Campus Alert Archive
GW

Three GW Students Pulled Out of Amman After Strikes on Iran

DCevacuationadvisorymedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

Three George Washington University students studying in Amman, Jordan through CIEE evacuated the country in early March 2026 after joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran escalated the regional security situation. CIEE canceled the Amman program and offered to relocate students to Rabat, Morocco or send them home; GW said all three students left safely and the university remained in contact with them.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
—
Injured
—
Institution
George Washington University
Private R1 · DC
~26,000 studentsGW Office for Study Abroad
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTEmail
Approximate reconstructionThe GW Hatchet (reconstructed from reporting on the program cancellation)325 chars
Due to the deteriorating security situation in the region following recent military strikes, CIEE is suspending the Semester in Amman program. Students may relocate to Rabat, Morocco to continue their studies for credit, or return to the United States. The GW Office for Study Abroad is in contact with all affected students.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The operative trigger was CIEE's cancellation of its Amman program after the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran over the preceding weekend, not a GW-originated alert.
Returning home meant forfeiting semester credit, while relocating to Rabat preserved it; one student, sophomore Megan Holmes, chose Morocco.
FOLLOW-UPWebsite
Verified verbatimGW spokesperson Julia Garbitt, quoted in The GW Hatchet97 chars
All three students have safely left the country, and the University remains in contact with them.
This sentence is quoted verbatim from GW spokesperson Julia Garbitt and is the university's on-record confirmation that the evacuation was complete.
GW deferred operational logistics to CIEE while taking responsibility for staying in contact, a common division of labor in third-party-provider study abroad.
Context

Background

Three George Washington University students were studying in Amman, Jordan through the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) in spring 2026. After joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran escalated the regional conflict, CIEE suspended its Amman program. Per The GW Hatchet, sophomore Megan Holmes said CIEE offered to relocate students to Rabat, Morocco for credit or return them home with no credit; GW spokesperson Julia Garbitt confirmed all three students left Jordan safely and the university stayed in contact. The episode was part of a wider wave of US-institution study-abroad disruptions in the Middle East in spring 2026. GW's home campus is in Washington, D.C. (institution.state DC); the emergency was in Jordan.
Analysis

Key Findings

GW relied on its third-party provider (CIEE) for the operational evacuation while retaining responsibility for student contact, illustrating the provider/home-institution split
The academic-credit penalty for returning home vs. relocating shaped individual student decisions during the crisis
The episode is one node in a March 2026 cluster of US-university study-abroad disruptions triggered by the US-Israel war with Iran
Outcome
All three GW students safely left Jordan; CIEE offered relocation to Rabat, Morocco (with academic credit) or return to the U.S. (without semester credit). No injuries.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Student Paper
    Three GW students evacuated from Jordan following US-Israel strikes on Iran - The GW Hatchet
    gwhatchet.com
  2. News
    Iran Threats Against U.S. Institutions Lead to Closures - Inside Higher Ed
    insidehighered.com
  3. Source
    2026 Iran war - Wikipedia
    en.wikipedia.org
Tags
study-abroadjordaniran-war-2026evacuationcieedcadvisory
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion