Staff at UC Berkeley had hoped to launch a faculty-led study abroad program in Sierra Leone, but West Africa's deadly ebola outbreak has put those plans on hold.
University staff met on Thursday to discuss offering the program next summer, but decided it's not the right time.
"Needless to say we're not going to be sending our students to those parts of the world affected by this terrible crisis because we would not put our students in danger," said Darin Menlove of UC Berkeley Study Abroad.
UC Berkeley alum Susan Shepler also is in the thick of it by doing research in West Africa this summer. She said hand washing stations have sprung up everywhere and schools and government offices have been shut down.
"Even the taxi driver who dropped me off had to come out of the taxi and wash his hands with chlorine solution," Shepler said.
