A scheduled Educational Field Trip (EFT) to Egypt was canceled on Friday in response to the nationwide protests that began on Tuesday Jan. 25.
Pepperdine’s London International Program was originally planning to arrive in Egypt on Monday Jan. 31 leaving on Thursday Feb. 3. The itinerary included a stop in Cairo Egypt’s capital and the epicenter of the unrest.
On Thursday Jenny Ryan the London Program Coordinator sent an email to the students’ parents informing them that the Cairo portion of the trip was being canceled. However as the situation in Egypt worsened Friday the IP office working with Public Safety Director Earl Carpenter made the decision to cancel the trip completely.
In another email sent to the students’ families on Friday Ryan wrote “High level State Department reports show that all mobile phone signals are down satellite phones are not working and the Internet is down in Egypt. Flights have been suspended from the airports. Violence continues despite the curfew that has been imposed.”
The IP Office plans to schedule a replacement EFT to another location later in the semester.
Check up on the unrest in Egypt here: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/01/29/egypt.protests/