January 1, 2012

Haitian Universities Struggle to Rebound

Ben Depp for The Chronicle

Physics students attend class in a tent at the State U. of Haiti, where much of the campus was rendered unusable by the earthquake two years ago. Haiti's government puts far more resources toward elementary and secondary education than toward its universities.

By Andrew Downie

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

The Faculty of Applied Linguistics at the State University of Haiti hardly looks like an institute of higher learning. Hidden away on a quiet downtown cross street, the grimy one-story building contains just three classrooms, along with a library, the dean's office, and a teachers' lounge, each no larger than a bedroom. Two years ago, the accommodations were slightly better, in a larger building with a language lab.

Then, at 4:53 p.m. on January 12, 2010, an earthquake rocked Haiti,