Stanford suspends Istanbul Program

Stanford will postpone the planned Istanbul Overseas Studies Program for Winter Quarter 2015-2016 due to concerns about security issues. Photo: Shutterstock
Stanford will postpone the planned Istanbul Overseas Studies Program for Winter Quarter 2015-2016 due to concerns about security issues. Photo: Shutterstock

Stanford has decided to postpone the Winter Quarter 2015-16 session of the Istanbul Overseas Studies Program, citing a recent Turkey Travel Warning issued by the U.S. State Department and rising concerns among students about traveling to the country, according to Ramón Saldívar, director of the Bing Overseas Studies Program.

Saldívar said he made the decision to suspend the upcoming session after careful deliberation and in consultation with Harry J. Elam, Jr., vice provost for undergraduate education, Provost John Etchemedy and other university leaders.

In recent months, he said, Stanford students and their families have expressed concern about travel to Turkey, resulting in numerous withdrawals from the program.

“The U.S. State Department travel warning – coupled with the fact that enrollment in the program has dropped in the past month from 25 students at the beginning of the recruitment period to the current level of 10 – convinces me that we should not proceed with the winter quarter session,” said Saldívar, who also is a professor of English and comparative literature at Stanford.

Read the entire story on the Stanford Report website.