Berkely bans Asian Students!!!!

[allhailIndia]

THis is the limit!!!

I can't believe that Berkely would go as far as banning all Asian students for the fear of SARS

What next? Ban all African students for the Fear of Aids.

THis is blatant and open discrimination

Here is the link
http://www.ndtv.com

 

[Dralix]

Robert Berdahl, chancellor at Berkeley, said the new restrictions would apply to students arriving for summer sessions from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, and Singapore

Not exactly the same thing as "banning all Asian students."

This is perhaps a little extreme, but I understand the school's concern. Where I work, if you travel to Toronto, Hong Kong, Singapore, or China (maybe other areas too, not sure) then you cannot come back to the office for two weeks after your return. You have to work from home. Call it an incubation period I guess. They are doing this to protect others from possible infection.

Perhaps the school could have a quarantine period for these students instead.

 

[MrPresident]

They are banning potentially infectious students? OH MY GOD!!

 

[cromagnon]

India, I know it sounds drastic, but this is basic quarantine procedure for a disease that has no treatment, no vaccination, and mimics the flu.

Once the epidemic settles down, they will be allowed in. So far, it's only the summer session that's restricted.

 

[u-gene]

If you don't want this desease to spread over the world with each 10th infectious person dying from it, you have to take some measures. This is one of such measures, totally justified IMO. I can't see any discriminations here. Vietnam, for example, is said to be one of the few countries that has managed to stop SARS thanks to very rigid actions. People were even prohibited to move between cities being actually put in quarantine.

 

[Hitro]

I think, as said in the SARS thread, that there's far more panic than real threat connected to it, but nevertheless this is a measure taken to protect people and not to discriminate people.

They don't restrict Asians (not all Asians, as Dralix said) because of being Asian, then I would agree with you.

 

[Simon Darkshade]

A good and sensible measure.

 

[thestonesfan]

Cliched as it sounds, you really can't be too careful with a situation like this. If I was from one of those places, I would understand.

 

[Greadius]

Damn Nazi's at Berkeley.

Obviously, more respectable educational institutions have taken a more reasonable measures. You can't account for the goofballs that run that place

 

[allhailIndia]

I would'nt have minded a isolation and maybe quarantine, but telling them to just get lost is a bit too harsh.

 

[SunTzu]

they aren't telling them to get lost, they're quarantining to stop SARS, and they're quarantining Asian students because Asia is the hot spot for SARS.

 

[Toasty]

It's not because they're Asian, it's because they're from countires that have a high infection rate. I imagine they'd do the same thing if it were from a Western European country as well.

 

[Perfection]

Maybe they could offer them some free online courses with their refund to help mend relations with the potential students

 

[Cecasander]

They shouldn't be banned from Berkley for comming from that countries. These students should be checked for SARS by the time, and be allowec when they don't have SARS

 

[Perfection]

but think of the logistics of doing that, it may be too expensive

 

[amadeus]

It's Berzerkley, what do you expect?

No "nuclear-free zone" is going to save you now!

 

[Jeratain]

Well considering that 50% of the students that attend Berkeley are Asian, I really don't think it's as big a deal as you're making it out to be. In America, the SF Bay Area is a target for SARS because of the high Asian population, and the trips taken to an fro - we already had a case in Santa Clara from a man that got off of an airplane here...

 

[sysyphus]

Originally posted by SunTzu
they aren't telling them to get lost, they're quarantining to stop SARS, and they're quarantining Asian students because Asia is the hot spot for SARS.

So is Canada, why are they banning Asians and not Canadians?

If this kind of behaviour doesn't reak of racism, I don't what does.

Even here in Toronto, the hottest spot outside of Asia, people wouldn't go into Asian communities in fear of contracting SARS. I'd never heard anything so ridiculous in my life.

 

[Greadius]

Yeah, darn Berkeley rascists

We had a few cases here in the panhandle and didn't shut down a darn thing.

 

[sysyphus]

Just to clarify Greadius, I don't think that Berekley are necessarily racists, nor would I suggest that they are the only ones.

I was just trying to demonstrate that the view of Asian people in this crisis has been tarnished, and that I would contend that in many people, espcially HERE, have a racial element to their thinking when dealing with this crisis.