Despite the escalated international concern about severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Elon University has no plans to cancel a semester exchange program with Japan for the fall, according to Bettina Brown, assistant director of study abroad. Elon does not offer any other study abroad courses to SARS-afflicted countries.

Brown also said students studying abroad have not expressed concern about their experiences, but those participating in the Japan exchange program have voiced hesitation.

"We have referred them to the Center for Disease Control Web site and to the State Department Web site," Brown said.

Ultimately, the decision to cancel courses abroad would be made by Bill Rich, dean of International Programs, and the administration. "We do not foresee that happening, though," Brown said.

Dean of Admissions Susan Klopman asserted that Elon will not rescind its acceptances of students from countries hit hardest by SARS for next semester.

"Absolutely not," Klopman said of turning away students. "It would be premature of us to have a plan of action at this point." She added that the university would only shut its doors to students from overseas based on a national government decision.

Klopman added that Elon recruits heavily in the Asian countries where SARS originated. "Students from Hong Kong and Singapore, we definitely recruit in those areas," she said. "We still have three and a half months before students are slated to be on campus."

Klopman said she thinks a lot will happen in the four-month span, such as the quarantine of the SARS virus, but readily admits the virus has hindered the international recruiting process. "We had John Keegan traveling in [the Hong Kong and Singapore] area, and his trip was altered midstream," Klopman said.

Keegan, the associate director of admissions, was rerouted to Seoul, South Korea and Manila, the Philippines. Klopman said Keegan is healthy and had a medical exam upon his return.

Elon’s decision to accept students from abroad falls in line with the majority of institutions nation-wide, according to a USA Today report. The University of California at Berkeley is the only campus that has announced its intentions of turning back students from it summer programs.

"We have essentially canceled programs for those students." Chancellor Robert Berdahl said in an online post Monday.

According to the report, officials on Berkeley’s campus are contacting about 500 students and returning their money, which will cost the university $1.8 million.

In the same USA Today report, George Rutherford of the University of California at San Francisco agreed with the decision of Berdahl, saying one person with SARS could "seed the dorms."

Brown said that the airports would handle screening students for SARS when they return to the country.

Dan Anderson, director of university relations, echoed Brown in a statement to USA Today.

"You’ve got 10,000 people from all over the world," Anderson said. "We’re leaving it up to officials at the airports to do the screening."