ATHENS, Ga. — The University of Georgia has postponed an appearance by FrontPageAfrica Newsroom Editor Wade C.L. Williams “out of an abundance of caution” over the recent Ebola outbreak.
Pete Konenkamp with the University of Georgia said Williams would have been traveling directly from Monrovia to Athens this week.
UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication had invited Williams to speak on Wednesday. She was set to give the prestigious McGill Lecture, but the University says several people, including parents, expressed concern about her visit.
Charles Davis, dean of the Grady College of Journalism, said, “We were not dealing with the 21-day window. She was disappointed but greatly understanding. We will have her here after the crisis is over. We are deeply dedicated and committed to learn from her perspective."
Williams expressed her opinions on the decision in FrontPageAfrica.
“Despite my disappointment, I’m not angry with the University of Georgia. They felt they could not wear the barrage of criticism that would be directed at them if they allowed a Liberian journalist who covers Ebola on their campus and on a U.S. soil,” she said in the article.
Williams went on to say the hysteria created by the media about Ebola is “counterproductive and must stop.”
“I worry that my fellow Liberians and Africans traveling abroad will be treated like pariahs and unfairly discriminated against as the region and word tries to battle this deadly virus,” she said in the article.