Advertisement

African journalists' visit to St. Petersburg canceled due to Ebola fears

 
Published Oct. 21, 2014

ST. PETERSBURG — The University of South Florida St. Petersburg has canceled the upcoming visit of 14 journalists from African countries, citing Ebola-related fears from faculty, students and staff.

The journalists, part of the U.S. Department of State Edward R. Murrow program, were scheduled to arrive in St. Petersburg on Oct. 31 for a five-day visit. Two of those journalists are from the Ebola-affected nations of Liberia and Sierra Leone. Salem Solomon, a Tampa-based journalist, wrote in an op-ed appearing in the Tampa Bay Times criticizing the university's decision.

Han Reichgelt, regional vice chancellor for academic affairs, said in a letter to USF journalism students that he thinks the odds that the visit could result in a transmission of Ebola to the community are "extremely low." But he wrote that running the program despite fears from the public "would have negatively impacted the positive effects that the program has had on our Murrow Visiting Journalists, our students and faculty and our community in the past."