SARS Cuts Short Middlebury Semester Abroad in China

Author: Andrea Gissing

Eight Middlebury students returned home Monday, April 21, after their study abroad semester in Harbin, China, was cut short due to the possible health risks associated with the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). China Education Tours (CET), the organization in charge of the courses in Harbin, announced April 17 that it would be suspending both of its programs in Beijing and Harbin for the remainder of the spring semester, sending students home after completing 10 weeks of the 15 the program was scheduled to run.
Dean of Language Schools and Schools Abroad and Professor of Russian Michael Katz said that CET's decision to terminate the program early was a good one. "We were hoping against hope that it wouldn't happen, but CET's office has been monitoring the situation and has made its decision based on the information available."
Mark Lenhart, director of the CET programs in China and Vietnam, explained the rationale behind the decision to discontinue the program on CET's Web site. "[CET] has been monitoring the development of SARS in China every day. Based on [new] information, which has alerted us to new cases at major universities in Beijing, we feel that the number of cases throughout China will grow significantly in the next week. The U.S. Department of State has issued travel warnings that raise serious questions about students' medical treatment in China. In addition, we feel that our normal efforts to immerse students in local life are being compromised by precautions we must make to limit exposure to the disease."
Lila Buckley '04, who until Monday was studying in Harbin, said that the first time any of the students really considered SARS to be a threat was when CET imposed travel restrictions for the students' Spring Break, though at that point cancellation of the program was only considered a "vague possibility."
"We were informed that we could still receive good medical care and that our insurance company would even send a private jet to evacuate any affected student. It also hadn't reached Harbin, so we seemed safe. They handed out antiseptic wipes and told us to be careful. Last Thursday, however, they held an emergency meeting and told us that we had two days to pack our things and say goodbye: we were leaving on Sunday."
"There [is] no doubt that many factors played into CET's decision," said David Macey, director of off-campus study, "not the least of which were U.S., and specifically parental, perceptions." Macey continued to say that CET was also concerned that there were cases of SARS in Harbin that were being covered up, that healthcare in Harbin was not up to the standards in Beijing for such an "unknown" disease and, per the U.S. State Department's Travel Warning, that if a westerner were to get sick they would be unable to leave the city or the country to get treatment while relatives back home would be unable to come and visit them.
"Another fear," said Katz, "was that if the students didn't come home now, they might have greater difficulty getting back at a later date." The number of airlines that have reduced flight into East Asia as well as the quarantine procedures set up by various governments to combat the disease have further supported this possibility.
CET and Middlebury College have been carefully monitoring the progress of SARS since outbreaks were announced. "Since this crisis began," explained Lenhart, "we have made every effort to adopt a balanced view of the news. We realize how important is has been to our students to complete their semesters without interruption. Despite our hopes that we could continue, we have concluded that the potential risks to our students have now begun to outweigh the benefits."
Associate Professor of Chinese Thomas Moran said, "Because I have been following the SARS news, I was not surprised to hear that CET had cut its program short. I was not expecting it, but I was not surprised by it. My main reaction - and it is a reaction shared by my colleagues in the Chinese Department - was tremendous disappointment on behalf of the students."
While SARS has been present in China since last fall, it was only recently that the Chinese Communist Party acknowledged the presence and the risk of the disease. "What happened in China when [the government] admitted the situation pretty much turned the tide," remarked Katz on the decision made by CET to end the program.
At present, eight students are scheduled to go abroad to China in the fall, seven of whom plan to enroll in CET's Harbin program. However, CET has not made any decisions at this time if the programs will be held or not. "As of the moment," said Moran, "all of us - the Off-Campus Study Office and the Chinese department - expect all eight students to go to China as planned." The Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Study at Tsinghua University in Beijing, the program in which the eighth student plans to enroll, has not cancelled their current program in China.
No firm decisions have been made as to how credit for the course will be determined. CET has stated that it will issue complete transcripts for all students, putting greater weight on the midterm exams that the students in Harbin have just completed, as well as allowing students to fax or e-mail assignments to faulty in China. "Given the circumstances," said Moran, "I believe that students should be given the chance to earn full credit for their study abroad by doing the assignments set for them by CET-Harbin."
Though the decision to cancel the program was made with the safety of the students in mind, it is still difficult to reconcile that fact to the students who had to leave China early. "I feel pretty overwhelmed by the situation, considering we had to pack up and evacuate the school in 72 hours," said Rui Bing Zheng '04, another student studying in Harbin. "Many of us had difficulty dealing with the fact of going home, and our semesters being cut short. I think shock was the overall reaction to the news."