Columbia students who had been studying in Japan are leaving the country in the wake of the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that struck Japan two weeks ago. But some of those students said they were confused about their program’s cancellation and when they should leave the country.
The Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies, a Columbia-run program that hosts students from many schools, decided to suspend its on-site program for the spring semester following the March 11 earthquake, the ensuing tsunami, and the ongoing crisis at four Japanese nuclear power plants.
On March 18, Columbia posted a statement on its website saying its 35 affiliates still in Japan, including 33 at KCJS, were safe and accounted for, but that they had asked them to leave the country. Sergio Barraza, CC ’12, said that other universities informed their students that they would have to leave before Columbia did.
“Princeton, UPenn, Yale and some other schools had already bought plane tickets home for students” before Columbia sent official word, Barraza said in an email. “This was all shocking to me since I had no clue that KCJS was being shut down except through Facebook statuses from my friends here at KCJS.” Margaret Tang, BC ’11, said she knew students from other schools who were notified that they should return to the U.S. before she was.
“News was going around that KCJS might have to be canceled because of the radiation situation,” Tang said in an email.
Tang said she does not agree with the decision to end the program, but that she understood the University’s concerns.
“Kyoto is perfectly fine and people here are still living their normal lives,” she wrote in an email. “However, I can imagine the panic and concern back at home. Everyone is upset about the University’s decision, but compared to what the rest of Japan is facing now, my problems are very minor.”
Barraza said that he did not feel the 9.0 earthquake and did not realize until later that an earthquake had hit.
“It was very stressful because parents were emailing frantically and Facebook was blowing up. However, we were all safe,” he wrote.
Eric Santiago, CC ’12, wrote via email that Kyoto was affected by the quake even though people in the city did not feel it.
“Though Kyoto wasn’t affected by it physically, the city, especially the homestays, became dark,” Santiago said in an email. “Every channel covered only the disaster for a good week and a half.”
Barraza said that while he wished Columbia had communicated better with its students, he understood the decision to end the program.
“I don’t think there are fears of radiation in Kyoto,” he said. “However, as the country is in great panic and people are fleeing [affected areas], who knows what will happen?”
Columbia professor Henry Smith, the director of KCJS, declined earlier this week to comment on why KCJS made the decision to shut down, saying it was a matter of “board policy.” Ginger Marcus, the chair of the KCJS board and a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, did not respond to requests for comment.
KCJS classes ended Wednesday, and students in the program have until Saturday to vacate their housing in Kyoto. KCJS students will continue to take classes remotely for the remainder of the semester.
Tang said she had been accepted to the KCJS summer program, and that she was looking forward to returning to Japan this summer. Santiago said he is flying back to the U.S. today.
Barraza said he does not have concrete plans for the rest of the semester.
“All I know is I’m flying into LAX and I have to get home,” he said.
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