CSUN Students Sightseeing in Asia After Hasty China Exit

Seven Cal State Northridge students who left China over the weekend have decided to sightsee in other parts of Asia before returning home, but seven professors who cut short academic visits to the country will arrive in Los Angeles today, relatives said Sunday.

Five students--Rose Brown of Northridge, Chris Bush of Sepulveda, Jeannie Chott of Van Nuys, Dan Entous of Encino and Joann Nesti of Reseda--arrived in Hong Kong on Saturday from Shanghai. They will use their non-refundable tickets, which they purchased before going to China, to return to Los Angeles on July 13.

“They are going to stay over there and sightsee for awhile,” said Rita Holland, Nesti’s mother. “I think they just want to relax. They had a terrible time.”

The five students were part of a group of 40 students and faculty members who were touring China in academic exchange programs when violence broke out a week ago. They had been traveling through China after spending a semester studying in Xian, about 600 miles southwest of Beijing.

After the violence broke out, the five were unable to book a flight out of Shanghai. They planned instead to take a boat to Guangzhou and then a train to Hong Kong. However, Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) arranged plane reservations for them after receiving complaints from parents.

Berman’s office announced Friday that the five students, along with three others, would return to Los Angeles on Sunday. But Holland, who spoke to her daughter Saturday morning, said the group instead decided to sightsee in Hong Kong.

Two other CSUN students, Mike Martin and Sophia Sun, plan to travel in Thailand, where they landed late last week, said Sue Martin, Mike’s mother.

U.S. State Department officials told Sue Martin last week that her son, who was in Beijing, would be able to take a charter flight out Friday. However, Mike Martin apparently never received that message, Sue Martin said, and he and Sun made their own arrangements.

Seven Northridge professors who had been in Xian for a conference on American culture arrived in Hong Kong on Saturday and were to head for home Sunday, said Vicky Morton, wife of Cal State professor Keith Morton. She said she spoke to her husband by phone from Hong Kong on Saturday.