UPDATED: Nov. 30, 2011 at 1:39 a.m.

Syracuse University students looking to study abroad in Cairo next semester will still be able to do so — for now.

Despite protests in Egypt due to political unrest and turmoil, the American University of Cairo, SU’s world partner in Egypt, will continue to host students, said Ginny Pellam-Montalbano, coordinator of special programs at SU Abroad. She said the university is monitoring the situation.

‘As far as we know, we haven’t suspended our involvement with AUC,’ she said.

Only two students are planning to study abroad in Cairo next semester. Pellam-Montalbano emailed both of them and suggested they come up with a backup option just in case they cannot go to Egypt.

Pellam-Montalbano told the students the university will make every attempt to give them another overseas option if necessary.

Catherine Schur, a junior broadcast journalism and international relations major, is one of the students planning to study in Cairo. She said she hadn’t been following the news about the protests in Egypt and was not expecting the email from Pellam-Montalbano.

‘I was just so surprised. I was shocked,’ she said.

Schur said she has wanted to study abroad in Cairo since her freshman year. Although she said the prospect is a little scary, she is still plans to study there.

Kaycie Miltenberger, a junior political science and public relations major, is the other student set to study in Cairo next semester. She said the revolutions in Egypt are what inspired her to want to study there.

‘I decided to apply to go there to study the birth of the democracy,’ she said.

Miltenberger said she had been following the protests in Egypt and was not surprised when she received the email.

‘I kind of expected it just because right before we got the email, news broke that three American students had been arrested,’ she said. Those students were studying at the AUC, the same university the SU students will attend next semester, she said.

Schur said she is considering studying abroad in Beirut as a backup plan.

But Miltenberger isn’t so sure. Miltenberger said she is considering Turkey as a second option, but she isn’t fully committed to the idea of going somewhere other than Cairo. If she cannot go to Cairo, Miltenberger may end up back on campus, she said.

‘It’s been a tough decision because I don’t really want to go anywhere else,’ she said.

The unrest in Cairo first broke out in January, causing four SU Abroad students to be pulled out of the program and relocated to other abroad locations. All of the students left Egypt by Feb. 2.

Pellam-Montalbano said SU Abroad would relocate the students again if necessary, but they are hoping it won’t happen.

‘We wouldn’t leave them in harm’s way,’ she said.

Pellam-Montalbano is remaining hopeful that the protests will end and students will still be able to go.

Said Pellam-Montalbano: ‘I hope that it will end peacefully and will end soon.’

snbouvia@syr.edu 

Published on November 26, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Stephanie: snbouvia@syr.edu | @snbouvia