• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

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.