Four years ago, heightened security issues in Israel resonated as far as Penn State, shutting down all study abroad programs to the country.

Those programs are still suspended at Penn State, but other Big Ten universities are permitting students to travel to the Middle East despite federal travel warnings.

John Keller, Penn State director of education abroad, said the Israel study abroad programs were originally suspended because of U.S. State Department travel warnings in spring 2001.

Since then, other Big Ten schools, including Michigan State, Ohio State and Indiana University, have re-opened their semester or summer programs in Israel.

Northwestern University, like Penn State, has continued to suspend its Israel program due to the state department travel warnings.

The state department re-released its Israel travel warnings June 20.

According to the warning posted on the Bureau of Consular Affairs Web site travel.state.gov, the frequency of terrorist attacks in Israel has decreased, but "potential for further violence remains high."

Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon said the university follows the travel warnings when making decisions of whether to cancel study abroad programs.

Keller said the Education Abroad office also consults with the Penn State Crisis Management Team and the Penn State Risk Management Office in making a decision about suspending a study abroad program.

Penn State Hillel Director Tuvia Abramson said that he understands the university's position, but Penn State needs to revisit its policy about the study abroad programs because students want to and are going to study in Israel.

Abramson said studying in the Middle East is an opportunity for students to learn about the area and its conflicts away from short broadcasts or misleading headlines.

However, safety is never guaranteed, not even in the United States, he said.

"If we are a country [in] which we say we don't yield to terrorism, we are yielding now," Abramson said.

Cindy Chalou, assistant director of Michigan State's study abroad office, said there are still safety concerns with sending students to Israel, so students are required to sign a statement of responsibility saying they know the risks involved.

Chalou said, however, that it is up to individual universities to decide whether they want to have study abroad programs in Israel.

"It is the institution that has responsibility," she said.

Mahon said that while other schools might ignore the warning or ignore it with a "twist," Penn State follows the expertise of the U.S. State Department. The U.S. State Department has experts in Israel that know what is going on in Israel better than Penn State, Mahon said.

Ross Diamond (senior-information sciences and technology) said he has traveled to Israel with an independent program to learn how to talk about Israel with college students.

Diamond said that Israel reminded him of any "big city" with unsafe areas, but he thinks that traveling to Israel is "as safe as traveling anywhere."

Lily Matusiak (junior-history and international politics) said she is taking a leave of absence from Penn State for the spring semester and has applied directly to Tel Aviv University because she has wanted to study in Israel.

Matusiak said that while there are safety concerns, it shouldn't stop people from going to Israel.

"I can get hit by a car crossing College [Avenue], but that's not going to keep me from going to Panera," Matusiak said.