Yun Oo decided to stay in the United States after Syracuse University suspended on-campus classes amid the coronavirus pandemic. She may not see her parents for a year.

Oo, an international student from Myanmar, had hoped her parents would visit her in April. But they have since canceled their trip to protect themselves from coronavirus.

“There are not any cases in Burma yet,” Oo said. “So I think it’s best that they stay there.”

Oo is one of over 4,000 international students at SU deciding whether to leave campus after the university announced March 16 that it’s moving classes online for the rest of the semester. Facing uncertainty about housing, travel and access to online classes, the students are unsure if they should return home as the novel coronavirus spreads through the U.S.

The novel coronavirus causes COVID-19, a respiratory disease that has infected over 330,000 and killed over 14,000 worldwide. New York state has confirmed over 15,700 cases, 45 of which are in Onondaga County.

When SU decided to transition to online classes, Taiwanese international student Joyce Chen realized she soon needed to find a ticket home.

Chen settled on a flight home for this Thursday. But she’s now concerned about how she’ll protect herself from the virus while flying, or whether government restrictions will further disrupt her travel plans.

“I’m worried about whether I can leave the country or not,” Chen said. “They’re imposing so many policies every single day I don’t know what’s going to come up next.”

Several international students from China–where the virus has come under control in recent weeks–feel it’s safer to return home, said Ze Zeng, a Chinese student planning to remain at SU. But many are concerned about whether they’ll be able to return to the U.S. next year if they depart early, he said.

Some students have expressed doubts about the security of their visas, Zeng said. Others are fearful the travel bans the U.S. has imposed would prevent them from returning to campus in the fall.

“There are a lot of issues about visas, about where international students stay during this time,” said Zeng, who is a spokesman for WeMedia Lab, a platform that communicates campus news to SU international students.

International student organizations like WeMedia Lab have been working with university officials and SU’s Center for International Services to answer students’ questions, Zeng said.

International students who return to their home countries will also face time zone differences that may make it difficult to attend online classes in real-time for the rest of the spring semester, Zeng said. For students in China, a class taking place at 3 p.m. on the east coast might instead begin at 3 a.m.

Some SU professors have accounted for these difficulties, and plan to make recordings of classes available to students in other time zones, Zeng said.

“I think that’s a good thing,” he said. “That shows how our community supports each other and is understanding each other.”

While international students departing SU are unsure of their ability to return to campus next semester, some who remain on campus have been left questioning where they’ll live while classes are suspended.

The university encouraged students in on-campus residence halls to move out of their rooms over the weekend. Those who remained had to fill out a form to let the SU know they intend to stay on campus.

SU will determine housing accommodations based on the advice and of health professionals, said Rob Hradsky, senior associate vice president for the student experience, in a statement to The Daily Orange. The university plans to provide more details to students remaining on campus after the move-out process is complete for the majority of students, he said.

The university is also working with students who may need housing accommodations during the summer, Hradsky said.

“The health and well-being of our campus community is our highest priority,” Hradsky said. “We continue to monitor the evolving situation with COVID-19 and will make additional determinations as needed.”

Take-out food options are also available at Shaw and Sadler dining halls, as well as Goldstein Dining Court, Hradsky said. The South Campus Express and West Campus Express convenience stores remain open as well, he said.

Not all international students had the option to immediately return home after the university suspended classes, Chen said.

International students remaining in Syracuse are also concerned about their access to healthcare while in the U.S., Oo said. Some students are fearful to go out because they’re unsure where they would seek help if they contracted the virus.

“This is not my country,” Chen said. “If I get sick by any chance, I don’t know where I should go or who I should go to.”

Despite the continued spread of COVID-19 in the U.S., Main Campus has in some ways felt safer since the cancellation of classes, Chen said. She feels like there is now a lesser chance of Asian international students at SU facing racist or xenophobic attacks in response to the virus, she said.

A coronavirus prevention sign at Bird Library was defaced in early March with language offensive to Asian people. SUNY-ESF also reported a bias incident in which a fake quarantine sign was placed on a student’s door.

Chen recalled one occasion before classes were canceled when a white person had glared at her for wearing a mask. Chen and her friends had also seen racist jokes and videos related to the virus circulating on the internet, she said.

“I honestly wasn’t that shocked,” Chen said. “I just felt like there was always going to be someone doing this.”

Several international students said SU has helped information and assistance to international students during the suspension of on-campus classes. But there are still several concerns the university needs to address, Zeng said.

Most importantly, the SU community should work to understand the challenges that the cancellation of on-campus classes presents to international students, Chen said.

“Both domestic and international students really need to think for each other,” she said. “We are all in a very difficult position, but I feel like each group is only thinking about themselves and not really acknowledging what the other group might be going through.”

Published on March 22, 2020 at 11:54 pm

Contact Chris: cjhippen@syr.edu