4 From CSUN Still Missing, 1 in Hiding in China

Three Cal State Northridge students and a faculty member were still missing in China on Friday, and one student remained in hiding in Beijing, as university officials made hasty travel arrangements for 16 faculty members and students awaiting evacuation elsewhere in the troubled country.

Airline reservations secured through the offices of Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) are expected to bring at least eight CSUN students to Los Angeles on Sunday. They were part of a group of more than 40 students and faculty members who were touring China in academic exchange programs when violence broke out in Beijing and other cities a week ago.

Fourteen CSUN students, of an original group of 28 who spent the spring semester studying in the city of Xian, have already left China, university officials said.

The airline tickets arranged by Berman’s office will bring out three students who were still in Xian on Friday, CSUN spokeswoman Ann Salisbury said. The flight will also carry five students who have been waiting in Shanghai, she said.

Waivers Wanted

Two other students, who told university officials that they plan to remain in China, will be asked to sign waivers absolving the university of responsibility for them, Salisbury said.

A group of seven math and science faculty members, as well as a program coordinator, are expected to leave Xian today on their way to Hong Kong, officials said. One faculty member who was studying at Harbin University is unaccounted for, officials said.

One student remains in hiding with a friend’s family in Beijing, but travel arrangements are being made to bring him to Los Angeles, a spokesman for Berman said. The congressman is trying to persuade the State Department to arrange for an escort to take the student to the Beijing airport, the spokesman said.

The three students still missing are thought to have left Beijing before violence broke out, heading to Inner Mongolia.