University of Michigan students leave Egypt after Mursi ousted

7/5/2013

University of Michigan students in summer programs in Egypt have evacuated the country in the wake of the July 3 military ouster of President Mohamed Mursi.

A total of 13 students flew out of Cairo today, Kelly Cunningham, a spokeswoman for the Ann Arbor-based university, said in an e-mail.

Andrew Pochter, an undergraduate at Kenyon College in Ohio, was killed in a demonstration in Alexandria on June 28. Almost 274,000 U.S. students studied abroad in 2010-2011, according to Institute of International Education, with a growing number of them outside the stable Western European democracies that traditionally hosted American students. The possibility of further unrest in Egypt led Michigan to remove its students, according to a July 3 statement.

“No one wants her summer-abroad experience cut short, but the uncertainty of the situation in Cairo in the days ahead made this decision very clear for us,” James Holloway, vice provost for global and engaged education, said in the statement.

Eight Michigan students in a program affiliated with the American University in Cairo are returning to the U.S. while an additional five in other programs will relocate to Morocco and Jordan to finish their studies. One Ph.D. student with family in Egypt elected to stay, Cunningham said today.