<p>Enrollment of Katrina-Impacted Students:
A Message from the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost</p>
<p>September 19, 2005</p>
<p>I am writing to provide you with current information regarding students from the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. As you know, many universities and colleges and tens of thousands of students have been affected, at least for the Fall 2005 academic term. </p>
<p>As explained in earlier communications to the academic deans and department chairs, UCLA has offered to enroll interested students in the 10-week Fall 2005 Quarter through UCLA Extension as concurrent enrollment students. We are following the guidelines issued on September 2 by American Council on Education President David Ward to institutions throughout the U.S. who have offered to assist Katrina-impacted students temporarily. Accordingly, through the UNEX approach, we can accommodate these students - in this very difficult time of need - without having to charge regular UC fees. Indeed, Katrina-affected students will be charged no fees for their UNEX concurrent enrollment courses. </p>
<p>On Monday, September 12, we opened the UNEX enrollment period for the Katrina-impacted students who had contacted UCLA. More than 300 inquiries were received during the two weeks after Hurricane Katrina.</p>
<p>As of Friday afternoon, September 16, UNEX has reported that 67 Katrina-displaced students are in various stages of enrollment at UCLA for Fall 2005. About two-thirds have enrolled in regular-session courses, with the remainder either in a combination of evening UNEX courses and regular-session courses or just evening UNEX courses. It is possible that our enrollments may increase slightly before the start of instruction on September 29. </p>
<p>The breakdown of the 67 students is 60% undergraduate and 40% graduate/professional, including ten students from the Tulane University School of Law who joined the Fall Semester of the UCLA School of Law over the Labor Day weekend. </p>
<p>About two-thirds of the students in the UNEX registration group are from Tulane University, at various class levels. The other one-third are from Xavier University, the University of New Orleans, and Loyola University of New Orleans. Approximately two-thirds are also California residents. </p>
<p>About one third of the students who have enrolled through UNEX have also requested information about UCLA housing. Normally, such requests would have been very difficult to accommodate. However, the completion this past summer of two new residence halls has serendipitously provided us with sufficient capacity to accommodate these requests. These students will pay regular room and board rates.</p>
<p>Many faculty will most likely find one or more of these Katrina-impacted students enrolled in their Fall 2005 classes. As you can imagine, the disruption in these students lives has been extraordinary, and most will be unfamiliar with UCLA. Many students will be accustomed to the pace of a 15-week semester calendar rather than the 10-week quarter calendar. I ask that all instructors be as flexible as possible in meeting the needs of these students.</p>
<p>Arrangements are being coordinated through Janina Montero, Vice Chancellor-Student Affairs, to offer these students a special orientation session at the start of the Fall Quarter, including a description of their access to a core set of student services, including Student Health Service, Student Psychological Services, Recreation Services, etc. Vice Chancellor Montero will also coordinate the activities of various UCLA student groups who are interested in extending the best of Bruin welcomes to our temporary students.</p>
<p>Additional coordination is being provided in the College of Letters and Science (Associate Vice Provost Betty Glick and Special Assistant John Sandbrook) and in the Graduate Division (Assistant Vice Chancellor Al Setton). They should also be contacted as necessary. </p>
<p>Many campus offices worked diligently after Labor Day in order to offer these students these arrangements at UCLA. I am especially grateful to Dean Robert Lapiner at UNEX and his staff (particularly Joyce Manson and Eve Haberfield) for their efforts. I am also grateful to the various campus departments who worked with UNEX so quickly during the past two weeks to facilitate these enrollments.</p>
<p>All of us hope, of course, that these students can return to their home institutions for the Spring 2006 academic term. In the meantime, it has been heartening to see the response, not only here at UCLA but also throughout the UC system and the national academic community, to the extraordinary needs of these students and our sister institutions, which face a daunting challenge to return to some level of normalcy in 2006.</p>
<p>Thank you for your cooperation. </p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>Daniel Neuman
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost</p>