University opens heart (and doors) in the wake of devastating Katrina

Perhaps Barry Bloom, dean of the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), expressed the feelings of the Harvard community best when he addressed a group of displaced students from Tulane University who are continuing their studies at Harvard:

“You are our students for the next semester – 100 percent. We are not pleased why you are here, but we are pleased that you are here. Each of you has an individual career path and hopes for the future, and our job is to help you meet those goals.”

Related links:
• Displaced students make a home at Harvard
• Katrina teach-in seeks lessons from disaster
• Diaries of a disaster
• Learn more about what is happening at Harvard regarding the aftermath of Katrina

Deadline for Harvard donation match (up to $100): Oct. 15

A number of Harvard Schools have been actively pursuing arrangements to enable students displaced by Hurricane Katrina to study at the University this fall. In addition to HSPH, Harvard College has accepted and waived tuition for 36 visiting students. Harvard Law School – in cooperation with the Association of American Law Schools – has accepted 24 law students from Tulane and Loyola-New Orleans. Other Schools have made similar arrangements. In addition, the University has agreed to match donations of up to $100 through Oct. 15 to designated relief organizations by faculty members, students, or employees.

Other initiatives are in the works as well. A new humanitarian initiative based at the School of Public Health has been working with the American Red Cross to continue to coordinate and dispatch teams of Harvard doctors and public health workers to the affected areas.

Harvard libraries are making their resources available to scholars whose work has been interrupted, and members of the library’s preservation staff are collaborating with other institutions to assist in the recovery and preservation of important scholarly materials. The Kennedy School of Government has conducted panel discussions on lessons to be learned from Katrina, and other Schools have hosted symposia and teach-ins to educate the community about the disaster.