September 17, 2001

Dear Parents of HWS Students on Off-Campus Programs:

Like you, I am shocked and saddened by the recent horrific events in New York City and Washington. I want to let you know that I understand your concern for your son or daughter and to confirm unequivocally that the safety of your child is of the utmost importance to me and to all of us at HWS. I write this letter to inform you what the Colleges are doing and to assure you that we are monitoring the situation worldwide and are in contact with each individual program on a daily basis.

Last week, President Gearan called a meeting of key administrative staff involved with off-campus study. The group included President Gearan, the Provost, Patricia Stranahan, the Director of Off-Campus Programs, Gary Johnston, the Associate Director of Off-Campus Programs, Jeremy Geller, the Dean of William Smith College, Debra DeMeis and the Dean of Hobart College, Clarence Butler. After a briefing on the current status of our off-campus programs, the group reconfirmed our protocols and procedures for staying in contact with our student groups. This senior level administrative group will continue to meet again on a regular basis as long as it is necessary.

First, let us assure you that all of our students are either on a faculty directed program or consortial faculty directed program at a site where we are linked to a local university or school, or on an affiliated program or exchange where we have a standing relationship with the overseas school. Our communications with on-site administrators is excellent and we have requested that they stay in touch with us on a daily basis until further notice. We have also provided them with a checklist of points to be addressed. These include, among other things, a report on daily contact with each student and itineraries for the next day's events. We have asked the resident directors to confirm that each student is registered at the U.S. embassy or with consular authorities in country. We have also asked for a reconfirmation of phone contact numbers of each student either at residences or through cell phone numbers. Each student is required to follow a notification procedure with the resident director if he or she is away from the primary site overnight, especially on weekends. Finally resident directors have been asked to reconfirm that each student has the emergency contact number back at the Colleges which can be used by students 24 hours a day, seven days a week if in an emergency it is impossible for an individual to contact faculty or local administrators.

Allow me to reiterate that the Colleges have enhanced and reconfirmed our protocols and procedures and are monitoring the situation. We will be making regular contact with resident faculty directors, checking daily State Department updates and web site contact for each individual country where we have students and monitoring our network of professional study abroad resources regularly.

In the meantime if you have any concerns or questions, do not hesitate to contact us on the HWS campus either by e-mail, phone or fax:

Gary Johnston
Associate Provost for Off-Campus Programs
315-781-3307
315-781-3334 (fax)
johnston@hws.edu

Jeremy Geller
Associate Director of Off-Campus Programs
315-781-3634
(same fax as above)
geller@hws.edu

Patricia Stranahan
Dean of Faculty and Provost
315-781-3306
(same fax as above)
stranahan@hws.edu

Sincerely,
Patricia Stranahan
Dean of Faculty and Provost