Click here for a slide show of Katrina aftermath
 
On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana and created the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. But its aftermath allowed University students, faculty, staff and facilities to shine.
 
Evacuees in Baton Rouge created an opportunity for the University to serve as a hospital, enroll New Orleans’ students and provide volunteer efforts for the needy.
 
TRANSFER STUDENTS
 
University Registrar Robert Doolos said the University had to be flexible to accommodate students who transferred from universities in New Orleans.
 
“We had to break a lot of the normal rules in order to help these students,” Doolos said. “School was the only piece of normality that was left for them. And it was something they could hang on to.”
 
The University canceled classes for a week, but admitted 3,768 students during that time.
 
“We had to find a way to register them without getting any money up front. We had to register students without any records,” Doolos said.
 
Of the students admitted, 2,700 were enrolled on the 14th day of class.
 
Sixty-two percent of the transfers were from the University of New Orleans, 13 percent from Tulane University and the remainder from Loyola University, Xavier University, Dillard University and other New Orleans schools, Doolos said.
 
DeShaun Price, a transfer student from the University of New Orleans, came to Baton Rouge two days before the storm.
 
Price, an engineering sophomore at the time, enrolled in biology and art classes and was housed in the Pentagon. He said most of the other students in the Pentagon were from New Orleans and he met people from several different universities.
 
“They put everybody from NOLA in the same area,” Price said.
Doolos said 223 transfer students ended the semester with all W’s or F’s.
 
“They really shouldn’t have been here, but they wanted to come. They were under phenomenal stress, and we did make accommodations for these students,” Doolos said. “We did not want them to hurt.”
 
Price, like many other transfers, returned to New Orleans for the spring 2006 semester.
 
“A lot of people didn’t return to school,” Price said. “Prior to the storm, there were a lot of intramural games and sports. It was hard to really enjoy going back to school.”
 
Price now works in Baton Rouge and didn’t get to finish his degree.
 
“I just left school and haven’t been back to school since,” Price said. “I can’t really blame it all on the storm, but it kind of messed everything up.”
 
UNIVERSITY RESPONSE
 
The University has grown from Katrina’s devastation.
 
The Carl Maddox Field House and PMAC were transformed into the largest field hospital in national history. The Mental Health Center, UREC Student Recreation Center, Day Care Center and Student Health Center offered free services to evacuees.
 
The University housed and fed 950 relief personnel from several agencies, including Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Guard, Red Cross, FBI, U.S. Forestry Service, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Health and Hospitals, and police and surgical teams.
 
According to Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administrative Services Eric Monday, more than 2,700 faculty, students and staff volunteered to help during the crisis.
 
Former Student Government President Colorado Robertson was a junior when Katrina hit. He spent two days volunteering at the Maddox Field House.
 
“It was nothing like Gustav. It was chaos,” Robertson said. “We were still setting up cots.”
 
Associate Sports Information Director Bill Martin was a junior at the time. He sent an email to eight or nine former co-workers, which spread, and soon he was being interviewed by national news media.
 
“There won’t be a more gratifying or more surreal experience [than] I went through [after the storm],” Martin said in the email.
 
Martin spent the night alongside athletic personnel and athletes installing countless IV poles.
 
“We had student athletes bringing people in,” Martin said. “I vividly remember [former basketball players] Tasmin Mitchell and Glen Davis being heavily involved that whole night.”
 
Faculty, staff and students used their skills and time to assist in housing, technology, communications, dining, security and volunteering to make the University a relief center. Doolos said “no” and “it’s not in my job description” were not acceptable answers for anyone.
 
 
 
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Contact Catherine Threlkeld at [email protected]