Every summer for the last decade, law professor Robert Hu takes roughly 20 law school students to Beijing, China for a 5-week study program.
But this year that won't be the case.
"Some of our students were disappointed because they were all geared up for this summer but we told them, look this is really for the safety of everybody involved," Hu told KENS 5 on Tuesday.
With more than 20,000 confirmed cases and more than 400 dead, the coronavirus has spread concern worldwide leading to tough decisions to be made.
"When we found out from the U.S. State Department issues the advisory which says American citizens should not go to China and also the WHO, the World Health Organization, considered the Chinese situation a public health emergency globally, we decided out of abundance of caution for the safety of our students we should suspend the program," Hu said.
Hu said major airlines canceling their flights to China also played a role but in the end he stressed, it's always better to be safe than sorry.
"We don't want to take risks at all."
Hu said they do plan on picking the program back up next summer.