This is a developing story and will be updated as new information becomes available. Last updated April 1 at 4:45 a.m.
Students living in Education City returned Tuesday after another evacuation Monday, according to a statement sent to The Daily from Qatar Foundation President of Higher Education Francisco Marmolejo on Tuesday.
The relocation came after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps labeled U.S. universities in the region “legitimate targets” on Sunday, according to multiple media outlets.
“As a precautionary safety measure, students residing in Education City housing were temporarily relocated and have now safely returned to their dormitories,” Marmolejo wrote.
All six U.S. universities in Education City are conducting remote classes until further notice, according to Marmolejo. NU-Q will continue remote operations and classes for the rest of the school year.
QF Student Housing residents, including Hammoud and several other NU-Q students, have been evacuated from the residential complex before.
Access to the NU-Q building — separate from the QF residential complex — will remain closed until further notice due to “recent developments,” NU-Q Dean and CEO Marwan Kraidy wrote in a Sunday email to the NU-Q community.
The U.S. and Israel first conducted a joint-military operation across Iran on Feb. 28, targeting several cities including the capital, Tehran, The New York Times reported. Iran carried out its first retaliatory strikes across the region that same day, according to The New York Times.
Students living in QF Student Housing were told to pack “essential belongings” for two to five days and board buses, according to a WhatsApp message obtained by The Daily that was sent at 1:19 a.m. Arabian Standard Time Monday and included instructions signed by QF Higher Education.
On Monday morning, Fatima Hammoud, a Medill first-year at NU-Q, evacuated her dorm and boarded a bus with a packed bag in hand.
After returning to Education City a day later, Hammoud said she is one of two people currently staying on her floor. The Daily reported that many students have already evacuated Education City, with some students leaving the country. Hammoud called the campus a “ghost town.”
Having grown up in a nearby country, Hammoud said she’s experienced the uncertainty that comes with conflict.
“I’m going through having to mourn again — open the news to make sure my friends and family are safe,” Hammoud said. “I’m having to pause my life.”
Medill first-year Jana Metwally currently resides off-campus and thus did not need to evacuate. Metwally said she thought the conflict was “temporary” when the alerts first started Feb. 28 and didn’t expect escalation to such a degree.
The NU-Q community has been supportive throughout the conflict, Metwally said.
However, Hammoud said she wishes more people on NU’s Evanston campus were aware of the strikes’ impact on NU-Q. Hammoud said her friends currently participating in the NU-Q Communication Exchange Program on the Evanston campus echoed that sentiment.
“At the end of the day, we’re all NU students,” Hammoud said.
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