Anthony said. One of the main changes was an insurance requirement for student travel abroad, although some affiliated programs and NU had not previously required it.

“As far as security,” he added. “We’re more acutely aware of it now.”

On Guard

Most of the crime that happens abroad is petty theft of money and personal belongings.

This summer, purses have been stolen from students on Summer Study Abroad in Thailand and Italy, Anthony said.

Vinograd said that when she returned from her program in Dakar, she kept guarding her purse when she went out, until her sister pointed it out to her. “It was funny,” she said. “It had become second nature.”

Vinograd was prepared for the security concerns in Senegal by the program’s organizers.

“My program was really on top of security measures — they were always available to talk about concerns, fears, and were very quick to respond whenever there were incidents on my program or on any of the other study abroad programs in Dakar,” she said.

“I wouldnt say I was ever petrified about my bodily safety, but you’re constantly getting touched and grabbed and harassed — which can be trying on your nerves.”

As far as the London bombings, Vinograd said she can’t really compare London’s security situation with Senegal’s.

“I think what happened here is horrific and very frightening — but I felt, maybe naively, that I had more control over what happened in Senegal,” Vinograd said. “Anyone who was attacked in Senegal might beg to differ, but I dont know. That’s a tough question.”

Reach Elizabeth Kirk at [email protected].