After a fun November day sightseeing in Paris with her friends, Pepperdine student Nikki Winn woke up Nov. 14 to images of panic, fear and grief on the television screen in her hotel.
Terrorist attacks often seem distant and somehow unreal, but for Winn, now a junior public relations major, a close encounter changed everything.
Winn was visiting Paris with nine friends from her international program in Lausanne, Switzerland. After sightseeing all day Nov. 13, the women decided to ride back to the hotel in a cab instead of taking the Metro. Terrorists attacked the city that evening after they were back to their hotel.
“That’s something that we all look back on and we’re like ‘that was God’s hand’ because the attack was right outside of the Metro station,” Winn said.
They woke up the next morning to phone calls from worried family members and the horror of learning about the terrorist attack that happened only a mile down the road from where they were staying, Winn said.
“We just watched the news and watched the numbers go up and up and up,” Winn said. “I think it started at 10 and ended at about 60. It was just the saddest thing ever. Cause when you think of tragedy, you think of it like ‘oh that happened over there.’ You never in a million years think ‘oh that could have been me.’”
Fears of terrorism persist
Terrorism has yet to thwart Pepperdine’s ambitious study-abroad program, but it has led university officials to take greater precautions to keep students safe.
While enrollment in study-abroad programs at Pepperdine University have increased 50 percent over the past 10 years, application numbers are down in part because of increased terrorism and safety concerns, International Programs Dean Charles Hall said.
The Institute of International Education ranked Pepperdine No. 1 in its 2015 Open Doors Report. More than two thirds of Pepperdine students study abroad in one of Pepperdine’s international programs, according to Pepperdine’s official website.
A Pepp Post poll of 53 Pepperdine students on terrorism, safety and study abroad found that 90 percent of students surveyed believe that terrorism is a growing problem in the United States and in international programs. This has not affected their decision on where to study.
“At this point, anywhere could be a target,” said Ainsley Diehl, a freshman international studies major who is planning to study in Florence, Italy next year. “So I don’t want to go to Europe and not go see the rest of it because I’m scared of (terrorism). Because then (the terrorists) are getting what they want by scaring people from going to these places.”
The Pepp Post poll asked Pepperdine students to rate their concern of terrorist threats both abroad and in the United States on a scale from one to 10. Although fear varied from student-to-student, students were about equally concerned that terrorism would hit in Malibu as it would abroad.
Terrorist attacks have increased 35 percent since 2013, according to the U.S. State Department. However, the Global Terrorism Database released information about terrorism in Western Europe that put these attacks into perspective. While terrorism has increased since 2013, the overall number of terrorist attacks and people killed in these attacks has decreased dramatically since the 1970s.
Safety precautions in place
Pepperdine University has many safety procedures in place to keep its students protected as far as it is their ability to do so. International Programs Director Greg Muger and International Program Dean Charles Hall described more preventative measures that they are adding to Pepperdine’s current International SOS program. The travel log system has an app that requires students to input their travel plans, allows them to receive travel advisories and warnings, and allows administrators to directly contact traveling students.
“As a program director, I am careful to always mitigate potential risk, which I do by educating students on how to travel safely, requiring them to fill out the travel log and helping everyone to be aware of their surroundings,” Shanghai Director Charlie Engelmann said.
The safety precautions bring comfort to students, parents and faculty alike.
“I think I’m pretty confident in the campuses,” said Jared Lee, a freshman philosophy and economics major who will be studying abroad in Shanghai next year. “I don’t think Pepperdine would send us to any place that would potentially get anyone hurt or killed … and I put trust in that.”
Although the program directors shared that they had emergency plans in place, they were reluctant to share their specific security information. Overall, they agree that terrorist attacks cannot be predicted, but international programs staff can do their best to protect students, the directors said.
“First, you need to pray,” Buenos Aires Director Rafael Martinez De Sanzo said. “Because you never know when (a terrorist attack is) going to happen.”
Weighing the risks
Students and parents said they still have concerns about the safety of these foreign countries. However, they do not want to miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“I just look at it like what are the costs and what are the benefits,” Pepperdine father Bobby Rives, an attorney from Montgomery, Alabama, said. “Being able to live somewhere in Europe and study abroad for a year — the cultural experience and all the learning opportunities, just living in a different place and really absorbing that place — those benefits far outweigh the slightly increased threat of terrorists.”
Although he and his daughter acknowledge that risks will be taken, they agree that they cannot give up this incredible opportunity.
“You’ve gotta take risks to live a good life,” said Anna Caroline Rives, a freshman sports medicine major scheduled to study abroad in Lausanne, Switzerland next fall. “It’s taking a risk, but it’s still a thing you have to do. For example, we still fly even though 9/11 happened.”
Other students and parents seem to be more worried about the terrorism threats.
“In the back of my mind, it does worry me,” Pepperdine father and financial businessman Kevin Wick said. “I think there is more concern in Europe because there’s been more (terrorism) there. I’m not against traveling, but it worries me when you have a large group of Americans together. That it would make an easy target.”
His daughter, who will be studying abroad in Lausanne, Switzerland, next year has similar opinions.
“I definitely am worried about terrorist attacks,” freshman math major Carlie Wick said. “Terrorist attacks are almost a part of our life now, and they’re almost impossible to avoid. You just have to hope for the best.”
Jenna Gaertner completed this story in Dr. Christina Littlefield’s fall 2016 Jour 241 class.
