One college in Texas is in hot water after allegedly denying the acceptance of Nigerian applicants due to the Ebola virus.
Navarro College, a two-year community college near Dallas, is reportedly rejecting the applications of African students due to the Ebola outbreak reports CNBC. Kamorudeen Abidogun, a Texas man originally from Nigeria, says that two of his relatives who applied to the school using his Richmond home as a mailing address have received rejection letter from the college, with the school stating it’s denial of students from countries with confirmed Ebola cases.
Abidogun provided a copy of the letter with the school’s international program director, Elizabeth Pillans, signature at the bottom. The first paragraph of the letter reads: “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.”
Idris Bello, a local Nigerian man, also tweeted a picture of the letter with the caption, “Tell @NavarroCollege; Stop Ebola, Stop Discrimination!”
Tell @NavarroCollege ; Stop Ebola, Stop Discrimination! http://t.co/6upQGZjp7x. cc @renoomokri @lindaikeji pic.twitter.com/C4YbB3gwo7
– Idris Ayodeji Bello (@idrisayobello) October 13, 2014
The school released a statement in efforts to clear the air about discrimination reports with their vice president for Access and Accountability, Dewayne Gragg, saying, “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.”
“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,” Gragg added.
So far, one Ebola patient diagnosed in the U.S. has died, but there has been no new confirmed Nigerian cases of Ebola since September 8.