http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index....2737550270.xml

On a campus in the tropics, student's slaying sends a chill
Sunday, December 05, 2004
BY STEVE CHAMBERS
Star-Ledger Staff
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts -- Mike Pride didn't set any academic records as an undergraduate at Rutgers University, part of the reason he wound up last Sunday on a pristine Caribbean beach flanked by dormant, green volcanoes.

Pride, 23, of Toms River was taking a weekend break from an intensive veterinary medicine program, one that will keep him on this West Indies island for more than two years and severely test his ability to adapt to everything from animal surgery to the tropical heat.

The students at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, whose corporate headquarters are in Edison, N.J., have long had to adjust to power outages, contaminated water, petty thefts and an occasional hurricane on the island.

But this was the year their little piece of paradise lost its innocence.

The campus was rocked by the slaying of a student in January and further unsettled in recent weeks by four robberies at gunpoint. The incidents prompted some cries for help and beefed-up security, but most students interviewed last week said they are soldiering on, albeit, cautiously.

"Some of the students who come down here don't deal with the stresses as easily as you would think someone who is going to be a veterinarian should," said Stephanie Tobia, 24, of Gardener, Mass., who arrived in August. "Those of us who get through this program are going to be well prepared for any stresses the job throws at us."

Like Pride and other students interviewed, Tobia did not get accepted to one of the 28 accredited vet schools in the United States -- which has become increasingly difficult.

Ross is easier to get into, administrators concede, but they insist, and other experts agree, that the offshore school turns out quality graduates.

Administrators at the for-profit university -- which was acquired last year by DeVry Inc., along with a sister medical school on the nearby island of Dominica -- say they are facing this year's violence head on and spending at least $500,000 to combat it. On Tuesday night, a new private security force of two dozen began patrolling student housing, which is scattered around the tiny island that lies 200 miles east of Puerto Rico.

"Ross means a lot to us on this island, so we've got to take care of them," Robert Charles, an 11-year veteran of the local police who joined the Ross security force full- time last week, said as he drove through a private apartment complex where many students live.

Such sentiments are not uncommon on St. Kitts.

Once little more than a giant sugar cane plantation colonized by the British, the island has been forced by plummeting commodity prices to depend largely on tourism and anything else that creates jobs.

Most of the 38,000 residents are descendants of African slaves who worked the fields, and the sagging economy has left some fairly desperate. Students tell of locals burglarizing their apartments to steal shampoo and laundry detergent.

Even with the school and a new beach resort, the island's annual gross domestic product has been hovering around $350 million, or enough to pay the Yankees' payroll for about a year and a half.

Most agree there is a good deal of culture shock for students.

The capital city of Basseterre, a quaint place of pastel buildings and churches, has one main road with no stop light. Drivers keep to the left, which is particularly tricky when approaching "roundabouts" or traffic circles, and people can be fined for cursing in public.

Guns are illegal and supposedly rare on St. Kitts -- and hence had a more rattling effect on students -- while most police officers are armed with only wooden batons.

THE CULTURAL DIVIDE Nearly all 600 Ross University students are white and American, and, not unlike campuses in the United States, have little interaction with locals. Some students volunteer in a local orphanage, others attend church downtown; mostly, though, they stick to themselves. They shop in local supermarkets, but more likely are found studying or dining at the Marriott Royal Resort, a 500-unit hotel that opened last year. It provides security and reliable electricity.

After the recent holdups, two students were quoted anonymously in local papers as saying they considered locals to be resentful and threatening. Female students said they are sometimes hissed at by local men, a custom comparable to a raffish whistle in the States.

At a party to kick off the monthlong Carnival celebrations on Sunday, locals insisted there is no general dislike or resentment of Ross students.

"You don't have folks beating up whites on St. Kitts," said Conrad Richards, a native islander on a visit from his home in Brooklyn, N.Y. "You have maybe one or two guys on this island who are trouble, but most folks are very friendly and respectful. Ask anyone a question, and they will answer with a smile."

Students, many of whom buy cars and pay relatively exorbitant rents of $500 a month or more, do make easy crime targets, administration officials concede. And while the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis -- the two islands have collectively made up an independent country since 1983 -- reports extremely high literacy rates and life expectancy, its verdant hillsides are dotted with shanties.

School officials had long advised students to be careful, but the fatal shooting of Daniel Bradford, 24, on Jan. 22 and the subsequent holdups brought safety concerns to the forefront. (The only other Ross-related violence to make headlines was a 1998 threat by a local drug dealer to kill a student if the U.S. government tried to extradite him. It did, and he went without a fight.)

Bradford, a native of Sumter, S.C., was shot after leaving his oceanfront bungalow before dawn to confront a man he thought was breaking into his car. There are rumors he might have crossed the offshore gambling or drug-smuggling denizens that haunt the island, but the case is unsolved.

"They have no idea who did this," Sarah Tracy, a student from St. Louis, said dismissively of the rumors and the efforts of local police. "No one who knew ***** thinks they are ever going to solve it."

Students don't think much of the local justice system, saying criminals are often released to flee the island. Still, two weeks ago, island police arrested three suspects -- two of them deportees from the United States -- and there have not been any robberies since.

"People feel a little better with the arrests," said Gary Gerber, a student from East Hanover, N.J. "The last two weeks had been a little much."

The arrests came after one robbery victim, Amylisa Parker, sparked a campus controversy by sending an emotional e-mail to the student body and administrators.

"Be careful," the Nov. 15 missive read in part. "I know it's been said a thousand times before, and it goes in one ear and out the other, but this is something that you need to think about seriously. You are not safe here."

Dean David De Young and several students interviewed disputed that contention, arguing the crimes can't compare to those on most U.S. campuses. Other students said it was disconcerting that recent robberies sometimes involved groups of students in well-lit places and that one student was followed and robbed outside her home.

"There are a lot of 'do nots,'" said Jessica Markovich, a student from Pennsylvania. "Do not take the bus; do not carry a purse, or if you do, carry a dummy purse (with little money and no identification or credit cards); do not go running, unless it's on a well-lit public road and you have your dog with you; do not leave your door open if you are home alone, especially after dark."

'A SECOND CHANCE' Founded in 1983 by an enterprising import/exporter with no medical or educational experience, Ross University is perched on a steep hill overlooking the breathtakingly blue-green Caribbean. It is flanked by rich green cane fields and a 3,000-foot dormant volcano.

Construction has begun on the school's first on-campus housing, which will be reserved for first-semester students. The expansion will include a generator, water treatment system, better computer services and bigger barns for the cows, donkeys and sheep Ross students work with.

Students pay $30,000 a year in tuition, comparable to the best vet schools in the United States.

Fifth-semester students monitoring the vital signs of dogs under anesthesia last week praised the institution.

"We get a lot more hands-on experience than they do in the States," said Nicole Miller, a student from Milwaukee.

Students attend seven semesters without summer breaks, shaving nearly a year off the typical U.S. program. They finish with a year of clinical experience at an accredited school in the states. They also must pass a second set of board exams for overseas students.

"Our students are very motivated," said N. Sean Fox, associate dean of student life. "Most have not been accepted into U.S. schools, so they realize it's do or die."

An official at the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges said Ross is helping ease a severe shortage of veterinarians, and a spokeswoman at the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine said no Ross graduate has ever failed to complete the clinical training there.

"That shows they are pretty good students," said Dot Sparer, a spokeswoman whose top-tier college has had a long relationship with Ross.

Pride, the student from Toms River, said Ross meant a "second chance" for his academic career. He also said he had little concern for his safety.

"I grew up in New Jersey," he said, "so I'm used to this kind of thing."



Steve Chambers can be reached at schambers@starledger.com or (973) 392-1674.





Copyright 2004 NJ.com. All Rights Reserved.

__________________
Moderator - State Licensing Forum

Still skeptical after all these years.
This is it. There are no hidden meanings.WYSIWYG

http://www.internetmedicalschool.homestead.com

http://www.chiropractormds.homestead.com/index.html