By Renee Wright
With the amount of international programs at Northeastern, it was only a matter of time before SARS became an issue of concern. One Northeastern student was forced to cut a study abroad experience short because of the increased threat in Beijing.
According to Dawn Anderson, the Coordinator for the Office of International Studies, one Study Abroad program has already been cancelled, and others could be threatened in the near future.
“The Beijing program is currently cancelled [for spring quarter],” she said. “We’re taking a wait-and-see approach for the fall.”
The student, whose name was not disclosed by the university, was studying abroad in Beijing, and was brought back to the United States early due to the rising threat of contagion. He did not, however, have to endure any period of quarantine or testing while he was out of the country.
“We had heard that there might be some sort of check up right there in the airport, and there were rumors that there might be some period of quarantine, but I don’t think he experienced that,” Anderson said. “We did recommend that upon his return he go see his doctor and get a full check up.”
Although students from the People’s Republic of China make up the vast majority of Northeastern’s graduate students, there have been little to no conflicts regarding SARS (ATTRIBUTE). According to Scott Quint, the Assistant Dean and Director of the International Student and Scholar Institute (ISSI), this is due to the fact that it isn’t common for these students to travel home for the summer.
“To date there has not been a student from China who has indicated to us that he is unable to get home for the summer due to SARS,” Quint said. “Ironically, there is more difficulty for those in China seeking to enter the United States than there is for students who are here seeking to travel abroad.”
Quint also said that the main concern for most of the international students from China is the health and welfare of their families.
“The concerns expressed thus far from our international students from the People’s Republic of China have centered less on summer travel plans and living arrangements,” Quint said, “but rather they are focused on concerns about family members that live in their home country.”
Also, to be safe, the ISSI is doing their best to stay on top of the SARS issue.
“The ISSI continues to work closely with the Lane Health Center to address issues and concerns relating to SARS and our international community while also keeping apprised of evolving federal policies and practices that impact this constituency,” Quint said.
In addition, the international co-op program has remained unaffected during the threat due to an absence of participants.
“The Pacific Rim [co-op] program has been closed due to lack of interest since before the SARS issue came up,” Elizabeth Cameron, the director of International Cooperative Education Programs, said. “It became a non-issue because we didn’t have anyone there.”
For now, Northeastern will have to wait and see if there will be any more programs affected by SARS.
“Right now our programs in China are the ones where students are inquiring, and those are the ones where we’re saying ‘no’,” Anderson said.
