When second-year pre-medical student Kristen Okpara returned to
Xavier University at New Orleans for spring semester, she found it
a campus quite changed from the effects of Hurricane Katrina.
The green lawns have all turned to mud.
The shopping centers near campus are all closed down, and the
nearest stores are only within driving distance.
“You pretty much have to stay on campus unless you know
someone with a car,” Okpara said.
Most businesses in the area are not open because there is a
shortage of workers due to the severe damage of many residential
districts in the city, said Timothy Holliday, a law student
studying environmental law at Tulane.
Holliday said the businesses around the Tulane campus have
either been closed or are booming because there is no other place
to go. The Laundromat that would usually clean clothes in one or
two days time, now takes 10 days, because there are not enough
workers left in the city to run it, Holliday said.
Though most of the facilities on the Xavier campus have
reopened, Okpara said some things within the classroom have
changed.
“Most of the damage was done to the first floor, so most
classes are held on the second floor,” Okpara said. She added
that classes were also more crowded because though most of the
students came back, some of the faculty and staff were not retained
due to rebuilding costs.
Even after the extent of the damage from the hurricane became
apparent, Okpara said she always intended to come back to Xavier
because of the friendships she made and her relationships with some
of the staff.
Despite the ongoing construction, and the subdued atmosphere in
the area, Okpara said the attitude on campus is one of business as
usual.
“School’s starting again like nothing
happened,” she said.
However, some students at various universities in New Orleans,
especially freshmen, may have felt uncomfortable about moving back
into a natural-disaster zone, said Alli Tucker, a first-year
undeclared student, based on her conversations with other students
who had been enrolled in Tulane before the hurricane hit.
After starting school at different locations around the country,
some college freshmen, including Tucker, have decided not to go
back to schools in New Orleans. Tucker was enrolled for fall
semester at Tulane for her freshman year, and decided not to return
after the hurricane.
Tulane was the first-choice school for Tucker, a Los Angeles
native, who was attracted to the cultural environment of New
Orleans and Tulane’s prestigious reputation. Even after being
evacuated on move-in day, Tucker fully intended to return to Tulane
in the spring.
However, after visiting New Orleans over winter break, she was
struck by the problems still facing the city.
“It looked like a war zone,” Tucker said.
Though downtown New Orleans was looking better, she said
residential areas near the levees were still shocking.
“There was trash everywhere. Signs had collapsed, and
there were boats in empty parking lots,” Tucker said.
Though Tucker wanted to witness the city’s progress, she
decided that because of the programs that had to be cut, there
would not be enough class flexibility to entice her to stay.
Due to the anticipated budget shortfall, some degree programs
and athletic programs at Tulane will be discontinued, and 180
faculty positions from the medical school will be cut.
“I wanted to go back and be part of the rebuilding
process,” Tucker said, “but the school was a different
school.”
Tucker decided to stay on the West Coast and has enrolled at the
University of Southern California for the spring semester.
However, Tucker has not ruled out going back to New Orleans in
the future. She said would consider going to Tulane for graduate
school.
“If it weren’t for what happened, I would choose
Tulane in a heartbeat,” Tucker said.
Though some freshmen decided not to return, Holliday and Okpara
both believed most undergraduates and graduate students returned
for spring semester because they feel a loyalty to their
schools.
Holliday said there is a “soul to the city and the
school” that attracts people back.
The Tulane campus was not as severely affected as the
residential neighborhoods, which felt the hurricane acutely,
Holliday said.
In those neighborhoods, “it looks like an atom bomb has
dropped,” he said.
On campus, there is still ongoing construction, but Holliday
estimates that about 80 percent of it is done, and the rest is just
cleaning up.
There are still a fair number of trailers around campus, for
either housing or temporary offices.
However, Holliday said Tulane’s campus is getting back to
normal and is still full of life.
“We have come back with a sense of affection for the
place, but with a sense of realism about the task ahead,”
Holliday said.