National safety concerns prevented Russian professor Jennifer Tishler and her students from boarding a flight to Russia on Sept. 11. A pair of robberies in St. Petersburg kept them grounded for good.
Two thefts in the dorms reserved for nine Dartmouth students on Fall term's Russian Foreign Study Program (FSP) persuaded administrators to cancel the program.
"We weren't convinced that the dorm was safe, and there certainly wasn't enough time to find better housing," Tishler said.
"It was the first time in 30 years that it had been cancelled, so there wasn't a contingent plan in place," Ryan van Hoff '04 said. Van Hoff was one of the students supposed to participate in the FSP.
According to Tishler, "a shortage of adequate and safe housing in St. Petersburg" made it difficult to come up with an alternate plan.
The College didn't learn about the crimes until the day the students were supposed to leave for Russia.
Lenore Grenoble, associate dean of faculty, ultimately made the administrative decision to cancel the FSP. She contacted the students individually and spoke to their parents.
Russian Department chair Lev Loseff told The Dartmouth that the cancellation "happened chiefly because of interruption of air travel on Sept. 11, which unhappily coincided with a couple of organizational mistakes on the part of our Russian partners."
"It's disappointing. It was all really sudden," said van Hoff of the aborted FSP. However, due to the safety factor involved, he thinks that the decision was correct. "I understand and respect their decision fully," he said.
Tyra Olstad '04, who was also preparing to travel to Russia, concurred. "I knew the cancellation was perfectly justifiable and really only a mere inconvenience compared to the turmoil in other peoples' lives," she said.
After realizing that they would be spending their Fall term at the College, the students had to contend with the fall housing crunch.
The former Native American House on North Park St. was converted to a Russian Affinity House for the misplaced students. While two students found housing in dorms, six others sought refuge in the Affinity House.
"It is very nice housing," van Hoff said. "They wanted to accommodate us and give us something Russian in lieu of the trip."
The Russian Affinity House will provide the students with bimonthly cultural events, such as Russian meals and films, and graduate students in Russian will be invited to speak. In addition, students at all levels of proficiency will have the opportunity to participate in conversation practice at weekly Russian Tables held at the house.
The administration also decided to create a new course to serve the inconvenienced students. Professor Tishler is teaching Russian 38, a language and culture course specializing in the history of St. Petersburg.
Olstad is one of the six students taking Russian 38 this term. "I love it," she said. "I wasn't going to [take the course] at first, but I felt as though I was missing out, so now I am taking it as a fourth course and am extremely glad that I did so."
"We are trying to make this into as positive an experience as we can, knowing that we can't recreate Russia for the students," explained Professor Tishler.
Benjamin Phillips '03 was already in Finland at the time of the cancellation, and he was able to change his plans so that he could attend the French FSP.
The rest of the students, however, must now rework their D-plans.
Last spring, the administration decided to change the FSP to an LSA+ program, set for Summer term 2002, so some students will have the option of traveling to St. Petersburg then.
Sarah Maxell '04 does not plan to immerse herself in St. Petersburg during the Summer '02 term. She said that the cancellation "was not a huge loss" for her because she had already spent a month studying in St. Petersburg.
Due to D-plan conflicts, Olstad will also not be able to spend next summer in St. Petersburg on the LSA either. However, she said that she hopes "to spend an off-term working or interning in Russia."
Van Hoff tries to keep the cancellation in perspective. "Obviously I was looking forward to it, but in the context [of the Sept. 11 tragedy], you really can't be that disappointed."
