Posted on 09/08/2005 6:52:54 PM PDT by hispanarepublicana
A typical orientation for a first-year Texas Tech student might include the identification cards, campus maps, and traffic and parking speech that were given to Tulane University student athletes - but it's not every day student body president Nathan Nash puts his cell phone number on a dry erase board in a room full of people.
At the Marsha Sharp Center for Student Athletes Wednesday, several different departments from around campus sent people to welcome Tulane student athletes, coaches and staff in a quick orientation to Tech.
"It's certainly a slam-dunk orientation," said John Anderson, associate director of athletics. "It's pretty much happening in one day."
Tulane's baseball and women's basketball squads will be admitted to Tech under a tuition and enrollment agreement worked out by Tulane President Scott Cowen. Tech will provide housing, meal services and enrollment.
Anderson said Wednesday was the earliest most of the team members could be found after being displaced all over the country, even though some were still missing.
"We want you to be as happy as you can here, and we're glad to have you," Janis Haney, the interim associate director for housing and residence life, told the students at orientation.
Introductions and welcomes were issued to the athletes in one room, while in another room, people from the admissions and registrar's offices tried to admit students and make class schedules.
Brenda Martinez, assistant director of admissions for Tech, said she and four others were quickly trying to admit students that had been affected by the hurricane.
"This is definitely a unique situation," Martinez said. "They're taking it step-by-step and so are we."
Admissions specialist Caryn Mulanax said the admissions office started admitting students affected by the storm last Monday, although they had a hotline open all weekend long. She said roughly 55 undergraduate students had been admitted, and while the majority of them are from Tulane, several are also from other universities in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.
Martinez said most Tulane students will probably choose to return to their own university, but for the moment, Tech will be home. It is completely up to the students, she said, as to whether or not they choose to return to Tulane when it reopens or stay at Tech.
"We're trying to offer an immediate solution for them," she said. "Obviously, they've had a lot of uproar in their lives."
While the uproar from the storm will continue to impact student athletes from Tulane as they try to bring their lives back to normal, women's basketball player Alendra Brown said that while life was difficult in New Orleans recently, she welcomes the change in Lubbock.
"Now that I came here to Texas Tech, I feel comfortable," she said. "I feel welcome. I didn't expect this."
Brown, originally from New Orleans, said she didn't know what to expect when leaving her home. She said the orientation to Tech was basic and very similar to the one they went to at Tulane, despite the time crunch.
In reaction to receiving a cell phone number from the student body president, Brown said it made things easier and more convenient for the Tulane students.
"A lot of people like to talk to somebody not so much older," she said.
Strive-For-Honor-Ever-More PING!!!
The TAs and GPTIs in my department received an e-mail indicating that we may have students from affected areas in our classes.
At the suggestion of writer Michelle Malkin last Friday, I have cobbled together a blogsite called Texas Clearinghouse for Katrina Aid to serve as a clearinghouse for refugee efforts in Texas.
Texas is getting more refugees than any other state -- that's fine, we'll take them all -- but we need help providing them with food, clothing, medicine, and shelter. We need help taking care of their pets, too.
If you are a refugee, you can information that will help you find relief. If you want to donate or volunteer, you can find someone who needs you. Believe me, there are a lot of organizations who need your help.
Right now the site mostly covers Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas but I'm adding more every night. My wife was down at Reunion Arena in Dallas Tuesday handing out care packages and spiritually ministering to the refugees as a representative of her employer. She says that the situation is tragic and that there's a lot of work to be done. There are so many children who don't know where their parents are or even if their parents are still alive.
There are a lot of churches and other organizations in Texas that need help in dealing with the problem and I would appreciate it if you would get the word out.
Many thanks,
Michael McCullough
Stingray blogsite
That's a good site. On the news last night, they said the Tulane kids left Louisiana with just their backpacks (the ones they haul around campus all day every day) and nothing else. Some of these student athletes come to college from poor backgrounds and with very little to begin with. I know from experience....it's tough to be poor on a college campus with very little clothing, etc.
Just wait till the Tulane women's BB team meets Bobby Knight..
We'll take care of 'em.
Thank you. (I lived in Lubbock in the mid 50s).
Here at OSU there was a front page article in the paper about two girls from Loyola who are coming here now. The only thing they are responsible for paying for is housing. And it is my understanding from the article that the Chi Omega sorority on campus is letting them live at their house.
I can only imagine the difference in the nightlife between Tulane and TT.
When I was a Chi O at Berkeley in the late '50s we took in a Hungarian refugee who had recently escaped the Russians. That was an experience for all of us!
I am very proud of several Texas Universities -I'm so glad Tech is among those helping these students -
You obviously never went to Texas Tech - we had quite a good night life.......;^)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.