Study abroad students lose scholarship money Cultural scholar to present at Cabrini

ASHLEY WEYLER STAFF WRITER ARW723@CABRINI EDU

Avisiting professor from the North African country of Tunisia hopes to dispel stereotypes and promote understanding between his Islamic country and western views.

Tunisia at Manouba University, where he also received his masters, in Anglo-American Studies and at Brighten University in England. In 1997, he received a one-year Fulbright scholarship at the University of Pittsburgh.

shop to faculty members on Monday, Oct. 25. The workshop is designed to help faculty members, regardless of what department they are apart of, to introduce the Middle East in discussion for class.

However, because of the increased number of students traveling abroad, the proposed policy change would eliminate the use of Cabrini grants for study abroad at these institutions.

For example, if Cabrini awards a student a grant for $3,000 per semester, and the semester abroad would cost $10,000; the amount on the tuition bill will not factor in the $3,000 that the student would have received from Cabrini. This is because, when applying for the program, everything is run through Arcadia University, so technically when abroad, one is considered a transfer student for that semester, so the money that Cabrini would be giving is not in use; however, when a student returns to Cabrini's campus, the $3,000 is put back into place again.

The proposed change does not affect students who choose a study abroad program offered through another institution, such as Arcadia University. Technically, when students are over there, they are a transfer student for that semester, so the money that Cabrini would be giving is not in use, but as soon as they come back, the 3,000 dollars is put back into place again. Students who have studied abroad, through programs offered by Arcadia and other institutions, have never been able to use Cabrini scholarships or grant money to fund their international educational experience, yet the number of students in this category continues to grow each year as well.

However, there are certain schools through the program that are solely sponsored by Cabrini, meaning if a student chooses to study at these schools then their tuition would not change, it would be the same as if studying at Cabrini for a semester. The schools that apply to this are the University of Rome, in Italy, the University of Notre Dame, in Australia and the University of Manchester, in England.

“It is too early to tell whether the proposed change will affect the number of students who apply to the various programs,” said Dr. Uliano, coordinator of the study abroad programs. “When a student expresses interest and subsequently decides not to apply, there are often other reasons besides scholarship money that come into play,” Uliano said.

Dr. Iben Rhaiem, a Tunisian professor of American studies at the University of Sfax, said, “I want to tell them that if ever our religions agree on one thing, it should be the condemnation of the killing of the innocent civilians regardless of their religious and cultural affiliations.”

Dr. Jeremy Rich, Dr. Jonnie Guerra, Barbara Sheehan of Arcadia, and Mark Lazenby of Gwynedd-Mercy wrote a grant to the Institute of International Education. The Institute promotes exchange programs for professors.

Rhaiem has studied in

Rhaiem has been teaching at the University of Sfax, Tunisia, since 1998. There, he teaches American studies topics such as United States history and civilization. Mainly, he focuses on the United States foreign policy throughout the 20th century.

Rich says they chose Rhaiem because he teaches American studies in Tunisia, and he has an interesting perspective on what Americans think of the turmoil in the Middle East.

Rhaiem will visit Cabrini and several other colleges in the area from Oct. 18 to Oct. 29. Some things that Rhaiem will be doing during his visit are speaking in professor Cathy Yungmann and professor Ruby Remley's classes, speaking to human-rights groups in Philadelphia, and give a work-

“I feel very excited about this upcoming mission. I say 'mission' because I believe that I am going on a noble task to promote a mutual and a better understanding between my own culture and yours, to dispel some cultural stereotypes about each other, and most importantly of all, to argue that there is no need at all for a clash of civilizations between the Muslim world and the West,” Rhaiem said.

Rhaiem will be giving a presentation to the entire Cabrini Community on Wednesday, Oct. 20th, at 7 p.m. in Widener Lecture Hall on topics of politics, the war in Iraq and learning how to communicate between the Middle East and the United States.