Get Herald RSSWith the University's recent emphasis on internationalization - which has yet to touch undergraduates in a meaningful way - and the increased popularity of concentrations like international relations and development studies, we're glad undergraduates are taking advantage of newly permitted study in Israel and other countries on the U.S. Department of State Travel Warning list.
Before last March, University policy prohibited students from studying in countries on the State Department's travel blacklist. But many students studied in Israel anyway, fending for themselves by withdrawing temporarily from Brown, enrolling as a visiting student at a local university and hoping to get retroactive credit at Brown after they returned. University officials finally buckled to swelling student pressure - marked by over 2,000 signatures collected by Brown Students for Israel - to allow study abroad in Israel.
We're relieved that University officials didn't retreat from their policy change after a Brown student enrolled as a visiting student in an Israeli university was briefly kidnapped while traveling in the West Bank only a few months after the ban was lifted.
Brown stands out among Ivy peers as uniquely supportive of study abroad experiences, and many concentration programs underscore the educational value of cross-cultural experiences. Though studying abroad in developing or politically sensitive countries is certainly riskier than spending a semester on College Hill, it's a decision for students and their families, not administrators, to make.
