Junior Sloane Speakman arrived safely in Dubai Tuesday, heeding warnings from the U.S. State Department to leave Egypt due to the ongoing political and social unrest.
Vanderbilt has found another program for Speakman to study at, in Jerusalem, said Shannon Speakman Fry, Speakman's mother.
"She has some decisions to make about the program, but right now, she needs to rest," Fry said.
Fry said she is pleased with the way Vanderbilt has handled the situation, saying the university has made the best of a bad situation.
Speakman was planning on studying Forced Migration and Refugee Studies at the American University in Cairo before classes were postponed indefinitely due to the ongoing protests against President Hosni Mubarak's regime.
The AP contacted a half-dozen major universities in the region Monday, and all said they were arranging for students, faculty and staff to get out of Egypt.
The universities cited safety as the reason for pulling students from study-abroad programs. Many were attending classes at the American University in Cairo, where Tahrir Square in the city center has been the heart of the protests.
"I think it's an absolutely essential step," Riecken said of the evacuations. "There is always a potential for unexpected acts of violence or theft ... The Muslim Brotherhood and other extremist groups do target Western tourists and expatriates. I believe there is a greater risk of extremism against Westerners with the lack of oversight."
Riecken was quick to add that he saw no animosity toward Americans among the Egyptian people. He was also pleased to see that protesters and the army had rebuffed attempts by looters to raid precious antiquities at the Egyptian National Museum. Some young Egyptians created a human chain at the museum's front gate to ward off looters before soldiers arrived early Saturday morning.
"It just goes to show how important their culture is to them and how much value the Egyptians place on antiquity," he said.
Riecken was one of dozens of students from the Mid-Atlantic region to leave Egypt in recent days.
22 students and two faculty members from the University of Delaware flew home on commercial carriers Sunday, said Lesa Griffiths, associate provost for international programs. A 23rd undergraduate on independent study in Cairo is booked on a charter flight out Tuesday.
"We're in contact with her, and she's safe," Griffiths said.
The other students returned in two groups, one from Cairo and the other from Sharm el-Sheikh. The Cairo group — 10 students and their instructor — had a tight window to make their 10 a.m. flight, just three hours after a nighttime curfew ended, Griffiths said.
"It was wonderful to see the text messages saying, 'We're on an airplane.' That was reassuring," she said.
Georgetown University announced Monday afternoon that 15 students studying in Cairo landed safely in Doha, Qatar, where they will be housed temporarily at a satellite campus.
Nearby George Washington University said it was evacuating its dozen or so students studying in Egypt. According to the school's website, as of Monday, five students had landed safely in Athens, Greece, and several others are en route from Egypt to places in Europe.
In addition to the archaeological team, Johns Hopkins evacuated more than 20 employees from its Bloomberg School of Public Health. Two undergraduates who were studying at the American University in Cairo were also planning to board charter flights Tuesday.
George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., was evacuating a single student from AUC.
Of the seven University of Maryland students studying in Egypt, six were either back in the U.S. Monday or were on their way back. One student, who enrolled independently in a program at AUC, was still there.
"We are making every effort to return this last student home safely," university spokesman Millree Williams said in a statement. He added that the university would not rule out sending students back to Egypt "once the political situation has settled down and personal safety is not in question."
Mubarak announced Tuesday he will not run for a new term in September elections but rejected protesters' demands he step down immediately and leave the country, vowing to die on Egypt's soil, after a dramatic day in which a quarter-million Egyptians staged their biggest protest yet calling on him to go.
Soon after his speech, clashes erupted between protesters and government supporters in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, and gunshots were heard, according to footage by Al-Jazeera television.
Muabrak's half-way concession — an end to his rule seven months down the road — threatened to inflame frustration and anger among protesters, who have been peaceful in recent days but have made clear they will not end their unprecedented week-old wave of demonstrations until he is out.