Navigating the Unexpected: Emergency Management in an International Education Office

NAFSA Resources

Is the student okay? Designate the point person Get the facts Are other students involved, or might they have more information? Do you know your FERPA guidelines? Who needs to know what? What’s next for the student?

Who needs to know what? In the department On campus Off campus

Case Studies Initial thoughts What needs to happen right away? Who needs to get involved? Plan moving forward for your department Plan moving forward for the student

Case Study #1: Budi You receive an email from a homestay agency that a student is in the hospital due to a car accident. The homestay parent is at the hospital and the student’s parent has been notified via email. They do not have his health insurance information and have asked you for it as soon as possible. They know that the student was with friends, but are unsure who those friends are or if they are okay.

Case Study #2: Hyojeong An ESL instructor calls your office to inform you that a student you have worked with in the past has collapsed in his classroom and seems to be undergoing a panic attack. Safety & Security has already been notified, but the student is struggling to communicate and there is no one else in the classroom who can speak her native language.

Case Study #3: Megan A student emails you to say that her ex-boyfriend, also a student, is harassing her and saying inappropriate (potentially threatening) things over text and in person. She says that she has been trying to avoid him, but he approached her on campus when she wasn’t with her friends. She wants to know how to get a restraining order. You have previously worked with this student and know that these two students did not have a healthy relationship when they were together, and even had a minor physical altercation on campus.

Case Study #4: Yangming A student rushes into your office and tells you that he was just mugged at gunpoint, about 1.5 blocks away from campus, in broad daylight. The perpetrator demanded that the student hand over his backpack (the student tells you that it was worth approximately $1,000). The perpetrator showed the student that he had a gun in his pocket. The student couldn’t tell if the gun was real, so he pulled his notebooks and wallet out of the backpack and gave it to the perpetrator, who grabbed it and ran.

What situations have happened on your campuses?

Have a plan for yourself and/or your staff Make sure other departments are aware of your plan, know the point person, etc. What resources do you provide for students? Do they know what to do in an emergency? UPenn Emergency Contact Information page Case Western Reserve Emergency Protocol page

Additional Training Resources Incident Command System (ICS) – FEMA Disaster Behavioral Health Mental Health First Aid

Yushin Wung Lianne Almughirah International Student Engagement Manager Shoreline Community College ywung@shoreline.edu or 206-546-6924 Lianne Almughirah Director, International Admissions & Student Services lalmughirah@shoreline.edu or 206-546-4697