University Times

The current voyage of the Pitt-sponsored Semester at Sea (SAS) program — as well as the summer and fall 2002 voyages — will steer clear of the Middle East in response to this month's terrorist attacks.

SAS's "floating university," the S.S. Universe Explorer, is carrying 736 students, faculty and staff from U.S. colleges and universities (including 27 Pitt students) and several foreign institutions on a 100-day, around-the-world study trip.

In a letter last week to parents and friends of current passengers, John Tymitz, CEO of the Institute for Shipboard Education, which administers SAS, wrote: "In light of the tragic events of Sept. 11, and with the possibility of increased instability in the Middle East, we have made the decision to divert the S.S. Universe Explorer from its originally scheduled itinerary. The ship will follow a southern route to Africa and South America to countries that we regularly visit on our spring voyages."

The S.S. Universe Explorer left from Vancouver, Canada, on Aug. 31. So far, the ship has visited Kobe, Japan, and Hong Kong. It is scheduled to arrive in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, tomorrow, Sept. 28. After that, the voyage will depart from its original itinerary. The ship will visit Singapore instead of Penang, Malaysia, in response to reports of threatened anti-American activity in that predominantly Muslim country. Then SAS will visit Chennai, India (as originally planned), followed by Mombasa, Kenya; Cape Town, South Africa; Salvador, Brazil, and Havana, Cuba, before concluding in Miami on Dec. 9.

Originally, the voyage was to have sailed from India to Suez, Egypt, before proceeding to Istanbul, Turkey; Dubrovnik, Croatia; Naples, Italy, and Casablanca, Morocco.

The fall 2002 voyage likewise will follow SAS's traditional spring route, bypassing the Suez Canal and Europe in favor of ports in Africa and South America.

SAS's 65-day summer voyages begin and end in Piraeus, Greece, and stop mainly in European ports. Next summer's voyage probably will be all European, said Julian Asenjo, SAS associate director of enrollment management.

Egypt, Morocco and Turkey have been dropped from the summer 2002 itinerary, and will be replaced by European ports — probably in Croatia, Ireland and Poland, Asenjo said.

SAS officials have not ruled out resuming visits to Middle Eastern ports and sailing through the Suez Canal after 2002, he said.

"This isn't the first time we've changed an itinerary in mid-voyage, in response to concerns about passenger safety," Asenjo noted. Previous SAS voyages were diverted away from the Middle East in response to the Gulf War and terrorist attacks against the U.S.S. Cole and tourists in Luxor, Egypt.

Safety has always been SAS's No. 1 priority, program officials say. Since last year, the program has issued computer-scannable photo identity cards to passengers, replacing SAS's old, easy-to-counterfeit IDs. Also, all security personnel on the S.S. Universe Explorer are professionals now; no longer is the ship's security desk staffed by professors and work-study students.

The S.S. Universe was docked in Japan on Sept. 11. "We provided all of the passengers with free access to telephones on the ship, so they could communicate with family back home," Asenjo said. No passengers reported losing loved ones in the terrorist attacks, he said.

As of this week, one student had chosen to leave the voyage early, according to SAS officials.

As for overhauling the program's curriculum in mid-voyage, Asenjo said: "Fortunately, we already have academic field programs planned for these ports in Africa and South America. It's not like this is uncharted territory for us."

The attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., taught Americans that they are not immune anywhere from terrorism. "An event like we saw this month shows that staying in your own backyard isn't necessarily any safer than climbing the Great Wall of China," Asenjo said.

–Bruce Steele