Facing Down the Flu

By LILA GUTERMAN

Colleges struggle with how they would react to a pandemic

Imagine it: Tomorrow, in Southeast Asia, a bird-flu virus gains the ability to spread quickly among human beings. Patients begin to flood the hospitals.

Despite the efforts of the World Health Organization to contain the disease, the dreaded virus ends up in Los Angeles over the holidays and quickly starts infecting people. At the city's colleges, administrators and health officials huddle to decide what to