Since post-election violence has erupted in Kenya, colleges across the United States have faced a tough decision: Should they cancel study-abroad programs there, or let them continue and put their students' safety at risk?
The normally stable African nation has been in turmoil since the December 2007 presidential elections, in which incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was elected over his opponent Raila Odinga, despite claims of election rigging. For years, Kenyans have typically voted along ethnic lines. The election results have led to tension among Kenya's major ethnic groups and political parties.
In response to the violence in Kenya, several U.S. colleges and universities have canceled or relocated their Kenyan study-abroad programs for the spring semester.
The School for International Training is an independent organization based in Vermont that directs study-abroad programs for students across the country. Students in the Kenyan SIT program travel around the country to examine health and social development.
SIT has decided to relocate its program from Kenya to Uganda for the spring 2008 semester. SIT moved the program partly because the violence in some areas would have restricted travel.
"We felt that the restrictions on the students were going to be too strict," said Sarah Martin, manager of university relations for SIT's study-abroad program, adding that the organization often has to adjust programs because of political issues.
But SIT rarely cancels a program outright, Martin said.
"It's not something we like to do, but sometimes that's the best choice," she said. "Overall though, it's fairly rare."
Whether the program is able to run as planned in Kenya next fall depends on the political situation at the time.
"We always evaluate a big picture before we decide to run a program or not," Martin said.
For now, the center felt the best decision was to relocate the program to a safer country.
"Students aren't going to get the same cultural experience, but they'll have an equally rewarding one," she said.
Princeton decided to cancel its program in Kenya this semester and to offer students the chance to study in Panama instead. The Kenyan program focused on ecology and conservation, and the university felt that those fields could be studied just as easily in Panama.
"We began monitoring the situation very early on after the election before the violence exploded," wrote Daniel Rubenstein, director of the program in African studies at Princeton, in an e-mail to The Herald.
Though the majority of the program was to take place in a research center in a safe region, some parts of the program involved traveling to more violent urban areas.
"With uncertainty and risk high, we felt it was inappropriate to put students in harm's way," Rubenstein wrote.
Lauren Bartholomew, a Princeton junior, is one of the students who is studying in Panama instead of Kenya this semester. In an e-mail to The Herald, she wrote that she found out about the Kenyan program's cancellation late last semester.
"I was very upset that the trip was cancelled, but I understood why it was cancelled," she wrote. "Initially, I looked for other places in Africa to study."
Bartholomew said she while she is having a "rewarding experience" in Panama, she hopes to study in Kenya in the future.
"I'm still keeping track of the situation and still hope that things are resolved for the sake of the people there as well as the future education of students around the world," she wrote.
Not all institutions have chosen to suspend programs for this semester. The University of Minnesota will continue its program in Kenya for the spring semester, though the departure of students in the program was delayed by a week. Al Balkcum, director of international programs at the Learning Abroad Center at Minnesota, cited a strong network in Kenya as one of the reasons the program was able to continue.
"We have been there for 20 years," Balkcum said. "We have a very strong infrastructure."
Like SIT, the University of Minnesota rarely cancels a study-abroad program. Minnesota last canceled a program in 2002, when an attempted coup in Venezuela halted a summer study program. The program was resumed the next fall.
The students participating in the Kenya program are all juniors and seniors, many of whom have been to Africa before.
"These are pretty sophisticated students," Balkcum said. "If students had not had a lot of experience we probably would have canceled."
Balkcum also said the program may have been canceled had it been centered on language and cultural immersion.
"It has a lot to do with the type of program that you're offering," he said.
Students in the Minnesota program stay in the homes of Kenyans, many of whom have been collaborating with the university for more than 15 years. The Learning Abroad Center maintains daily contact with the on-site staff in Kenya as well as near-daily contact with the students themselves. The university has also prepared a backup evacuation plan in case political conditions worsen.
Out of the 30 students initially planning to go to Kenya, only three have withdrawn. One student did not attend Minnesota, and the student's university required withdrawal from the program. In addition, of nine students participating in year-long studies in Kenya, only one opted to go home. The student would have had to relocate to another part of Kenya, where he would not have been able to continue his research.
Overall, Balkcum said students have not been disheartened by the situation in Kenya.
"We already have 22 or 23 students enrolled for next fall," he said.
