The university is currently in the process of deciding whether its study abroad program located in Kanazawa, Japan should continue in the wake of recent concerns about radioactive leakage from nuclear plants, according to Associate Dean of Programs Abroad Sheila Bayne.
The university, in a March 18 email to the five students in the Tufts−in−Japan program, authorized a voluntary departure and tuition refund for the five students currently studying in Kanazawa, according to junior Ezra Salzman−Gubbay, who recently returned to the United States from the program in Kanazawa.
The university decides to authorize voluntary departure from its programs abroad "if the situation is such that we feel that students should have the option of leaving the program without penalty," Bayne said. Administrators decided that the crisis in Japan fit such criteria.
International concern has focused on the safety of Japan's nuclear reactors since a March 11 9.0−magnitude earthquake and ensuing tsunami damaged several nuclear facilities, most notably the complex at Fukushima Daiichi.
The university will decide whether to continue the program by April 12, when the program's next semester is scheduled to begin, according to Bayne. She added that the university was continuing to monitor the situation, which she said is evolving daily.
"Just like everybody else, we're reading the news, looking at the State Department travel advisory, trying to gather as much information as possible," Bayne said.
The university will issue a tuition refund if it decides to cancel the program.
"We're monitoring the situation to see whether the program should continue or not," Bayne said.
Soon after the university authorized a voluntary departure, administrators sent another email requesting that students consider returning to the United States temporarily, Salzman−Gubbay said.
The university provided all students with round−trip plane tickets to leave for two weeks and return on April 9, shortly before the start of the program's second semester, Salzman−Gubbay said.
"We asked our five students on the Tufts−in−Japan program to consider leaving Japan during the later portion of their semester break — which is not over until early April — while we were further assessing the situation," Director of Communication for Arts and Sciences Anne Fishman said in an email to the Daily. "However, the individual decisions they made to return to their homes or stay in Japan were their own."
Two students on the Tufts program, including Salzman−Gubbay, have returned to the United States and are scheduled to return to Japan on April 9, Bayne said.
In a March 20 Skype chat among the five students, Bayne and Dean of Academic Affairs for Arts and Sciences James Glaser, three students indicated that they did not plan to follow the university's direction to return home, Salzman−Gubbay said.
Bayne asked the three students who chose to stay in the country to inform the university of their decision within an hour of the Skype conversation so that they could cancel the flight reservations in a timely manner, she said. The university also asked them to sign a waiver stating that the students and their families will take the responsibility for their safety.
The waiver asks students to acknowledge the health risks of staying in the country, Salzman−Gubbay said. It also states that Tufts strongly recommends that students leave Japan for the next two weeks, and students who do not accept the university's plane tickets must provide their own transportation if they later decide to return.
Salzman−Gubbay called the request "confusing," since all students perceived Kanazawa as safe.
"I think everyone involved agrees that when they made that decision, Kanazawa was a safe place to be," he said.
"The reason for not wanting to go home was because Kanazawa just wasn't a dangerous place to be, as far as concerns about radiation go," he added. "It's 270 miles from the power plant … and up until that point, all of the wind predictions were saying the radiation was going to be pushed [away]."
Salzman−Gubbay said that students also feared that the university relied heavily on U.S. news — which he said sensationalized the situation at Fukushima — for their information.
Bayne during the Skype chat mentioned to the students that other universities were pulling their students out of Japan, though she did not specify which universities, Salzman−Gubbay said.
Salzman−Gubbay said the university's treatment of the situation was fair, but some students expressed dissatisfaction that the university did not consult them in the decision to purchase the tickets.
Two Tufts students studying at Kansai Gaidai University through a non−Tufts program in Osaka are not planning to return, Brian Libby, foreign study advisor for non−Tufts programs, said.
The decision whether or not to return is based on students' personal choices and the decisions of their program, he said.
"Since this is a non−Tufts program, students are on a leave of absence from Tufts to participate," Libby said.
The U.S. government has warned residents within 50 miles of the plant to evacuate, and the State Department on March 21 issued a travel advisory for Japan.
In order for a travel advisory to take effect, the country must contain "long−term, protracted conditions that make a country dangerous or unstable," according to the State Department website.
Kanazawa, where the Tufts program is located, is far from the damaged nuclear plants, Bayne said.
"[The] Fukushima nuclear plant is more than 200 miles from the students," she said.
Similarly, Kansai Gaidai, the location of the non−Tufts program, is several hundred miles away from the areas of Japan affected by Fukushima, Libby said.
"I think, at this point, it's still out of reach of any danger. That's my understanding," he said.
Students in non−Tufts programs in Kansai Gaidai have registered with travel insurance provider International SOS, through which they receive updates about the safety of staying and travelling in Japan, Libby said.
Salzman−Gubbay said he would be disappointed if the Tufts program was canceled, but he believes it is a possibility.
"To be honest, I don't think we've seen the significant signs of improvement at the power plant that Tufts wants to see," he said.
"I think the plant is still the focus of the potential instability and potentially dangerous and unforeseen conditions," he said.
Libby and Salzman−Gubbay noted that it was important to empathize with the people of Japan.
"I think we have to put this in perspective and remember that it really is a tragedy for the people of Japan," Libby said. "First and foremost, it's something that is, for most Japanese, it is the most difficult situation that they're gone through in their lifetimes."
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Correction: This article has been changed from its original version, which incorrectly stated that students had to notify the university by March 29 if they wanted a tuition. In fact, the university will issue a refund if it cancels the program.
