University officials said the first day back to class after Hurricane Katrina had no major problems, but predicted that campus will be disorganized for the next week.
As of Saturday 1,700 students applied to the University, and an estimated 1,000 students arrived at Pleasant Hall on Tuesday to apply or register and voiced concerns about classroom availability and housing.
Provost Risa Palm compared this week to the first week of any fall semester.
“We’re essentially starting up a new fall semester,” she said. “Things will calm down in a week.”
Palm said faculty, staff and students will help campus return to a normal pace.
The daily schedule was extended, Palm said, creating more daytime classes and additional sections in the late afternoon and night.
Palm said University instructors as well as University of New Orleans instructors will teach the additional sections.
Many students who crowded into Pleasant Hall on Tuesday were told they should return today since many students’ applications were not processed.
Eric Collins, business management senior and University Recruiting Services student worker, said that the University has been registering students since last Wednesday but that the largest number of students arrived Tuesday.
“I feel bad that people have to wait in these hot lines after everything they’ve been through,” Collins said. “We’re trying to be as organized as possible.”
But many displaced students did not think the University was organized.
Alex Sherwood, engineering freshman from UNO, said he did not understand the registration process.
“To be honest, I don’t know what I’m doing,” he said while standing in line. “I’m throughly confused. I think I’m registering.”
Patrice Parker, business junior from Tulane, said she thinks it is good that LSU is welcoming students, but the process could be more organized.
“I think [LSU is] unprepared for the number of students,” she said.
Lauren Grubb, nursing junior from Delgado, waited in line with Parker and said they waited five hours for their applications to process.
“We appreciate the fact they are doing this, but they’re not organized,” Grubb said.
Justin Miller, electrical engineering senior from UNO, said the process to register was divided into two lines, freshmen and upperclassmen. The upperclassmen were then called from the lines based on their college.
Miller said he was not sure if he got the same classes he was enrolled in at UNO because the catalogs are not the same, and there were no advisers from UNO.
Justin Kates, computer science junior from UNO, said the lines were unorganized.
“It’s not like I have any choice,” he said. “My school is under water.”
Annette Bourgeois, a parent from Gretna, said no one was giving them any clear idea about what was going on.
“It’s been chaotic, but I understand,” she said. “I’m not complaining.”
Michelle Paniagua, business administration junior from UNO, waited in line for more than an hour after being told to come back Thursday morning and said she was concerned about finding somewhere to live.
Paniagua, whose family is from New Orleans, is staying at a shelter in Lake Arthur, about 50 miles between Lafayette and Lake Charles. She said she does not know how she will be able to get back and forth to campus because Lake Arthur is two hours away.
Cheryl Ripoll, a parent from New Orleans, said her daughter — who scheduled classes today — also has no place to stay.
She said she was concerned that the University had welcomed students and then had no place to house them, but said her daughter was told there could be a place available in two weeks.
Contact Ginger Gibson at [email protected]