Because the alternative is a 3 hour climb down into the valley and up another mountain to get to school.
But yes, this was a death trap from the beginning. Hopefully they learned some lessons from this and get actually qualified people to build a new one.
My company will give you a blank laptop if you have confidential information on it when traveling to the US. The policy is always to comply and hand over everything if asked so they want to minimize any risks of information falling into the wrong hands.
That policy also applies for traveling to China. So it’s pretty telling that my company thinks the US and Chinese governments are both risks to its intellectual property.