FAU Campus Protocol for Student Incidents Abroad FCIE 16th Annual Fall Conference Sept 29-30, 2016

FAU Study Abroad Safety and Security Committee Started in 2007 to advise Office of International Programs on health and safety issues linked to study abroad Consists of campus staff and faculty with expertise in law, health, student affairs, risk management, and study abroad practices The SSC advises on health insurance options, protocols for student safety and problem solving if there is an incident SSC reviews any request for a faculty led program or new exchange program to a Travel Warning location, or if a new TW affects an ongoing program, and makes a recommendation to the Provost Office on the same

2015-2016 Focus Prior to 2015-2016 most incidents abroad were health related; OIP office handled them directly with the student and CISI insurance In June 2015 one student was briefly missing and allegedly kidnapped; this proved to be false and the situation resolved successfully after the student was found safe with friends; it shook up the upper administration however Subsequent events in Paris, Brussels, the Turkey Travel Warning, and Japan and Ecuador Earthquakes brought more attention to study abroad and the need for a clear campus incident notification protocol

Major Concerns Discussed Was the incident a crime, accident, health issue or natural/political event? Are the students abroad safe? How can we verify this ASAP? Is there a need for an evacuation (1 student or the group)? What help and assistance can our FAU faculty leaders or overseas partner staff provide? Who across FAU needs to be engaged and informed? Who will speak to the students, and/or parents? Who will speak with the press? Local police?

Overseas Incident Notification Protocol We created a notification protocol for three main types of overseas programs FAU students go on FAU faculty led programs FAU student exchange programs Provider and other FAU faculty led programs Main steps are as follows: Student(s) gets medical or other attention on site abroad Local contact notifies local police if criminal activity, then contacts FAU/OIP OIP notifies CISI as needed OIP notifies campus IRT (response team) as needed Local contact insures well being of other students present Local contact notifies US consulate as needed and keeps FAU/OIP updated Local contact completes incident report within 48 hours of the emergency

FAU Institutional Response Team (IRT) ● Includes OIP staff, President’s Chief of Staff, Legal, VP for Student Affairs, Dean of Students, Provost Office, FAU Media Office, FAU Police Chief, and Risk Manager (some are on the SSC that meets regularly) ●IRT meets as needed to review situation and plan responses -does student need help getting courses dropped? -complete studies somehow if they have to return to the USA -is there a need for a campus institutional response? ● Dean of Students will determine if there is a need for student emergency contact notification (e.g. call parents even w/o FERPA on file?) ● IRT will prepare any press statement and FAU Media Office handles all press contacts ● IRT monitors progress to the successful remediation of any incident

Other Protocol Steps ● Establish a 24/7 emergency contact number for FAU: We use OIP for work hours and the FAU Police on off hours ● FAU Police then calls OIP and other officials from various offices on off hours as needed ● OIP sends a master list of students studying abroad each semester to key offices (sorted by country, city and type of program, student name and email); ONLY OIP CALLS OR EMAILS STUDENTS TO KEEP CONTACTS CLEAR ● OIP gets a 24/7 emergency contact number for all overseas locations (FAU faculty leader, exchange partner office rep, provider rep) and maintains contact during info gathering and resolution (All exchange partners need to give this to us as part of the Agreement of Cooperation) ● OIP gets CISI involved and shares updates on situations via email ● OIP gets advice from subject matter experts as needed (health, legal, student affairs, Provost Office)

Initial Review after One Year ● Some expectations for immediate student status reports were unrealistic; folks needed to realize OIP was on the job ● Certain officials demanded more direct email info in spite of having the student list in their offices; over time they learned to just look at the list and see if we had students in an incident location ● Legal and student affairs were most helpful to address student academic needs if they had to return home early ● CISI insurance has been very cooperative and efficient ● Upper administration has a much better understanding of what is involved in study abroad and what OIP does

For More Information Office of International Programs Florida Atlantic University 777 Glades Road GS 212Q Boca Raton, FL 33431 Email: goabroad@fau.edu Phone: (00)1 561-297-1208 FAX: (00) 1 561-297-2850 Director: Dr. Catherine Meschievitz cmeschie@fau.edu 561-297-1039