The ripples of ongoing unrest in Egypt haven’t made a broad impact on Maryland yet, but the state’s major colleges are taking steps to rush home students and employees abroad in the Middle Eastern country.
Maryland colleges with study abroad programs in Egypt say they have evacuated their students from the country after rioting broke out on Jan. 25 as part of a widespread protest calling for the removal of President Hosni Mubarak from power.
The University of Maryland, College Park said it had a small group of seven students that were enrolled in study abroad programs in Egypt this semester.
Six of those students are now back in the U.S. or on their way back as of Monday afternoon. One student, who enrolled on his own in a program at the American University in Cairo, has not yet left. The university said it is making every effort to return the last student home safely.
“From the beginning of the unrest, university officials have been monitoring the situation and been in steady contact with the students and their parents, or other designated emergency contacts,” university spokesman Millree Williams said.
Johns Hopkins University has evacuated more than 20 people from its programs overseas in light of the ongoing protests and social unrest in Egypt.
“We have been in touch with all known Johns Hopkins University affiliates in Egypt. All are safe and either have left Egypt or have made arrangements to do so soon,” a spokeswoman of the university said.
More than 20 employees from the Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Communication Programs left Egypt via commercial flights on Jan. 29 and 30. A family of four affiliated with the School of Public Health plans to leave Cairo on Jan. 31 on a charter flight to Rome.
All Egyptian employees of the school’s Center for Communication Programs are safe at home, officials said.
Most members of an archaeological team from the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences who were working at a site in Luxor were able to leave Egypt late last week.
The team included graduate and undergraduate students as well as a photographer employed by the university. A professor in the Department of Near Eastern Studies and four graduate students remain in Egypt with plans to take a charter flight to London on Feb. 1.
In addition, two Krieger School undergraduates remain at American University in Cairo, where they had been planning to study abroad during the spring semester. They have plans to take a charter flight out of Egypt on Feb. 1, school officials said.
Both the accommodations and charter flights for those who remain in Egypt at this time have been coordinated by International SOS, a crisis response service being used by the university.
McDaniel College in Westminster also had a trip to Egypt scheduled in March, but program coordinator and foreign language department chair Mohamed Esa said he is uncertain whether he will be taking the group of 35 students, parents and community members to the country now.
“I wish we can go so the students can really live there and see what’s happening while they’re there but that is way too dangerous,” Esa said.
McDaniel has not cancelled the trip yet but is awaiting the outcome of the protests to determine whether the country is safe enough to take a group there later this year.
Meanwhile, U.S. stocks were slightly higher Monday including Baltimore-based Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEG), which was up 0.50 percent to $32.32 per share Monday afternoon. Legg Mason‘s stock (NYSE: LM) was also up 0.63 percent at $33.41 per share.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 23 points, or 0.2 percent and the S&P 500 (SPX) index added 5 points, or 0.4 percent.
Baltimore gas prices have dipped slightly this week to $3.07 on average for a gallon of regular gas from $3.09 last week, according to AAA Auto Club. But analysts are keeping their eye on current events in Egypt, which could cause a spike in fuel prices.
