A college in Texas has blatantly refused to admit about two Nigerian students who sought admission in their school for fear of Ebola Virus Disease which recently struck Nigeria.
Navarro College, a two-year community college whose campus is about 58 miles from Dallas has sent two letters to one of the students who is a Texas man originally from Nigeria named Kamorudeen Abidogun.
In an exclusive chat with CNBC, Abidogun disclosed that the college who cited Ebola cases in Nigeria as grounds for their actions had also rejected the applications of about five of his relatives from Ibadan, about 80 miles from Lagos, Nigeria who sought admission in the school using his home in Richmond, Texas, as a U.S. mailing address.
“I received, last weekend, two rejection letters…saying the reason why they were not giving admission was…Ebola,” said Abidogun, who is a mechanical engineer. He said he was “disappointed” in the school’s stated policy.
The signature of the Navarro College’s international programs director, Elizabeth Pillans was boldly appended on a sample of the letter made available by Abidogun.
The letter begins: “With sincere regret, I must report that Navarro College is not able to offer you acceptance for the Spring 2015 term. Unfortunately, Navarro College is not accepting international students from countries with confirmed Ebola cases.”
Furthermore, a Nigerian who lives in East Texas identified as Idris Bello tweeted a photo of the letter in order to inform people about the “embarrassing” policy of the Texas college.
In his tweet, Bello was disappointed in the school for putting up such policy against foreign students, whereas a 26-year-old nurse Nina Pham, in nearby Dallas, contracted the Ebola disease after treating a Liberian man, Thomas Eric Duncan.
The College’s Vice for President for Access and Accountability, Dewayne Gragg, of the finally commented on the matter after much efforts by the CNBC press men.
“Our college values its diverse population of international students. This fall we have almost 100 students from Africa. Unfortunately, some students received incorrect information regarding their applications to the institution,” Gragg wrote.
“As part of our new honor’s program, the college restructured the international department to include focused recruitment from certain countries each year. Our focus for 2014-15 is on China and Indonesia. Other countries will be identified and recruitment efforts put in place once we launch our new honors program fall 2015. We apologize for any misinformation that may have been shared with students. Additional information regarding our progress with this new initiative will be posted on our website,” he continued.
Since September 8, 2014, there has been no record of any fresh case of Ebola in Nigeria. Eight people were reportedly killed as a result of the virus which was introduced by Patrick Sawyer.
