2008 Woodie Awards
The Other Side To Study Abroad
Kavita Kumar
Issue date: 11/13/06 Section: Life & Times
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Some staff members at Webster University spent a couple of sleepless nights last week, trying to make sure all the school's students were safe at its Thailand campuses after the military coup there.
Webster canceled classes at its Thai campuses on Sept. 20, but expected them to resume the next day. Webster has about 160 students studying at its campuses in Cha-am and Hua Hin _ about a 2 {-hour drive from Bangkok. School officials still don't know when the school will reopen its graduate center in Bangkok _ the city where the military forces seized power.
Webster President Richard Meyers said last week that he was just relieved to hear that the coup appeared to be pretty quiet and free of violence.
"I guess the good news is that there is no sign of military action or activity anywhere near our campus," he said.
Although most of the students at the Thai campuses are from the southeast Asian region, about 25 study-abroad students from St. Louis are there right now, Meyers said.
Webster has been relaying messages between students and parents if they can't get through directly because the phone lines have been jammed.
About 15 U.S. students from other colleges are also studying at Webster's Thai campuses.
Staff and faculty are accounted for, as are most of the students, Meyers said.
Meyers said he hasn't been able to get in touch with the graduate center in Bangkok, but most of them are part-time evening students. Meyers expects they are safe in their homes.
Webster staff members are also beginning to monitor the situation in Budapest, Hungary, where police and rioters have clashed on the streets for two nights after an anti-government protest.
Webster has a small business program there for Hungarian students.
"It seems that's really part of the operation at Webster, to be up on world news all of the time," Meyers said.
TOURIST MECCA
Gig Gwin, owner of Gwin's Travel Corp. in Kirkwood, arranged for the trip to Thailand by the Webster students and also has several business and leisure travelers currently in the country. The company e-mailed its clients, asking whether they needed any help or information after the coup, and provided an 800 phone number to call.
"We got no calls back, which leads us to believe it is a velvet revolution, versus a violent revolution," Gwin said. "We have called our travelers who may be heading there and told them we're taking a cautious restraint right now."
Gwin has visited Thailand several times and called it "one of the five greatest countries in the world for tourism."
"It's been a relative solid democracy, it's a first-world country," he said. "Thailand was never taken over by European powers. When you go to Thailand, the food, the architecture, the people are pure Thai."
Webster canceled classes at its Thai campuses on Sept. 20, but expected them to resume the next day. Webster has about 160 students studying at its campuses in Cha-am and Hua Hin _ about a 2 {-hour drive from Bangkok. School officials still don't know when the school will reopen its graduate center in Bangkok _ the city where the military forces seized power.
Webster President Richard Meyers said last week that he was just relieved to hear that the coup appeared to be pretty quiet and free of violence.
"I guess the good news is that there is no sign of military action or activity anywhere near our campus," he said.
Although most of the students at the Thai campuses are from the southeast Asian region, about 25 study-abroad students from St. Louis are there right now, Meyers said.
Webster has been relaying messages between students and parents if they can't get through directly because the phone lines have been jammed.
About 15 U.S. students from other colleges are also studying at Webster's Thai campuses.
Staff and faculty are accounted for, as are most of the students, Meyers said.
Meyers said he hasn't been able to get in touch with the graduate center in Bangkok, but most of them are part-time evening students. Meyers expects they are safe in their homes.
Webster staff members are also beginning to monitor the situation in Budapest, Hungary, where police and rioters have clashed on the streets for two nights after an anti-government protest.
Webster has a small business program there for Hungarian students.
"It seems that's really part of the operation at Webster, to be up on world news all of the time," Meyers said.
TOURIST MECCA
Gig Gwin, owner of Gwin's Travel Corp. in Kirkwood, arranged for the trip to Thailand by the Webster students and also has several business and leisure travelers currently in the country. The company e-mailed its clients, asking whether they needed any help or information after the coup, and provided an 800 phone number to call.
"We got no calls back, which leads us to believe it is a velvet revolution, versus a violent revolution," Gwin said. "We have called our travelers who may be heading there and told them we're taking a cautious restraint right now."
Gwin has visited Thailand several times and called it "one of the five greatest countries in the world for tourism."
"It's been a relative solid democracy, it's a first-world country," he said. "Thailand was never taken over by European powers. When you go to Thailand, the food, the architecture, the people are pure Thai."
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