Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

USC rethinks Israel study trips
By John Legittino
Daily Trojan (USC)
08/16/2006

(U-WIRE) LOS ANGELES — With recent violence in Israel and Lebanon resulting in hundreds of civilian deaths, University of Southern California students and administrators have an important decision to make regarding traveling abroad: Are USC-sponsored trips to Israel's Tel Aviv University and Hebrew University in Jerusalem safe, feasible and desirable options?

Provost C. L. Max Nikias announced in an e-mail earlier this week that he will wait until October to decide whether Israel is an appropriate destination for USC students to study.

Months after an administrative decision to reopen the possibility of studying abroad in Israel after the program was shuttered midsummer 2001, the prospect of a second cancellation to the coveted and very popular travel-abroad destination again looms, pending a much-desired improvement within the warring Jewish nation, said Tony Tambascia, director of USC Academic Recognition Programs.

While many universities strictly adhere to U.S. State Department travel safety warnings discouraging visitation to certain countries, USC uses those warnings as one of many resources, having no policy in place enforcing the cancellation of a program solely based on a government warning, Tambascia said.

"As of right now, the program is currently active for the spring of 2007, but I will say that the current Israel situation remains under review," Tambascia said. "There is definitely no guarantee, and we are strongly advising students to come up with a backup plan."

Tambascia's role is to work with all the overseas coordinators and maintain a central database for students traveling abroad so USC can reach out to students in an organized manner should the need arise, citing international crises such as the bombings in Madrid and London.

He said the program was last suspended in 2001 because of an administrative decision that the time was not right for the program to continue because of increasing violence in the region.

"It was the consensus this year that things had been calming down and there was a great desire to give that opportunity back to the students," Tambascia said. "Now the situation is no longer calming down. I will not speak for the provost; however, I would expect the reason why October is the decision month is to allow time for the situation over there to either improve or deteriorate before spring semester."

Peter Hilton, a student program adviser in the Office of Overseas Studies, said the trip is currently set up for students to either travel to Israel for the full academic year or just the spring semester.

He said no one was interested in the full academic year study program, so the spring semester is the only one in question. Israel and Kenya have been the only two countries restricted by USC recently.

"Most colleges I know of don't even offer the trip to Israel anymore," Hilton said. "USC closed Israel from 2001 until recently and did roughly the same thing with Kenya. But for the most part, we haven't had many closures because we don't really have programs in the extremely unstable nations to begin with. We are constantly monitoring the situation abroad."

Steven Mercer, executive director of the USC Hillel Jewish Center, said it is not acceptable to characterize the stability of an entire country based solely on incidents happening in a certain area.

He said his organization will continue sending Jewish students through Birthright Israel, a program that pays for young Jewish adults aged 18 to 26 to go to Israel.

"We are currently sending people on the Birthright program and plan to continue to send them, keeping in mind that students' safety is our No. 1 concern," Mercer said. "We expect strong participation regardless of the events in the Middle East. We have strong confidence in the administration of the programs run in Israel and trust their judgment that it is still safe to travel there."

Mercer said he trusts the administration of the trips to keep students safe and find the appropriate parts of the country to visit.

"I'm not trying to act naive, and I do not deny the inherent danger that comes with traveling abroad to Israel, or anywhere else, really," he said. "I do see the danger every day on TV, but the weird thing about Israel is that as small as it is, one part may not feel the effects of a conflict somewhere else. Yes, you'll hear about it, but you may not be in great danger. If something were happening in the same proximity to L.A., we'd be running scared. Israel just isn't that way, and it is important to recognize that before canceling a program that means a lot to many people."

The importance of Israel as an overseas travel option for USC students is profound, Mercer said.

He said the decision is not only important for Israel, but also for the Jewish community in general.

"The Jewish community in the United States has made a commitment to Israel as far as their Jewish identity goes," Mercer said.

"What's important to USC as far as keeping the option of traveling to Israel available is a lot larger than Israel. USC has an extraordinarily close relationship with the Jewish community, and I applaud President (Steven B.) Sample for all that he has done to promote that. Right now a lot of people support Israel, and I think there's a chance people would be taken aback by a cancellation of the program," he said.

"Still, we are more than willing to engage in conversations regarding travel to Israel and applaud USC's decision to reinstate the program this year. I do, however, respect whatever policies the university drafts in the regard to the matter."

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