Increasing concern for the safety of student humanitarians is causing the University to reconsider its policies towards new groups that work on international service projects.

Organizations like Moving Mountains, which concentrates on work in Haiti, and Students for International Change, aimed at increasing HIV / AIDS awareness in Tanzania, have been warned of a possible moratorium on the approval of new groups with an overseas focus due to the University's liability concerns.

“We are currently undergoing the application process with the Office of Student Activities, but they told me about the risk management moratorium,” said Jason Kerwin, an organizer of Students for International Change. “They are concerned that there is too great of a liability.”

Kerwin added that he hopes the request for OSA approval will be granted, but thinks there is a good chance the moratorium will present a problem.

This increased scrutiny was not prompted by any change to global security, but rather a growing reluctance to increase the University’s liability.

Jon McConnell, the student development programs director at the Haas Center for Public Service, is meeting with staff members at the Office of Student Affairs next week to discuss concerns and possible solutions.

“We are looking at how we can work most creatively with groups that want to do international projects,” McConnell said. “We want to work with risk management to determine the current reality and seek possible solutions.”

The moratorium does not affect any groups currently funded through the Haas Center or other campus departments. In fact, the Haas Center increased the number of international fellowships it offers this year.

However, all University grants are restricted by the International Travel Policy, a memo written by University Provost John Etchemendy, which orders that travel be restricted to countries under a State Department Travel Warning, or “where there is other reliable information of significant health or safety risks.”

The Risk Management Department evaluates the danger by country and city using information from iJET Travel, a private firm that advises clients on travel risks. Their program provides up-to-date information regarding the current dangers of any given location.

For instance, yesterday it warned against flooding in Ghana, social unrest in Bangladesh and snowstorms in southern Germany. All of these factors are considered when University insurance companies determine the liability involved in supporting student travel to potentially risky locations.

“Insurance companies are very conservative,” said Jo Thorne, administrative associate in the risk management department. “Traditionally, they don’t fund people who want to travel to very dangerous countries. It doesn’t make sense for them.”

Sophomore Tapiwa Mabaye is one such student. A native Zimbabwean, Mabaye wanted to conduct research in his home country this summer. However, given the nation’s poor listing with the State Department, he was unable to obtain University funding for his studies. While Mabaye is forced to take his research elsewhere, he said he understands Stanford’s concern.

“In my case it is complicated, me being from Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe being on the travel ban list,” he said. “But generally, I understand why they have the policy.”

Underscoring the new policy is the memory of Amy Biehl, a Stanford graduate stabbed to death in South Africa in 1993 while traveling on a Truman Scholarship. Her memory is memorialized in the Amy Biehl Fellowship, which supports service projects in Cape Town.