Colombia RPCV Margaret Riley, head of the Study Abroad office at Duke University, has heard a lot of people asking her whether the office will cancel any of their programs with the possibility of war with Iraq



Colombia RPCV Margaret Riley, head of the Study Abroad office at Duke University, has heard a lot of people asking her whether the office will cancel any of their programs with the possibility of war with Iraq

War affects study abroad programs

Updated: 3/20/2003 4:19 PM
By: Shelvia Dancy & Web Staff

As the threat of war hangs over the nation, local colleges and universities are coping with the threat too. The possibility of war with Iraq has affected the study abroad programs at the universities.

Margaret Riley is the head of the Study Abroad office at Duke University. She has heard a lot of people asking her whether the office will cancel any of their programs.

"At this point the answer is no, we don't have any plans to cancel or terminate of the programs we're currently offering,” Riley said.

Duke has set up a website to answer parents’ questions. No students have returned from abroad but Riley’s office is telling them to be cautious.

As the threat of war hangs over the nation, local colleges and universities are coping with the threat too. The possibility of war with Iraq has affected the study abroad programs at the universities.

“We are suggesting that they refrain from dressing in an overly American fashion,” Riley said. “They probably should not wear clothes that have flags on them and we are suggesting they not go out in large groups.”

That is the same message North Carolina Central University is telling students who are traveling aboard with the Department of Modern Foreign Languages. Several students are going to Mexico in May.

“Being identified as American, I would not advise the students to be at a political rally,” Thomas Hammond of NCCU said. “I do advise our students to travel in twos, especially young women.”

Damien Moore is a junior at Duke University. He’s traveling to Ghana in May. He said the possibility of war with Iraq hasn’t changed his plans at all.

“I’ve been thinking about this for awhile and the war, I wasn’t sure it was going to happen in the first place but not that it’s happened, I haven’t though twice about going abroad,” Moore said.

When this story was posted in November 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:

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