The University's suspension of Penn Abroad programs in Israel last week is not an unusual reaction among American universities, many of which have also pulled students out of the nation due to increasing violence in the Middle East.
Penn, which opted to suspend its Israel program last week, joins institutions like the entire University of California system and the University of Colorado and the University of Southern California in preventing students from studying in the tumultuous state.
According to University of California spokesman Hanan Eisenman, the UC system has decided to suspend its study abroad programs in Israel for safety reasons.
"When we have education abroad programs overseas, our priority is always safety," he said. "With the escalating violence in Israel, we felt it was the prudent and safe decision to suspend the program in Israel."
On Thursday, Penn administrators sent a letter to all people involved with the Israel abroad program saying that the University was suspending the program. This left the four students currently in Israel with only two options to finish their course work for the semester. Students will be able to either leave their coursework incomplete and receive a full reimbursement for the semester, or they will have to finish their work under the watch of a Penn faculty member upon their return to the United States.
Eisenman said that the 27 UC students who were studying in Israel this semester are in the process of making travel arrangements and are gradually making their way back to the United States.
In addition to suspending its current Israel program, the UC system is taking further precautions for student safety.
"We also decided to put on hold the fall session of next year," Eisenman added. "That will be until and unless the situation in the Middle East improves."
Eisenman emphasized that the University of California is not "abandoning" its Israel programs.
"We're leaving in place infrastructure and staff, including our program director," he said. "This is just a temporary suspension."
He also added that this program suspension is not without precedent, as the UC system has chosen to suspend its study abroad programs before. For instance, in the 1980s, its China programs were suspended after the Tiananmen Square unrest.
The University of Colorado suspended its Israel study abroad programs quite some time ago.
Jeannine Malmsbury, a Colorado spokeswoman, said the university "cancelled the program that we have there in October of 2000, because that was when the first state department warning was issued."
There were five students from the University of Colorado in Israel at the time.
"We may have been among the first to cancel," Malmsbury said.
While some schools have decided to mandate students' return from Israel, the California State University system has opted not to for the time being.
Two students and one faculty member from the Cal State system currently remain in Israel.
Clara Potes-Fellow, a Cal State spokeswoman, said that though the students are staying in Israel for the time being, conditions in the Middle East are being closely watched.
"The students are there, and there are no plans to ask them to leave, but they have been supervised and monitored closely day by day," she said. "A different decision could be made tomorrow."
"Things could change in the next 24 hours," she added.
Potes-Fellow said that the situation is different for the Cal State system, because its students are at the University of Haifa, which is closer to the northern coast of Israel and somewhat distanced from the majority of the violence.
"They are not in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, they are at the University of Haifa," she said. "The situation is different than in Jerusalem."
