Following Tufts' summer 2000 decision to suspend Tufts-in-Ghana after a student was violently raped there the previous spring, discussion surrounding the program invariably focused on issues of student safety. But last night, program alumni met with prospective students to discuss details as mundane, though telling, as how to hand-wash clothing.
Though the program is still under review, the Office of Study Abroad hopes administrators will decide to reopen Tufts-in-Ghana next fall. The office is inviting students to apply, but cautiously advising them to investigate other study abroad options in case the suspension is not lifted.
Whether it reopens next semester partly depends on the recommendations of Janna Behrens, who was hired this fall to evaluate the program and determine how to improve student safety. Beherens, a former Peace Corps worker in Ghana, will submit a report within the next two weeks, although she could not say when the administration would determine the program's fate. She hopes it will decide before Feb. 1, the application due date for Tufts' ten overseas programs.
The rape, which occurred on the Accra campus of the University of Ghana, was not the program's first instance of sexual assault - participants reported three incidents of rape in 1998 alone. The University pointed to the recent, most severe incident as primary grounds for the program's suspension, but cited prior security concerns as well. The program was suspended by then-Vice President of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering Mel Bernstein.
In evaluating the program, Behrens met with administrators, faculty, students, and program alumni, as well as officials at the University of Ghana during a visit to the Legon campus in October. She also evaluated the University of Ghana's efforts to increase the safety of its foreign students.
She said that security measures were now in place at the University that did not exist when the program was suspended a year and a half ago, including a special dormitory for international students. But she added that the program's on-site orientation must address the cultural differences between Americans and Ghanaians concerning the signals and expectations that precede consensual sex.
Behrens has also examined ways to better integrate program participants into Ghanaian society, including internship placements and partnerships with local students. "We try to make anyone who comes from anywhere feel comfortable with us," said Daniel Torvinyo, an exchange student from Ghana. "If you mingle with them, you will really enjoy your time in Ghana."
Although Behrens acknowledged the incidents which caused the program's suspension, she decided not to delve into a discussion of the cultural differences at last night's meeting. "I'm saving the really cultural things for the one-on-one sessions," she explained afterward. "It's a very individual thing."
Behrens, who has given applications to six students, said she was "pleasantly surprised" by student interest. When the program began in 1996, only three students made the journey to Ghana. During the following three years, that number has been as high as ten. For those that participate, some said Tufts-in-Ghana might be one of the most rewarding of Tufts' overseas programs.
"You can easily find topics for senior theses," said economics professor Ed Kutsoati, a native of Ghana. "You are basically seeing a democracy at its grassroots. You see how [International Monetary Fund] and World Bank policies are taking effect first-hand."
Sophomore Cheryl Testa said her interest in Tufts-in-Ghana was sparked in part by an African music class she is taking, which introduced her to Ghanaian music. As for the rapes, she said she was more afraid that past events would limit her own experience, but not that a similar incident would happen again.
"I've always been interested in African society," she said. "The further you get from the United States, the more you learn about yourself."
