Matthew Schoengood, the CUNY vice-president, stated in a publicly released letter that because the Center of Disease and Control recommended that the public cancel travel plans to SARS areas such as China and Taiwan, those students that come from these areas must report their travel plan ten days before they leave and attend the school ten days after their arrival.

Chen Yeh, CUNY’s Chinese Students and Scholars Alliance’s president, said that CUNY had 16 schools with students from China numbering at least 5,000. Every year, 700 new students from China enroll. Many people would be affected by the policy.

Yeh pointed out that the SARS situation in China is under control. Second, not only are uninfected students obliged to waste ten days of time under the new regulation, but they also will have to pay for their own living expenses during those days.

Hsieh Xiao-youn, Baruch College’s student council president, said that CUNY had not discussed the issue with Chinese student representatives or with any other student organization. This sudden regulation shocked many people and brought much inconvenience to Chinese students. Many exchange programs with China were cancelled.

The Chinese international students at CUNY plan on uniting all the Chinese students’ associations and work with the New York Chinese International Students’ Service Center and dialogue with CUNY administration in hopes for a prompt change in policy.