Sept. 7, 2005
MEDIA ADVISORY
EDITORS: The University of Michigan community has responded in many ways to aid those affected by Hurricane Katrina and to contribute U-M resources, expertise and support. Following are some brief updates on the events and activities underway. Let us know if you would like more information about any of these items. Updates will be posted to our Web site at http://www.umich.edu/katrina.html.
Hurricane Katrina: U-M's events, news, housing, teaching resources
VIGIL: The Michigan Student Assembly has organized a vigil for victims of Hurricane Katrina at 8 p.m. on Thursday (Sept. 8) on the U-M Diag. Community members are invited.
PANEL DISCUSSION: The Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, School of Public Health and College of Engineering are sponsoring a panel discussion at 3 p.m. Friday (Sept. 9) in the Pendleton Room of the Michigan Union. The panel, titled "First Response to the Hurricane Katrina Disaster," will feature experts discussing what happened in the Gulf and why it has resulted in the largest natural disaster in U.S. history. For more information, visit: http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?Releases/2005/Sep05/r090705f.
BENEFIT CONCERT: The School of Music and University Musical Society will present a benefit concert at 3 p.m. Sept. 11 at the Power Center. Music School faculty and students will perform a program of music from and about New Orleans and the Mississippi and Louisiana Gulf Coast. Proceeds will benefit the hurricane recovery effort through the American Red Cross, Second Harvest and the National Humane Society. For more information, visit: http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?Releases/2005/Sep05/r090705e.
ADMISSIONS: U-M schools and colleges are making every effort to accommodate university students whose studies have been disrupted by Hurricane Katrina. So far, 27 undergraduate students have been admitted to the University and dozens more inquiries and applications for admission have been received and are being rapidly processed. Dozens of inquiries also have been received at the graduate level, and at least 15 students have been admitted so far into programs such as the Law School, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, College of Engineering, School of Public Health, and Rackham Graduate School.
These students are being admitted as non-degree students. That means they will earn academic credits which will transfer back to their home university. The University is identifying financial aid to cover their full cost of tuition in Ann Arbor.
We have reached out to offer our assistance to a number of universities in the affected region including Tulane, Xavier, Dillard, Loyola, Southern, and the University of New Orleans. We also are working cooperatively with U-M-Flint, U-M-Dearborn, Eastern Michigan University and Washtenaw Community College to place students and offer them access to the courses they need.
HOUSING: University Housing has been able to make on-campus housing available to many of these additional students through cancellations in the residence halls and spaces in Northwood campus apartments. In addition, campus housing officials are working with the City of Ann Arbor to identify off-campus housing spaces that are available to displaced students and their families.
U-M School of Information faculty and students have put together an online system to help match hurricane victims in need of housing with the thousands of Americans offering housing, spare rooms and vacant apartments or houses. The site is http://katrinahousing.net/.
STUDENT WELL-BEING: The University continues to check on the well-being of our current students and offer counseling and other support to students whose families have been affected by the hurricane. We have made contact with about three-quarters of the 82 U-M undergraduate and graduate students who are from the region affected by Katrina, and we are working to reach the others and offer our support and assistance.
A number of news organizations have asked us for names of students who have been affected by the hurricane. For privacy reasons, we cannot release student names and we are not comfortable adding to their stress by offering them as interview subjects. However, if we learn of students who are comfortable being interviewed we will share their contact information as appropriate.
FUND-RAISING: Nearly $53,000 was raised to aid hurricane victims through fundraisers associated with last week's U-M/Northern Illinois football game.
The U-M Office of Development has set up a designated fund to aid U-M students affected by Katrina and displaced students temporarily studying at U-M. The Office of Financial Aid will direct these funds to assist students with tuition, travel, emergency funds, etc. A number of students have already come to OFA for help with financial crises as a result of the hurricane. Contributions to the Student Relief Fund/Katrina may be made to the U-M Office of Development, Attention: Vice President's Office, Wolverine Tower, 3003 S. State St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1288.
VOLUNTEER SERVICE: The Ginsberg Center for Community Service Learning is working to organize groups of students to serve as volunteers in the hurricane recovery during Spring Break. Additional volunteer efforts are being organized within the schools and colleges, and academic units have identified some funding resources to support student volunteer efforts.
So far, 250 Health System employees (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, psychiatrists, psychologists, etc.) have responded to a message asking for volunteers willing to be deployed to the hurricane zone if needed. The Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) that went to Mississippi from our region last week included at least one U-M person, a Mott pharmacist. DMATs are pre-trained emergency teams that are ready to go at a moment's notice, and indeed they were deployed last Monday.
TEACHING RESOURCES: The U-M Center for Research on Learning and Teaching has created guidelines for instructors on how to address this national tragedy in their classroom discussions (http://www.crlt.umich.edu/publinks/hurricaneguidelines.html).
Contact: Kelly Cunningham
Phone: (734) 615-2447
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