2008 Woodie Awards
College students reunite in devastated New Orleans
By: Natalie Pompilio / Knight Ridder Newspapers
Issue date: 2/23/06 Section: News
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NEW ORLEANS - They didn't have to go back. Many of them had no ties to the area, no property, no relatives nearby.
The city they would return to would be very different from the one they fled months earlier. The carefree attitude was gone, and the physical beauty that captured the imagination of legions of writers and artists had been altered, perhaps forever.
But thousands of college students from across the country, given the chance to return to Hurricane Katrina-battered Louisiana in recent weeks, did just that.
"Even though we might be temporary residents, we care about the city," said Kristen Buxton, 19, of Marlton, Pa., a sophomore at Xavier University, who took classes at the University of Pennsylvania during the fall semester. "I see hope for the city."
The large numbers of students returning to the city's four main private universities surprised even administrators. All of the campuses had been affected in the case of Dillard University, every building save the chapel had been damaged, with repairs
estimated to cost $450 million.
That meant traditional student life, across the city, would be changed; Dillard students, for instance, would live and take classes in a hotel. Some Tulane University students would sleep on a cruise ship or in trailers. All of the universities slashed faculty and staff, though some professors have been hired back. All schools say they are working to ensure the cutbacks do not harm either the students or their educations.
Still, Tulane reported that 10,000 of its 12,500 students returned in January. Loyola University said 87 percent of those registered for fall 2005 , 4,880 came back. Xavier has 3,188 students, about 75 percent of its pre-Katrina size. About half of Dillard's 2,155 students returned and are living and taking classes in the downtown Hilton hotel.
"We were expecting about 500, so we doubled what we expected. We're excited," said Wendy Waren, a Dillard spokeswoman.
The city they would return to would be very different from the one they fled months earlier. The carefree attitude was gone, and the physical beauty that captured the imagination of legions of writers and artists had been altered, perhaps forever.
But thousands of college students from across the country, given the chance to return to Hurricane Katrina-battered Louisiana in recent weeks, did just that.
"Even though we might be temporary residents, we care about the city," said Kristen Buxton, 19, of Marlton, Pa., a sophomore at Xavier University, who took classes at the University of Pennsylvania during the fall semester. "I see hope for the city."
The large numbers of students returning to the city's four main private universities surprised even administrators. All of the campuses had been affected in the case of Dillard University, every building save the chapel had been damaged, with repairs
estimated to cost $450 million.
That meant traditional student life, across the city, would be changed; Dillard students, for instance, would live and take classes in a hotel. Some Tulane University students would sleep on a cruise ship or in trailers. All of the universities slashed faculty and staff, though some professors have been hired back. All schools say they are working to ensure the cutbacks do not harm either the students or their educations.
Still, Tulane reported that 10,000 of its 12,500 students returned in January. Loyola University said 87 percent of those registered for fall 2005 , 4,880 came back. Xavier has 3,188 students, about 75 percent of its pre-Katrina size. About half of Dillard's 2,155 students returned and are living and taking classes in the downtown Hilton hotel.
"We were expecting about 500, so we doubled what we expected. We're excited," said Wendy Waren, a Dillard spokeswoman.