As the outbreak of Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) continues to grow in Southeast Asia, Boston College is exploring alternatives for students planning to study in Hong Kong and China this summer, as they closely monitor the current developments.
Following the SARS outbreak in Hong Kong, Marian St. Onge, director of the Center for International Partnerships and Programs (CIPP), sent an e-mail to the three BC students studying in Beijing and two in Hong Kong asking them to return to the United States. St. Onge said that one student studying in Beijing and another in Hong Kong do not plan on returning to the United States immediately.
St. Onge said that an alternative to studying in Southeast Asia this summer is for students to continue their Asian studies in London at the School for Oriental and Asian Studies (SOAS).
"A number of students are planning to go this summer," said St. Onge. "Right now, we are looking at alternatives for them to go to Hong Kong and Beijing. We are hoping that this is something that will be under control. Some indications in Hong Kong tell us that they are coming out of this."
Dan Cronyn, A&S '04, one of the students studying abroad in Hong Kong, does not plan on returning to the United States immediately. He said that "sensationalist" news reporting by networks such as CNN and the "fact-repressing" Chinese government makes it difficult to find the real facts about the outbreak.
"I have adapted what I think is the most realistic approach in respect to the information and misinformation here: to play the odds and realize there is an infinitesimal chance I will be infected and an even smaller chance that I would have any trouble getting over SARS," said Cronyn in an e-mail.
"As of now, I feel a very small threat to my own life, so I have decided to stay. My wish is to finish what I started here, and that is what I intend to do," he said.
Cronyn said that SARS has not affected his life on a daily basis: He said there is an eerie feeling in seeing everybody wearing a mask and not being able to enter buildings because he is not wearing one.
Other Boston-area colleges have also taken steps to prevent their students abroad from acquiring the disease. Harvard University last week told its students who plan to take part in academic programs in SARS-affected areas that they will not receive credit for those classes. Harvard has said that it remains unsure as to whether or not its program will fund students travels.
St. Onge said that BC has no plans to deny students credit for studying in SARS-affected regions.
At Boston University, a student studying in Beijing returned to the United States last Monday, after officials with the China Education Tours Academic Programs (CETAP) decided to bring home its 35 students who were studying in Beijing this semester.
"We wanted to get people out before the numbers really exploded," Mark Lenhart, director of CETAP, told The Daily Free Press, BU's student newspaper.
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