Students avoid London terrorism
Even as the death toll from last Thursday's bombings in London continues to rise, Dartmouth officials are breathing a sigh of relief. Scrambling to identify Dartmouth students abroad in London since early Thursday morning, the Office of Integrated Risk Management and Insurance has been in touch with departments throughout the College to determine the safety of members of the Dartmouth community. According to Chris Boroski, associate director of the Office of Integrated Risk Management and Insurance, all students and faculty conducting Dartmouth-affiliated internships or research in London have reported back, unscathed. Boroski cautions, however, that there may be some students abroad in London involved in activities of which Dartmouth is not aware, and there is no way of knowing of their well-being. The new International SOS program available to Dartmouth students was instituted for just such emergencies, Boroski said. International SOS is an overseas program that provides medical and security assistance to students abroad in the event of emergencies. "There is a travel locator part of the program, where students can fill out a travel record of where they're going to be on certain dates, as well as contact information," Boroski said, "but this situation has shown that it's not a very well-used function." At the same time, the International Office has been attempting to contact and keep citizens of the United Kingdom informed. Providing a list of helpful websites and phone numbers, the International Office encouraged students to contact Dartmouth if they had any need of assistance, Director Stephen Silver said. Kenan Yount '06, currently taking classes at the London School of Economics, estimates that he was only about a hundred yards from the explosion of the double-decker bus. "I was on my way back to the school after taking a morning walk when we heard this terrible explosion and then felt a kind of sonic boom associated with the blast," Yount said.