Fear of Rape Keeps U.S. Students Out of India

Fear of being raped could be a factor in why American students are choosing not to study abroad in India, a recent Times of India article reported. "The concern for personal security and perceived increased danger to women as a result of the rape cases was perhaps a factor in US students' decision regarding study in India,” said Nancy Powell, the U.S. ambassador to India, in addressing students at Xavier Institute of Social Science (XISS) last week.

XISS students agreed with Powell and said they have faced sexual harassment on the streets. "Even we Indian girls face a lot of cat-calls and are subject to teasing outside the college campus almost everyday," said a student, who wished to remain anonymous.

Powell said last year a female American student from Chicago University posted an account on CNN iReport after studying abroad in India. The student’s report stated India was full of adventures and beauty, but while she was there she was groped, stalked and masturbated at.

 While she was speaking to XISS students, Powell kept her focus on education. "There is no sector that better illustrates the mutual benefit of our relationship than education, a priority sector for both the US and India. Education has become one of the main pillars in our bilateral strategic partnership," she said.

StaySafe in your college dorm - Safety Gadgets

Want to stay safe while studying abroad? We have found some great portable safety gadgets that will help ensure safety in your college dorm, wherever you go. StaySafe and keep your stuff!

The Tile app is an application you can download on your smart phone to help you find items you misplace. The app comes with a little “tile” that you can attach, stick on or drop into whatever you think you might misplace: your wallet, keys, guitars, laptops, or anything you can think of. When you misplace that item, the Tile app on your phone allows you to track distance to your missing item and shows you when you get closer. Tiles can also be activated to ring so you can find your missing item by sound. If an item of yours is stolen, you can log into your Tile account and report it.Anyone else with a Tile who gets in a certain range of your stolen item will have their phone automatically send you a message with the location of your stolen item. Amazing! Check it out here.

DormVault has created a laptop vault that easily attaches to dorm furniture to ensure safety. This handy vault protects your laptop from being stolen and stops anyone from stealing any personal information. This steel vault will hold up to a 17’ laptop and can also hold other small items. The vault measures 12.5 x 16.5 x 2.75 inches and comes with a year warranty. The lock is a hardy four-spindle combination lock. These laptop vaults can be found online at DormVault’s website.

DormCo features a Hidden Closest Dorm Safe that at first glance looks just like a normal t-shirt. This t-shirt safe features nine hidden inner pockets to hold small valuables such as cash, cameras, jewelry, checks, passports and more. The sides of the shirt zip up and down to hide the inner pockets when needed. Once it is hanging in your closet with your other clothes, no one would suspect one of your shirts to be your safe. The safe is made out of durable vinyl-like material and can be purchased here.

Want to carry pepper spray discreetly? DormCo also carries a pepper spray that looks just like a small lipstick tube. The container colors come in black, pink and purple to disguise your pepper spray well. When your attacker is near, you can pretend to be re-doing your make-up before spraying him or her with pepper spray. The pepper spray lipstick tube can be purchased here.

University Housewares is selling a Nebo Windup Flashlight that requires no batteries or bulbs at any time. After winding up the light for one minute, you will get one hour of bright light with three super bright leds. This flashlight could be especially useful in power outages, sketchy situations or in the middle of the night. Purchase it online here.

The Door Guard Alarm for College Students from DormSmart is another great tool to stay safe while in your accommodations overseas. The alarm is simply hung on your door and when it detects a vibration, it will sound off a 98dB alert for 20-30 seconds to alert you of an intruder. The alarm resets in 3-5 seconds. This alarm is portable and can be used anywhere with 2 AAA batteries. It can be found at DormSmart’s website.

This Desktop PC & Peripherals Lock Kit from Kensington features a 8 foot high-carbon steel cable, anchor plate and Kensington keyed lock. The locking kit secures a desktop computer, two peripherals and a wired keyboard and mouse. The kit includes 2 adapters to secure any device with a Kensington Security Slot and a pick resistant Kensington lock, with two keys. Custom keying options are available. For laptop users, this Skilcraft Laptop Security Lock is another great way to keep your computer safe.

See more StaySafe picks from ClearCause here. Protect and inform America’s next generation about safety risks before they go abroad!

A Valuable Resource in Safe Study Abroad – The College Alert Center

S. Daniel Carter of Virginia Tech Family Crisis Foundation introduced ClearCause to a valuable resource: the College Alert Center, a company offering a safe, secure and easy to use service that employs the latest technology to provide critical information that may compress the time between loss and hopeful recovery of a missing student.

How does it work? Parents register their student’s information and photograph with the company. The College Alert Center is able to send a “Missing Student” message up to 20,000 text links per minute of a mini-poster to their entire mobile network and campus security when a student is missing. These messages can be sent to the entire student population of a college. “By distributing this information quickly in mass numbers we greatly increase the chances of recovery of the student,” College Alert Center’s website says.

Horrifically, missing students often are unreported until tragedy hits. The College Alert Center works to make sure these missing students are found before something worse happens to them. The service is only $15 per year per student to use, keeping our best and brightest safe as they pursue their education.

The College Alert Center’s call center is always available and has over 100 customer support personnel to assist callers. Parents are able to create a “buddy list” of immediate friends or relatives of the student to help locate their missing child quickly. The company also has a database of law enforcement, news media and other personnel to help locate students quickly. Text messages are sent to networks of customers within the 150-mile radius when a student is missing for two hours so the local community can help locate  the missing student. 

This service can help save lives. Visit The College Alert Center to use this valuable resource and keep your students safe! 

LGBT Safety During Study Abroad?

A recent CBS news article discusses the safety concerns many LGBT students have about studying abroad. Marc Caporiccio, an openly gay Canadian graduate student, worried about his safety when he traveled to South Africa with a group of university students, the article reported. "The question on the top of my mind is, “Am I being me abroad?" he said, as reported CBS.

Brita Doyle, a study abroad adviser at American University and co-chair of the International Association of Educators Rainbow Group, said, “LGBT students have many of the same concerns most students have in traveling to a different country. But, then they also might have some extra concerns [such as] whether or not there are different laws in a country pertaining to them as an LGBT individual," Doyle said, CBS reported. Caporiccio said many LGBT students have to deal with safety concerns on their own.

How can we change this? Advisors have approached Doyle to get advice on how to support LGBT students who study abroad. She recommends addressing LGBT issues with all students and incorporating queer concerns into general information sessions.

The University of British Columbia’s Go Global program is an example of a supportive LGBT program, as it makes LGBT information available to students through different formats and has students fill out questionnaires about their host country after they return home. This can help prospective study abroad students decide what country they’d like to travel to based on other students’ reviews.

"Having supports available, having resources available, knowledgeable staff available — it all is imperative for students' success abroad,” said Caporiccio, CBS reported.

Applaud to University of Nebraska-Lincoln for Protecting Students - No Travel to Countries with USDOS Travel Warnings – Study Abroad Safel

The U.S. Department of State has put travel warnings on eleven Middle Eastern countries due to unstable government, civil war, ongoing intense crime of violence or frequent terrorist attacks. Now, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) is actively working to protect their students who decide to study abroad from these threats.

“As of Oct. 1, UNL students traveling abroad in any association with the university must be part of a program administered by university-sponsored Education Abroad,” a Daily Nebrasakan article reported.

University of Nebraska President James B. Milliken has stated no travel abroad program supported by the university will travel to countries with travel warnings.

This does not mean that students can’t travel abroad with third party programs into countries with USDOS travel warning.  Some professors and colleges within universities take students abroad on programs not associated with the university’s study abroad office. ClearCause would love to see more universities with safety controls tied to ‘credits’ associated to the university’s students.

This policy puts multiple countries out of bounds for UNL students, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt and Sudan. All of the above countries are under travel warnings from the U.S. Department of State. Kuwait, Jordan, Oman, Bahrain, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates remain acceptable Education Abroad destinations, the article reported.

UNL students can only travel to countries with travel warnings if they are able to obtain a waiver with university approval. Read the full article here.

ClearCause believes more universities should adopt this policy so that students don’t lose their lives to reckless actions and inexperienced, under-prepared professors or third party study abroad programs. See Current Travel Warnings here.

Costa Rica appeals court orders new trial for security guard who killed U.S. teen

16-year-old Justin Johnson was tragically killed by a hotel security guard while he was studying abroad in Costa Rica in June 2011 (read his story here.) The security guard, Jorge Guervara, has recently won the right to a new trial even though the criminal court last fall issued him a 15-year prison sentence and a $650,000 fine, reported the Tico Times.

‘A Sentencing Appeals Court in San Ramón, Alajuela, northwest of the capital, ruled in favor of an appeal filed by Guevara’s attorney that claimed “the original trial court did not establish Guevara’s intent to kill Johnston,”’ the article reported.

"The court's ruling overturned the previous sentence and now a new trial is scheduled for September 16-27," judicial branch spokeswoman Teresita Arana said.

Jorge Guervara stated at the trial that he fired a warning shot before firing again at the teenagers who were running into the hotel. The second shot fatally wounded Justin. According to Justin’s parents, Justin’s classmate who was with him at the time of his injury said that there was no warning shot.

“Devastating, we received the news of Guevara being granted a new trial from the appeals court on Justin’s birthday. We were actually at the cemetery,” John Johnston, Justin's father, told a local Fox News affiliate in McLouth, Kansas, as reported by the article. “It’s possible that pressure measures related to the death of our son could be portrayed negatively related to the tourism within Costa Rica,” he said. “We’re very concerned that the process may not be above board.”

Justin’s family told Fox News that they have spent more than $100,000 on both U.S. and Costa Rican attorneys. They now must return to Costa Rica next month to participate in the new trial over their son’s death. “The cost of justice won’t deter us,” Justin’s mother Wendi said.

His parents stated that before the first trial occurred, the witness statements were mistranslated and they were asked to sign documents that misstated the facts in order to have their son’s body return to the U.S.

“From the very start, we’ve been very concerned about what is happening within the country to allow things to be fair,” John Johnston said.

Read the full article here.

Father of Casey Shulman, University of Virginia Student, Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Semester At Sea

University of Virginia student Casey Schulman was killed while studying abroad with Semester at Sea last year. Her father, David Schulman, is now suing over her death, an article from The Daily Progress reported.

“The lawsuit, filed this month in federal court in Miami by David Schulman, the father of Casey Schulman, alleges negligence by the Semester at Sea program, sponsored by University of Virginia, and several others, seeking funeral expenses and compensatory damages,” the article reported.

Casey was only 22 years old with a bright and promising future ahead of her. She was snorkeling close to Mero Beach near Roseau, Dominica, when a small dive boat backed over her, killing her instantly. More than six months later, Dominican authorities charged Andrew Armour, the boat’s captain, with manslaughter.

ClearCause Founder Sheryl Hill was quoted in a USA Today article highlighting Casey’s tragic story and many dangers of studying abroad. Sheryl believes the study abroad industry should be required to report their safety record publicly. "Students and families have every right to know the safety record of the program they're entrusting their future and their life to," Sheryl said.  “Most come back safe is not good enough.”

University of Virginia has been the academic sponsor of Semester at Sea since 2006, a study abroad program taking students around the world on a 590-foot ship. A University of Virginia spokesperson said, “Casey’s trip was organized by students outside of Semester at Sea and was not a Semester at Sea event.”

In 1996, A Semester at Sea bus crash tragically killed four Semester at Sea students, Jenna Druck, Sara Schewe, Virginia Amoto and Cherese Laulhere.  A wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of those young lives resulted in punitive damages and criminal negligence.  Semester at Sea has been banned from ports because of rowdiness and has come under scrutiny for being a ‘four month bender’.

J-Term Study Abroad Students – Get Immunizations to Stay Safe!

Planning on going abroad for J-Term 2014? It’s time to visit the travel clinic.

Shots aren’t fun.  We know that.  We also know one of the biggest buzz kills for study abroad is preventable, unexpected illness.  Vaccinations are as important as trip insurance. Taking precautions for your study abroad experience can kick buzz kill’s butt!

All students going on J-Term study abroad trips need to get to travel clinics for TRAVAX health reports to be informed on risks and undergo preventative healthcare wellness checks! TRAVAX is maintained and updated by the Travel and International Health Team of Health Protection Scotland (HPS). It is provided as an NHS resource for health care professionals who advise travelers about health risks, avoiding illness and staying healthy abroad.

In our state, Minnesota Health Partners Tropical & Travel Medical Center  is one resource to help you prepare for your trip to a foreign country, no matter where you go. Experts here can provide you with knowledge, immunizations and the medications that you need to stay safe. Services include personalized pre-travel counseling, immunizations, physical exams and/or lab tests, recommendations for preventing travel related illnesses, World Health Organization (WHO) booklets verifying Yellow Fever immunizations and education materials on your destination’s food, water, insect, weather, politic and general safety.

You will need 2-3 months of preparation time because certain vaccinations come in a series and need time to build up your immune system.

Now that you’re wellness check is set, GET INSURED!  It can cost more than $50,000 to get you home if you are incapacitated.

Don’t let a buzz kill take you out of the game.  Travel Clinic – StuCard – ASAPP checklist.  Go abroad, stay safe!