By B. Raack, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Webster University is temporarily shutting down two of its campuses in Asia as a result of the SARS epidemic.
School President Richard Meyers says the more than 350 students who attend classes in Shanghai and Shenzhen have been told that the campuses are closed until June 1st.
Meyers says he was surprised that the threat of SARS in Shanghai is serious enough for the municipality to require all colleges and universities to close.
It's a combination of a little bit of panic of whether the government knows more about this epidemic than anybody else does and maybe there is something going on in Shanghai, or the better option I suppose is that it's just to be cautionary, he said.
Meyers says no Webster students or instructors in China have reported symptoms of SARS.