Opinion | Chapman’s Office of the Provost should not have canceled all study abroad programs

When I decided to attend Chapman, one of the factors that drew me to the university was its ability to offer the resources and opportunities one would expect from a larger institution while maintaining the personability of a small school.

Kristin Shea, senior psychology major 

I can still recall attending a meeting for accepted students where one of the speakers was a football player who wanted to pursue medicine. The impression he gave me was, regardless of what your major is, the staff and faculty at Chapman will work with you to achieve your goals. 

Personally, I’ve always wanted to study abroad in Taiwan. Although the pandemic prevented me from doing so thus far, I held on to the hope the university would help me to achieve this goal in my senior year. 

It is for that reason that I 一 like many of my peers 一 was deeply disappointed when the Office of the Provost canceled international study abroad programs for interterm, spring break and spring 2022. While I appreciate the underlying concern for the ongoing global health crisis, the reasoning behind the decision remains largely unfounded, especially in the case of the program in Taiwan. 

Rather than following current advisories from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it appears the Office of the Provost based their decree on outdated information from the U.S. Department of State. 

Some countries for which Chapman offers study abroad programs, such as Taiwan, are currently listed by the CDC with a level one travel advisory, indicating that visitors should exercise normal precautions. On June 16, 2021, the U.S. Department of State issued a level three advisory for Taiwan when the pandemic was at its peak. 

However, the U.S. Department of State has yet to update their website to reflect current COVID-19 case numbers, placing their level three advisory in direct conflict with the routinely-revised information provided by the CDC. Because the CDC 一 the legal authority on the coronavirus pandemic 一 has now lowered the advisory to level one, it is plausible to assume that conditions are far safer than the U.S. Department of State would lead one to believe. 

In fact, on Oct. 3, Taiwan reported zero domestic cases of COVID-19 and only six imported cases all discovered during mandatory quarantine. The sheer lack of COVID-19 cases coupled with the nation’s first dose vaccination rate being projected to reach 70% by the end of October are testaments to how safe Taiwan really is.  

“Taiwan may be a CDC level one, however it is a U.S. Department of State level three,” said Jodi Hicks, the associate director of the Center of Global Education, in an email. This further indicates that Chapman decided on cancelling the study abroad program based on outdated information.  

On Oct. 11, I shared my findings with the Office of Provost via email, hoping they would reconsider the safety of the study abroad program on a country-to-country basis. Much to my dismay, despite providing proof of Taiwan’s safe conditions,  I did not receive a very substantive response. 

“We are not canceling May/June offerings and domestic travels, but we do follow CDC advisory,” responded Norma Bouchard, Chapman’s executive vice president, provost and chief academic officer, in an email. 

I was left wondering whether or not Bouchard even fully read the email; because if the CDC advisory was followed, I would certainly be allowed to study abroad. 

If many of the countries Chapman planned to offer study abroad programs have only been designated with level one travel advisories by the CDC, why are they canceling all international study abroad programs? And if Chapman is following CDC advisories, shouldn’t students who applied to level one countries be able to study abroad?