Harvard Suspends Travel to Israel

The continuing violence in the Middle East has forced Harvard to suspend study-abroad and fellowship programs to Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.

Released by the Office of Career Services (OCS) late Thursday, the announcement follows a travel warning issued for the region by the U.S. Department of State on April 2.

Warning U.S. citizens to “defer travel to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza,” the State Dept. also provided for the voluntary evacuation of diplomatic dependents.

“Given the clear language of this advisory from the State Dept. it seemed only prudent for students not to travel to this region under Harvard auspices,” Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 wrote in an e-mail.

Lewis said no Harvard students are currently in the region.

Harvard’s suspension of study abroad in Israel comes as other major university systems, including the University of California, have recalled students in Israel and halted their own study-abroad programs to the country.

Director of OCS William Wright-Swadel said the decision affected applicants for two major programs: the Weissman International Internship Program and Study Abroad.

Wright-Swadel could not say how many students applied to travel to Israel, but Lewis said the April 15 deadline for Study Abroad applications factored into the decision.

Shira D. Kieval ’04—who planned to study Hebrew at Haifa University in northern Israel this summer through a program not sponsored by Harvard—said she would not let the new policy affect her decision.

Rather, Kieval plans to make her decision based on whether she feels safe to travel in the summer.

“I wouldn’t go right now,” Kieval said, adding, “It depends, I think I’m really going to look for patterns [of terrorist activity].”

A suicide bombing in Haifa on March 31 killed 15 and wounded 30.

Kieval said she was looking into safer alternatives at a number of a locations in the Middle East and Northern Africa, including Morocco.

According to Lewis, a number of offices were involved in making the final decision, including OCS, the Dean of the Faculty, the central administration, the Office of the General Counsel, and Lewis himself.

Lewis also said future changes in policy would be governed by regional developments, as well as State Dept. advisories.

About 150 students study abroad in over 30 countries annually, according to OCS.