Students flee over the weekend

Eighteen New York University students were flown out of Tel Aviv this past weekend, university spokesperson John Beckman said. They were transported to the university’s satellite campus in Abu Dhabi.

The University of Denver, meanwhile, is working to evacuate one student who was studying in the region. The school is planning his return for later this week, university spokesperson Jon Stone said in an email.

Adam Rovner, a professor at the uniwas supposed to lead a trip to Israel for alumni later this year. It was canceled this week, he said.

Rovner, director of the university’s Center of Judaic Studies, has friends and family in Israel. He kept in touch with them this past weekend as the chaos unfolded.

“They were in fear for their lives,” he said.

Several schools with study abroad programs confirmed in emails to USA TODAY that no students were studying abroad in the region at this time. They include Drexel University in Philadelphia; Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington; Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles; Rutgers University in New Jersey; Seattle University; The University of Chicago; The University of Florida; and Virginia Commonwealth University.

Ex-president criticizes Harvard

Another concern for colleges in recent days has been how to speak to families, staff and alumni with broad and differing views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The regional discord has long had ripple effects for American colleges. Typically, they come in the form of calls from students for academic boycotts.

In a striking statement Monday, Lawrence Summers, a former president of Harvard University, slammed the school’s administration for its slowness in speaking out about the violence. Over the weekend, student groups called Israel “entirely responsible” for the initial deadly attack by Hamas, an Iranianbacked militant group designated by the United States as a terrorist organization.

Current Harvard President Claudine Gay issued a statement late Monday condemning the “terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas.” The university’s communications office did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

“Let me also state, on this matter as on others, that while our students have the right to speak for themselves, no student group − not even 30 student groups − speaks for Harvard University or its leadership,” Gay wrote.