Global Partnership Specialist

Colombia travel seminar canceled amid political unrest. February 10, 2026 As a result of ongoing political and safety threats between the United States and Venezuela, California Lutheran University's Office of Education Abroad canceled a faculty-led travel seminar to Colombia on Jan. 8, three days before it was due to begin. Nearly a month later, the eight students enrolled are still waiting for refunds. In an email interview, Faculty-Led Programs Coordinator Ryan Medders said the decision to cancel the trip was ultimately made by Cal Lutheran President John Nunes in consultation with the OEA. The travel seminar would have sent the class to Bogotá, Colombia's capital city, from Jan. 11 to Jan. 17. Medders said Cal Lutheran partnered with WorldStrides, an external travel company, to facilitate the trip. WorldStrides is the largest education travel company in the United States with over 100 affiliated universities, according to its website. The OEA approved $1,000 scholarships for each student in the class, saying in an email it wanted to take "an active role" in supporting the students following the cancelation. Multiple students said they spent over $3,000 on travel arrangements, although they've received minimal communication from WorldStrides or the university if they will get that amount back. The course, led by professors LaVerne Seales and Amanda ElBassiouny, cross-listed in the Spanish and psychology departments, was a semester-long course that met once a week during the fall 2025 semester. Seales and ElBassiouny, who have both since gone on sabbatical for the spring 2026 semester, did not respond to an inquiry from The Echo for comment. The seminar was intended to start at 3 p.m. on Jan. 11. There was no required date or time students had to fly in, as long as they were all able to meet in Bogotá by 3 p.m., according to Joelle Jacobs, a senior in the class. The eight students enrolled in the course received an email notifying them of the trip's cancelation about 72 hours prior on the afternoon of Jan. 8. "In light of the recent occurrences in Colombia, we regret to inform you that the trip scheduled for next week will not be moving forward due to ongoing political and safety concerns related to the country's proximity to Venezuela and the recent U.S. military action involving Venezuela," the email said. The email also attributed an update released earlier in the day from the U.S. Embassy in Colombia, which advised American citizens to "avoid large protests as they have the potential to turn violent" as a major reason for the cancelation. "We read safety bulletins, followed news reports and reviewed emergency evacuation procedures. Our travel insurance provider made it clear that if military action and violence spilled over the border into Colombia, then it would be extremely difficult to get our students and faculty out of there," Medders said. On Feb. 5, just under a month after the initial email, the OEA sent a follow-up email saying while WorldStrides had not refunded the university, Cal Lutheran approved $1,000 scholarships for each student registered in the course. The money would be applied directly to the students' accounts and credited towards their remaining tuition balance, according to the email. Erika Garcia, a senior psychology major, said after hotels, airfare, paying for the necessary excursions and other expenses she spent over $3,000 on the trip out of pocket. Garcia said everyone purchased the trips through WorldStrides, and that she paid over $300 extra for insurance, although she is yet to hear from WorldStrides about any potential refund. "I think that was even more frustrating just because like, it's not enough in my opinion," Garcia said. "I just don't think it's fair for myself or for those people in that room [to say] like, 'Oh well, we tried. It didn't work out, but here's something.' It just feels frustrating because that's not what I paid for, and I get that I'm not gonna get that trip, but also it just, it feels so backhanded of the university." Garcia was the first student to learn the seminar may not be proceeding. Garcia said she and another student were planning to fly to Panama for multiple days before meeting up with the rest of the class. While finishing packing on the evening of Jan. 7, Garcia said she received a call from Carol Swett, manager of education abroad at Cal Lutheran, telling her the status of the trip was up in the air and, if she were to go to Panama and the trip was canceled, she would be on her own. Garcia said she opted not to go on the flight, and that she texted her class group chat warning them about the uncertainty of the trip. It wasn't until the following afternoon however that the official email went out announcing the trip's cancelation. Jacobs, a double major in English and Spanish, said the class received an email from Seales and ElBassiouny on Jan. 10 saying a supplemental class would be held over Zoom on Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. the following week. Jacobs said the Zoom classes were "a week of stuff that we hadn't really signed up for," adding another week of coursework following what the class had been told was its final presentation the week prior. Jacobs said she voiced her frustrations during one of the Zooms, saying she was "very overwhelmed" by the new workload. "We had a research paper, we had a presentation, we had homework every night and we had the Zoom calls," Jacobs said. "So it was a lot. It was a lot more than I was expecting and it was a lot more than I think we would have done in Colombia, on top of, you know, the amount of work we had already put in that semester." Jacobs said the professors said they would attempt to grade the class leniently in response to her concerns, but Jacobs said she felt the grading scale did not change. Christina Black, a senior double-majoring in Spanish and film, said she texted Seales and ElBassiouny asking for updates after news broke of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's capture by the American government in the early morning hours of Saturday, Jan. 3, but did not hear back for multiple days. Black said the way the university handled the situation in the aftermath was a "huge disappointment," and that it was handled "the wrong way." "We should have been kept in communication the whole time, and not left in the dark about what was happening," Black said. Jacobs said while she was frustrated with the slow response time from the professors, she learned "after the fact that [Seales and ElBassiouny] didn't really know any more than [the students] did." Medders said it is the OEA's goal following the trip's cancelation to make the "financial burden [for students] as small as possible" in the face of a unique situation. "We know how frustrating this is, and we're working closely with our partner to get back as much money as we can," Medders said.

Northern California (February 14, 2025) - Cal North and WorldStrides Sports are excited to partner for the upcoming 2025 Barcelona International Friendlies taking place April 12th thru the 20th.