Navarro College is not accepting any new applications from students residing in Africa – all of Africa, not just those five countries on the continent with confirmed cases of the Ebola virus.
The Texas community college made the news cycles last week for sending rejection letters to Nigerian applicants that said "Navarro College is not accepting international students from countries with confirmed Ebola cases." Navarro initially apologized for "misinformation" provided to prospective international students, but later, Dewayne Gragg, the college's vice president of access and accountability, issued an updated statement saying that administrators believe it to be the responsible course to postpone recruitment "in those nations that the Center for Disease Control and the U.S. State Department have identified as at risk.... We are eager to resume accepting student applicants from these countries as soon as possible."
In an interview Gragg clarified that non-African countries with Ebola cases – which would include Spain and, yes, the United States (where Texas has been ground zero) – are not encompassed by the new application policy. By contrast, he said that the college’s policy is to return new applications from any African country.
Asked why the policy is so broad as to include prospective students in African countries without any Ebola cases, Gragg said the interview was getting into territory that isn't relevant, but added, "We have made this decision based on what we feel is best for the safety of our students."
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/10/20/us-campuses-are-edge-over-ebola