WHILE New Orleans lies under a column of water and much of costal Mississippi has been blown to rubble, students of the University have a chance to make a significant contribution to helping people put their lives together after the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina.Although most of the attention in the aftermath of Katrina has been deservedly focused on the events occurring in New Orleans and Mississippi, at the same time hundreds of thousands of evacuated residents, including 100,000 students from colleges in the affected regions have been stranded as their homes and livelihoods have been washed away in the deluge of water.
In response to this crisis, the University has agreed to allow as many as hundreds of students from affected colleges to continue their education here while their schools rebuild. With scores of students arriving within the next few days, students at the University must coordinate the efforts of organizations and motivated individuals to aid the new arrivals who have had their lives uprooted by Katrina.While there is still much that needs to be done, the University community has already gotten off to a good start. According to Assoc. Provost Milton Adams, who is a leader in the administration's efforts to accommodate the new students, the deans from all the undergraduate schools, along with representatives from the registrars office, the office of admissions and the dean of students held a meeting on Wednesday to craft a plan to accommodate the incoming students.
University leaders have subsequently made accommodations for the entering students' housing and dining needs, as well as provisions for enrollment in classes. This commitment to action has been reflected in the immediate, generous response of individuals throughout the University community. As Adams noted in a phone interview that he had "gotten just in a matter of hours close to a hundred e-mail from students and faculty and staff to volunteer to help in any way they can. The response has been tremendous."Even though many members of the University have stepped up to the task of helping the new arrivals, there is still much more that students can do. As Adams said, "Probably the best thing to do is to welcome them and be sensitive to their potential emotional state."
To this end, student organizations such as leading CIOs and Student Council should form a committee to coordinate the services they will provide to refugee students. This committee would allow student organizations to share ideas and resources, and give incoming students clear information about the services available.
While student organizations could do an excellent job of developing assistance programs for incoming students, there are a few programs that could do much to smooth out the transition for entering students. Some possibilities could include peer academic advising, carpooling programs for students who want to go home for weekends or breaks or personalized campus tours that would show new students around Charlottesville. While these programs could form the basis for a discussion about student efforts, the combined creativity and intelligence of an organization of student leaders could surely craft an effective plan.
While the University clearly has a moral obligation to help students who have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina, creating a structure of student organizations to help them deal with problems associated with their arrival at the University would bring benefits in many other ways. Indeed, the organizational structure created today could also be used to swiftly respond to future crises. Moreover, better motivated student organizations could help all student organizations become more effective in their efforts to reach out to the community long after the clean-up from Katrina has ended.
Ultimately, the way in which the University responds to these issues will say a lot about the ability of the University to pull together in a time of crisis.Although there is much to be done, we can be confident thatour community in the hills of Virginia can play a positive role in helping victims of Katrina from the swamps of Louisiana.
Adam Keith is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. He can be reached at akeith@cavalierdaily.com.
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