By the end of the week, University President Michael Rao is expected to authorize a policy which should reduce the risk of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome spreading on campus, said Sarah Campbell, Health Services director.

She said students who travel from countries for which the World Health Organization has issued travel warnings will not be quarantined when they arrive, but will be monitored for SARS symptoms.

“This may be required, to monitor for the first 10 days,” she said.

Travelers from affected countries also are checked for any SARS symptoms at the airport, which reduces the likelihood an infected student would get to campus, Campbell said.

“Anyone who is ill at the time of travel probably wouldn’t get into the country anyway.”

The symptoms for which airport officials check include a fever of 100.4 degrees or higher, dry cough and shortness of breath, according to the WHO Web site, www.who.int.

The International Education Office, Graduate Studies, Dean of Students Bruce Roscoe, the University Council, Risk Management, Human Resources, Health Services, Central Michigan District Health Department and Public Relations and Marketing all met to discuss the necessity of the policy, Campbell said.

Public Relations and Marketing was included in the decision because the office is responsible for informing the public about university policy, Campbell said.

“An important part of what we do is communicate with the university community as well as students, so they know we’re doing everything we can to address this issue. In the event (a traveler) does get (SARS), we can treat it immediately. ... Once we have the final policy together, we will contact the media as soon as possible, so the greater community will know,” she said.

Tracy Nakajima, international students coordinator, said the rapid spread of the disease has created problems for some international students.

“Some of our international students who are current students are evaluating their travel plans — some are not going home for the summer,” she said. “We have a number of students from east Asia, and we have a number of Canadians, too.”

Some study-abroad students also are feeling the effects of the WHO’s travel warnings, said Dianne DeSalvo, assistant director of International Education.

“Wherever there’s a travel warning from the WHO — we had two trips to China — (the trips) were canceled,” she said.

One student is in east Asia, and she will to finish her studies there, DeSalvo said.

“She’s had an amazingly positive attitude. She said people are getting sick, but the school (where she is studying) is still going on,” she said.

DeSalvo said the International Education Office also is evaluating on a day-to-day basis whether one student’s year-long trip to Hong Kong will be allowed to go on.

“If (SARS) continues to spread, it will keep students from studying abroad,” she said.

Since November, when SARS first was identified in China, more than 7,800 people world-wide have been diagnosed with the disease, and at least 662 people have died. The WHO has recorded 67 cases in the United States but no fatalities.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.