Summer EAP in China canceled
By Jennie Herriot
May 4, 2003 9:00 p.m.
The University of California suspended its summer Education
Abroad Program in Beijing on Friday, citing the continued danger of
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
The announcement comes a little more than two weeks after the UC
suspended current EAP operations in Beijing, asking its 44 students
to return to the United States.
Approximately 130 students will be affected by the summer
program’s suspension.
EAP will be providing affected students with a similar program
at Princeton University in New Jersey. Princeton and UC EAP have
been offering similar summer programs at Beijing Normal University
for several years. The program consists of an entire of year of
Chinese language classes compacted into one summer.
David Wu, a third-year economics student who enrolled in
EAP’s summer program in Beijing, said he plans to participate
in the alternative program at Princeton.
Wu said he is disappointed that he will not be able to immerse
himself in the Chinese culture the way he could have in
Beijing.”It’s just not going to be the same,” he
said. Wu said he would have gone to Beijing anyway, despite the
problems with SARS.
The SARS virus, a respiratory illness that has surfaced in Asia,
North America and Europe, had killed 96 people in Beijing as of
Saturday.
Also referred to as a “mystery pneumonia,” SARS has
infected more than 6,300 people worldwide, with at least 449
deaths.
Recent scientific findings indicate that SARS may also be spread
through feces, in addition to the main methods of spreading the
virus ““ coughing and sneezing.
With reports from Daily Bruin wire services.
