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The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has become the latest university to ban its students from traveling to African countries hit by the Ebola outbreak.
WRAL reports the Chapel Hill institution is following suit with other notable universities in banning its students from visiting Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
The New York Times' Richard Perez-Pena reported on Oct. 21 about the growing list of institutions discouraging or outright banning students from traveling to Ebola-stricken countries.
According to the International Business Times, that list includes The State University of New York system, Georgetown University, New York University, Cornell, Duke and the University of Georgia.
The report also states that Johns Hopkins University, while not enacting a ban for its students, does discourage travel to the countries in general
At the heart of the story lies a conundrum for officials, as researchers from the schools are motivated to help the ongoing viral epidemic. To that end, many of those banning students do allow faculty and researchers to travel in aid of those countries hit hardest by Ebola.
However, there are caveats.
The WRAL report states, "Faculty and staff must obtain approval from their deans and the provost before traveling to those countries," in regards to the UNC ban.
A UNC message cited in the report seems to echo other institutions' major dilemma at the moment: "While we are deeply aware of the need for service and research related to Ebola, the University and the Health Care System must also balance those needs against a full commitment to protecting our community."
Perez-Pena quoted Columbia University's provost, John H. Coatsworth, as stating, "The university has a service mission, and we have experts and researchers who can contribute actively to solving the problem and containing it."
Dr. Coatsworth continued with what a faculty member might go through if travel to any of the three countries were requested:
"They must apply through their school, receive the approval of their dean, and then they must be approved by me. And we will give that approval only in cases when we are certain that the travel will indeed help in containing the disease and that the traveler is well-prepared."
The University of Texas School of Public Health, as noted by the NY Times, doesn't have a ban for students or faculty in place, but international travel does require a committee's approval.
Regional dean Jospeh McCormick spoke to that, "We would look very closely at how you're going to protect yourself, who you'd be going with and the importance of the work. But the answer wouldn't just be 'Oh, no, you can't go.'"
International Business Times reports Harvard was even, "asking students, faculty and staff to avoid nonessential travel to the three Ebola-stricken countries. But the university also recognized that Harvard affiliates in fields such as public health may still need to go."
UNC joining the list doesn't necessarily signal a growing paranoia among institutions. A sentiment like that would be going too far. It seems each institution is taking travel requests on a single basis and examining both the effectiveness of a trip and possible infection into account.
It's also important to note that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, via the NY Times, did introduce a general warning against all "nonessential travel" to Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia.
It would be more apt to say universities are growing ever sensitive to the Ebola epidemic, measuring the outpouring of fear against the needed assistance some researchers might offer in the fight against the virus.
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