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Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management Crisis and Emergency Management Newsletter Website |
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February
2006
Volume
10 - Number 1 |
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By Drew Priddy Tulane University was closed as a result of Hurricane Katrina and recently reopened on January 17, 2006. Roughly two-thirds of Tulane’s campus facilities flooded when the levies were breached in New Orleans. This flooding affected both dormitories and research facilities. The approximate 13,000-student body and 2,500 faculty members relocated to colleges and universities all across the country. The fall 2005 semester was cancelled and the President of the University, Scott S. Cowen, worked to develop a renewal plan for the University and to ensure the University was reopened for the Spring 2006 semester. After being evacuated from New Orleans, University President Cowen and a small staff relocated to a hotel in Houston. They immediately began work on the recovery effort and the plan for the future of Tulane University. Several hard decisions were made to ensure the future of the institution. President Cowen recognized two things. First, the school had to be reopened in the spring of 2006 and the University and the city of New Orleans could neither afford nor accept an entire year off. Second, there was an opportunity for not just reopening the doors of a school campus but an opportunity for redefining Tulane University for the future. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, Tulane University had an annual budget of approximately $590-million and is the single largest public employer in the city of New Orleans. Initial recovery costs were estimated at $200-million. Though the campus sustained significant flooding, the buildings remained in good structural condition. The biggest losses to the school were the loss of 33 years of blood samples that had been maintained in the world’s longest study of heart disease in young children and the loss of books in the basement of the library, including the journals of Admiral Perry’s expedition to Japan. In spite of these losses the structures of the remaining University were largely unaffected. Students displaced by Hurricane Katrina attended other universities across the country but still paid their tuition to Tulane. This ensured an operating budget once the school reopened. Assurances were gained from both the NCAA and Conference USA that Tulane University would be exempt from Division I standards for the next five years. This allowed the University to cut 8 of its 16 Division I athletic programs. Under the Renewal Plan for Tulane University, the two existing undergraduate schools, Newcomb College and Tulane College, were combined to form one undergraduate college. Five undergraduate majors were eliminated from the University and the school cut 230 positions from its faculty. It now requires that professors, traditionally teaching at the graduate and doctoral level, now be required to teach at the undergraduate schools as well. The changes that are being implemented at Tulane University show tremendous vision and leadership. The school did not hold out its hands but rolled up its sleeves to develop a program that insures a bright future for Tulane University and that of its students. References and for further information: http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB112787072908154151-Ibjf4NhlaR4n52nbIGIaK2Jm4,00.html http://www.diamondbackonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/12/13/439e6c7715d2c http://chronicle.com/free/2005/09/2005090703.htm http://renewal.tulane.edu/renewalplan.pdf |