WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2003
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 5A
University to offer new summer programs in Costa Rica
By Erin Ohm
eohm@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
After canceling a study abroad program in Golfito, Costa Rica the University of Kansas will offer three new programs in this Central American country this summer.
The programs will be offered in the areas of journalism, anthropology and social welfare.
Last year the Office of Study Abroad discontinued its 2003 summer program in Golfito because of safety concerns after the murder of KU student Shannon Martin.
Study abroad director Susan Gronbeck-Tedesco said the University of Kansas canceled the program because the office determined there was a change in the environment in Golfitio.
The study abroad office is working with the University of Costa Rica to develop alternative to the Golfito program, but in the meantime students can participate in the other programs in Costa Rica.
All three new programs are in locations other than Golfito, and Gronbeck-Tedesco said the distance was one reason the office thought the programs would be safe. She said San Jose, the location of the journalism and social welfare programs, was eight hours from Golfito, and the anthropology program in Puerto Viejo was on the opposite coast.
Gronbeck-Tedesco said the office used many indicators to
determine the safety of study abroad programs. The office monitors the news and gets feedback from students, KU staff members in San Jose and other institutions with programs in Costa Rica.
"We've been running the program in San Jose since 1958, so it's a highly established program," she said. "I don't think students on summer programs that KU offers are under any greater threat than they would be in any large American city."
Gronbeck-Tedesco said the office followed recommendations of the U.S. State Department and did not offer programs in areas where it issued travel warnings. She said the office had added sections on violence to student study abroad orientations and strengthened the handling of emergency procedures.
"It's not that Costa Rica in particular is unsafe. Wherever people have access to guns and there is violence, we're all unsafe."
Debra Ortega assistant professor,social welfare
Megan McKenzie, Olathe junior participating in the journalism study abroad program, said she was looking forward to visiting the newspapers in Latin America.
McKenzie said she was slightly
deterred by Martin's murder in Golfito, but she had a friend studying in Costa Rica now who assured her it was safe there. McKenzie said she still wanted to go on the program this summer.
Debora Ortega, assistant professor of social welfare, said the relationship between the University of Costa Rica and the University of Kansas had a long history. She said she felt good about the safety of the social welfare program in San Jose and wasn't overly concerned because she had been to Costa Rica before.
"I feel really confident in study abroad," Ortega said. "It's not that Costa Rica in particular is unsafe. Wherever people have access to guns and there is violence. we're all unsafe."
The third program on field work in applied cultural anthropology is in the coastal city of Puerto Viejo. Golfito is also a town on the coast, but Gronbeck-Tedesco said both a KU faculty and a staff member would be with students in Puerto Viejo. In Golfito the University has just one hired staff member.
Gronbeck-Tedesco said seven people were enrolled in the anthropology program, 12 in journalism and 13 in social welfare. She said the office was still finalizing the journalism program to determine whether it had enough students to operate.
— Edited by Anne Mantey
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