The Daily Colonial - University responds to Hurricane Katrina

“The almost Biblical circumstances which have affected all the people of New Orleans, as well as those of certain parts of Mississippi and elsewhere, are melancholy indeed.”

- University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg in a memo obtained by the Daily Colonial

In response to Hurricane Katrina, which struck Louisiana and Mississippi this week, the university announced yesterday that it will allow students displaced by the natural disaster to take classes at GW this semester.

The offer was announced yesterday afternoon in a university-wide e-mail sent out by Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Don Lehman.

“We’re trying to help out,” said Lehman, who called GW’s offer the “natural thing to do.”

“We’re trying to help Tulane [University and others] get back into operation as quickly as they possibly can,” he said.

President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg sent out a memo to administrators Thursday stressing the need for GW to take some kind of action in response to the hurricane.

“The almost Biblical circumstances which have affected all the people of New Orleans, as well as those of certain parts of Mississippi and elsewhere, are melancholy indeed,” said Trachtenberg in the memo that was obtained by The Daily Colonial.

Lehman said that 20 displaced students from the Washington metro area called yesterday with interest in taking courses at GW.

The university policy will allow those students from the affected areas to enroll at GW as a non-degree student, taking individual courses that fulfill credit requirements.

“What we would like to do is make it possible for them to transfer their credits [to their university],” said Lehman.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will transfer the credits back to his or her university, much like taking a summer course at a community college.

As a special offer to the hurricane victims, GW will waive the $80 late registration fee. Students will still have to pay the $1,012 per credit hour tuition rate.

The students, who are mostly freshmen undergrads from Tulane University, have been working with the Office of University Students and academic advisors to determine which classes are available for them to take as well as which courses would best fit into their four-year plan at Tulane.

“We are trying to advise them to take the right things so that they don’t, in any way, jeopardize their progress in their current programs at those universities,” said Lehman.

Lehman stressed that since the university currently is almost full to capacity, and that many of those who wish to enroll from the affected universities are freshmen, class space is extremely limited.

“I think [the freshmen are] the more anxious because they haven’t really started anywhere,” said Kathryn Napper, director of admissions, whose office received hundreds of phone calls from students asking to transfer.

“I don’t think it’s going to be huge numbers,” said Lehman in regards to the number of students that will take advantage of this policy. “I think its going to be tens of students.”

In terms of matriculating students from the affected universities, GW decided to not allow students to transfer until the spring semester.

“We think it would be inappropriate to take any such steps until the universities have worked out their own arrangements for their respective students,” said Trachtenberg in the memo to administrators. “Some will undoubtedly reopen earlier than others.”

At Tulane, for example, a start date for the fall semester has yet to be determined. Students have been evacuated and the campus is shut down.

The university president, Scott Cowen, who is an alum of GW, has been keeping a web log of sorts at emergency.tulane.edu, where he periodically updates concerned parents about the latest information.

“The dorms are intact and students' belongings are safe,” he posted yesterday at 4 p.m.

According to Napper approximately 150 parents and students called the admissions office yesterday, asking for information on how to transfer.

Most of the students, she said, were from Tulane University, which is comparable to GW. Napper said that she is trying to educate the parents, reminding them that they can transfer credits without switching schools.

“We’re recommending that the students go back home and really look at a community college in the area and weigh their options… as opposed to making a very quick and… illogical decision,” she added.

Other area schools are offering similar non-degree options for the affected students.

Georgetown is offering assistance to students from the D.C. area that are enrolled in Loyola University New Orleans, a fellow Jesuit school, as part of an emergency cross-registration program. Those students will not be enrolled in Georgetown, and will not have to pay Georgetown tuition.

The University of Virginia announced on Wednesday that it will offer a similar program to GW’s for Virginia students. They will house up to 100 visiting students. They have already received about 25 requests, according to a release.

“More of the state schools are offering openings for kids from their local area, but a lot of schools [are] private, like us, [and] just aren’t going to be able to handle taking anybody in at this point,” said Napper.

As for the long-term admissions effects of the displaced students, both Napper and Lehman said it was too early to tell. However, Napper said that it will be taken into consideration for those students looking to transfer in the spring or for those incoming freshmen next fall.

“We would do anything necessary to help the students get through the process. As we will probably with those kids in high school applying for next fall,” she said. “We’re going to… work with them [and do] whatever it takes to help them, to facilitate them through the process.”

This may include giving them extra time to complete the application and generally, “not getting too out of shape about courses they may or may not have to take in the fall,” she said.