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Friday, September 16, 2005
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Storm Briefs: News and Notes on How Academe Is Helping Gulf Coast Campuses Recover
More Coverage: Articles about how Hurricane Katrina has affected colleges, plus photo galleries, an interactive map, commentaries, and other information.
Katrina Update: Announcements from colleges, associations, and government agencies.
Colloquy: Read the transcript of a live discussion with Scott S. Cowen, president of Tulane University, about his institution's efforts to recover.
Forum: Discuss the effects of the hurricane and exchange information.
Charitable aid: Coverage from The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
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Latest Headlines
The Chronicle's Almanac, 2008-9
This special report features national and state-by-state data on colleges and universities, as well as regional profiles of the issues facing academe across the country. Higher-Education Scholar Named General Secretary of AAUP Purdue Punishes Professor Who Led Disputed Fusion Experiment | |||
New Orleans campuses surface as floodwaters recede, but the colleges' futures remain obscured
As devastated colleges rebuild their staffs, duties change and not everyone is guaranteed a paycheck
House and Senate pass separate bills offering tax breaks for donations to colleges and charities
Federal research agencies promise money and extensions for scientists displaced by Katrina
Hurricanes have grown more intense since 1970, researchers say, and global warming is a prime suspect
Storm Briefs: News and notes on how academe is helping Gulf Coast campuses recover
Federal judge throws out big shareholder lawsuit against ITT Educational Services
State Digest: a roundup of this week's news from the states
6 American foundations will provide $200-million more in aid to African higher education
This week at the Al-Arian trial: prosecution nears end of its case, despite near fistfight
British government tells universities to "identify and confront" extremists on their campuses
Russian official admits that government cannot guard foreign students from deadly racist attacks
Technology Researchers Aid Emergency Response
A research group at the University of California at San Diego has deployed an experimental communication system to the New Orleans area to help keep emergency officials connected.
In coordination with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and with Qualcomm and other communication companies, the researchers have converted RV's to mobile communication hubs that support cellphone and Internet service.
Since last week, the researchers have helped provide about 400 cellphones to doctors and other relief workers, said Ramesh R. Rao, director of the UC-San Diego division of the research group, called the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology. The cellphones operate through a satellite link in the RV rather than through traditional cellphone networks.
The "mobile base station" also supports Internet connections using an experimental "mesh network," said Mr. Rao. The concept is that the system ties into the Internet using multiple methods, so that users can keep reliable connections even if one method is offline.
Mr. Rao said that the researchers have participated in drills with fire squads in the past, but that "this is the first real emergency we've gotten involved in."
--Jeffrey R. Young
Oberlin Appeals for Aid to Dillard U.
Oberlin College and Brown and Princeton Universities are taking steps to help Dillard University, a historically black institution that was severely damaged by the hurricane.
Oberlin is asking its students, employees, and alumni to donate to a fund to help rebuild Dillard's campus.
Nancy S. Dye, Oberlin's president, says the unusual appeal for funds just seemed like a natural way to help the storm-ravaged university. A breach in the 17th Street Canal levee in New Orleans sent floodwaters of up to eight feet through Dillard's campus in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and a fire destroyed several buildings.
Oberlin helped to found a number of black colleges after the Civil War. While Dillard was not one of them, Ms. Dye says that "our mission is to help students care about the world in which they find themselves, and to care about institutions that are doing good work."
Ms. Dye says the college has not set a fund-raising goal and has no plans to draw funds from its own endowment or institutional accounts, but is asking individuals to donate. Senior administrators have pledged $10,000, and students are planning a jazz concert and a hip-hop concert to raise money. They have also announced plans for a fast to be held in October, with money that would have gone for food instead going to the Dillard fund.
The college has sent e-mail solicitations to 35,000 alumni and will follow that up with a paper appeal. Ms. Dye says the response has been gratifying: "Our alumni, as I knew they would, understand this." Money raised by Oberlin will be channeled to Dillard through the United Negro College Fund/Hurricane Relief Fund.
Brown and Princeton have offered staff members to help repair Dillard facilities and perform other tasks, and may also donate equipment and other materials.
--Goldie Blumenstyk
SUNY-Buffalo Halts Searches to Offer Temp Jobs
People who applied for some administrative openings at the State University of New York at Buffalo may want to add "displaced hurricane victim" to their list of qualifications.
The university has decided to discontinue searches for a handful of jobs in the student-affairs department, instead offering them up as temporary positions for administrators from Gulf Coast institutions that have closed for the fall semester.
"The four searches were in various stages, but none were in the position where a candidate had been identified," says Dennis R. Black, vice president for student affairs. "Nobody is having the rug pulled out from under them."
The university will hire qualified professionals for three to six months, for jobs in residential life, career services, and judicial affairs. Salaries and benefits will be determined based on how administrators are being paid by their employers at home. Full searches for the open positions will begin in the spring of 2006, Mr. Black says, and those from the Gulf Coast will be encouraged to return to their institutions when they reopen.
So far, the university has heard from one candidate from a university in New Orleans who is interested in a job in career planning.
"We have 12 students from Tulane who have enrolled for the semester, so it'd be great if we had a student-affairs person from Tulane here, too," Mr. Black says. "That person could provide a bit of Tulane and New Orleans to a group of displaced students."
--Erin Strout
Hurricane Relief at Brown U.
Donating money to the Red Cross for Gulf Coast hurricane relief is so ... predictable. Why not give to Brown University, instead?
Sidney E. Frank, a liquor importer, gave $5-million to the university to assist in its efforts to help students and faculty members displaced by Hurricane Katrina. With the money, Brown plans to help students with financial needs pay for housing, meals, and books.
Brown is offering tuition-free admission for one semester to Rhode Island residents or siblings of current Brown students who were enrolled at institutions that are now closed. About 100 displaced undergraduates have been admitted for the fall semester.
Mr. Frank, a member of Brown's Class of 1942, donated about $120-million to the university a year ago, for scholarships for the neediest students and to construct a new academic building.
"This gift to Brown University is meant to return some normalcy to students whose studies and ambitions have been cut short," Mr. Frank said in a written statement. "I'm fortunate that I am in a position to help, and I encourage all those who are able to give to do so."
--Erin Strout
Background article from The Chronicle:
- Dillard U.'s President Scrambles to Raise Money and Spirits for a Beloved Historically Black College (9/9/2005)