In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi State University officials have changed drop dates and temporarily altered attendance policies to help students from coastal areas deal with the aftermath.
One of the changes include extending the drop period through Sept. 9 for students having permanent residences in counties the Federal Emergency Management Agency designated for Individual and Public Assistance.
The area includes counties south of Highway 84 in Mississippi. Parishes south of Highway 12 in Louisiana are also included, as well as some southern counties in Alabama.
Students will be able to bypass the office of the dean of academic affairs’ to drop classes, which should make the process more efficient. Instructions can be found at www.msstate.edu/web/katrina/withdrawal.html.
The administration asked teachers to be considerate of students who miss classes to travel to locate family members or secure their homes.
The university also said students withdrawing from the college due to Katrina-related hardship who have federal student aid will not have to worry about paying the entire portion back; MSU will attempt to balance the difference.
Furthermore, students from universities affected by the hurricane can work with MSU to continue their education. Details can be found on the school’s website.
Students and faculty are also stepping in to help. The Faculty Senate is collecting supplies and money for supplies to be taken to the Coast Friday night. Students wishing to contribute can take their donation to the Student Association office, which is located near the State Fountain Bakery.
In addition, the Student Association will collect money and supplies for victims at Saturday’s game against Murray State. The money will go to the Red Cross to benefit Mississippi residents, SA Chief-of-Staff Elisha Blades said.
She said the relief efforts will be long term. “We all have been affected by this in one way or another, whether through family or friends or fellow students, so we all need to come together and help out our peers and their families.”
At an information session regarding the hurricane’s aftermath Wednesday, an emotional MSU President Charles Lee recounted the story of one particular student who had left campus to find out if his family had survived. The student kept contact with Lee through his cell phone earlier in the week.
“We’re in tremendous sympathy with the unimaginable destruction so many Mississippians are experiencing, including many of our own students,” Dr. Lee said.
“There was just unimaginable hurt and grief in that room,” Lee said about the mood at the meeting.
Hurricane Katrina reached Mississippi State University as a tropical storm Monday evening, leaving few signs of destruction in the Starkville area. Flash floods and downed trees were the only remnants of a storm that claimed more than a hundred lives Monday morning in Biloxi.
For the most part, Mississippi State University came through unscathed. Aside from taking down tree limbs around parts of Stone Boulevard and University Drive, the storm primarily spawned heavy amounts of rainfall. Minor structural damage occurred to two campus houses on Magruder Street, and several buildings around campus reported leaks. Flooding was also a common sight in many parking lots both on and off campus.
More importantly, however, there were few accidents and no loss of life. And for that, Dean of Students Michael White said he is thankful.
“We’re very fortunate, especially when you look at how the rest of the state fared. We should be counting our blessings,” he said.
White said counseling would also be made available to students affected by the disaster.
Maintaining a safe and orderly fashion was the primary goal on campus during Monday’s storm, assistant chief Kenneth Spencer of the Mississippi State Police Department said.
“No traffic accidents occurred during the changed class patterns Monday afternoon. At the same time, our officers made sure the campus road system was clear for emergency vehicles in case something did happen,” Spencer said.
Starkville Police Department issued a citywide curfew at 6 p.m. Monday, warning citizens to stay in their homes and off the roads. Sensors atop Hilbun Hall, which houses the university’s meteorological department reported wind gusts as high as 76 mph.
Thousands of homes lost power Monday afternoon; as of Wednesday afternoon, an estimated 8,000 homes were still without power in the Golden Triangle area. Several downed power lines apparently caused the blackouts.
For such an unsuspecting name, the former Category 5 storm laid out quite a path of destruction. New Orleans had its worst encounter with severe storms in 40 years. The Mississippi Gulf Coast was hit “like a ton of bricks,” Gov. Haley Barbour said.
In Mississippi, coastal communities such as Gulfport and Biloxi were most damaged, with widespread flooding and power outages extending as far north as Hattiesburg and Jackson.
At one point, the storm ripped a portion of an oil-drilling platform from its foundations, smashing it into a major bridge in Mobile. So far, more than one hundred people in Mississippi alone have lost their lives in Katrina-related deaths; results from New Orleans had not been confirmed at press time, but city officials predict the death toll to be in the thousands.
Junior public relations major Julia Leverette said the disaster was especially painful because New Orleans was her home.
“My family immigrated to New Orleans before my parents were born. This city holds a special place in my heart, and now it’s a shadow of what it once was.”
Leverette said her family was able to make it to safety. “Most of my relatives lost their homes in the flooding, but I’m thankful that they were all evacuated in time,” she said.
University officials announced through its faculty and an intercampus memo by President Lee that classes would be cancelled at noon on Monday and reopen Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. The closings were later extended to include all of Tuesday, partly to allow officials to assess the university’s damage.
Josh Forsythe, a junior transfer student from Selmer, Tenn., also said the university did the right thing by canceling classes. “You can make a deadly mistake by underestimating something like this,” he said.
People have compared Katrina to previous catastrophic storms such as Hurricanes Andrew and Camille.
“Basically, Katrina was much more widespread than Camille,” said Charles Wax, professor of geosciences and state climatologist. “Katrina measured more than 400 miles across, which is an enormous reach for a storm of that magnitude.”
Both storms are equally unique in two other areas, Wax continued. “First, there’s the storm’s fetch. The fetch is the distance wind has to blow over open water. The greater the storm’s fetch is, the greater the storm surge will be.”
By comparison, Camille’s storm surge was five feet lower than Katrina, at 22 feet. The situation was further intensified because the surge of water coincided with the spring high tide (which is the highest of the tidal cycles).
“Secondly, the range of the surge was record-setting as well. According to the data I’ve received from the NOAA Weather Center, the surge damaged property from New Orleans all the way to parts of the Florida panhandle,” Wax said.
Despite the threat of severe weather in Starkville, hundreds of students participated in something usually reserved only for Gulf Coast cities: a ritual known as the hurricane party. For many students living off-campus, wading through parking lots and slip-sliding down hills took center stage to the storm’s destruction. Students and Starkville citizens all seemed to have the same idea; Wal-Mart and several other liquor stores in town were fresh out of hurricane mix by 5 p.m. Monday.
In the aftermath of such a deadly storm, the unselfish efforts to help people on the Gulf Coast and New Orleans give a glimmer of hope to those who need it most.
“We had it so easy, you know? There’s an obligation there to give back. I’d really like that opportunity,” Leverette said.
Inspired by thousands of volunteers who have helped with cleanup efforts, she considered helping for a few days herself.
Counselor education graduate student Demarias Wilkins attended a vigil held on the Drill Field Wednesday night for victims of the hurricane. “We have students who have lost everything, and we may not be able to give them money but we can put our arms around them and pray for them by showing up at things like this and saying, ‘I support you and will do whatever I can to help you.'”