The recent coronavirus outbreak has been in the news for weeks now, and it’s clear that its impact is global. The Sophian alone has published three articles covering the issue from many different perspectives; one tells a human interest story of a current student unable to return to campus, and another tackles the development of the racial stigma surrounding the virus. This past week I spoke with Elizabeth Carney ‘21 and Lisa Johnson, Assistant Dean for International Study at the Lewis Global Studies Center, to discuss how the coronavirus has affected a popular element of the Smith experience: study abroad!
The outbreak affected four students who planned to study abroad in China this semester, two full year students, and two Spring semester students. Carney spent the last semester in Beijing and had planned to return this coming semester before her plans were changed. At first she was optimistic when she first arrived home in December; Beijing is far from Wuhan, where the outbreak originated. “I think I was a little bit in denial,” Carney says. When her program was officially cancelled the Tuesday after classes started, it was clear she would be staying on campus this semester. From there, everything spiraled very quickly — she registered for classes Wednesday, drove up that night, and started classes on Thursday.
Carney stressed that she felt well supported throughout this rapid transition back to campus. Through the combined efforts of her former Chinese professor, junior class dean Andrea Rossi-Reder, and the Lisa Johnson at the Lewis Global Studies Center, she got a new registration code and was in class in the space of a few days.
Despite the support she received from the college and her smooth transition back to campus, Carney’s inability to return to Beijing has left many questions. She described how emotional it was simply to receive the shipment of her belongings she had left in Beijing. “I made a lot of really close friends who I didn’t get to say goodbye to in the way that I would’ve had otherwise.” Regardless, she doesn’t want this story to deter other students from taking advantage of study abroad programs and travelling opportunities in general.
Lisa Johnson echoed this sentiment: “Life is risky in general. Every chance a student has to do something new or different carries risk as well. Study abroad is part of that.” Johnson worked in tandem with the class deans office to help coordinate Carney’s return, along with supporting the other three students whose plans were impeded. She said that these kinds of events happen every few years or so and usually grow for a period of time before finally dying out. This is evident in the cancellation of the upcoming South Korea program due to the spread of the virus. Johnson’s attitude was confident, though, assuring me that the office always gets through it.
The main takeaway from both of these conversations is that crises like these should never instill fear to the point that students feel uncomfortable travelling and taking advantage of these study abroad opportunities. As Johnson said, “There’s a lot to lose, but there’s so much to gain as well.” Despite her regret of not being able to return, Carney says that this experience has inspired her to consider returning to China for graduate school, or simply to travel in the future. “Everything is unpredictable,” Carney said. But that is no reason to be afraid.
Here in Italy we’re shocked to learn that students in the JYA Florence program have been forced to abandon the program even though Florence is far from the areas affected by the coronavirus outbreak in Italy.
My impression is that the CDC and the State Department are not doing their job; their alerts are encouraging institutions, airlines, and simple tourists to make short-sighted decisions that don’t really make sense.
I hope that this decision of the College won’t discourage future Smithies from discovering a new corner of the world by doing a semester or year abroad.
Maggie Dufresne ’78