Katrina Evacuees to Return

The 35 students whom Harvard took in from schools closed by Hurricane Katrina are planning to return south after this semester.

Officials from Tulane University, which all but three of the visiting students attend, and Loyola University New Orleans said they see no major obstacles in starting to take back students for the January start of the spring semester.

Structural damages to both Loyola and Tulane will be limited, according school officials.

Loyola University of New Orleans Director of Public Affairs Christine D. Lelong said that “students will be coming back to a campus that is the same as they left it,” since that campus was above the floodwaters.

According to Tulane Director of Public Relations Michael Strecker, Tulane did not fare quite as well but still expects to be prepared when the spring semester starts.

Visiting Tulane freshman Thomas E. Slattery said that his campus was half-underwater because it bordered the floodline.

He added that the north side of campus, which was flooded, mostly contained dorms and athletic facilities.

According to Strecker, that part of the university “is crawling with workers to get the campus ready for [students] to move back.”

He added that, since no buildings were destroyed, the basic layout of the campus would not change. The only visible difference, he said, would be the absence of trees that have been knocked down.

Strecker said the destruction that bordered Tulane’s campus offers students the opportunity to perform valuable community service.

“They get to take part in the rebuilding of one of the world’s greatest cities, and that’s an experience that no other student in the world has,” he said.

Slattery said New Orleans had a incentive to rebuild Tulane, since it is the city’s largest employer and a major engine of economic growth.

The returning students will also “have a full selection of classes to come back to,” Strecker said.

Rory J. “Bob” Payne, a visiting sophomore from Loyola, said his school is updating its website regularly with information about the status of the campus and is also offering summer semesters to help students catch up. He added that he doesn’t think he will have to make up class time because of the credits from Harvard.

Payne said he is looking forward to going back to Loyola because it offers “sense of home” and a chance to regain “a sense of stability.”

Slattery, a New Orleans native, said he has “mixed feelings” about returning to Tulane.

“I love my city a lot and I want to see the city at its rebirth,” he said. But, he added, his Harvard experience has been positive.

“I’ve gotten to know people from all over and I’ve made friendships that will last my whole life,” he said.