Due to the recent Ebola outbreak, the University is placing restrictions on travel to Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia except for purposes of eradicating or containing the disease, Russell Carey ’91 MA’06, executive vice president for planning and policy, Unab Khan, medical director of University health services, and Margaret Klawunn, vice president for campus life and student services, wrote in a community-wide email Tuesday.
Undergraduates are prohibited from traveling to these countries for any “University-sponsored undergraduate activity,” including study abroad, the administrators wrote. The University will provide housing and meals to students who would otherwise travel to Guinea, Sierra Leone or Liberia over Thanksgiving or winter break. Faculty members, staff members, graduate students and medical students must obtain permission from the Office of the Provost in order to travel to these countries.
Cornell, Harvard and Columbia have enacted similar restrictions, the New York Times reported earlier this week.
According to the email, the list of restricted countries is subject to change based on the status of the Ebola outbreak.
Individuals approved to travel to the three countries are required to enlist with the Brown International SOS Global Assistance Program, a service that provides aid to Brown community members traveling abroad, though community members traveling to other countries are also encouraged to enroll, administrators wrote in the email.
“In accordance with recent guidance from the (Centers for Disease Control), we are asking all Brown students, faculty and staff to postpone non-essential travel to Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia,” the email stated. The University asked travelers to communicate with University Health Services before and after traveling to Ebola-infected countries.
If community members have possibly been exposed to Ebola, they are encouraged to contact Health Services, their doctors or any emergency medical services, according to the email.
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