Students in NIU’s foreign studies program generally disregarded possible terrorist acts when deciding whether to study abroad during the spring semester.

Only five out of about 260 students in the foreign studies program cancelled their scheduled European semesters, said Foreign Studies Program Director Ines DeRomana. The names of these students are not immediately available.

DeRomana said the five students who cancelled their trips were listed as “NIU-visiting students” because they entered NIU’s foreign study program from other universities.

NIU has the nation’s sixth largest foreign studies program and students from many other universities participate in our program, DeRomana said. However, these students receive NIU credit, she added.

DeRomana said the program sends students to all parts of Europe including Czechoslovakia, Poland, Austria, Spain and France. Students left for France Jan. 12 and one group left for Italy Jan. 19, she said.

In the event of an emergency, the program is prepared. “We monitor carefully and have set up a contingency plan at each study area,” DeRomana said.

“We can evacuate a student within 24 hours,” she said.

The program also keeps in constant contact with the U.S. State Department, she added.

Concerned parents called the program when hostilities first broke out, but calls have stopped since then, DeRomana said. “They probably have since contacted their children,” she said.

Other universities have had the same results as NIU, she said. The only major case DeRomana had heard about was Syracuse University cancelling their whole Italian program for the spring semester.

Foreign students attending NIU have not yet voiced any concerns about travel abroad.

“Most of the students came to NIU with a purpose (to study) and DeKalb isn’t exactly a major target,” said Mark Thackaberry, director of the International Faculty and Student Office.

Of the nearly 1,000 students in the program, there are some from countries affected by the Persian Gulf crisis that worry about their families and countries, but some feel safer here, Thackaberry said.

The number of foreign study applicants is about the same as usual, DeRomana said. The number of students usually rises in late March, she said.

“We actually won’t know the effect until the June 1 deadline,” she added.

There are 27 different programs for students to choose from, DeRomana said.