Dean XXXXXXXX,
Below is a (slightly) edited version of the original letter. It is still a bit more angry than I am completely comfortable with, but the facts and concerns remain the same. Again, please let me know if I can help to make positive changes in any way with this process,
Christian
Dear Dean XXXXXXX,
I write this letter in regards to my telephone conversation with you yesterday, in further hopes that our overseas programs can live up to the integrity of what Marquette would call them to be. Again, this comes not just from me, but about ten other students who were willing to sign this letter (or some form of it) so that it could be seen that improvements are indeed called for. I would also ask you to regard this letter as private information, and not share it directly with the director, with OR without my name.
Because of the attacks here in Madrid this last week, several faults have been noted by many of the students here, and I believe that they are solvable problems. In the mindset of Cura Personalis, it is my belief that Marquette should put every effort forth to insure the comfort of students in times of tragedy, much as we saw on our campus after the 9/11 attacks.
First and foremost, the day of the attacks, an administrator at Marquette called our parents and told them that we had all been accounted for. While this was a wonderful touch on the part of the university, at that point several students had yet to have any contact with the director of the program. There was no way that he could know that we were safe and accounted for. At least one student who lived in that area of the attack, assures me that she had NO contact with the program, the university or the director that day. The university should be extremely concerned about this action in particular. This is both ethically and legally dangerous.
The second complaint that I believe needs to be recognized was the apparent lack of emergency protocol for the director of this program. For this reason I believe that Public Safety needs to be consulted for our international programs. Very little was said or done to consol students about their own safety and the emotional impact of the events. This could stem from the fact that the director is a trained professor, and not a long-term professional administrator. Without any protocol to turn to, he was just as shocked as the rest of us.
The most concrete example of this is that there was no group communication up until Saturday when a group email was sent out planning a discussion of the events for Monday. Several students had requested this meeting on Thursday, and again on Friday. This meeting should have been IMMEDIATE, to help students assess their own safety concerns and comprehend what was happening in the situation around them. Should we have been taking the metro? Was it still safe to go to the soccer game that MU had bought tickets for? Was it safe to go to the peace rallies? All of these concerns were brushed off on an individual basis, leaving students very confused and anxious with the state of affairs. And as is well known in these circumstances, the more anxious a situation, the more stressful it becomes, and the more dangerous.
With no guidance, several students went to the peace rallies, although that was the one thing the Embassy warned against (information found out through individual students, not the program). Students also continued to use the metro system up until another bomb was called in. Both these actions put students in danger. Both could have been averted by a meeting with the group explaining the current dangers and investigating student concerns.
The director was also ill-informed about what was actually happening at the university were we have classes. Classes were canceled Friday, the day after the class, but apparently our director was the LAST person to know about it. He claimed that we definitely did have class, causing much confusion. Part of this is that he does not come to work until about 10:15 every day. While he claims that no-one knew about the decision to cancel classes until 9am, it was in the newspapers that morning, and every other program seemed to be well informed (part of that may be the result that they come to work at 9am, when classes start). The emotional strain of this situation should not be down-played. Waiting around a near-empty University the day after a terrorist attack for your director to wander in produces a certain amount of anxiety.
It should also be noted that within the country, the director should know that email is not a productive mode of communication for urgent events. Because of the sporadic availability of email to students, phone contact would seem much more appropriate. However, very few students have had any contact from the director by means other than the group email mentioned above. Although the director is accessable to us if we call him, I feel the initiative should be taken in this situation by the director to call each and every one of the students. American students from most of the other university programs who I talked to all received at LEAST one call from their directors. So much for BE THE DIFFERENCE.
When we finally did meet with the director on Monday, the discussion was purely academic, focusing on the facts, events and the consequences. There was NO overview of security status or advice (although the embassy had then changed Madrid to a “danger zone”). Never, at any point, did the director ask, “What do you need?” In my limited knowledge of emergency situations, this seems to be the FIRST thing required, so that needs can then be assessed. There was also no discussion of the emotional or spiritual aspects of these attacks. Students were told to see him privately if they would like to speak over such issues. I need not point out that the comfort of group solidarity is simply not present in that sort of situation.
Finally, and perhaps most personally important, is the lack of spiritual guidance and counseling available to the students of this program. As a Jesuit program, I would like to see a priest involved in some area of our activities over here. Many of the students of this program are extremely reliant on there faith (myself included), and it is harder than it sounds to walk into an unfamiliar church and ask for someone to talk to in a foreign language, about events as emotionally profound as these. Ideally, it would be wonderful to have one of the local Jesuits as a spiritual-liaison to the program. The effects of this would be felt throughout the program, which I feel has lost some bearing on what it means to be part of a Jesuit institution.
It is my hope that these complaints have illustrated enough reason to implement some sort of emergency protocol for ALL Marquette study-abroad programs, and review the administrative training given to the directors of those programs. In that the threat of terrorism does not seem to be going away, it seems that it is now more important to rectify these gaps in training and preparedness.
Again, I would like to make this as constructive as possible, so if you have any questions for me, please feel free to ask either by the email address above, or at my number in Spain (34)660-XXX-XXX.
In the hopes that this situation will never again need to be dealt with,
Christian Eichenlaub
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