In an email to program participants, the Office of International Programs announced the cancellation the Georgetown 2013 Summer Program in Alexandria, Egypt due to mounting security concerns.

“Your safety is our primary concern, and after monitoring the security situation in Egypt this Spring, OIP has determined that we cannot offer a program in Egypt this summer with sufficient security for all students,” the email read.

“While security concerns have generally been limited to a few locations in Egypt, and foreigners have not been targeted, the unrest is expected to escalate in the near future due to fuel and food shortages.”

On Mar. 29, the State Department issued a travel alert to U.S. citizens visiting and living in the country warning of the “continuing possibility of political and social unrest, incidents of which have led to recent violence.” While U.S. citizens have not been targeted, westerners and U.S. citizens have been caught the middle of violent demonstrations. The alert makes specific mention of a rise in specific “gender-biased violence,” in which women have been the targets of sexual assault in and around protest zones.

According to Associate Director of Overseas Studies Lisa Gordinier, OIP says it is “willing to work with all students who had applied to the Alexandria program to help them find an appropriate summer program.”

The following fall and spring programs in Alexandria have not been canceled, however, and Gordinier says OIP does not plan to cancel them at this time. “We will continue to monitor the security situation in Egypt over the next couple of months before making a decision on that program,” she said.

Photo taken following a Jan. 1, 2011 bomb blast outside of a Coptic Christian Church in Alexandria.

Credit: oxfamnovib via Flickr

Just like last year, Vox is helping you get on top of “news you can use” with an excessively comprehensive review of last year’s important news stories. You’ve already heard of foolish things former freshman have done. Now, we cover the other on-campus issues that made headlines; Healy Pub, Uribe, and unions come after the jump.

Cash rules everything around me

The Georgetown University Student Association is your undergraduate student government.

Between a president, vice president, cabinet, and 25-member Senate (elected at-large and from dorms), the student association funds initiatives such as Summer Fellows, subsidized LSAT courses, free newspapers, and weekend GUTS busses.

Despite cleaning up its act in recent years, GUSA is also a source of endless entertainment: botched elections, interpersonal bickering, toothless resolutions, and campaign silliness.

Most importantly, though, GUSA allocates the student activities fee that students pay every semester.

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As the world watches the protests unfold in Egypt today, 15 Georgetown University students are in the country for a semester abroad.

“The students are all accounted for,” Kathy Bellows, executive director of the Office of International Programs, said in an interview with Vox. “They are not in the midst of the protests.”

The students are mainly remaining in their residences currently and have been advised by the University, after consultation with the State Department, not to go out in to areas where the protests are occurring.

OIP is keeping a close eye on the protests, according to Bellows, and is “ready to respond if [the University] needs to respond.”

International SOS—a company that provides international travel assistance and has a contract with the University—has been contacted by OIP in case the situation requires that the students be evacuated.

Despite the regime in Egypt shutting down access to the Internet for the majority of country, Georgetown has been able to keep in contact with the students studying at the American University of Cairo. AUC has an office in New York that has been able to connect with the campus through a landline telephone, and Georgetown has been able to keep in touch with students through this office.

Currently there are no plans to alter the summer program scheduled to take place in Alexandria, Egypt.

January 29th update: AUC has canceled classes for the coming week in light of the violence, but reports that their students are safe in their dorms.

Due to “roofing issues,” the Villa le Balze will not house students during the Fall 2010 semester.

“Our Villa is special and Georgetown is lucky to have such a property,” Karen Wardzala, Assistant Director of the Villa la Balze Programs, said. “But the building on the property is almost 100 years old. And as with any old property there are unexpected circumstances and situations.”

Instead of living in the Villa, students will split time between two hotels in Fiesole: Hotel Villa Aurora and Hotel Villa Fiesole. According to an email sent out to students studying abroad in Fiesole this fall, the locations were chosen for “their willingness and ability to help us re-create certain aspects typical of the Villa Le Balze semester.”

Except for those students who choose to live with Italian host families, the group will live at Hotel Villa Aurora until October, when they will move into Hotel Villa Fiesole. Wardzala added that all planned activities, such as trips into Florence and daily lunches with professors, will continue as planned.

“We wanted to keep it as close to Villa le Balze as possible,” Wardzala said.

The Villa, which was donated to Georgetown by the Rockefeller family in 1979, typically houses students and faculty year-round.

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