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Written by: Shelley Rodgers
Published: 10/12/2001 VCU Establishes Evacuation Plan for Campus in Qatar
Realizing heightened vulnerabilities for Americans overseas, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) announced it has crafted a plan to evacuate its Qatar campus should such a safety step be necessary.
In Qatar, VCU has maintained an art school for women since 1998. Of the faculty, staff and administration at its Doha campus, approximately two-dozen are American citizens.
According to VCU-Qatar staff members, the oil-rich country has a very stable government and enjoys good relations with other Arab nations and the United States. As such, staff members report feeling “very safe here.”
VCU officials, however, continue to monitor the situation in Qatar very closely and suggest having no reservations about removing staff from the country should safety become threatened.
“Any credible threat at all that is passed on from the American Embassy,” says VCU Rector Edward L. Flippen, “is all it would take to call for the Universities contingent to return home.”
Additionally VCU officials say they would be prompted to evacuate if the World Trade Organization cancels its upcoming meeting there.
In and when the U.S. Embassy recommends evacuating Qatar, VCU plans to use commercial airlines to safely deliver its staff members home.
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