UC-Berkeley BANS SUMMER STUDENTS FROM ASIA
That criticism was echoed in more restrained terms Tuesday by Diana Bonta, director of the California Department of Health Services, who said the University of California-Berkeley decision “goes a step beyond what our advice would be.”
“The difficulty is that it comes from the assumption that a large number of students from Asian countries equates to a high number of SARS cases,” Bonta said, “and that is not the case.”
Bonta said her department would work with the University of California system to develop guidelines for the campuses.
UC-Berkeley officials did make a modification Tuesday, dropping Singapore from the list of countries whose incoming students are barred from summer sessions, after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control lifted its advisory against non-essential travel there.
Campus officials enacted the ban, which affected an estimated 500 students, because they concluded they could not have the campus housing or personnel in place for a potential SARS outbreak by the time their summer school programs begin on May 27, which is earlier than other UC campuses.
Chin, from the San Francisco-based civil rights group, said Berkeley’s decision could have far-reaching effects: “Especially in this heightened anti-immigrant climate, this kind of policy established by one of the most prestigious institutions of higher education in the world sends the wrong message.”
Instead, Chin proposes a program of monitoring students for 10 days to make sure they aren’t infected, or limit enrollment to students who can arrange off-campus housing and arrive at least 10 days before classes began.
