SARS affects travel plans for summer

Tufts has issued a temporary moratorium on University-funded travel to countries infected with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The decision was madelast week by the Academic Council, which consists of President Bacow, provosts, deans, vice presidents, and other administrative officials.

This announcement comes on the heels of a UC Berkley decision to disallow any students from areas with high infection rates to attend their summer school. After facing international pressure for the decision, Berkley has reduced the number of countries that are disallowed.

Tufts will not be implementing a policy like UC Berkley's for its own summer session, said Sean Recroft, manager of the Tufts summer session. He encourages all students with questions regarding SARS and the University to refer to University policy found on the Health Services Web site.

Health Services also recently sent out an e-mail to the student body regarding the latest developments of SARS and revised Commencement plans for students from countries where SARS has been identified, namely China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan.

Health Services Director Michelle Bowdler and Margaret Higham, MD have made it clear that there are no travel restrictions to the aforementioned countries, but they strongly encourage concerned students to utilize the Center for Disease Control (CDC) Web site for information on the latest travel alerts and advisories. Health Services recommends that all students traveling from these countries make an appointment to be checked for the disease when returning to the University in the fall.

Tufts has two study abroad programs located within SARS-infected areas, one in Hong Kong and one in China. The China program is offered in the fall only, so no students were abroad this spring, according to Study Abroad Director Shelia Bayne. There has not been a decision made regarding the future of the China program for the fall.

The Hong Kong program is offered during the spring, and was attended by ten students this past year. In April, these students were given permission to voluntarily depart and return to the United States. Two students returned in April, and the majority of them are returning at around this time, Bayne said. Final examinations for students in Hong Kong end June 8 and only one student plans to stay abroad through that date.

According to Residential Life and Learning Director Yolanda King, there are three options for concerned students who are considering staying in the Boston area for the summer instead of returning to the countries affected by SARS. These students may enroll in a summer session program, work with the Off-Campus Housing department to look for summer subletting opportunities, or schedule an appointment to have ResLife review their situation and determine what the best option would be.

Commencement will be broadcast via the Web for those individuals in SARS-infected countries that have concerns about traveling to the United States.

Duncan Cheung, a rising sophomore from Hong Kong, will not go home at all this summer unless conditions improve by August. "[SARS] has caused me to spend extra money and time to figure out a contingency itinerary," he said. Cheung plans to stay here for at least one summer session, and will attend a biology research program in Nantucket if he is accepted.

Hui Chen, a rising sophomore from Singapore, has family in both Malaysia and Singapore. "It's a little scary that I'm not there, so the news I get is from online sources and the way deaths are reported on the news is very detached," Chen said.

The US recently lifted the travel warning for Singapore, and Chen has received positive reports from her sister.

"When [SARS] first came out, people were scared to go out. If anyone so much as coughed in the trains, everyone would move away," said Chen. She plans to return to Singapore for the summer.

UC Berkley has issued a similar decree to its students by banning university-funded travel to SARS-infected countries. The decision by Berkley to forbid students who would be traveling from these countries to attend its Summer Session or Extension classes will cost Berkley an estimated $1 million in tuition and $100,000 in housing.

The students returning to Berkley from SARS-infected countries will have to fill out a health questionnaire upon arrival and will be monitored by Health Services for the next ten days.

Other Boston-area schools such as Harvard and Boston University have university policies on SARS that are similar to Tufts'.