University Of Tulsa Following Emergency Protocol With Study Abroad Students

Hundreds of Oklahoma students are studying abroad and the threat of ISIS is changing the tone of their experiences overseas.

Because of the attacks on Paris, the University of Tulsa is following emergency protocol with their international students.

It's a tough time to be traveling internationally.

TU's Vice Provost for Global Education, Cheryl Matherly, has to ensure the safety of 20 students studying abroad this semester, and when the news of a terrorist attack in Paris hit the airwaves, she raced to the phone.

"We were able to, within an hour and a half of hearing the news break here in the United States, make contact with our student studying abroad in France," Matherly said.

Matherly set up an email chain for the 12 students currently in Europe, instructing them how to stay safe.

"Staying away from any sort of obvious protests or any sort of kind of large threat activities," she explained.

She even provided students with the latest news and accurate information; something many universities and exchange programs are doing as more students study abroad.

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About 300,000 students studied abroad in 2013; 220 of them were TU students.

Those numbers swell this spring, when TU students like Luke Wagner will travel to 21 countries, including France, Germany, Japan and Russia.

"The program I was in, I was not only with German students, but also students from Asia, from South America," he said.

Wagner studied in Berlin and said the experience gave him a unique perspective on the Syrian refugee crisis, and the attacks in Paris.

"It wouldn't deter me, it would just make me think more and just being more vigilant in making sure that I'm being safe, I'm going to a place that is safe," he said.

Matherly said, "The chances of something happening are really pretty slim."