Today, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18) re-introduced legislation to give students and parents more information about the safety of study abroad programs. Rep. Maloney drafted and introduced these bills in 2016 and 2017 with the support of Ros Thackurdeen, a resident of Newburgh whose son died while studying abroad. The Ravi Thackurdeen Safe Students Study Abroad Act and American Students Abroad Act would update reporting requirements for colleges and universities to help families make better-informed decisions about where their students study abroad.
“While study abroad can and should be an enriching, educational experience for students, we must implement additional safety reporting standards to ensure families have better information about the programs they’re sending their kids on,” said Rep. Maloney. “I am re-introducing the The Ravi Thackurdeen Safe Students Study Abroad Act and The American Students Abroad Act to ensure families have the information they deserve to make informed decisions about study abroad programs, and to prevent future tragedies like the deaths of Ravi and other students who we lost because of insufficient safety warnings and information.”
“Our children, as college students, enrolled in study abroad to explore their personal potential and future possibilities. They did not see themselves as youthful American ambassadors or foreign policy influencers. They were not diplomats, soldiers, businessmen, or even tourists. They were simply engaged learners. And for that, they relied on the integrity and oversight of their schools and programs,” said Ros Thackurdeen and Elizabeth Brenner, mothers of students lost while studying abroad and co-founders of Protect Students Abroad. “It was only after our sons were dead that we understood study abroad to be a multibillion-dollar industry which enthusiastically markets itself but does not scientifically count and report its dead and injured, thereby making evidence-based risk assessment and program improvements impossible. For our sons’ genuine and hopeful trust, they paid with their lives, and so have uncounted others. As bereaved moms, we wish we knew then what we know now: Study abroad can be an incredible experience, but only if your child comes home.”
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The Ravi Thackurdeen Safe Students Study Abroad Act:
- Each year, hundreds of thousands of students broaden their educational horizons through study abroad. The safety of our students is important and accurate reporting of crime data is essential to ensure we are sending them into safe environments.
- This legislation would ensure students and families have access to reporting on safety risks involved in the programs and proper advising ahead of departure.
- The bill requires new types of reporting, ensuring program-specific transparency to students and parents, including an annual report with information about risks involved in study abroad programs over the last 10 years. The report would include the following:
- A report of all incidents of death of program participants during participation
- Accidents and illnesses resulting in hospitalization during participation
- Sexual assaults occurring during participation
- Incidents resulting in police involvement or a police report
- This bill also requires that institutions implement a study abroad safety program, which will include pre and post departure advising and orientation. These sessions would include:
- Providing students all current travel information including travel warnings and alerts issued by the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the Dept. of State
- Providing students with the reports listed above
- Exit-interview with the student to help provide information about the program to the institution for their required reports
- Text of the bill is available [here].
- Currently, data relating to deaths of U.S. citizens abroad is not easily accessible to certain agencies.
- This legislation would ensure that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would have the appropriate information necessary to surveil deaths of U.S. citizens abroad.
- The bill requires the Department of State to periodically share (quarterly) U.S. embassy and consulate reports relating to a death of a U.S. Citizen abroad with the CDC.
- The bill also requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to expand and intensify CDC programs and activities related to the surveillance of deaths of U.S. citizens occurring abroad.
- Text of the bill is available [here].