By Thomas K. Grose, Mary Lord
and Lynne Shallcross
Photographs
Courtesy of Jeremy Martin.
 IT'S
BEEN ANYTHING BUT EASY.
After Hurricane Katrina pummeled
New Orleans in late August, Tulane
University and the University of
New Orleans (UNO) both had to shut
their doors for the fall semester.
Tulane's engineering college has
managed to place its students at
other universities, while UNO is
offering dozens of engineering classes
online in subjects ranging from
robotics to hydraulics and wastewater-treatment
systems- a useful course given the
city's vulnerability to flooding.
Both schools vow to reopen their
campuses by next semester, but that
may be an uphill battle considering
that New Orleans itself is struggling
to survive. Gulf Coast schools beyond
the Crescent City fared better,
although some suffered serious damage.
All told, the hurricane displaced
an estimated 100,000 students and
caused significant damage to 15
Gulf Coast institutions. Schools
all over the nation reached out
and offered homes to students and
faculty members alike.
The federal government also came
to the aid of displaced students.
Congress approved legislation allowing
affected students to keep all of
the federal grant aid they received
for college this fall. That legislation
allows the secretary of education
to waive a requirement forcing students
who withdrew from college to return
a portion of their Pell Grants.
A number of federal agencies and
organizations have announced policies
with respect to the hurricane's
impact on faculty and research.
The National Science Foundation
and the National Institutes of Health
have both said they will give scientists
affected by the hurricane the time
and money to get up and running
again.
The American Council on Education
asked its member institutions to
help students remain affiliated
with their home schools by admitting
them only on a temporary basis.
The council also recommended that
schools not charge the students
tuition if they had already paid
at their institution and charge
the home college rates to students
who hadn't yet paid, holding those
funds in escrow.
In September, Hurricane Rita dealt
another blow to the Gulf Coast area
and a few of its universities. Among
the hardest hit was McNeese State
University in Lake Charles, La.,
home to almost 400 undergraduate
engineering students and many displaced
students from Hurricane Katrina.
Most of the buildings and athletic
facilities on the 98-acre campus
were heavily damaged. Without power,
water and phone service, the university
was forced to close indefinitely.
Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas,
was also clobbered by Rita, and
about half of the 115 buildings
on campus suffered extensive roof
damage thanks to the 120-mph winds.
Lamar, which has almost 950 undergraduate
engineering students, was forced
to shut its doors, but officials
vowed to complete the fall semester.
Both schools said they hoped to
be up and running by late October.
TULANE UNIVERSITY
 SITUATED
IN THE HEART OF NEW ORLEANS, Tulane
had no choice but to close for the
fall semester. But President Scott
S. Cowen vows its doors will reopen
for the spring term. They must,
he says, if Tulane is to continue
as a major research institution.
And, Nick Altiero, dean of Tulane's
School of Engineering, is confi
dent that goal will be met.
But as university officials drafted
strategies for Tulane's resurrection,
they had an even more pressing and
logistical problem to attend to:
finding temporary homes for the
university's students and faculty.
For the engineering school, that
meant seeking placements for about
700 undergraduate students and around
200 graduate students (40 percent
of whom are foreign), as well as
60 full-time faculty and 25 staff
members. Altiero estimates that
about 80 percent of his undergraduates
come from outside Louisiana.
Cowen arranged for Tulane students
to enroll at other schools as "visiting
students" for the fall term. "The
vast majority of our students have
taken advantage of this program,"
Altiero says. "We are advising them
via e-mail and Internet blogs."
By early September, Altiero categorized
the undergraduate situation as under
control. "It is more difficult placing
graduate students and faculty."
Many faculty members who have found
work elsewhere have taken their
grad students with them. Hardest
of all to place were graduate students
who hadn't yet been assigned faculty
advisers, "especially students who
had just arrived on campus the week
before the storm."
While there's a worry that some
students will decide to give up
on Tulane, the dean says he is "confident
that the vast majority will return
in the spring." Students have been
telling him that they appreciate
the school's efforts to find them
places at other schools for the
fall as well as its plans for a
flexible spring semester, ensuring
that they won't lose time toward
their degrees.
As for relocated faculty members,
Altiero says he thinks most appreciate
the fact that Tulane continues to
pay their salaries. "Of course I'm
worried about losing good faculty
members," he says, course I'm worried
about losing good faculty members,"
he says, "but I am very optimistic
that they'll return home."
| IN
THEIR OWN WORDS |
|  ANTHONY
LAMANNA
- Tulane assistant
professor of civil and environmental
engineering
- Half-time
visiting professor at the
University of Nebraska
I had a more difficult hurricane
experience. My neighbor Randy
had a housewarming party on
Friday night after finally
completing a total rebuild
on his house the previous
week. We all went to bed thinking
Katrina was going to make
landfall 100 miles east of
us in Florida. I woke up at
10 AM to my neighbor Dave
banging on the door and yelling
"Katrina's coming, Katrina's
coming." Half asleep I was
thinking, "Who's Katrina?
Do I need to shave and dress
nice before answering the
door?"
After shuttering our houses
and helping many of the elderly
in the neighborhood board
up their at-risk windows,
we spoke with many of the
neighbors. It was clear that
a lot of the old-timers were
not going to leave, despite
the worst predictions. It
was then I decided to stay
with Dave and take the elderly
neighbors who would at least
go to Tulane to the old, sturdy,
3 story building on campus
to weather landfall. My Graduate
student Huajie Liu and his
wife Ying had also sought
refuge in the building. We
all weathered the storm there
without any damage to the
building we were in.
After the storm, Dave (A
high school teacher at East
Jefferson Public School) and
I put on hard hats and road
vests and cleared the road
of downed branches while making
our way home and discovered
that both of our houses survived
with very minimal damage,
and that our cars were OK.
We drove back to the University
to pick up the neighbors.
About 3 hours after the storm
passed, I took a walk around
the block to Maple Street,
the location of several restaurants,
shops, and salons to see the
damage. I was taking pictures
of the damage to some new
construction when I noticed
four youths running from a
store with armloads of dress
clothes. I couldn't believe
there was looting so soon
after the storm. It really
got to me that this was occurring
in my own neighborhood.
The following day I walked
down St. Charles Avenue with
my neighbor Rydell, a special
education instructor, to check
on my friend Billy who weathered
out the storm in his house
on St. Charles Avenue by Washington
Avenue. We saw many people
out, walking dogs, jogging,
and walking to dryer areas
from the 9th ward (a very
low-lying neighborhood, you
have seen it on the news).
As we neared the intersection
of Louisiana Avenue, we observed
people looting the gas stations
and mini-marts in the area.
We kept walking to Billy's
house.
Billy was just fine. We chatted
for awhile, and decided to
drive back uptown to my house
so that Billy could take my
generator back to his house.
Rydell had a generator that
could keep a refrigerator
and an AC going in the neighborhood,
so I didn't need mine. We
drove up St. Charles, criss-crossing
the neutral ground to avoid
downed wires and tree limbs.
All of the live oaks were
still standing, and only a
few crepe myrtles were downed.
Uptown had fared quite well
through the hurricane.
My neighbor Randy accompanied
me back to Billy's with the
generator; he walked back
up St. Charles with me after
a few cold drinks at Billy's.
Again, around Louisiana Avenue
there were many people looting,
and this time, several of
them started approaching us,
without speaking to us. We
sped up, and to be safe, I
took my revolver out of my
pocket and held it openly
in my hand. Then people backed
away and left us alone. We
decided to stop making trips
to Billy's.
The next day, Randy and I
were walking around the neighborhood
and we observed some flooding
that wasn't there before.
We had heard on the radio
of the levee breach at the
17th street levee, but that
was a long way from our part
of town. We walked a bit further,
and on Broadway Avenue encountered
three men with rifles slung
over their shoulders. We stopped
to chat; they informed us
that they were on their way
to one of their father's house
to pick up some more guns,
and then they asked us if
we needed more guns. We responded
we were ok, and headed back
to our block. As we got to
the end of our street, Randy
and I stopped dead in our
tracks. We saw the water moving
in the street, and both stood
still thinking we were creating
wakes. We weren't. The water
was rising on the street like
the tide. Between the guns
and the water everywhere,
it was time to go.
As we got on the block, two
cars had already left. Dave
was packing up the last of
the elderly neighbors and
was almost ready to leave.
I didn't want him to leave
without a gun, so Randy and
I hurriedly packed in 10 minutes
to accompany them out of the
city. I remember in my house,
I stood there and asked myself,
"What do I absolutely need?"
I packed my two cats, a small
suitcase of clothes, and took
my box of important papers.
Randy packed his things into
my jeep. We took a saw with
us, in case we had to cut
through some branches on the
way. We also packed batteries,
food, and water in case we
didn't make it out of the
city and couldn't get back
home.
We drove down St. Charles
for awhile, and it was eerie
looking through Audubon Park
all the way to the zoo. The
hurricane had stripped most
of the trees of their leaves.
As we turned down to go to
Tchoupitoulas, we slowed down
and spoke to a man in a car
traveling in the other direction.
Another NOLA native trying
to leave the city, taking
another route. We exchanged
information on the routes
we came from, and I offered
him a cold drink from our
cooler. We had packed the
last of our ice with some
drinks before we left.
As we drove down Tchoupitoulas,
we saw several police cars
circled around the Winn-Dixie
parking lot. They were coming
out of the store with bags
of groceries. Further down,
we saw people on foot trying
to drag a driver out of his
car; he smartly sped up. We
followed suit, and I made
sure my gun was prominently
displayed for the people on
foot to see. We drove past
the Wal-mart that had been
looted; there was trash all
around on the streets. We
made our way onto the Crecent
City Connection. The scene
was surreal. People were walking
across the bridge on foot,
with trash bags full of their
belongings slung over their
shoulders. In the distance
behind us, the superdome waterproofing
membrane was missing, but
the structure still seemed
ok.
We took the Westbank Expressway
to the 310, the 310 to I-10,
then went west. Right before
the I-55 split, I blew a tire.
We were going about 90 mph,
but I managed to pull over
to the side of the elevated
highway. Dave continued onto
I-55 north to loop around
to Atlanta. Randy and I were
headed north to Shreveport.
That's where I had evacuated
for Ivan last year, and knew
I had a place to stay for
at least a night there. I
had lost my cell phone before
the hurricane, so I had no
contact numbers. Randy stood
in the road to keep people
away from me while I changed
the tire.
We continued to Baton Rouge,
and ended up stopping at Gordon
and Sandifer Auto Service
to get a new tire. I had thought
that we might be price-gouged,
but the tire was about $40
less than I paid a month prior
in New Orleans for a new tire.
The gentleman was kind, and
his wife even made some fresh
coffee for us. He was upset
that he only had a white-wall
that didn't match my other
tires.
We continued on to Shreveport.
We were shocked when we were
traveling quite fast and were
passed by about 15 to 20 New
Orleans Police Department
cars with Winn-Dixie bags
in the back windows. We can't
say for sure they were the
same cars that we saw in the
parking lot back in New Orleans,
but it wasn't a good sign
they were leaving the city.
A few minutes later, we saw
a caravan of fire trucks,
police cars, and ambulances
with "LA" painted on the sides
on the opposite side of the
highway headed to New Orleans.
I said "Where in LA?" but
then realized they had come
from Los Angeles. Amazing.
These people had driven from
California to help.
We got into Shreveport at
dusk. I knew that my friend
Melissa, whom was my neighbor
my first year living in New
Orleans, was back living in
Shreveport, and her father
owns one of the top restaurants
in town. I stopped at a gas
station, and the first person
I asked about Fertitta's gave
me directions. When Randy
and I walked into the lobby,
we were warmly welcomed with
open arms by Melissas mother.
We spent the night in Shreveport,
left the cats with Melissa,
and continued north. Our reasons
for going north were: 1. I
had a friend in Omaha where
I knew I could stay for a
few weeks to get back on my
feet, and Randy would be welcome
too, 2. we wanted to get far
away from New Orleans, 3.
I had friends every 5 hours
or so along the way, 4. we
wanted to stay ahead of the
advancing wave of misplaced
hurricane survivors, and 5.
we wanted to stay in the same
time zone so I didn't have
to figure out how to change
the clock in my jeep. (OK,
#5 is a joke).
We left the next morning
for Hot Springs, Arkansas.
I had a friend there I knew
from college, who works at
the school for gifted kids.
When we stopped at the rest
area in Arkansas, we asked
the information desk lady
about the school. Amazingly
her daughter attended the
school, and she gave us detailed
directions how to get there.
We arrived at the school later
that day, and asked for my
friend Alaine, the librarian,
at the front desk. She came
down and was happy to see
us.
Alaine helped me locate a
similar cell phone to the
one I had previously, in Little
Rock. The company said that
if I bought a similar phone,
it would down-load all of
my contacts. After much hassle
in the Comp-USA and several
calls to the cell phone help-line,
I was up and running.
We spent the next night in
Fayetteville, AR with my friend
Micah, an Assistant Professor
at U of Arkansas. We met while
he was finishing his Ph.D.
at U of Oklahoma when I was
interviewing there. We both
were interviewing for all
of the same jobs at the time.
We have since become friends
and hang out at conferences
together and swap stories
about our jobs.
The following day Randy and
I rolled into Omaha, during
the 3 day weekend. I could
feel my body relax when we
were 20 minutes from Omaha.
Our adrenaline-drive was near
an end. I was suffering from
cramps from not being able
to keep any food down since
we had left New Orleans. We
arrived at my friend Lisa's
house, and went out to a Steakhouse
for dinner. It was a wonderful
dinner, and it stayed down.
The next day, I had not heard
from Tulane University, and
didn't even know if I had
a job.
I started asking Lisa and
her friends about potential
employment in the public high
schools as a substitute teacher,
in engineering firms (I had
just earned my PE 2 months
earlier in July), or about
colleges in the area. Many
locals were telling me about
the new Peter Kewit School
of Engineering and Technology
that was new and growing.
I was familiar with Kewit,
and thought that my Ph.D.
professors at the University
of Wisconsin - Madison might
know somebody at the school
and could put me in contact.
I sent some emails and made
some calls to Dr. Larry Bank,
my Ph.D. advisor, and Dr.
Jeffery Russell, the current
chairman of the CEE department
at UW. Tuesday morning they
placed calls, and sent emails,
and by 10 AM I was contacted
by Dr. Maher Tadros of the
School of Engineering and
Technology at the University
of Nebraska at Omaha.
I also want to say that I
had several wonderful offers
from my colleagues at the
University of Oklahoma, University
of Wisconsin - Madison, and
others around the country
to provide me space to work
during these hard times.
I met with Dr. Tadros and
Dr. Jim Godert, Chair of the
Construction Systems Department,
for lunch that Tuesday. I
still hadn't heard from Tulane.
I told them a little bit about
myself, and they seemed interested
in having me on board for
the year. I was initially
offered a visiting professorship
for the year.
Later that night, I managed
to get ahold of Nick Altiero,
Dean of Engineering from Tulane
University. He was on his
way to Houston to meet with
the administration where they
had set up shop there. He
had mentioned I could accept
a half time Visiting Professorship,
to ease the burden on Tulane
for the semester.
So on September 15th, I signed
a contract with the University
of Nebraska to be a half-time
Visiting Assistant Professor
for the year, with an option
to leave in December if called
back to New Orleans by Tulane
University.
Once I knew I would have
space for myself at the UN,
I contacted my graduate students
and let them know they had
a place to work here, and
I would assist them in finding
housing. I received word that
Jeremy Martin, an MS. Student,
and Huajie Liu (Leo) and his
wife would be coming to Omaha.
On Thursday the 8th I went
online and saw a pop-up ad
for hurricanehousing.org.
I flipped through over the
100 listings of rooms and
apartments available for misplaced
hurricane survivors, and thought
that the students could look
themselves when they got here.
One ad caught my eye. It was
for 5 people, so I examined
it closer. The woman had taken
her house off the market for
6 months so that hurricane
survivors could live there.
I called and made an appointment
for 6 PM on Friday.
The students rolled into
town about 3 PM on Friday.
They had spent the previous
night with my friend Micah
in Fayetteville, AR. We rested
a bit, then I dragged them
to see the house. Rather,
I should say, so that Karen
could meet us and feel comfortable
with us staying in her house.
The house was wonderful; a
small bedroom, a large bedroom,
full bath upstairs, living
room, kitchen, and half bath
on the ground floor, and a
small bedroom, laundry room,
and garage in the basement.
The most interesting thing
of all was bronze fleur-de-lis
on the light fixtures in the
hallways. Almost as if people
from New Orleans were meant
to be there.
The next day we moved some
furniture in, and over the
course of the weekend we had
kitchen equipment, beds, a
couch, chairs, and all the
trappings necessary for some
semblance of normalcy in the
house. Karen's friends and
family had brought over everything
we needed.
So here we are. A professor,
an American MS student, and
a Chinese student and his
wife living in a house in
Omaha, conducting research
and writing papers at the
University of Nebraska. None
of us would have ever thought
we would be here if you had
asked us 3 weeks ago.
My other graduate students
are getting settled in elsewhere.
One is in California getting
settled at UC-Davis, another
is at University of Maryland
- College Park, and another
at 'Bama. Soon these three
will be working with me again
on their research projects
via long distance.
The hardest part of this,
for me, has been talks with
my friends from New Orleans
who have lost everything.
I feel lucky that the academic
community has pulled together
to help faculty and students
that have been misplaced from
the disasters that have occurred
in the Gulf Coast. I am thankful
my house wasn't flooded and
that I have something to go
back to, as well as a job
at Tulane to go back to. |
The relocation effort was boosted
by the "overwhelming" response Tulane
got from other universities. "Quite
frankly, we are having a difficult
time processing all of the offers
of support," Altiero said in mid-September.
He received more than 300 e-mails
offering assistance. Schools not
only agreed to take in students,
offering assistance. Schools not
only agreed to take in students,
but they also offered office and
lab space, equipment and even housing
for faculty and graduate students.
"I can never thank the university
community enough for how they came
to our aid."
Geography should abet Tulane's
efforts to resume classes in the
spring. It's located in southwest
New Orleans, an area that experienced
less flooding than some other areas.
Only a handful of campus buildings
were flooded, none of them used
by the engineering school. Most
of the damage consisted of broken
windows. Given its location and
lack of severe damage, Altiero says,
it's likely the area around Tulane
will be the first area to get back
on its feet. More worrisome-and
still a big unknown-is how much
the closure affected ongoing research
programs. Some equipment and experiments
requiring temperature-controlled
environments could be harmed by
the lack of power. "I'm worried
about this," Altiero admits. Several
engineering faculty members have
gone back in under university convoy
to service critical equipment and
retrieve important servers. They've
been able to save experiments involving
biological materials./
 Still,
many faculty members, staff and
students might be returning to homes
or apartments either destroyed or
badly damaged. So Tulane's spring
plans include temporary housing
for those with no homes to return
to. And it is also working to ensure
that there is K-12 education for
the children of faculty, staff and
students. Of course, some things
are out of the school's control:
power generation and sewage, for
instance.
Nevertheless, Altiero refuses to
consider the possibility of failure.
Jazz-inflected funeral marches figure
prominently in New Orleans' diverse
musical heritage. But don't count
on striking one up for Tulane just
yet. "The university," Altiero insists,
"will reopen."
| IN
THEIR OWN WORDS |
|  JEREMY
MARTIN
- Tulane graduate
student, civil engineering
- Enrolled
at the University of Nebraska
for the fall semester
First of all, let me begin
by saying it is very strange
to have received so much attention
through the "flickr" photo
sharing webpage. My original
intent was to share the condition
of my neighborhood with my
neighbors and friends, so
they would know that the worst
case scenarios broadcast on
TV were not true from their
houses. I drastically underestimated
the interest in the area.
As I write this, the photos
have been viewed almost 55,000
times, and I have received
dozens of comments, notes
of support, thanks, and requests
for use from non-profit organizations
and publications.
It is also very strange for
me to be writing this in Omaha,
Nebraska, really the last
place in the world a guy from
New Orleans would expect to
find himself. Right now I
am living in a donated house
with my Professor (Dr. Anthony
Lamanna), a PhD student (Huajie
Liu - we call him Leo) and
his wife, both from China.
I am a 23 year old graduate
student at Tulane University,
and I am from New Orleans
(though I have also lived
in New York). I am currently
in the process of getting
my Masters in Civil Engineering.
I received my BS from Tulane
University (also in Civil
Engineering) in 2004. I am
doing my Masters research
with my advisor, Dr. Lamanna,
on the use of Fiber Reinforced
Polymer strips to strengthen
reinforced concrete beams.
My hurricane experience was,
fortunately, rather uneventful.
Prior to the storm, I had
been backpacking with in the
Sierra Nevadas. On the return
drive we were without the
news, and had no idea that
the storm was headed to New
Orleans. We arrived at a friends
house Lafayette, LA late on
Friday night, exhausted, and
went directly to bed. When
I woke up, Katrina had moved
track almost directly over
New Orleans, and we scrapped
our plans to continue on into
the city. We only got heavy
wind in Lafayette. So I stayed
in Lafayette for about a week,
just waiting to see what Tulane
was going to do. In the meantime,
curiosity got the best of
my friends and I, so we ventured
into the city to check out
our houses, and get a general
sense of the conditions inside
the city.
 It
was eerie in there. In order
to get into the city, we had
to navigate back roads, avoiding
the few police roadblocks
on the major roads. The air
was dead still, and the floodwaters
turned streets into mirror-surface
canals, and the houses made
these canals seem like they
were at the bottom of canyons.
Every sound we made echoed
for blocks down the street,
from hard surface to hard
surface across town and back.
As soon as I stopped waking
to take a picture though,
the echoes faded and the slice
returned before it was disturbed
by the "click" of the camera.
The insides of houses were
stuffy hot and humid. Mildew
grew on the sheetrock and
in the refrigerators full
of decaying food. As I packed
a bag with clothes (I only
had a couple of changes with
me before), a helicopter would
occasionally rumble overhead.
The experience of walking
around, taking these pictures,
was an adventure. I was like
I was exploring my neighborhood
for the first time, finding
secret lakes, green piles
of fallen branches forming
gardens, apocalyptic upside
down reflections of flooded
cars and buildings which were
rising out of the water. I
watched the beginning colors
of the sunset reflect off
of my street, and we decided
wit was time to go. On the
way out we passed people with
rifles, people who were eyeing
our car, but we just sped
on, up and over the bridge,
looking back for a second
and seeing blackness where
there was once a city of light.
When we got back from the
city, I volunteered in the
Red Cross shelter in the Lafayette
Cajun dome for a few more
days (I honestly don't remember
how many), before receiving
word from my professor that
he had a place for me in Omaha.
This put me in a strange place
really, because I was enjoying
my work at the shelter. I
felt like I was in the middle
of things, and that I was
making a difference for the
people who needed help the
most. It took my mind off
of my problems. Every day
I was struck by the tranquility
and bravery of the people
in the shelter. People who
had nothing were understanding,
comforting me, encouraging
me, and thanking me for my
help. It was very difficult
for me to leave, but a felt
bad relying on other people
for food and shelter when
I had an alternative, provided
by Dr. Lamanna.
We (Dr. Lamanna, Leo, Huiying
and I) are currently living
in a house that was taken
off the market by its owner
to house Katrina evacuees.
She is providing the house
to us free of rent, and even
covering the utility bills
until we can work out our
monetary situation. Our house
was furnished within 48 hours
of my arrival, entirely by
community members wanting
to help us. I feel I cannot
emphasize the kindness of
the people in Omaha enough.
It has been simply overwhelming.
Their kindness has made the
fact that I will be away from
home until December somewhat
bearable.
Tulane will remain closed
for an entire semester. The
nationwide academic community
has been incredibly supportive,
offering near-instant admission
and often free room and board
to Tulane students. Most (actually,
all) of the responsibility
for finding another school
was placed on the students.
Undergraduates, for the most
part, seem to have found a
place in school near their
homes, or near the homes of
friends. A large group of
undergraduates from the Tulane
Civil Engineering Department
is now attending RPI, though
most are not from the area.
I think they realized it was
a good idea to stick together
in this trying time. Most
of my Tulane friends are spread
out across the country, from
New Mexico to Florida to New
York and points in between.
I feel this is true for most
students. I am still in the
process of locating many people,
because phones with 504 area
codes are just now beginning
to work again.
Graduate students have had
a bit more difficulty, as
we are concerned with more
than simply coursework. My
research will be my thesis,
and I view that as my priority.
Though Tulane was slow in
releasing information and
instructions for students
in the first week after the
storm, Dr, Lamanna got to
work on his own with the administration
here and has set us up very
nicely (we do not pay tuition),
with much help from the generous
people at University of Nebraska.
While we are here we plan
on writing some grant proposals,
but I will mainly concentrate
on writing my thesis as well
as academic papers on my research.
In the end, I miss home.
I think about it every day.
I grow angry sometimes at
the negative news, and what
I cant help but feel was an
unacceptably slow response
from the federal government.
I swell with pride when I
hear Ray Nagin's (our Mayor)
words of reason, when I hear
him cry for help or demand
action. I and proud that my
city is managing to cope with
this and will rebuild. This
has been an experience I will
never forget. In the past
month I have crossed the country
always in uncertainty. I do
not know when I will be able
to return to my city. The
only reason I have been able
to keep going has been the
kindness of people at every
step of my journey. The kindness
of my friends in Lafayette,
of the folks living in the
shelter, of the online community,
of my professor, of the people
along my long drive north,
and the kindness of the people
in Omaha. |
| IN
THEIR OWN WORDS |
| Huajie
Liu
- PhD candidate,
Tulane University
- Temporarily
at the University of Nebraska
working with Anthony Lamanna
Leo and his wife Huiying
also remained in New Orleans
during the storm, and also
sheltered in the old buildings
on campus during the worst
of the wind and rain. After
the storm, when the water
started rising, they moved
their things into the second
story of the house as his
living room began to flood.
Later they heard gunshots
and became frightened. When
a neighbor (who was armed)
offered to take them out of
the city, they jumped at the
opportunity, and over the
next several days went from
New Orleans, LA to a friends
house Clinton, MS to a church
shelter in Baton Rouge, where
they were kindly taken in
later by a family at that
church. Leo and Huiying stayed
with this family until Jeremy
Martin picked them up to go
with him and Anthony Lamanna
to Nebraska. |
UNIVERSITY
OF NEW ORLEANS
RUSSELL TRAHAN, DEAN OF THE COLLEGE
of Engineering at UNO, expected
a humdinger of a kick-off this academic
year. His school was celebrating
its 25th anniversary, and he had
spent the sultry last days of summer
preparing for a grand October gala.
Katrina doused those plans, along
with computer networks and student
records, turning the lakefront campus-
or at least the two-thirds that
remained above water-into what Trahan
described as "an island with the
surrounding homes flooded up to
the rooftops."
UNO has fared somewhat better than
many parts of the Big Easy. For
starters, few of the mostly commuter
students got stranded on campus;
those who didn't leave in their
own cars were transported to Louisiana
State University (LSU) in nearby
Baton Rouge and housed in dorms.
UNO administrators, who had started
assembling a team immediately after
the hurricane hit, quickly established
temporary headquarters at LSU. Three
days later, a bare-bones version
of the school's Web site appeared
with a phone-bank number and e-mail
registry where students and employees
could check in, as well as get answers
to financial aid, paycheck and other
frequently asked questions. Meanwhile,
UNO's student newspaper added a
Katrina message board to the site.
Among the first people sought: its
scattered reporters.
It took almost two weeks before
callers could get through the state's
jammed circuits. Dean Trahan-on
duty since that first Wednesday-
Trahan-on duty since that first
Wednesday- was only then beginning
to communicate regularly with his
department chairs and had yet to
locate all faculty and students.
Of particular concern were new faculty
members who had just moved to New
Orleans. A damage assess- just moved
to New Orleans. A damage assessment
team finally got its first look
at the campus Sept. 13.
The destruction proved less than
originally feared. The first floor
of the nine-story engineering building,
which houses several laboratories,
sustained about a foot of water.
Two weeks before Katrina hit, the
staff members talked about storing
their ABET course assessment materials
in the building's basement. "Thank
goodness we did not do this," Trahan
says. "All of our material is safely
stored on the fifth floor."
In mid-October, UNO began offering
800 online courses, 41 of them in
engineering. "We will have a full
semester this fall," Trahan says.
LSU's College of Engineering, which
has enrolled many evacuees as visiting
students, "has been very, very helpful
in advising and enrolling our majors,"
Trahan says. He adds that the 30-hour
residency require-jors," Trahan
says. He adds that the 30-hour residency
requirement for graduation has been
waived, allowing some seniors to
earn a UNO degree in December.
More than the equipment, though,
it's the damage to the More than
the equipment, though, it's the
damage to the work that worries
officials. "Our researchers are
having a particularly difficult
time right now," Trahan wrote in
a mid-September e-mail, predicting
"serious delays in some of our research
efforts." A few faculty members
have been able to reconstitute their
graduate teams at other universities,
but many graduate students relocated
far from Louisiana and lack the
resources to continue their research.
Many UNO undergraduates appear
to have weathered the uprooting
in fine shape, due to the warm welcome
extended by universities nationwide.
Rayam Sader, a senior in mechanical
engineering from Saudi Arabia, was
amazed at how easily he enrolled
at the University of Houston, which
has absorbed more than 1,000 of
his peers. The whole process took
less than two hours-with no questions
about tuition and an adviser to
help match UNO requirements with
Houston's engineering courses, which
had started a few weeks earlier.
UNO officials believe their campus
will bounce back as strong as ever.
Along with rebuilding their college,
UNO's engineering faculty promises
to play a leading role in the region's
recovery. Trahan notes that his
faculty has worked for years with
the Army Corps of Engineers. "As
part of the rebuilding of the city
of New Orleans, I have a goal of
making the UNO College of Engineering
a contributor of ideas to ensure
that we never experience this type
of disaster again," Trahan says.
His own well-engineered home- built
on a steel substructure "that performed
exactly as it was designed"- got
inundated by a 17-foot tidal surge.
It left 4 inches of sludge in the
above-ground basement, ruined the
living area's oak floors and carpets
and rendered the place uninhabitable
for months. "We are determined to
rebuild our city, our lives and
our university, the University of
New Orleans," vows Trahan, who is
planning to hold a "bigger and better"
25th anniversary celebration this
spring.
| IN
THEIR OWN WORDS |
|  NATALIE
GUTHREY
- Tulane senior,
biomedical engineering
- Enrolled
in Boston University for
the fall semester
My parents live about 100
miles west of New Orleans,
so the evacuation part was
pretty easy for me. Thankfully,
our home wasn't damaged. It
was harder for students far
from home who didn't have
any place to go. After the
hurricane, we knew there wouldn't
be any school for the fall,
so a lot of students started
looking elsewhere. Tulane
told us to find a school that
was accredited and had comparable
courses. Boston University
was quick to respond and had
my major, so I decided to
go there. The faculty and
staff have been incredibly
helpful. All I had to do was
show an ID and show that my
Tulane tuition had already
been paid. I don't have to
pay additional tuition to
BU-I only have to pay for
books and housing. When we
first got here, BU did something
really special to make Tulane
students feel at home. They
had a welcome dinner, and-this
is unbelievable-the bookstore
at BU contacted the bookstore
at Tulane and managed to get
hats and shirts for the visiting
students. They had a Tulane
hat and a shirt shipped in
for each and every one of
us, and they had them on the
table when we walked into
the dining hall.
Do I want to go back to Tulane?
Yes, I really miss New Orleans.
Most Tulane students consider
New Orleans their home. There's
a Web blog of Tulane students,
and they're all saying the
same thing. They want to go
back. I'm looking at this
as a really cool opportunity
to be somewhere else for a
little while but not to stay.
My friends and I had been
looking forward to our senior
year. We loaded up on courses
freshman through junior year
so that we could take it a
little easier for our last
year. We enjoy being with
each other and love New Orleans.
It was really upsetting to
find out that we will only
get to spend half of the year
together as we had planned.
At the same time, we're growing
closer because of the situation. |
BEYOND THE
CITY
KATRINA'S WINDS HAD BARELY DIED
DOWN when hundreds of colleges and
universities across the nation began
offering assistance to Tulane, UNO
and other hard-hit schools. Their
main focus was on helping students
by offering admission for the fall
semester. But how students would
pay, show qualifications for admission
and catch up on missed class time
presented hurdles that are in some
cases still being worked out. Schools
from LSU to the University of Nebraska
also extended a hand to displaced
engineering faculty members.
Outside New Orleans, most engineering
schools in the Gulf area and beyond
survived the hurricane without significant
damage. The University of South
Alabama (USA) in Mobile, which lost
part of the roof of its student
recreation center to Katrina, closed
for one week. The University of
Alabama (UA) in Tuscaloosa, closed
for a day after Katrina took down
trees and briefly knocked out the
power. While repairing whatever
minor damage was done, these and
other area schools wasted no time
opening their doors to students-faculty
and researchers were not forgotten
either. A few hundred miles away,
Purdue University's College of Engineering,
for example, offered visiting positions
and housing for the fall semester
to displaced faculty members, research
staff and postdoctoral researchers.
For students, gaining admission
became the first stumbling block
as transcripts and official documentation
were hard to obtain from their shut-down
universities. Many schools relaxed
the requirements, some even taking
students on their word for qualifications.
USA held two special registration
sessions and temporarily waived
the requirement for official transcripts.
Space became an issue at some schools,
like LSU, where officials ran out
of campus housing after more than
1,800 students from evacuated colleges
registered for classes within days
of the hurricane.
But finances presented an even
bigger hurdle. Numerous schools
have waived late fees and deferred
tuition and housing payment deadlines
until students from affected areas
can assess their financial situations.
Many, like UA, have also allowed
some displaced students to pay in-state
tuition rates or offered scholarships
for the difference, as USA did.
Other schools, like Boston University,
have not charged students tuition
if they had already paid to their
home institutions. Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute has waived the entire
semester's tuition, fees and room
and board for students enrolling
in its new Gulf Coast Visiting Scholars
program. "I think everybody's trying
to just accommodate the students,
get them into school, and we're
going to worry about the financial
issues after we get them back in
class," says John Steadman, USA's
dean of engineering.
Once the requirements and finances
were settled, or at least postponed
for later, catching up in class
proved problematic, says Jim Killian,
director of communications and marketing
at Auburn's Samuel Ginn College
of Engineering. When Hurricane Katrina
hit, students at Auburn were already
in their third week of class. Transferring
immediately after the hurricane
"means the student would have missed
anywhere from six to 12 sessions
of class, which if you're an engineering
student, it's so tough to make up
that class time," Killian says.
But that's simply a note on how
hard it is for engineering students
to make up missed time, he says-not
a policy that would prohibit displaced
students from transferring to Auburn.
Universities in the Gulf area also
worked to aid their own students
and faculty members whose houses
were directly impacted by the hurricane.
UA's dean of engineering, Charles
Karr, says the university has been
as flexible as possible with its
students, recognizing that there
are "more important" issues than
education. "They're going to struggle
and for as long as it takes, we're
going to work with our students
here," he says. "We have no problem
delaying the date they have to take
a thermodynamics test if they have
to go down there and help their
family rebuild their home."
If anyone could have foreseen this
crisis, it was New Orleans' engineering
and science community. The faculties
at the two schools include some
of the country's leading engineering
experts, as well as environmental
engineers whose research on the
region's wetlands and levees has
spotlighted systemic weaknesses
for years. Just last fall, UNO's
Shea Penland was quoted in a chillingly
prescient National Geographic article
outlining how a hurricane could
destroy New Orleans. "It's not if
it will happen," Penland said. "It's
when." Now these same engineers
hope to play a lead role in the
city's reconstruction- once they
mop up their ravaged campuses.
| IN
THEIR OWN WORDS |
|  DAN
CLARK
- Tulane freshman,
environmental/civil engineering
- Enrolled
in Boston University for
the fall semester
I arrived to move in at Tulane
early Sunday morning. By 10
a.m., they announced that
we had to evacuate by 5. I
had time to unpack my stuff,
set up my room and get my
ID card, a debit and checking
account and a P.O. box. I
didn't even have time to grab
my laptop, which is now stuck
in the mail storage room at
Tulane, hopefully undamaged.
After only six hours of being
a freshman at Tulane, my parents
and I drove to Nashville,
where they had planned to
stay the week. When I learned
Tulane was closed indefinitely,
my parents and I continued
our drive home to Connecticut
and arrived Sept. 4. That
night I began looking for
universities accepting Tulane
kids. It didn't really hit
me until I had to start looking
at other schools that, wow,
I'm not going back at Tulane
this fall. I had to squeeze
a year's worth of the college
selection process into Sunday
night and Monday morning.
Many universities were accepting
Tulane students, but I went
to BU, partly because it was
close enough to drive to that
day and also because they
were taking Tulane kids for
no cost. We drove to Boston
that same day, on Monday,
and I registered. BU took
me solely on the basis that
I was accepted at Tulane.
I got an ID card, a meal plan,
a bank account, engineering
courses-all that day. And
on Craigslist, I was amazed
to find free housing from
a woman whose son was also
displaced from Tulane. I started
my engineering courses the
next day on schedule with
the rest of BU. Needless to
say, I was a little disoriented.
But I was lucky. A lot of
people weren't, and every
day I'm grateful. Depending
on the clean-up in New Orleans,
I definitely want to go back
to Tulane. I loved it there
when I was visiting and in
the brief time before I had
to evacuate. |
Thomas K. Grose is
a freelance writer based in Great
Britain. Mary Lord hails from Washington,
D.C., and Lynne Shallcross is associate
editor at Prism.
|
