While many Jumbos were lying on beaches or vacationing over spring break, nine Tufts students were traveling for a very different reason.
The trip, organized by New Initiative for Middle Eastern Peace (NIMEP), an initiative of the Institute of Global Leadership (IGL), sent students to Beirut, Lebanon to complete research projects about the political and cultural situation there.
Co-chaired by seniors Alex Zerden and Rachel Leven, the trip was one of many that NIMEP organizes to different parts of the Middle East that are intended to immerse participants in Middle Eastern culture.
In the past, NIMEP has led trips to Israel and the West Bank, Iran and Egypt.
"There are trips every year that contribute to dialogue on campus," Leven said.
She added that this year was particularly difficult due to the increased level of security.
"The trip was originally planned for winter break, but [the situation] was deemed too dangerous," she said.
When NIMEP was given clearance to reschedule the trip for spring break, its members had to take certain precautionary measures.
"[NIMEP] created an evacuation contingency plan and bought visas to Syria just in case there was a problem in Lebanon," Zerden said. "[NIMEP] also provided the group with security contacts, such as the U.S. Embassy and the American University of Beirut."
The nine students who traveled to Lebanon each drafted a 25-page preliminary research proposal that was reviewed by IGL Director Sherman Teichman.
Of the proposal submissions, Teichman chose the most compelling ones for students to complete during the trip.
During the trip, participants researched their respective topics by asking specific questions during their meetings with high-ranking political figures and academics.
Unaza Khan, a senior majoring in international relations and Middle Eastern studies, chose to look at Syrian influence on Lebanon after Syria's withdrawal from the country in 2005.
"Lebanon is internally complex with international factors," Khan said. "[Researching] gave me a more hands-on experience that is not available in books. It all became so much more real and tangible."
Zerden agreed with Khan's sentiment, and stressed NIMEP's contribution to the group's success.
"We had access and ability to interact with people that were incredibly unique," Zerden said.
Zerden said that his interactions with the students at the American University of Beirut were particularly meaningful.
"Interacting with other college students allowed us to see Lebanon through their eyes," Zerden said. "We met with the next generation in Lebanon that is the same age as we are."
Leven said she enjoyed meeting students in Lebanon because they contributed to her balanced view of Lebanon's deeply divided government.
The group was also able to meet with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and a Hezbollah spokesperson, whose opposing opinion provided the group with a sense of Lebanon's deep sectarian rifts.
"We don't support [those] views, but we try to engage a variety of different people," Zerden added.
According to Zerden and Leven, there is a misconception that NIMEP's initiatives have political agendas that reflect the views of its members. The group aims to dispel this misapprehension by stressing that its mission in Lebanon was strictly research-based.
"We're here as a research institute," Zerden said. "We don't have any political motivations."
The research projects were presented on April 10 at a presentation entitled "Back from Beirut: NIMEP in Lebanon."
One of the projects presented at the event was a documentary video filmed by freshman Tim Fitzsimons, who was also responsible for photographing the trip and who is a photographer for the Daily.
Another participant, senior Kelli Harrison, researched education in Lebanon. Harrison found that responsibility for schooling there rested primarily with religion, until laws implementing and unifying public schooling were passed and national exams were established.
She said that schools there are "less focused on actually integrating students" than schools here.
"[There is] less social integration based on who they might interact with in their daily lives," Harrison said.
She concluded with a recommendation that Lebanese students should interact with students in other sects, and that school systems should have unified textbooks and new busing routes to facilitate integration.
Senior Deb Weiner researched identity formation in Lebanon. She assessed the workings of Lebanon's domestic governance and studied whether or not the country displays the characteristics of a nation.
Weiner found that Lebanon blurs the distinctions between state and nation building.
"I'm trying to discover the difference between nation building and state building, and Lebanon is an example of how complicated that question is," Weiner said.
The level of enthusiasm was high among the participants at the presentation; they felt the trip had impacted each of them profoundly.
"Seeing refugee camps and talking to refugees in the Southern suburbs made it all so emotional," Khan said. "I am so thankful for this opportunity to do research abroad."
According to Zerden, the trip was valuable for the people the group met in Lebanon as well.
"People are incredibly excited to talk to American students, and many of them have a political message they want to sell," Zerden said. While the group provided a forum for dialogue and engagement in the region, it did not promote any political agenda or advocacy.
The experience did not conclude upon the group's return to Tufts, however. Leven is excited to sustain the dialogue she began with some of the students she met in Beirut.
"We still write follow-up e-mails and communicate over Facebook," she said. "This way we can continue to share our thoughts."
