Managing Risks

If exercising reasonable care—consciously using good judgment and common sense—is our guiding principle, it needs to be applied to all phases of our program. In what follows, we’ll discuss the areas in which the exercise of reasonable care will help the College develop a successful and safe program.

The oversight and management of our study/travel courses is shared by all academic and administrative departments. At the same time, it is imperative that the course instructor (instructor of the course, but also the planner and leader of the student group abroad) is conscientiously engaged in reviewing all aspects of a study/travel course. This will help improve not only the quality of our courses but will also help demonstrate that the College is exercising reasonable care should this be necessary.

Reasonable care and contingency planning include but are not limited to:

• Being explicit and clear about your off-campus policies (download sample here), including health and safety guidelines in your syllabus and making sure to enforce them; among other things, this serves to document the measures you have taken to educate and protect your students;
• Making sure that the students understand their own responsibility for their health and safety; you can’t follow them around the country preventing incidents or injury;
• Encouraging students to communicate with you, should they encounter problems;
• Giving the students sufficient information to help them function in an environment that they don’t understand;
• Exercising reasonable supervision, caution, and judgment in the situation;
• Being accessible in an emergency situation;
• Registering U.S. passport holders with the Department of State’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP – https://step.state.gov). STEP allows you to enter information about your upcoming trip abroad so you can be updated regarding the status of your destination. Note: If you have participants that are not U.S. passport holders, they will need to register with their home country;
• Confirming which immunizations are required and/or recommended for your host country three to four months before your trip and communicating the information to your students. http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel
• Identifying locations that could be used if necessary as “safe havens” or rendezvous points for students in the event of local emergency situations; making sure students have WRITTEN directions, address and phone number of the location;
• Identifying the nearest U.S. Embassy/Consulate, medical facility and police department in each location that your group is visiting;
• Securing reliable means of on-site transportation and communication (international cellphones or satellite phones).

To minimize security risks during travel, please remind students:

• To be aware of their surroundings at all times;
• To stay together, travel in groups, avoid alcohol consumption, and generally watch out for one another;
• That security risks are reduced when travelers stick to public tourist areas;
• That students should safeguard their passports and money, and avoid actions that might make them attractive targets for criminals;
• That in an emergency, they should contact the nearest U.S. Embassy or consulate—and please make sure they know how to do this.

To minimize behavioral problems during travel, please remind students:

• That they are still bound by the rules of the Code of Conduct, and as representatives of R-MC they need to behave appropriately and with respect to those whose country they are visiting as well as their own classmates and professors;
• That they will be sent home at their own expense if their behavior creates a disruption or other harm to the group (if you do decide to send a student home, please contact Grant Azdell and he will contact their parents);
• That they are bound to local laws, including local laws concerning alcohol consumption.
• That American protections for criminal defendants and due process for legal proceedings may not apply in other countries;
• That if they are late for a departure or miss a class activity, they are responsible for catching up with the group on their own and at their own expense.

Faculty Instructor’s Emergency Responsibilities in General:

• Attend to the immediate needs of the student(s) involved.
• Remove other participants from danger (if applicable) and/or ensure the remainder of the class continues.
• Gather information related to the event causing the emergency, as well as the results of the emergency and recommendations regarding the student and the continuation of the program.
• Contact (as appropriate) local medical emergency officials, law enforcement officers, the U.S. Embassy/Consulate, and R-MC Campus Safety.
• Provide continuous monitoring of situation and open communication with R-MC.
• Record all steps taken in response to the incident in the official Incident Report available on Pharos360/The Hive or in paper form in Word (find detailed instructions here).
• Support the program and respond to requests from OIE in a timely manner in order to complete other tasks as needed, ex. providing information for insurance claims.

In all cases:

• Maintain strict confidentiality.
• If additional students or staff members are aware of an incident, ask that they respect the rights of those involved for confidentiality and wait to contact their families until the OIE, R-MC officials, and family members of those involved have been informed.
• Refer media inquiries to Dean Azdell or his delegate.