End sexual assaults on college campuses - Video

Nearly 1 in 5 college women experienced a sexual assault or attempted sexual assault since starting college.

Yale University graduate Alexandra Brodsky and S. Daniel Carter, a college and university campus safety advocate are interviewed by MSNBC’s Craig Melvin in this video about how sexual violence can be ended on college campuses.

There are currently 28 schools under scrutiny for sexual violence, and the list includes Dartmouth, University of North Carolina, Princeton, and Harvard Law. S. Daniel Carter said that the issue of sexual violence is a widespread issue.

Brodsky said the real problem is that schools are viewing sexual violence as a PR problem, instead of an issue of public safety and sexism. “They don’t really have the interest of the survivor at heart, they have the interests of the school’s statistics or the school’s fundraising,” she said in the video. “When people know that students who cheat are suspended for longer than students that rape their classmates, that sends the message that sexual violence isn’t that big of a deal.”

This video highlights a quote that Brodsky wrote when she tried to report an attempted rape.” In short, I was told to be a good girl. And for four years, I listened...because of our insistence on the femininity of victims, even male and genderqueer survivors are held to the good girl standard,” she wrote.

Brodsky explained that the Good Girl Standard women are always taught to be accommodating and to make the lives of men as easy as possible, but at a certain point, women need to be loud and angry to make sure their future is safer,” she said.

The Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act (SAVE) is expanding requirements to include intimate partner violence and stalking and expands victim’s procedural rights, according to Carter. “Most importantly, the SAVE Act requires institutions to provide primary prevention education, which instead of treating the disease it inoculates against it. We want to change the culture on the front end that tolerates sexual violence so that we can actually begin to cut down on these numbers,” Carter said. ”We want to start changing these cultural barriers so that more victims will come forward and we can start addressing these problems.”

The SAVE Act requires University officials to report sexual offenses to law enforcement authorities and provide contact information and legal, counseling, health and advocacy services to victims. The SAVE Act will be enforced starting in the fall of 2014. RAINN is another anti-sexual violence organization that is fighting sexual assault.

Watch the video here.

Forum on Education Abroad Launches Optional Critical Incident Database

The Critical Incident Database (CID) tool has just been launched for use in tracking critical incidents that happen when students are abroad, according to the Forum on Education Abroad. After much feedback and adjustments, the Forum will launch the live and final version of the CID on August 15, 2013.

The tool also can be used for tracking required information on incidents that should be reported for a member’s Annual Security Report as required by the Department of Education in compliance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (the Clery Act).

The article listed three reasons that intuitions and organizations will want to use the CID tool:

1. An easy and convenient way to track what happens to your students while off campus (types of incidents, locations, etc.);
2. A reliable method to identify which incidents should be reported in your Annual Security Report to the Department of Education to comply with the Clery Act; and
3. A way to help the field track critical incidents so that risk management decisions about education abroad programs can be made using appropriate data.

The Forum is providing a free online demonstration of the CID on Monday, August 19, 2013 at 12:00 p.m. (EST). Go to the article for more information.

ClearCause would like to see mandated reporting and complete transparency.  We feel students and families have the right to know. We do like seeing this optional beginning.

Mental Health Awareness While Abroad

Robert Quigley, MD, D. Phil and Regional Medical Director, Americas Region for International SOS, found that often the stressful transition of moving into a new environment and new routine can cause underlying mental health issues to rise to the surface for students studying abroad. He wrote an article about this topic in the Huffington Post.

Quigley reported that students studying abroad are 23 times more likely to need repatriation assistance for mental health conditions than other travelers. ”It's especially concerning given that the number of students studying abroad is increasing each year,” Quigley wrote.

The number of international students coming into the U.S. last year has increased by 5.7 percent in 2011-2012 alone. The number of American studying overseas has grown from 114,000 in 1997-1998 to 274,000 in 2010-2011, according to the article.

To help solve this issue, Quigley wrote that first students and their families must understand that moving to college is a major life transitions for many students. This can bring up psychological difficulties or even create new problems for some. Later moving away from all family and peer support to study abroad within a new place with high academic standards can also cause deeper student depression or anxiety.

“The study abroad student may lack the emotional and cross-cultural coping skills to adapt or function in his or her chosen program. In some cases, the student could have a predisposition to mental illness and the stress of the "new" environment may actually trigger the problem,” Quigley reported in the article.

Quigley recommends that any student considering a studying abroad program should be honest with their school and parents regarding any existing mental health issues. Students also should confirm that their insurance provides mental health benefits while they are abroad. “Mental health resources may be extremely limited, if available at all. Even when services are available, the language barrier can easily preclude access,” Quigley wrote.

Quigley believes that all schools should provide access to educational support for students who want to study abroad. “To provide awareness, the student -- and parents or guardian -- should take an e-learning course that outlines various cultural issues and laws, as well as the signs and symptoms of common mental illnesses,” he said. Quigley also wrote that the home campus officials should help determine which study abroad location best serves each student’s needs.

“Scholastic duty of care is a dynamic responsibility. The home institution must continue to provide ongoing education to the students, as well as to the accompanying faculty, in the recognition and management of mental illnesses. Adherence to such a strategy will certainly help to mitigate the risk of a failed study abroad experience. And maybe it will help prevent unnecessary deaths,” he concluded.

Read the entire article here.

The Danger of Rip Currents – A Mother’s Loss

An article from the Tico Times describes the pain-filled grief of one mother who lost her 19-year-old son in a rip current while on a study abroad program to Costa Rica in 2012.

Ros Thackurdeen’s son, Ravi Thackurdeen, was studying abroad with the Organization for Tropical Studies/Duke University’s Global Health program when he was caught in a riptide on a beach in Playa Tortuga. There were no lifeguards, and he was dragged out to sea and killed. Read Ravi’s story here.

“Rav treaded water for more than half an hour…He was wading in hip-height water when he was pulled out by a rip current. The tourists on the beach said if they had a piece of rope, they could have saved my son. Those responsible for him on the trip watched him fight for his life and listened to his cries for help. With no safety gear or working communication devices, nobody could help,” Ros wrote in the article.

Ros explained that the family learned afterwards that drowning is the leading cause of death in Costa Rica, which is notorious for rip currents. “We learned that even an Olympic swimmer cannot resist the pull of a typical rip current,” she wrote.

To prove her point, Ros provided a horrifyingly long list of individuals who were also dragged out to sea and killed by rip currents.

Curtis Chase	Gabriel Eric Moore
Dr. Brian Sumner	Marshuan Braxton
Brian Anthony Maltez	Garapaty Sthitha Prajna
Dr. Robert K. Herbert	Steve Hershberger
Dylan Smith	Danell Zimmerman
Rhiannon Joy Hull	Jermaine Zimmerman
Penny Obee	Michael Mckinsley
Alfred Kobe Storay	Serge Seguin
Dorothy Paradis	Scott W. Schneider
Richard A. and James M. Campbell	Dean Hugh Heywood
Marcus Maurice Mack	Matt Garber
Erik L. Downes	Steve Tanaka
Aly Zain Lakdawala	Kai Lamar
Jay Kennedy	City Noelle Jones
Matt McParland	James Erik Smith
John Rutledge	James Campbell
Jeremy Porfirio	Garcia Barboza
Danielle Tongier	Tony Leech
Andrew Harpstrite	Brett Carlson
Jessica Pierce	Skuglud Mauricio Alberto Acuña

(Actor Danny DeVito nearly drowned in a rip current on a family vacation.)

“We learned recently that the U.S. Embassy in San José has strengthened a warning about rip currents on its website,” Ros wrote at the end of the article.

Read Ros’ story to see how one family’s beloved son was torn away by a strong rip current in Playa Tortuga.

Written by N. Losik.

Increasing Health and Safety in Study Abroad

The number of full-time staff members focusing on health and safety in international university travel has increased from a mere three in 2007 to twenty-seven staff members today, an Inside Higher Ed article reported. Some would say that the number today is closer to a 100, even though it may not be an official job title. “There are a growing number of institutions where this is the primary responsibility of somebody,” Gary Lansdale, president of the University Risk Management and Insurance Association said.

So how newsworthy is 100 Health & Safety Directors? According to the U.S. Department of Education Database of Postsecondary Institutions and Programs, there are 33,221 entries; approximately 6,900 colleges and universities, meaning 1.45% of all colleges and universities have health & safety directors. We realized not all of these programs offer study abroad – but the numbers are strikingly low. 

Parents and students need to vet out their programs before entrusting their future and lives into the hands of study abroad programs. It’s also important to understand the ratio of health and safety providers for the program and number of students they oversee.

The Institute of International Education reported that approximately 270,000 college students studied abroad in 2010-2011. The number of students studying abroad has more than tripled in the past two decades, factoring into the number of full-time staff working in study abroad programs. Students who choose to study abroad today are also traveling to a multitude of locations, and many of these students have pre-existing health conditions or disabilities. A priority in the field is to increase access to study abroad for students with disabilities, the article reported.

Stacey Tsantir, ClearCause Director and University of Minnesota Director of International Health, Safety and Compliance, was quoted saying that much of her job “entails creating policies and procedures for the five-campus system and educating faculty and staff members in order to increase compliance.” Although students don’t have to come through her office while planning a study abroad program, she said that there are policies requiring students participating in education abroad opportunities, to sign a release and waiver, to purchase the university’s international health insurance and to attend an online health and safety orientation. The unit that is sponsoring the travel also would be required to have an emergency plan on file.

“It seems likely that more institutions will consider creating these specialized international health, safety and security-related positions as they grow or centralize their global programs,” the article reported.

Tsantir said that those in the field want to avoid this trend becoming a fad, in which institutions install these positions but “don’t set up their hires to succeed.”

ClearCause Founder and Executive Director Sheryl Hill responded, “We applaud universities who take precautionary measures and the programs and directors cited in the article. However, we hear all too often about universities who are not forthcoming with answer to parental questions about how their child’s life ended during study abroad. More needs to be done so that families are not forced to sue to get information. Laws and rules should mandate transparent reporting of safety records, and data sharing to avoid repeating preventable deaths from drowning, unsafe housing and more.”

Written by N. Losik.

A Student Abroad Preparedness Plan - the ASAPP Checklist

Thinking of going abroad? The ASAPP checklist from ClearCause Foundation has over 50 safety checkpoints that every student should fulfill before traveling overseas. This is the best way for students to stay safe abroad.

The first section of the ASAPP Checklist is a personal profile for students to fill in their own contact and passport information. The checklist also has a section for students to fill in the information of their study abroad program, including crucial emergency contact information.

The second section of the ASAPP Checklist is all about communication. The checklist requires students to provide emergency phone numbers, emergency contacts and contact information for the closest U.S. Embassy in their country.In addition to this, more checkpoints include instructions on how to dial the U.S. while abroad, the country’s emergency phone number is (if not 911) and the U.S. DOS Travel Warnings.

Finally, the third section of the ASAPP Checklist goes over the safety regulations of students’ daily lives while abroad. Housing checkpoints include residential locks, fire safety, number of roommates, security and location of housing to police stations, hospitals and other safety points while abroad. Checkpoints in the Money and Security section include a monthly budget, credit cards, prescriptions, contracts, passports, and more. The last section, Health and Wellness, includes checkpoints dealing with travel clinics, immunizations, and the necessary travel insurance (StuCard).

The ASAPP checklist is available for a free download from ClearCause Foundation. Either click on the “ASAPP Checklist” box to the right or click on this link to download your copy of the ASAPP Checklist today.

The ASAPP Checklist has been made possible in part by memorial gifts from the families of Tyler Hill (1991-2007), Thomas Plotkin (1990-2011) and Joshua Shane (1990-2012). Use every tool you can to keep your students safe while studying abroad.

College Student Dies in Spain

Oeshae Morgan, a soon-to-be senior at the University of Pittsburgh, was found dead in the courtyard where she lived on July 12, 2013, according to The Pitt News. The article reported that the U.S. Department of State informed the University of Pittsburgh of Morgan’s death a few days after it happened, but wouldn’t disclose the circumstances of her death.

“We express our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Ms. Morgan,” a U.S Department of State official said in an email. “Embassy officials are in contact with her family and are providing consular assistance. Out of respect for the family, we have no further comment.”

A political science and economic major, Morgan was spending the summer in Madrid, Spain as part of Pitt’s College of Business Administration’s International Internship Program. “Pitt spokeswoman Cara Masset said that Morgan’s passing is the first and only time a student studying abroad with the International Internship Program has died,” the article reported.

An article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Morgan’s family described her as ambitious and spiritual. Morgan was a member of Pitt’s debate team and “loved talking about everything from politics to fashion,” the article reported.

Morgan’s 21st birthday was the weekend after death, according to Post-Gazette article. Her family decided to go ahead with her birthday celebration, and 160 friends, family church members and classmates of Morgan’s showed up to celebrate her life.

“[Morgan] will be missed by many, and our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends,” the University said in a statement from the The Pitt News article. “The University is providing support and assistance to the family as well as to the Pitt students who are grieving over this loss.”

Morgan’s family has been told that her death was accidental. The article reported that Pitt officials have referred questions to the State Department, which has released no additional information.

Written by N. Losik.