Tulane provost talks of January reopening

Tulane University Provost Lester Lefton has big plans for his school's reopening in January.

"We're going to have a big welcome back party, New Orleans style," he told a crowd assembled in College Hall.

Last night, the provost and senior vice president for academic affairs for Tulane University met with Tulane students who are temporarily living in the greater Philadelphia area. He answered questions about academics, belongings students were forced to leave behind and the return to normal life -- and next semester, education -- after Hurricane Katrina devastated the region in late August.

Maintaining a sense of humor and optimism in the face of the disaster, Lefton assured students that Tulane will be the same, although New Orleans might be a smaller place. The provost said that already, "bars are opening, restaurants are opening ... so all the important things in life will be back to normal."

Tulane is currently operating out of Houston and plans to reopen in January. Officials plan to move back to the city by the end of the semester.

Taking a case-by-case approach to students' concerns, Lefton said that the institution has gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure that normal life returns to the New Orleans campus early next year.

"There are 400 workers on campus in all buildings boxing up, cataloging and taking pictures of students' belongings" as well as drying and dehumidifying anything affected by the flooding, Lefton said.

Tulane junior Andrew Herman, who is currently taking classes at Penn, said the meeting helped to clarify specific concerns and was an opportunity to meet one-on-one with the provost.

"It reaffirmed my confidence in the university," Herman said.

Herman went back to New Orleans last weekend to pick up his belongings. He said that driving from the airport to campus, the only evidence that there had been a hurricane was the blue covers on the roofs of several houses and billboards that had been destroyed.

Herman said he was confident that "as a whole, the city will be able to recover."

Lefton agreed, saying that by the time students "get back to campus, [they] won't be able to tell there was a hurricane."

He told students to picture themselves 40 years from now, telling their grandchildren about their experience with Katrina.

"We see this as a great opportunity for students to take part in a historic point for America, in the rebuilding of a city."

Lefton expressed his gratitude toward Penn officials and the measures universities are taking to ensure that students and faculty do not leave Tulane. Penn will not be accepting transfer applications from Tulane students.

"The president and provost have reached out to us in the way our sister schools in the Ivy League have, and we are very grateful," Lefton said.

Penn Provost Ron Daniels met with Lefton privately before the meeting.

"He is fighting for the life of an institution," Daniels said of his Tulane colleague.

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