Nine ISU students’ study abroad experience in Singapore was cut short due to the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

Engineering students studying at the National University of Singapore were given the option of returning home early due to the SARS cases in and around where they were studying.

“I didn’t feel [SARS] was that big of a threat, but I decided to go home anyway,” said Jeremy Boon, junior in mechanical engineering. “I had already accomplished what I wanted to do on exchange and it seemed like the safest thing to do.”

All but one of the Singapore study abroad students have returned home, said Mufit Akinc, professor and chairman of materials science and engineering, and exchange coordinator. The decision to return to the United States or stay in Singapore was left up to the students, he said. The Singapore exchange coordinator communicated with students abroad via e-mail.

“We didn’t feel comfortable saying students should come home because of the considerable risk of spreading SARS on planes,” said Trevor Nelson, program coordinator for international services. “We let the students make that decision for themselves and with their parents.”

On Ryan Legg’s flight home from Singapore, he said several people wore masks because it has been hypothesized that the small area of planes may easily spread illness, he said. Legg, junior in civil engineering, chose not to wear a mask, but he said he thought returning home early was best for him.

“[The program coordinators at Iowa State] originally passed along the World Health Organization’s recommendation that we stay in one place to see what happens,” Legg said.

“We determined that statement didn’t apply to us and it was in our best interest to come home.”

Students with satisfactory grades were given the option of taking a passing grade, and some students have to take some of their National University of Singapore finals at Iowa State, he said.

None of the students had direct contact with someone infected with SARS but they did make safety adjustments. Swimming pools and weight rooms were closed and the outdoor basketball court’s lights were turned off to deter human contact that could spread the illness, Boon said.

“A few people in my residence hall were quarantined because they had traveled to China,” Boon said.

Legg said he knew students that didn’t cancel their trip to Hong Kong and were quarantined for 10 days after they returned as part of the university’s policy.

“I’m supposed to be in the middle of the Malaysian rain forest right now,” Legg said. “[SARS] put a damper on our travel plans.”

This was the first year Iowa State sent students abroad to Singapore and the engineering department hopes to be able to send students there again, Akinc said. He visited the students in February to make sure their accommodations and courses were fine and that they didn’t have any problems.

“I was there in February visiting with [the students] when there was no SARS and they were all extremely happy with their experience there,” he said. “This is a great experience. If we didn’t have SARS, it would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and it still is probably.”

The Singapore exchange was the only group of ISU students abroad when the news of SARS began, but other ISU study abroad trips have been canceled. A risk-management committee in the study abroad program canceled summer trips to China and Thailand, Nelson said.

“We are not going to have the programs until the situation with SARS resolves itself,” Nelson said. “Obviously, our first priority is the health and safety of our students.”