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revdorothyl at 05:19pm on 02/09/2005
revdorothyl at 05:19pm on 02/09/2005Both the university at which I'm enrolled and the university at which I teach will be filling trucks with donated food and hygiene supplies every day for the next week, of course. I'd expected something along those lines and was glad to see the notices of the collection sites and times go up.
But what I hadn't expected, or even thought about, is their other main Katrina-related effort: both universities, which are about as full as they can hold with students already, are setting up special student programs to allow students from this area who were enrolled at Gulf coast universities to keep up with their education while the lengthy rescue and rebuilding efforts are underway.
I'd been thinking about the plight of the folks who live along the Gulf coast full-time (especially the poorest, with nowhere else to go), and had been aware, at least, that a lot of vacationers or part-time residents would need to change their plans this Fall. But I completely forgot about those who were counting on the universities further South for their chance at a college degree. So far, my own university is allowing "refugee" students who can live off-campus to enroll late and sign up for no more than two courses per semester at a much-discounted tuition rate, while the university at which I teach is offering to provide the teachers and classes, but forward their tuition money to the institutions on the Gulf coast at which they had been enrolled for this semester, so those universities and colleges will have some funds with which to rebuild and become operational again.
Compared to the evacuation of hospitals and providing food, water, and medical care to the immediate victims of Katrina, I know the prospect of losing a semester or even an entire school year doesn't sound terribly dire. But I'm just beginning to realize how wide and enduring the ripple effect on our entire nation and every aspect of our infrastructure is going to be over the coming year or years. Even my ivory-towered corner of the world will be feeling the pressure and having to fill in wherever it can.
But what I hadn't expected, or even thought about, is their other main Katrina-related effort: both universities, which are about as full as they can hold with students already, are setting up special student programs to allow students from this area who were enrolled at Gulf coast universities to keep up with their education while the lengthy rescue and rebuilding efforts are underway.
I'd been thinking about the plight of the folks who live along the Gulf coast full-time (especially the poorest, with nowhere else to go), and had been aware, at least, that a lot of vacationers or part-time residents would need to change their plans this Fall. But I completely forgot about those who were counting on the universities further South for their chance at a college degree. So far, my own university is allowing "refugee" students who can live off-campus to enroll late and sign up for no more than two courses per semester at a much-discounted tuition rate, while the university at which I teach is offering to provide the teachers and classes, but forward their tuition money to the institutions on the Gulf coast at which they had been enrolled for this semester, so those universities and colleges will have some funds with which to rebuild and become operational again.
Compared to the evacuation of hospitals and providing food, water, and medical care to the immediate victims of Katrina, I know the prospect of losing a semester or even an entire school year doesn't sound terribly dire. But I'm just beginning to realize how wide and enduring the ripple effect on our entire nation and every aspect of our infrastructure is going to be over the coming year or years. Even my ivory-towered corner of the world will be feeling the pressure and having to fill in wherever it can.