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Surviving Katrina: For N.O. Colleges, a Positive Outlook but a Long Way from Normal

Photo credit: Shawn Chollette Students check into dormitories at Xavier University. The school began classes in September with nearly 70 percent of its pre-Katrina enrollment numbers.

By Shawn Chollette
Special to THE BLACK COLLEGIAN with Black College Wire

In order to get to Southern University at New Orleans’ temporary quarters in row upon row of trailers, business major Ernest Ruffin must drive past the original campus.

“The old SUNO was a lot more diverse, and you could always find people hanging out in the university center,” said Ruffin, a junior from the city’s West Bank. “We’re getting used to the temporary campus. It’s growing" on us, "but it’s still not back to normal.”

A year after Katrina swept through New Orleans and swallowed Southern's campus on Press Drive, Ruffin is still reminded of the school’s former vibrancy. SUNO, a commuter school, shares its plight with Dillard University and Xavier University of Louisiana – the three historically black colleges in New Orleans -- in struggling to remain viable assets to a community that, many say, needs them now more than ever.

Renowned for producing thousands of pharmacists, musicians and business leaders in a city that was largely black and mostly poor, the universities have battled back from the disaster during the past year.

Southern is the only one of the three schools that cannot return to its campus. Dillard resumes classes Sept. 25 in its own buildings in the hard-hit Gentilly neighborhood. Xavier has resumed classes and reopened all but three buildings.

All three shut down for the fall 2005 semester but were able to resume classes in January. They helped students overcome the loss of academic hours by offering two accelerated semesters. By summer, Dillard graduated 354, Southern 321 and Xavier 536.

But as Ruffin observed, it will be a long time before any of the colleges are “back to normal.” All three cope now with reduced enrollments, and face losses in the millions of dollars as well as limited resources.

Officials are optimistic

“Our outlook is excellent,” said Victor Ukpolo, SUNO's chancellor. “At this point, we’ve already surpassed our enrollment from the spring semester, and we have about 500 other students in the [process] of paying their fees.”

Ukpolo estimated that more than 2,100 students were enrolled at SUNO, nearly 60 percent of last fall’s enrollment.

Meanwhile, Dillard estimated it would have 1,100 returning this fall, 51 percent of last fall’s enrollment. Xavier expected 2,800, nearly 70 percent.

Although enrollment remains far from pre-Katrina levels, officials at each school said positive factors keep them optimistic about the future.

Warren Bell, Xavier’s associate vice president for university and media relations, said the university, which is known for its pre-med programs, had not only rebuilt but upgraded many facilities.

“I believe that we are very well-positioned for the future as we enter a new academic year,” Bell said. “We've made tremendous progress when it comes to the physical repairs to the campus. Most of our remaining repairs are now being made to noncritical areas, since we already fixed our dormitories, classrooms and student-related areas many months ago before we reopened the campus in January.”

Meanwhile, Dillard plans to hold classes at its campus for the first time since the storm inundated the school with at least four feet of water. When the university reconvened classes in January, students were housed and taught at the New Orleans Hilton Riverside. Since then, the university has renovated several of the buildings on campus. The 2006 graduates were able to continue a long-standing Dillard tradition of marching on the Avenue of the Oaks.

Moving forward

Highlights of campus recoveries extend beyond enrollment numbers and renovated buildings.

Each university has been able to rehire a few faculty members who had been laid off, campus spokesmen said.

The schools have made technological improvements. For example, Southern now offers classes and degree programs via the Internet in order to allow displaced students to continue their education from afar, said Chancellor Ukpolo.

Xavier, meanwhile, is expanding its renowned pharmacy program after receiving a $12.5 million grant from the nation of Qatar.

Some student programs that were put on hold last fall are to be restored this year: Dillard and Xavier will be able to resume their basketball rivalry as each school begins phasing in some of the athletic programs, for example.

Photo credit: Susan Andres/Los Angeles Independent Media Center Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., shown in March with Margaret Prescod at a Los Angeles rally supporting Katrina evacuees, said the New Orleans colleges have support in Congress.

A year ago, Dillard sent its students to Centenary College in Shreveport, La., before Katrina bore down on New Orleans. Xavier urged students to evacuate, but the campus remained open for any students who could not leave. Ultimately, 400 students and staff members became stranded after the city began to fill with water; they were rescued and taken to Southern’s Baton Rouge campus and to Grambling State University.

Now, all three universities have updated evacuation and emergency preparedness plans. Evidence of this includes Dillard’s decision to delay the start of its fall semester until late September, almost a month later than usual, in order to avoid much of the hurricane season.

“This has been a tough time because we’re all navigating these waters for the first time. . . . " Ukpolo said.

Remaining hurdles

Perhaps the biggest challenge facing each school is recruiting incoming freshmen.

Dillard expects an incoming class of at least 344. Xavier has said about 500 will enroll. Numbers were not available for Southern.

The estimated enrollment for this fall forecasts at least 50 percent fewer freshmen compared with previous years.

Mona Duffel-Jones, Dillard’s senior management officer and interim director, said she expects that recruiting new students for the fall is a challenge not only for Dillard, but for all the colleges and institutions in the Gulf Coast. She remains optimistic, however.

“We are hopeful that there are broad-minded, adventurous students who view coming to New Orleans and Dillard University as an incredible opportunity, not only to study at an institution rooted in academic excellence, but also to take an active role in rebuilding the ‘jewel of the south’ as part of a once-in-lifetime learning experience,” Duffel-Jones said.

Likewise, Sondra Reine, Xavier’s associate director of admissions, said she believes recruiting efforts will normalize in a matter of years.

“This year, the recruiting process involved ‘showing’ people Xavier’s remarkable recovery,” said Reine, who along with other admissions officers toured the country a month after Katrina, recruiting this year’s freshman class.

“Before, we didn’t have to do that; we stood on the merit of our academic programs,” said Reine, who has worked in admissions for the past 22 years. “But by reopening last January, hopefully we’ve put the message out there that we’re up and running, and that our academic programs are as strong as ever and our faculty and staff are just as committed as ever.”

The challenges appealed to many students and families.

Felicia Robinson drove a day and a half from Compton, Calif., to New Orleans to drop off her daughter, Quiana, a freshman at Xavier. She said she had no reservations about leaving her daughter in a city struggling to rebuild.

“This will be a great opportunity for her to experience life away from home,” Robinson said. “I know you guys are going to take good care of her. Besides, she’d have earthquakes to deal with back home.”

Ruffin said he returned – and believes that other students do as well – because there’s something offered at these institutions that they cannot get anywhere else.

“At the end of the day, I believe that there is no other university that will benefit me as much as SUNO does,” said Ruffin. “Every step of the way, the school guides you.”

Bottom lines

In addition to the challenge of attracting new students, the three historically black schools face the burden of heavy debts.

Dillard, which incurred $400 million in damages and losses, is still working on readying the campus before classes start. A number of buildings were lost to fires in the aftermath of the flooding; a few others had to be demolished.

Ukpolo, SUNO's chancellor, explained that because that university’s buildings are owned by the state, it must wait on the state to make damage assessments and initiate rebuilding efforts. Initial damage estimates were near $500 million. He expected that SUNO will be able to return to its main campus as early as January, but in the meantime, classes will continue to be held at the SUNO-North modular campus in trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Administration.

Xavier was able to move back onto its campus in January, but now the university must still pay for an estimated $45 million for repairs.

Bell said Xavier had obtained bridge loans and depleted some of its $50 million endowment to cover some of these costs, “but that is probably less than half of what we will need to cover Xavier's losses from Katrina, even after all insurance settlements and government assistance –including FEMA— are factored into the equation.” Bridge loans are a form of short-term financing that are expected to be paid back relatively quickly, such as by a subsequent longer-term loan.

The plight of New Orleans’ historically black colleges has not been lost on fund-raising groups and lawmakers.

In August, the United Negro College Fund announced plans to renew fund-raising efforts for the three colleges and Jackson State University in Mississippi, which was also affected by Katrina.

And in a teleconference on the one-year anniversary of Katrina, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said these schools have support in Congress.

“I know that the Black Caucus has spoken to this issue, and is focused on working with historically black colleges and universities to get more money out of the system, but it is still a work in progress and a discussion still in progress,” Waters said. “They’re on our radar screen. We’ll get more money – we just have wring it out [of] government.”

Long-term outlook

Igwe Udeh, a dean of SUNO’s College of Business, said he was optimistic that the universities will regain their footing despite the slow pace of recovery.

“Although there are mixed signals about where the city’s rebuilding efforts are headed, and stores and businesses in and around the campuses are not returning as fast as we thought, the schools are still an important part of the city’s economic infrastructure,” Udeh said.

“We’re all more confident about the future because so many students have returned, when they could have gone elsewhere,” he said. “Now we know there’s a definite demand for our services, so we’ll be here.”

Shawn Chollette is a graduating senior at Louisiana Tech University, and a freelance journalist working and living in New Orleans.

Posted Sept. 18, 2006