Optimism in the Wake of Katrina
Meredith Sellers
Issue date: 11/30/05 Section: editor's picks
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Versus Magazine Online [Image Edition]
When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, millions of residents of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were displaced from their homes. Included in this group were thousands of college students preparing to begin the fall semester. Many of the colleges and universities in the affected area were too damaged to open their doors this semester, forcing students to make quick arrangements to attend other schools. One of these students, Apurva Borcar-currently at Vanderbilt-has responded in a positive way to this unexpected episode in his college career.
In the wake of Katrina's destruction, colleges and universities around the country have provided displaced students opportunities to continue their studies while Gulf Coast schools rebuild their campuses. Vanderbilt has participated in this effort and has enrolled over 100 students in the Department of Unspecified Studies, according to an Oct. 3 article in the Vanderbilt Register.
Because Vanderbilt's on-campus housing is limited, the university mainly accepted residents of Nashville and the surrounding area as "Visiting Students," as well as students with family in the Nashville area who could provide living arrangements.
Despite this general rule, Borcar, a senior from Baton Rouge, LA, is currently taking four courses at Vanderbilt. Borcar, a student at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA, had not yet returned to campus for the fall semester when university officials made the decision to postpone opening Tulane until after Katrina had passed.
"After the storm, [students] had no communication with Tulane because webmail was down," Borcar said. "After a few days, an emergency website was up."
When the extent of the damage was clear and it was obvious that the university would not be operational this semester, Borcar faced the challenge of finding a place to continue his biomedical engineering studies.
When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, millions of residents of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were displaced from their homes. Included in this group were thousands of college students preparing to begin the fall semester. Many of the colleges and universities in the affected area were too damaged to open their doors this semester, forcing students to make quick arrangements to attend other schools. One of these students, Apurva Borcar-currently at Vanderbilt-has responded in a positive way to this unexpected episode in his college career.
In the wake of Katrina's destruction, colleges and universities around the country have provided displaced students opportunities to continue their studies while Gulf Coast schools rebuild their campuses. Vanderbilt has participated in this effort and has enrolled over 100 students in the Department of Unspecified Studies, according to an Oct. 3 article in the Vanderbilt Register.
Because Vanderbilt's on-campus housing is limited, the university mainly accepted residents of Nashville and the surrounding area as "Visiting Students," as well as students with family in the Nashville area who could provide living arrangements.
Despite this general rule, Borcar, a senior from Baton Rouge, LA, is currently taking four courses at Vanderbilt. Borcar, a student at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA, had not yet returned to campus for the fall semester when university officials made the decision to postpone opening Tulane until after Katrina had passed.
"After the storm, [students] had no communication with Tulane because webmail was down," Borcar said. "After a few days, an emergency website was up."
When the extent of the damage was clear and it was obvious that the university would not be operational this semester, Borcar faced the challenge of finding a place to continue his biomedical engineering studies.