NU cautions faculty, students possibly traveling to African countries

Although University of Nebraska students are prohibited from traveling to countries labeled a 'Warning Level 3' by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a revised policy now allows faculty or staff members wishing to travel to one of these countries for university purposes to seek approval.

The faculty or staff member must submit a written request to his or her chancellor, who will then make a recommendation to the university president. The president would make the final decision.

Currently, three countries are listed as a Warning Level 3. Because of 'unprecedented outbreaks of Ebola,' the CDC is urging travelers to 'avoid nonessential travel' to Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

'CDC recommends that travelers to these countries protect themselves by avoiding contact with the blood and body fluids of people who are sick with Ebola,' the travel health notice reads.

The university's policy, contained within Executive Memorandum 25, states that faculty or staff participating in non-university-sponsored travel to one of these countries must report travel to the Chief Academic Officer before they depart.

'All faculty and staff undertaking such travel ... will be subject to appropriate screening and health monitoring prior to returning to campus in order to ensure the health and safety of the University of Nebraska Community,' the policy states.

Sophomore fisheries and wildlife major Jazmin Castillo went on a university-led program last summer to study the impact of conservation in Botswana. The group spent a month camping in the bush from mid-May to early June, and Castillo plans to take a similar trip next summer.

Castillo said her family is concerned about the threat of Ebola in Africa, 'even though the nearest case is 3,000 miles away.'

'I have also had people tell me if I decide to go to Africa to do everyone a favor and stay there,' Castillo said. 'I tried explaining how far away Ebola was from (the area I'll be studying in) ... It's sad that a lot of people have the tendency of viewing Africa as a whole rather than the individual countries.'

Castillo said the threat of Ebola hasn't affected her plans to study abroad, but she has been keeping track of which countries are affected. She said the faculty adviser leading the trip has been posting articles and information regarding Ebola in order to ensure that students who want to go on the trip are safe.

Elyse Lyons, a sophomore psychology major, also studied in South Africa on a faculty-led trip to Cape Town last summer and said even though she returned home before Ebola was a threat, she still hears comments about her trip.

'A couple people were making jokes that they should quarantine me,' she said. 'They were very ignorant comments, but they were all laughing. I guess I did laugh a little, but South Africa is completely safe. I had a better chance of getting Malaria - which Cape Town is also safe from - than I did Ebola.'

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