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.

Welcome Laura Brandt

Laura Brandt, ClearCause Event Planner

Laura Brandt brings years of management experience to enrich ClearCause benefits and fundraising.  She worked as Director of Alumni and Donor Relations for Normandale Community College Foundation.  She enjoyed helping students afford college education by finding donors to help them pay for school.
The Foundation team raised approximately ~$400,000 a year for Normandale students.
Laura is leading ClearCause Foundation's "Around the World Safely 2013" event on July 30, 2013, while developing policy and practices to replicate and improve success.

Students Fired Up About Campus Security

Similar Study Abroad Laws Do NOT Exist!

According to an article in Doane Line, May 12, 2013 published by 'Beat Reporting Class'.  The reporting class was doing an audit of public records on Doane’s campus and within the communities of Crete and Wilber to determine compliance with state and federal law.  They reported Doane Safety Office failed, breaking both state and federal laws by failing to provide an 'incident report' without question.
The Clery Act and the Nebraska Open Records Law both require colleges and universities to provide public records concerning campus and community-based incidents upon request without question.  The article reported that safety administrator Michael Dixon, ".. demanded an email request for the documents before safety would comply. An email was sent as requested, and following another visit to the Safety Office an email reply containing the information was sent a week later."  
In April, 2013 twelve (12) students filed a federal complaint against Swathmore College for violating Clery Act according to an article in the Daily Gazette. Specifically, the complaint addresses a lack of safety and security reporting on sexual assaults on campus.   The article reports, "In their complaint, Ferguson and Brinn bring six allegations of misconduct against the college:
1. Discouraging students from reporting crime to local law enforcement and from going through formal judiciary proceedings
2. Persistently underreporting incidents of sexual battery, sexual assault, and rape in the Annual Clery Security Report
3. Persistently underreporting incidents of sexual battery, sexual assault, and rape in the daily crime log
4. Failing to issue timely reports of incidents of sexual battery, sexual assault, and rape
5. Failing to publicly report potential sanctions for sexual battery, sexual assault, and rape
6. Intimidating, discriminating, and retaliating against sexual assault and rape survivors and their advocates
Their complaint will be reviewed by the Department of Education and may be granted an investigation in as soon as two weeks."
Failure to comply with the Clery Act means Doane & Swathmore Colleges risk losing federal financial aid and could mean a $35,000 fine.  Sadly, similar laws to mandate transparency on student travel and study abroad programs DO NOT exist.  Please use your VOICE!  Write to state and federal policy to ask for oversight, guidelines, qualifications and transparency.

The Clery Act for Security on Campus - was set in place after Jeanne Cleary was brutally raped, sodomized, strangled with a wire cord, bitten, and mutilated with a broken bottle in her third floor door room.  Security on Campus mandates that every campus publish their "Clery Incident Report" and make it available upon request.  Every student and parent should read this report before enrolling.  Similar reports should be mandated before going abroad.
Rape, sexual assault and unwanted touching are under reported.  If you need help contact RAINN - Rape and Incent National Network - the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization.

We rely on your generosity to advance Safe Global Youth Travel.  Please GIVE NOW.

The $41,700,000 Tick

by Guest Blogger Nicola Losik
Fifteen year old Cara Munn had no idea that her life was about to change forever when she went to China on a school-supervised trip in the summer of 2007. While overseas, Munn was bitten by a tick and later diagnosed with tick-borne encephalitis. Her private school, Hotchkiss School of Lakeville, Connecticut, did not enforce necessary safety methods.  They let their students walk through a wooded area in China known to be infested with ticks carrying encephalitis as well as other insect-transmitted diseases. Munn now has significant brain damage and is unable to speak. Her life is forever changed.
The Bridgeport Federal Jury ruled in favor of Munn awarding $41.7 million in response to a personal injury lawsuit Munn’s family brought against Hotchkiss School. Hotchkiss School is planning to appeal, as attorneys represent tick-borne encephalitis is a rare disease and the school should not be responsible for warning students or requiring protective measures.
“We care deeply about all our students,” the school said in a statement. “We make every effort to protect them . . .  We put great care and thought into planning and administering off-campus programs and we extend the same care to students on these trips as to students on campus.”
Yet others feel differently. “Hotchkiss failed to take basic safety precautions to protect the minor children in its care,” Munn’s attorney Antonio Ponvert III said.  “I hope that this case will help alert all schools who sponsor overseas trips for minors that they need to check the CDC for disease risks in the areas where they will be traveling, and that they must advise children in their care to use repellant and wear proper clothing when necessary. Cara’s injuries were easily preventable.”
Sources:
Klimas, Liz. "Student Wins $41. 7 Million Settlement for Disease She Contracted on School Trip." The Blaze 29 Mar. 2013: n. pag. Web. 3 May 2013
Image ABC News, “Woman Who Contracted Encephalitis on School Trip Awarded $41.7M.” ABC News  pag. Web 29 March 29 2013 (Courtesy of Munn Family)

National Geographic - Locked Up Abroad

A View From Behind Bars  with Dick Atkins

Attorney Dick Atkins, the so-called “Houdini of Fast Escapes from Foreign Prisons,” has spent more than 28 years helping Americans get out of legal trouble abroad — helping to win freedom for over a thousand Americans held in foreign custody.
His services are sought by congressmen seeking help for detained constituents, travel insurance companies looking into high-stakes claims, people who call his hotline, which offers around-the-clock legal advice, and human rights organizations like Amnesty International who refer those seeking help for friends or loved ones in trouble abroad. Some of his clients are travelers to developing countries who have found themselves in jail after breaking laws they didn't know existed.
Through his experience, Mr. Atkins has become proficient in describing the world's most notorious and unexpected tourist traps, the worst prisons on Earth and how to avoid getting sent to them. Below is his advice should one become Locked up Abroad.  

SAUDI ARABIA
The view from behind bars:

• Bail is almost always denied.
• Use of torture is allegedly widespread.
• Access to legal counsel during interrogation and trial is not guaranteed.
• Penal code includes beheading and public flogging.

What will get you locked down:

• Using or possessing alcohol (zero tolerance).
• Breaking morality laws — including dress and head-covering codes for women — which are enforced by religious police.
• Possessing pornography.
• Engaging in homosexual acts.

Atkins’ advice:

• Remember that a confession may be the most practical way to prevent interrogation from escalating to actual torture — and give you time to seek legal representation.

INDIA
The view from behind bars:

• Inadequate food and medical care.
• Lengthy detention times before trial (without bail) are common.
• No prisoner transfer agreement exists between India and the United States.
• Americans can be targeted for extortion by the corrupt, underpaid police.

What will get you locked down:

• Disputes over business contracts can be settled by the criminal justice system.

Atkins’ advice:

• Discreet payments, or baksheesh, could get you out of trouble or get you better treatment.

MEXICO
The view from behind bars:

• The police have been accused of torturing U.S. citizens to extract confessions.
• Meals and medical care are often inadequate; in some cases, you may have to pay out of pocket for all your prison expenses.
• Conditions can be violent; an American was allegedly beaten to death in jail by inmates and a prison guard in 2000.
• Detention while waiting for a trial can last for weeks or longer.
• Inmates are sometimes targeted for extortion by underpaid prison guards and officials.

What will get you locked down:

• Possession of firearms and/or ammunition almost always results in jail time.
• Drivers involved in accidents in which someone is seriously hurt are automatically jailed — sometimes for months — pending determination of fault and payment of restitution.

Atkins’ advice:

• If you are jailed, make sure that your lawyer knows about the Prisoner Transfer Treaty and that everything possible is being done to get you transferred to an American prison.

PERU
The view from behind bars:

• Harsh prison conditions made worse by inmate violence or extreme altitude.
• Slow judicial processes mean long pretrial detention times.

What will get you locked down:

• Extremely harsh drug laws.

Atkins’ advice:

• Coca leaf preparations are traditionally used to counter the effects of altitude sickness by locals and tourists alike; avoid all other forms of coca.

THAILAND
The view from behind bars:

• Despite generally good treatment by prison officials, prisons are overcrowded, extremely humid and uncomfortable.
• Slow judicial processes can result in long pretrial detention times.

What will get you locked down:

• Drug-related offenses can be punished with a lifetime prison sentence or the death penalty.

• Many (mostly women) are duped into becoming drug mules when they agree to transport a package or suitcase out of the country in exchange for money or a free vacation.

Atkins’ advice:

• Despite the availability of cheap drugs, remember the consequences.

CHINA
The view from behind bars:

• Isolation:  It is extremely difficult to contact people who are in Chinese jails.  No prisoner transfer treaty exists between the United States and China.
• There is no independent monitoring of Chinese prison conditions.

What will get you locked down:

• The criminal justice system is used to enforce business contracts in a dispute.
• There are currently around 30 Americans jailed for business-related offenses in China.  (Many claim that they are in jail for refusing to pay bribes).

 Atkins’ advice:

• If you’re arrested in China?  Pray.

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03/09 Reprinted from National Geographic Adventure Magazine / Source: www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0312/exclusive.html

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