New Orleans may be better known as an international shipping capital, an oil and gas hub, and convention central, but The Big Easy is also a college town. During the academic year, more than 75,000 students fan out to 15 postsecondary institutions. Some of the largest universities-Tulane, Dillard, Xavier, Loyola, and the University of New Orleans-attract students who hail from all over the country.
And while the city's industrial and tourist bases have slowly come back from Katrina's devastation 15 months ago, its academic institutions also are striving to recover from an estimated $1 billion to $2 billion in losses, severe cuts in their enrollment and staff, and the realization that they have been changed permanently. Along the way, the leaders of these schools say they've been taking a crash course in crisis management, flexing administrative muscles they never thought they would have to use, and devising solutions to problems they never thought they would encounter.
A New Job Description
"I'm not sure there's enough paper to write about the post-Katrina job description," says Tim Ryan, chancellor of the University of New Orleans, part of Louisiana's higher education system. Ryan's first tasks in Katrina's aftermath involved locating administrators who had been displaced around the region and returning by boat-accompanied by a SWAT team-to recover financial and student records from a campus that had been occupied and looted by hurricane refugees.
Xavier President Norman Francis, now in his 39th year leading the private Catholic university, also had to deal with a devastating flood. "We've spent a great deal of time working on reconstructing what it took almost 80 years to build," he explains.
And Dillard President Marvalene Hughes had just taken charge of the traditionally black private college after 11 years as president of Cal State, Stanislaus, where earthquake preparedness was a given for administrators. "What was absolutely new, in spite of the California emergency training," she admits, "was having to totally rebuild a campus, motivate students to return, and convince their parents that you'll provide a safe environment and a quality education. It was tough."
"We're no shrinking violet. We're going to play the hand we've been dealt, and play it aggressively."
- Norman Francis, Xavier University
After confirming the safety of students and employees and assessing the damage, all three presidents turned to reopening their campuses as soon as they could. "To stay out more than a year from our campus would have been very difficult," says Francis. "You lose customers. You lose support. You lose the drive and the work ethic you were seeing pre-Katrina."
While UNO-helped by an expanded online curriculum-opened its doors just six weeks after Katrina, Xavier successfully targeted January 2006, and tapped a $40 million credit line to speed up reconstruction.
Since all of Dillard's buildings remained uninhabitable after taking on as much as eight feet of toxic water for almost three weeks, Hughes had to improvise for her school's January opening. "We located the largest cruise ship we could find and started negotiating with hotels," she explains, adding that finding the new location for dormitories and classrooms at the Riverside Hilton was just the beginning of a long road back. With 1,050 students scattered across 205 other universities, Hughes toured the United States last fall to get them back and held a series of town hall meetings to reassure parents.
Hughes was also plugging Dillard's emergency fundraising campaign, which raised $30 million in its first nine months and continues to bring in contributions. On October 21, entertainer Bill Cosby performed a benefit concert in Memphis, Tenn. Those funds, Hughes points out, have not only gone to repairs and operating expenses, but also to increased student aid. "The challenge for us as a black university is how to keep tuition at a rate so students from average economic backgrounds can attend," she says.
"The youngsters whom we historically serve had families who lost everything, and the majority were on financial assistance," adds Francis, who is also trying to bolster financial aid. Xavier has built a relief fund from foundations, corporations, and individuals and even negotiated a $12.5 million rebuilding grant from the Middle Eastern country Qatar. "We're no shrinking violet," says Francis. "We're going to play the hand we've been dealt, and play it aggressively."
