wfn.org | [UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 485-Centenary College shelters Dillard

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Centenary College shelters Dillard students fleeing hurricane

Sep. 2, 2005

NOTE: Photographs and related stories are available at
http://umns.umc.org.

A UMNS Report
By Vicki Brown*

Emmanuel Galloway carried only clothes as he and some 250 other Dillard
University students fled the wrath of Hurricane Katrina. He watched in
horror as one of their buses caught fire, destroying the few belongings
those students were taking from New Orleans to Centenary College in
Shreveport, La.

Galloway and other Dillard students and faculty staying at Centenary
College said people at the college and in the community had been
wonderful. Both institutions are related to the United Methodist Church.

Churches, individuals and businesses in Shreveport donated food,
clothes, and toiletries, and provided buses, cab fare, and plane fare to
get students home. "This is seeing people who walk their faith and live
it," said Freddie Hill, vice president for campus life at Dillard, who
traveled with the students to Centenary and has been arranging
transportation home.

"We've seen day-to-day miracles. We needed a bus to take students home;
a church gave us a bus," Hill said. One man paid $900 for three cabs to
drive students home to Dallas.

All of the students who lived on campus were safely evacuated to
Centenary, said Marvalene Hughes, who became president of Dillard in
July. But, she said, she has no way of knowing if any of the students
who lived off campus or faculty are still in New Orleans. Enrollment is
about 2,000.

Meanwhile, the campus at Dillard, one of the denomination's historically
black colleges, is flooded with five to eight feet of water. Hughes is
struggling to set up a command center and a Web page at www.dillard.edu
to stay in touch with students and faculty. While she tries to figure
out how to make payroll, she confers with insurers about coverage.

"We don't know how to assess the damage at this point," Hughes said. Two
engineers trying to assess damage were waiting Thursday to be airlifted
out of the city.

"Dillard will be back and better as soon as possible,'' Hughes vowed,
adding that she is investigating alternate sites and any other
possibilities that will allow classes to resume.

"We've had unbelievable offers," she said, with some colleges offering
free semesters or in-state tuition, and others, including Centenary,
extending fall enrollment for students affected by the hurricane.

Hughes, however, worries that students who enroll elsewhere will not
return when Dillard reopens. She urged students to wait. "We will
re-open and provide two semesters of college this year. We were a great,
top-flight university, but we intend to become even better."

Some students were determined to stick with Dillard.

"I'm going to wait, even if we lose a semester," said Veronica Sumner, a
sophomore from Little Rock, Ark., who was staying with a friend in
Shreveport.

Galloway, a sophomore from Dallas, agreed. Evacuated last year because
of Hurricane Ivan, he has faith that college officials will get the
school operating.

"I stay optimistic," Galloway says. "It'll work out for the best."

Depending on the damage, Hughes said the college might be able to erect
temporary buildings at the campus.

The United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry will collect
donations on behalf of Dillard to help with the university's hurricane
recovery. Staff members are working with college officials to find space
to set up a command center in Atlanta or Washington.

The agency pledged to advance Dillard its $250,000 apportionment from
the Black College Fund immediately as well as an additional $50,000 from
the University College Fund to help with hurricane relief, said the Rev.
Jerome King Del Pino, top staff executive.

Wanda Bigham, staff executive for schools, colleges, and universities,
said the agency would pay for transportation home for the students still
left at Centenary.

Angella Current-Felder, executive director of the Office of Loans and
Scholarships, said her office has already received calls from students
at Tulane and other colleges closed because of the hurricane. New
procedures will accommodate loan and scholarship recipients affected by
the hurricane. If necessary, special repayment arrangements will be
made.

Dillard was the only United Methodist-related institution that suffered
severe damage in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The college had both
flooding from the levee break and wind damage from the actual storm.
Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., suffered some minor roof damage and
has numerous trees down, but expected to resume classes Sept. 5. Rust
College in Holly Springs, Miss., and Lambuth University in Jackson,
Tenn., also reported minor weather-related damage.

Del Pino said Centenary's quick response to aid Dillard shows the
"genius of connectionalism" of the United Methodist Church. "In this
very traumatic experience, it is possible for us as a denomination to
give thanks for the provisions to care for institutions, especially
Dillard," he said.

The Rev. Betsy Eaves, chaplain at Centenary, said despite the strain of
the bus fire and leaving their belongings at the dorms in New Orleans,
the Dillard students were "in good spirits."

"They've been overwhelmed by the generosity of the churches and
individuals," Eaves said.

An online link to donate directly to Dillard will be posted soon at
www.gbhem.org/hurricaneresponse.html. Contributions can also be mailed
to the Dillard Hurricane Relief Fund, c/o the General Board of Higher
Education and Ministry, P.O. Box 340007, Nashville, Tenn. 37203-0007.

*Brown is an associate editor and writer in the Office of
Interpretation, United Methodist General Board of Higher Education and
Ministry.

News media contact: Kathy Noble, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org

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