Senator Bonoff Pushes for Safety Laws for Student Travel Abroad

Minnesota Senator Terri Bonoff is pushing for laws to protect students studying abroad.
Senator Bonoff was emailed about the mission of ClearCause a few weeks ago by ClearCause voice Pam Brennan. Pam wrote these words to Senator Bonoff: “Our kids are being hurt and killed abroad and we can't do anything about it.  Programs investigate themselves and refuse to disclose information to parents of the deceased or injured student.  There is no recourse.  Our children deserve safeguards…Create and enact laws to keep them safe - Traveling Youth & Students Standards of Safety, TYS SOS!”
Recently, Senator Bonoff has met with Sheryl Hill and Elizabeth Brenner to find ways to legislatively address the issue of having no laws or guidelines to protect students on study abroad programs. Bonoff released a statement, saying:
“I am proud to be a strong champion for ClearCause Foundation. I have listened with such sadness as I hear the tragic stories of lives lost, dreams shattered and pieces that cannot be put back together.
Our young people are our precious treasures. When we send them abroad, we do so with our greatest hopes and aspirations for their future.  We believe, as parents, that by opening this door of adventure, we will develop global citizens that can truly shape and change our world.  Losing our precious young people in this often preventable way is simply unacceptable. A young life is lost, a world of pain engulfs all who are connected to that life and a door is shut that was meant to be opened.
It is my commitment to use the power of my office to shape policies that prevent these tragedies from happening. I believe in the importance of young people studying abroad. Yet it is imperative that we ensure their safety. We owe them our protection. I thank Sheryl Hill and all who join her for using their tragic stories to make a difference for families in the future. I will learn from their pain and hope to diminish risk going forward. “
We applaud Senator Bonoff for partnering with ClearCause to advocate for laws to keep our students abroad safe. If you agree that there needs to be laws in place to protect students on foreign soil, click on ClearCause Voices to the right to send a message to your federal and state policy makers.

ClearCause Public Services Announcements (PSAs) by A2F Pictures Wins the Silver Telly Award!

ClearCause’s PSA campaign by Saint Paul, Minnesota’s A2F Pictures is named a 2013 Commercial Silver Winner in the 34^th Annual Telly Awards!
A2F Pictures directors Trent Hilborn, James Rautmann and Mark Mazur awarded a production grant to ClearCause Foundation, creating three (3) realistic and eye-opening videos portraying potential dangers to students studying abroad. As stated on the Minneapolis Egotist website, the spots are now playing in more than 25 states and were premiered at the 2012 NASCAR Ford Championship race in front of two million viewers. See the PSA here.
According to Telly Awards’ website, the silver trophy honors the “finest film and video productions, groundbreaking web commercials, videos and films and outstanding local, regional and cable TV commercials and programs” and is “one of the most sought-after awards by industry leaders.”
This year’s Telly Awards received over 12,000 entries from all 50 states and 5 continents. A2F Pictures and ClearCause are proud to be one of the select few that are the 2013 Commercial Silver Winners.

Helpline for Indian Students Abroad

Although we might not have the regulations needed to protect our American students who tread on foreign soil, help is coming to Indian students who are studying abroad from Indian universities. According to an article from the Hindustan Times, India is launching an online helpline to give help to their 300,000 Indian students and researchers who choose to study abroad. The article stated that in recent years, many of these Indian students have fallen victim to crimes spanning from racist attacks to fraud while overseas. The helpline will be run by the ministries of external affairs (MEA) and human resource development (HRD). Students will be able to log complaints, which will be forwarded to a designated officer at India’s mission in that country.
In the beginning, Indian students in 22 countries will be able to access the helpline. These countries include the US, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, China, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Germany, France, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain and Trinidad and Tobago. Combined, these countries host over 95% of Indian students studying abroad, according to the article. “The portal is ready and we are just waiting for details of the designated officers at missions,” SS Mantha, chairman of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) told HT.
In 2000, 53,000 Indian students studied higher education and research abroad while nearly 300,000 Indian students now go overseas in pursuit of their education. When these youth have faced crimes abroad, they report significant delays in going to the nearest Indian consulate or waiting for Indian authorities. Satish Reddy, an Indian student who studied abroad in the U.S., said the online portal would have helped the students reach out to Indian consulate officials faster. “ . . . The absence of a prompt complaint system left us alone, to fend for ourselves, right at the start,” he said.
In the past, the Indian government has been criticized for not taking enough interest in protecting their youth who travel abroad. The helpline helps the Indian government become more involved in safeguarding their students who choose to go abroad. “We’ve tried our best but yes, we’ve had to face criticism,” a senior official said. “Let’s just say, this helpline is our way of setting the record straight. We do care.”
Let’s hope that America sees India’s example and puts regulations in place to safeguard our youth as well.

Fire Safety Lacking on Student Programs Abroad

This is why ClearCause is working for safeguards on student programs abroad – no policy protects our kids.
According to an article from George Washington University’s website, they are launching an initiative to extend fire safety to their study abroad programs.
Thomas Hayden, inspections supervisor in the Office of Safety and Security at George Washington University and Robert Hallworth, director of the Office of Study Abroad are leading the initiative.
Shockingly, George Washington University proclaims their program may be the first of its kind in the U.S. to ensure fire safety on study abroad programs. “We believe the George Washington University is the only higher education institute in the nation to initiate a fire safety abroad program that extends beyond awareness training,” said Mr. Hayden. About 280,000 American college students studied abroad last year.
According to the George Washington University’s website, their goals within the program are to:

1.  Address the immediate concerns for fire and life safety,
2. Propose a system to capture baseline fire protection standards for more developed countries,
3. Develop an internal standard for what constitutes an acceptable level of fire protection for students studying abroad.

George Washington University students study abroad in dozens of countries around the world, but the university is focusing the initial fire safety program on five major cities: Paris, London, Madrid, Santiago and Buenos Aires.
The university confirms living residences in London are checked regularly and smoke alarms have been installed in five student residences in Paris, used largely for students studying abroad. The university reports installing 20 smoke detectors in host family homes in Madrid.  Similar efforts are in the works for Buenos Aires and Santiago.
The university is also working to inform students of necessary fire safety information before they leave the country by working with the Jasmine Jahanshahi Fire Safety Foundation. “Fire safety regulations and approaches to prevention differ greatly from country to country,” said Mr. Hallworth in George Washington University’s article. “We are working closely together to bring attention to the important issue of fire safety for our students studying abroad.”
Jasmine Jahanshahi is one of four students who died in an apartment fire in Paris in 2011. (Read about Jasmine here.) The Jasmine Jahanshahi Fire Safety Foundation was created to help improve fire safety in her honor.
“Many fire-related incidents can be prevented simply by installing smoke detection and alarm systems,” said Darrell Darnell, senior associate vice president for safety and security at George Washington University. “This fire safety prevention and protection program will increase our students’ awareness of fire prevention methods and provide them with an enhanced level of standardized protection while living and studying abroad.”
At ClearCause we dislike referring to student deaths as ‘incidents’. An incident is something you can recover from – like an illness, lost passport or robbery, but student deaths are casualties and tragedies.
If you believe Fire Safety should be mandated in programs encouraging America’s sons and daughters to voyage onto foreign soil, then please push the button “ClearCause Voices” on the right to send a message to your federal and state policy makers.
Safety is not an accident.

Death by Beach

Many students die from drowning every year. What does the U.S. Department of State know that some student study abroad program chaperones apparently don’t? Read some of the travel warnings posted on http://travel.state.gov/ for visitors going to Costa Rica and Thailand’s beaches.

For Costa Rica:
“On both the Caribbean and Pacific coasts, currents are swift and dangerous, and the majority of dangerous beaches have neither lifeguards nor warning signs. Approximately 59 people drowned in 2012 in Costa Rica due to treacherous rip currents that have swept even strong swimmers out to sea. “
Source: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1093.html

For Thailand:
“Strong seasonal undercurrents at popular beach resorts pose a sometimes fatal threat to surfers and swimmers. During the monsoon season from May through October, drowning is the leading cause of death for tourists visiting the resort island of Phuket. Some, but not all, beaches have warning flags to indicate the degree of risk (red flag: sea condition dangerous for swimming; yellow flag: sea condition rough, swim with caution; green flag: sea condition stable).”
Source: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1040.html


For Bali (Indonesia):
“Strong seasonal undercurrents in coastal waters pose a fatal threat to surfers and swimmers; every year, several U.S. citizens drown in unstable water.”
Source: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_2052.html
Following are stories of students that were killed on dangerous beaches. Every student, parent, program and chaperone should know about the U.S. Department of State travel warnings so that deaths like these can be prevented.



According to a story on MyDeathSpace.com, junior Erik Downes disappeared after he and his study abroad classmates from Oglethorpe University in Georgia were caught in a rip tide off of a beach in Costa Rica. Downes never resurfaced, and after a three-day search his body was found in waters off Playa Pinuelas. University President Lawrence Schall said in a statement, "Erik was a shining star with unlimited potential and a kind heart. This is a great loss to our community. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family."






Joshua Shane was a 21-year-old student from Arizona State University who disappeared after late-night swimming with three other friends on June 12, 2012 while studying abroad through a university program in Thailand. According to an article by the Huffington Post, Thai police found Shane’s body washed up on the shore of the resort island of Phuket. A teacher escorting the students confirmed the body’s identity. It appeared that Shane had drowned.




Morgan Lide, a high school senior from Georgia, drowned while swimming along the coast of Bali, Thailand while enrolled in a study abroad program in Indonesia, stated an article on the Daily Mail’s website.
Lide had started the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Abroad Program in September, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. According to the article, the U.S. State Department confirmed Lide's death in the below statement:
'The Department of States offers our sincere condolences to her family,' it said. 'The U.S. Consulate in Surabaya is providing the family with all appropriate consular services.'



Sadly, the stories don’t end there. Pulled by a strong undertow current, three Ohio teenagers drowned while on a mission’s trip to Costa Rica on May 4, 2011. An article by Deseret News stated that the teenagers were enjoying an afternoon on the beach with their group when they were swept out to sea by a rip current in the Pacific Ocean near the town of Parrita.
Two other teenagers in the group were swept out by the current as well, but were rescued by local bystanders.



Nineteen-year-old Ravi Thackurdeen disappeared on Sunday, April 28, 2012 while he was studying abroad in Costa Rica. A fishing boat discovered his body on the south Pacific coast of Bahia Ballena two days later. Authorities said that Thackurdeen was trying to save a friend who was drowning in a riptide at Playa Tortuga in the southwestern canton of Osa, according to an article in the Tico Times..
Thackurdeen was studying abroad in Costa Rica as part of the Organization for Tropical Studies/Duke University's Global Health program, along with 17 other students. Thackurdeen was a chemistry and pre-med student at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. Assistant vice provost for undergraduate global education at Duke, Margaret Riley, said that the study abroad program in Costa Rica is providing “all assistance possible to the family,” and counseling for students. The course was ended shortly after this tragedy occurred.
Help us create federal oversight to govern where our students are placed and appropriate warnings to protect them. Click on ClearCause Voices to the right.

$300 Million Scholarship Program

Why is money being funneled into establishing new educational programs abroad when there are still no rules or regulations in place to protect our students?
According to a Huffington Post article, a U.S. private equity tycoon has established a $300 million endowed scholarship program rivaling the Rhodes scholarship in China for students across the world.
“Stephen A. Schwarzman, founder of the private equity firm Blackstone, said he would give $100 million as a personal gift and raise another $200 million to endow the Schwarzman Scholars program at Beijing's Tsinghua University,” the article stated. This scholarship program will be the largest philanthropic gift with foreign money in China’s history, according to the tycoon and the university. "China is no longer an elective course, it's core curriculum," Schwarzman said in Beijing.
As stated in the article, Schwarzman hopes that his partnering with the prestigious Chinese university results in training future world leaders. He said he also hopes the program plays a “positive role in relations between China and the United States.” "For future geopolitical stability and global prosperity, we need to build a culture of greater trust and understanding between China, America and the rest of the world," he said.
The program would be jointly governed by the Schwarzman Education Foundation and Tsinghua University. Donors include BP, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Boeing, GE, JPMorgan Chase, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Caterpillar, Credit Suisse and Deloitte. $100 million has already been raised in the past six months from private donors, Schwarzman said.
Beginning in 2016, 200 students each year will be able to take part in a one-year master’s program at Tsinghua in public policy, economics and business, international relations or engineering. According to Schwarzman, 45 percent of the students would come from the United States, 20 percent from China and the rest from other parts of the world.
If you believe that these programs encouraging American students to go abroad need to have rules and regulations in place to protect the involved students, please push the button “ClearCause Voices” on the right to send a message to your federal and state policy makers.