The University's recent warning against travel to SARS-afflicted areas underscores a dilemma faced by many Asian students, who have been unwilling to return home due to the epidemic.
Most students, however, had already made plans prior to the University's caution against non-essential travel to countries affected by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. The warning, issued jointly by a number of University health organizations, advises members of the Duke community to avoid SARS-affected regions in Asia, including parts of China and Taiwan.
Junior Harold Chen said he decided to stay in Durham after his friends advised him not to go back to Beijing, as it was possible that he might have difficulties re-entering the United States.
"Most Chinese students at Duke are not changing their plans despite the travel warning," Chen said. "I know a couple of graduate students who have to go back for research purposes and official matters, but they would rather stay here.
"Most of us do not want to risk being unable to return," he continued. "The travel warning might, however, deter American students from going to China."
Chen will visit friends in Boston and then stay in a temple in San Diego to practice meditation.
Others, like sophomore Trina Kok said the travel advisory
Singapore reported a new case on May 18, just before the WHO was to declare it SARS-free. It was the city-state's first case in 20 days.
Since May, about eight to 10 students from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Beijing and Singapore have approached the International House for help with summer plans, officials there said. The International House, which helps international students forge social ties at Duke, has responded by working with senior administration officials to offer the students jobs on campus for the summer.
Catheryn Cotten, director of the International Office, which helps students and others review and process visa applications, said that one of her chief concerns regarding summer travel and return was not that great numbers of people would contract SARS, but rather that the SARS problem in China and elsewhere would limit the number of U.S. embassy and consulate staff members available to review and process visa applications.
"Reduced staff will lead to long delays in obtaining visas for new and returning students and scholars," Cotton said. "Students have to consider their options carefully, understand the possible consequences of any decision or action, and prepare as well as possible to deal with those consequences."
Lisa Giragosian, assistant director of the International House, said she was "pleased that Duke did not follow in the steps of the University of California at Berkeley," which announced in early May that it would restrict summer enrollment for all students from countries hardest hit by the deadly SARS virus.
The campus revised its policy more than two weeks ago, saying it would allow an estimated 80 foreign students from areas with significant SARS outbreaks to attend summer session classes.
Giragosian acknowledged that some students are still going home despite the travel advisory issued by Duke.
"I believe those who are going home do so because they miss their family and friends and want to be with them," she said.
Tina Chang, a junior, said she was supposed to go home to Taiwan in May to visit her family because she has not been back for five years. However, because of SARS, she was forced to stay here. Worried about her family, Chang said she still might go back if the situation continues to improve.
Bo Jiang, a graduate student who is already back in Beijing, summed the situation up succinctly.
"I agree that we should be more conservative and cautious in time of uncertainty and danger. However, I do not think we should let SARS change our lives," he said.
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