College Deters Travel to More Countries

While more undergraduates are heading abroad due to a revamped international program at the College, Harvard has cut the number of countries to which it will support student travel.

The College prohibits granting credit or funding for study in 26 countries which are under any type of travel warning from the U.S. State Department—a policy that began this semester due to concerns about student safety and liability issues.

Before Harvard only restricted countries with a particular type of travel notice from the State Department—one that “warns U.S. citizens against travel.” But now the College has expanded that list to include all nations flagged by the department with warnings like “to “consider carefully the risks of travel” or “defer travel, ” according to Jane Edwards, director of the Office of International Programs. The list now includes Iran, Israel, Pakistan and Indonesia, among others.

According to Edwards, a review of the policy was prompted by concerns from the Provost’s Office about Harvard sponsorship of travel to Nigeria.

In response, the Dean’s Office formed a committee of professors and administrators to review Harvard’s policy. The committee recommended this summer to tighten the policy. At the time of the policy adjustment, there were no students in the countries newly added to the list, Edwards said.

Monroe Gutman Professor of Latin American Affairs John H. Coatsworth, a member of the review committee, said that using the State Department’s watch list as the basis for the restrictions came from legal advice.

“If something happened to one of our students, and a parent sued, the question is why did you encourage your student to go to a place that your State Department said was unsafe,” said Coatsworth, who is also chair of the Committee on Education Abroad.

This policy change comes as the College is pushing for students to go abroad. Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross wrote in an e-mail, “Our policy balances the wish to have students travel and study around this world with the risk of life in some countries.”

Gross also wrote that students could still travel to these countries on their own.

But some students are worried that any Harvard restriction on travel sponsorship prevents students from pursuing experiences in parts of the world that are uniquely valuable to their academic interests.

“[The policy] makes little effort to get past sloppy regionalistic thinking. The Middle East is dangerous. So says CNN, so says the State Department,” Joseph A. Pace ’06-’07, who is currently studying in Syria, wrote in an e-mail. “It is stifling intellectual curiosity and exploration of regions that are ill-understood.”

Pace wrote that Harvard’s policy barred him from going to Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen or Iran.

Mary M. Jirmanus ’05-’06 said she was prevented from getting a grant to research in Lebanon because of Harvard’s policy.

“It detracted from my thesis research because it would be really fascinating to go to Lebanon,” she said.

But other students approved of the restrictions.

“It’s probably wise of Harvard not to encourage their students to go into dangerous countries,” said Kristi “Gerby” Marks ’05, who was in Morocco during the Casablanca bombing. “If there’s a travel warning from the State Department, it’s there for a reason.”

But Pace and Jirmanus both said that the policy does not take into account students’ ability to assess their own safety.

“I think Harvard’s policy is paternalistic,” Pace wrote. “The administration presumes that we have neither the prerequisite knowledge of the region nor the wisdom to make an informed decision.”

“What do they really know what it is like for a U.S. citizen to travel abroad? You should be able to do what you want,” said Jirmanus, who has dual Lebanese and American citizenship.

Coatsworth said that the policy does not restrict students from studying in their home country, as long as parents are there to supervise them.

Because of these concerns that the College makes countries “off-limits” to students, Harvard Students for Israel is organizing a committee to address the travel abroad policy, according to Sunny Yudkoff ’06, the president of the club.

—Staff writer Tina Wang can be reached at tinawang@fas.harvard.edu.