<p>xiggi is right. The Higher Education community in this country (and beyond) stepped forward at a time of great crisis and need. They dispensed with red tape, application processes, tuition (and in some cases room and board) and welcomed our Katrina students with open arms. I am eternally grateful to all of them and, in particular, to the top LAC where my son is a Visiting Student.</p>
<p>But the operative word here is Visiting Student. The emotional "only college these students have ever known" is quite overdrawn to me. We are not talking about toddlers being snatched from the arms of adoptive parents here.</p>
<p>My son will be off to New Orleans in January. He will "do over" the getting acclimated to a new college, making new friends. But he will handle it. And he will thrive. Yes, I think it's a bit of a shame that he will have to do these "first steps" over again. But it is only a "bit" of a shame. And there will be many rewards to having had the experience of a second school, and having the experience of contributing to the revival of a great city.</p>
<p>May we never see another set of universities experience the disruption that the Gulf Coast schools did. But if contingents of those who benefited so greatly from the generosity of other institutions start trying to re-write the game plan, they jeopardize the willingness of all of these fine institutions to step forward again should the need arise.</p>
<p>exactly what mstee says. And, Venado, the claim that it is only "5" freshmen students can be repeated at numerous schools across the country, and already is.</p>
<p>Well, I read both your and epiphany's comments as being negative to a school that welcomed Tulane students, whose Harvard Foundation brought medical supplies and sent several Vietnamese-speaking students to NOLA to help stranded Vietnamese residents, raised lots of money to help NOLA residents, etc.... So all that is just an example of Harvard's "imperial," "smuggly superior" attitude? As in every other institution, there's plenty to criticize about Harvard. But this was not the thread for doing so. The fact is that in pressing the Tulane students to return to Tulane Harvard is trying to help Tulane. That is not being acknowledged in your desire to point out the "imperial attitude" of Harvard.</p>
<p>But we simply have to think: if each of the "hosting" schools had been able to foresee the type of special request being made here, what would have happened? They would have had to wrestle with such issues as breaking precedent, vetting each student with a full set of app materials, etc. etc.</p>
<p>These schools turned on a dime. My son arrived home from New Orleans Tuesday. He was admitted to Bates College on Friday, and started classes with all other Freshmen on Monday. Rice, SMU, Syracuse and some others acted even faster than that. This would not have happened if schools had to anticipate what some students are seeking now.</p>
<p>Jmmom: I echo Xiggi's sentiments totally.<br>
I actually know one prof who was just starting at Tulane last fall. So, she too, is having a displaced freshman experience. But she seems remarkably cheerful despite the fact that some of her teaching materials got soaked. I know she is eager to actually start teaching.</p>
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<p>Or is this another sign of Harvard uniqueness?<<</p>
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<p>Marite -</p>
<p>It's unique among colleges in that if you mention H on pretty much any board on CC, about 80% of the time the thread will attract Harvard bashers. It's the same tiresome song sung over and over: It's not all that good; We visited and I/my D/my S was unimpressed; The polls say the students there are all unhappy; It's way over-rated, etc., etc. This does not happen to ANY other school.</p>
<p>My own theory is that this comes from being regarded as #1. (Not from actually BEING #1, just from being perceived as such.) People like success but not too much success. Harvard, Microsoft, Disney, The New York Yankees, California, and The United States of America are organizations that all share the same fate of automatically attracting bashers.</p>
<p>PS: On the larger question, I agree completely with Xiggi and jmmom.</p>
<p>If I were Tulane I'd be questioning the characture of the kids who are campaigning to stay at the host school. I think it there will be a great spirit of camaraderie at Tulane and it will be exciting for the students and the faculty to be a part of that. I wouldn't want these "sour apples" spoiling the bunch.</p>
<p>I don't think there would be an uproar over five frosh students at Syracuse or Michigan State deciding to transfer to their new school and not return to Tulane. It is only because this is Harvard that there is an objection. They should be allowed to at least "apply" to Harvard and admitted/rejected on their merits and not be chained to a school to which they have no academic and probably no emotional attachment.</p>
<p>No one is chained to Tulane. All students had the option to withdraw. Only by <em>choosing</em> to remain a Tulane student do they find themselves as tuition free guests of Harvard, Bates, Rice, Syracuse, big state U etc. etc. Tulane extended withdrawal deadlines by many, many weeks to give <em>each</em> student the opportunity to evaluate his/her situation and decide what to do. The options open to them were many and varied, and many varied options were taken. These students want to have their cake and eat it too. This is simply not fair play.</p>
<p><em>as you can see, jmmom feels passionate on this issue. Don't get her started</em></p>
<p>I know that when our campus was trying to accommodate these students, there was considerable concern that we not look like we were trying to poach students. We didn't plan on them staying, and we didn't want them to stay beyond what was necessary. These are Tulane students, who are supposed to go back to Tulane, who were extended free tuition and other accommodations based on their status as guests.</p>
<p>Of course they are not prisoners of Tulane, and if they want to apply to their host schools as transfers they are free to. But I think they should be treated as any other transfer student (although they will admittedly have the added benefit of having proved they could do the work required at the host school).</p>
<p>I know Michigan is working with one student who had legitimate health concerns about going back (mold allergy, I think; memory fails) and so wants to stay on as a degree candidate. I don't know the particulars of how that case is being handled.</p>
<p>No school will let those students stay. They'd be cutting Tulane's financial throat if they took those tuitions from Tulane.</p>
<p>However, the impulse to stay at Duke or Harvard or Podunk Wherever is completely understandable. From the letters I've gotten, Tulane still isn't the Tulane the students and families know and love. </p>
<p>*Agree with you, marite. The nasty comments about H were unwarranted and impolite given the numbers of H families and students on CC boards. Apparently the CC decorum niceties do not apply when it comes to H --or USC. Go figure.</p>
<p>This may sound a little harsh, but they could either withdraw as Jmmom has said, or go back to NOLA, complete the second semester, and apply as a transfer for fall 06. I sincerely hope that Jmmom's son and the other displaced kiddos return happily to their original colleges, but I'm worried they are going to find Tulane and NOLA sadly diminished, and not at all the situation they first embraced. For some this will be an awesome experience of learning and service - imagine an engineering major, or someone interested in city planning or urban studies? But I expect a lot to leave, I haven't heard anything about the med students, but at least 2 of the hospitals were condemned, and I'm sure some of the undergrad research and service opportunities are washed away. It is challenging and exciting for a few weeks, then it gets depressing. Don't know how that will all play out in a residential college setting.</p>
<p>Venado--no one is chaining them to anything. Just asking them to follow the same rules everyone else has to. Their transfer applications should be considered along with everyone else's--in the spring. Why should they be allowed to do something that no other transfer applicant is allowed to do? And I would say the same thing if they were applying to Syracuse or wherever--they need to follow the rules, not ask for special consideration. Gee, can't they tolerate being at Tulane for even one semester before transferring? What does that say about them? Do they think that attitude makes them attractive transfer candidates to a school?</p>
<p>I dont feel any identity with Tulane, said visiting freshman Chelsea M. Grimes. I just feel like its a terrible burden to place on us. Weve adjusted to college life here at Harvard. Both schools are at fault. They are playing off each other. Both talk about the contract and not about us as people. </p>
<p>Amy C. McClendon, another visiting freshman from Tulane, said, I want to stay at Harvard because all of my friends are here. I dont know anybody at Tulane besides the other visiting students Ive met here. </p>
<p>Explaining the Tulane visiting students appeal to the UC for support, visiting freshman Julie W. Hall said, If other students are expressing interest in Tulane students staying here, it shows the Harvard administration that we are a part of the communitynot just visiting students. </p>
<p>Hurray for Harvard students who have totally accepted these displaced students.</p>
<p>cangel - only time will tell and many more of us will be able to report in come mid-January. What we hear from families who have already been there, and returning faculty, is that Tulane, itself, will be pretty much the same. Immediately surrounding area is different, but alive and coming to more life every day. The French Quarter is alive.</p>
<p>So the NOLA that a Tulane student experiences may not be so diminished as to be depressing. The NOLA that a Tulane student doesn't often see, that is a different story entirely. Some will choose to get involved in the re-building. Some may never really "see" it.</p>
<p>Venado - how do any of these student quotes address the issues we are discussing here? They <em>are</em> just Visiting Students. That is the only basis on which they find themselves on the campus, in the classes and in the "community." Yes, the students - my son included - feel "totally accepted" where they are. This does not change the basis on which they find themselves there. It does not change the choice they made which allows them to be there. These students can make friends again. Who are they kidding? They are searching for rationalizations for a special favor they now request in total contradiction of how they got there in the first place.</p>
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I dont feel any identity with Tulane, said visiting freshman Chelsea M. Grimes. I just feel like its a terrible burden to place on us.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The terrrible burden would have been if every school closed their doors in Tulane's time of need and not giving students the opportunity to attend any school. </p>
<p>The right thing to do is for students to go back to their second semester at Tulane and if they want to transfer (which no one is stopping them) then the students should file their application with everyone else who is seeking a transfer instead of behaving like the houseguest that you put up for a short time and repays your kindness by feeling that they are entitled to stay forever.</p>
<p>These kids and their champions can emote all they want. It is NOT a terrible burden. I am the parent of one of these kids, so I am not easily fooled by the melodrama.</p>