Students Affected by Katrina Start Classes at Duke
[Updated Thursday, Sept. 22] Forty-seven undergraduates, 17 graduate students from five universities in New Orleans have accepted Duke's offer of enrollment
Tuesday, September 6, 2005
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Durham, N.C. -- Forty-seven undergraduate students and 17 graduate students from
five universities in New Orleans have accepted Duke University’s
offer of enrollment and have begun taking classes.
On Sept. 1, Duke officials announced plans to enroll as non-degree students up to 75 eligible undergraduates from colleges and universities affected by Hurricane Katrina. To date, 37 undergraduate students from Tulane University, five students from Xavier University, four students from Loyola University and one student from Dillard University have enrolled at Duke. In addition, six law students, five graduate students and one nursing student from Tulane, three law students and one nursing student from Loyola and one graduate student from the University of New Orleans will attend Duke.
Those who qualified for enrollment include sophomores, juniors and seniors from both North Carolina and South Carolina; siblings of current Duke students; and children of Duke faculty, staff or alumni; and first-year students who have a sibling currently enrolled at Duke or family living in the area. These students will not be required to pay Duke’s tuition, books or room charges (if they live on campus), but they will be expected to pay for food and have health insurance during the period of time they spend at Duke.
The undergraduates who are enrolling at Duke include 12 first-year students, 12 sophomores, eight juniors and 15 seniors.
Robert Thompson, dean of the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences at Duke, said he is pleased that many offices at Duke have been able to quickly band together to provide a variety of services to the new students. Each student, for instance, “is having a conversation with an academic dean to formulate a course of study that makes sense for them,” Thompson said.
On a related front, Duke’s undergraduate and graduate students are planning numerous events to raise money and supplies for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Law students held a “stuff the truck” event Sept. 13 to send supplies to Shreveport, La., and a benefit reggae concert Sept. 16. Efforts are also underway to sell Duke blue Mardi Gras beads and organize a volunteer trip to the Gulf Coast later in the fall, among other events and initiatives. A more complete list of fund-raising and other events can be found at www.duke.edu/hurricanerelief/.
Duke Chapel raised more than $17,000 in donations during Sunday worship on Sept. 4 for Katrina victims. The offering, the largest in chapel history, will be distributed through the United Methodist Office of Relief.
“We are praying for the victims of this terrible tragedy,” said Craig Kocher, assistant dean of Duke Chapel. “Our desire is to respond in ways that are helpful and not merely sentimental.”
Duke Chapel also has collected cleaning supplies and personal hygiene materials to create flood buckets and health kits for disaster victims. For more information about what items are needed, see the United Methodist Committee on Relief website at http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/kits.cfm#umcorkits.
Duke’s athletic department has begun raising money and awareness of blood drives at every home athletic event over a three-week period, starting with the Sept. 10 Duke-Virginia Tech football game at Wallace Wade Stadium on Saturday. The American Red Cross will be collecting financial donations at the entrance gates to all athletic events during this time frame. Information regarding local blood drives will also be provided to fans at the events. The Duke Red Cross held blood drives at the Bryan Center’s Von Canon rooms on Sept. 13, 14 and 15. More information is available at duke.givesblood.org. A list of athletic events is available at www.goduke.com.
The National Institutes of Health has asked Duke Medicine to help staff one of 40 field hospitals being set up in response to Hurricane Katrina. More than 40 doctors, nurses and other clinicians from Duke were flown this week to Meridian, Miss., to help staff a U.S. government field hospital being established at Key Air Field, a National Guard post. Earlier, a team of five nurses and technicians from Duke University Hospital and Durham Regional Hospital arrived in Bay St. Louis, Miss., as part of a larger contingent that brought a 100-bed mobile hospital to the stricken community. For updates on Duke Medicine's hurricane relief efforts, please go to www.dukemednews.org.
On Sept. 6, Duke President Richard H. Brodhead said he was pleased by the Duke community’s response:
“A week ago at this time we had no idea of the magnitude of the disaster that was in store on the Gulf Coast. A week later, Duke has come up with effective and generous strategies for channeling our institutional good will toward the victims of the tragedy –- including the creation of a field hospital in Meridian, Miss., staffed by Duke Medicine personnel –- and enrolled a sizeable number of students from the affected area.
“I am extremely proud of this community’s response -- and I know that none of it would have been possible had it not been for the mental clarity, dexterous team work, and sheer good-heartedness of many members of this community, some of whom gave up their holiday weekend for this cause. On behalf of the university, I offer our deepest thanks to all.
“In the coming weeks and months, much more will be revealed about the extent of the relief effort that will be required. I’m heartened by the many initiatives that students and employees have launched to help those affected by Katrina. We have created a website to communicate information about relief efforts and it is updated on a regular basis <www.duke.edu/hurricanerelief/>. Help will be needed for a long time to come, and I applaud all those who are now –- and will in the future –- give of themselves to help others in need.”
