Harvard Evacuates Students From Lebanon

In an e-mail to the Society of Arab Students open-list, El Zaatari described the chaos and uncertainty in the region.

"Not an hour passes without the sound of Israeli planes or news of a new attack not too far away," he wrote. "I don’t even know when I will be able to leave home safely or travel outside the country."

Travel to Lebanon and other places in the Middle East has been a contentious issue at Harvard in the past.

In the fall of 2004, the College put in place restrictions prohibiting students from receiving academic credit or funding for study in 26 countries—including Lebanon—under travel warning by  the U.S. State Department, citing concerns about student safety and liability issues.

But under pressure from students and faculty, the College scaled back this policy last year, lifting the restrictions on Lebanon, Israel, Iran, and nine other countries. The College did, however, maintain its restrictions on travel to countries with the strongest State Department warnings, including Haiti, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia.