Northeastern global safety team ensures safe travel for students during Middle East turmoil Northeastern’s Global Safety and Support Network — a 24/7 emergency assistance service — quickly stepped in to support students and faculty affected by the developing situation. Northeastern’s security team provided support to students and faculty traveling abroad in and around the Middle East this week. Photo by Ahmed Youssef Elsayed Abdelrehim/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Northeastern University student Andrew Waterman was waiting at his gate at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, when a news notification popped up on his phone: Qatar had just shut down its airspace.

Officials had received word that Iran would soon be firing missiles at an American military base in Doha, the country’s capital.

Fortunately, Waterman and other Northeastern travelers were not alone. The university’s Global Safety and Support Network — a 24/7 emergency assistance service — quickly stepped in to support students and faculty affected by the developing situation.

“While risks crop up, we’re able to seamlessly support students where they are. In this case, it was an extreme risk situation,” says Khushal Safi, Northeastern’s associate vice president for global safety.

Safi says the team was able to communicate with the students, “provide them with guidance and just make sure they know somebody has their back on campus.”

Waterman, a rising fourth-year Northeastern student, had been traveling from Athens, where he’d vacationed with his family, en route to a co-op placement in Cambodia. His itinerary took him through Doha, with connecting flights to Bangkok and then Cambodia — a route that suddenly became uncertain amid the regional unrest.

But those plans had to change.

For hours, Waterman and 200 of his fellow passengers were asked to remain at the gate while officials awaited further updates.

“They wouldn’t let anyone out because they didn’t have enough information,” he says. “They didn’t know if it would reopen that night or a couple of days later.”

Khushal Safi, Northeastern’s associate vice president for global safety, leads the university’s global safety operations. Photo by Ruby Wallau/Northeastern University

Once he was finally permitted to leave, one of his first calls was to the university’s global safety team. With their guidance, Waterman was able to navigate the disruption and continue on his journey.

Now in Cambodia and ready to begin his co-op, Waterman was one of five students and one faculty member recently supported by Northeastern’s global safety office as the Israel-Iran conflict escalated in the Middle East.

The team provided everything from shelter-in-place guidance to rebooking flights, assisting each person throughout the process, Safi says.

Like Waterman, Violet Young, a junior undergraduate student, was also in Doha at the time of the airspace closure. She had just finished a Dialogue of Civilizations in Cambodia and, with help from the global safety team, was able to secure a flight back to the United States.