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Post-Katrina, Xavier students return to energize campus
By ANN RICHARDS
Donald Brown was in the first week of his first term at Xavier University of Louisiana when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in August 2005.
“Someone banged on my door at 10 in the morning, yelling that a hurricane was coming,” he said. “We had five hours to evacuate.”
Although it would be four months before he could return to campus, Brown and fellow Michigan students Breyanna Grays and Caneita Creighton — all pre-med majors on full academic scholarships — were among the fortunate who survived the storm unharmed. Although they had left most of their belongings behind, the trio came back to off-campus apartments and dorm rooms that had miraculously escaped damage.
 Pre-med majors (from left) Caneita Creighton, Breyanna Grays and Donald Brown are happy to be back at Xavier. |
“Lots of students from Louisiana are still struggling — their families lost everything,” said Creighton, whose second-floor apartment in Metairie remained untouched while the ground floor units flooded and the third floor was ruined by wind and rain. “Some of my friends’ families have left the state for good. There’s nothing here for them.”
“When I first came back, everything near campus was dead,” said Grays, who like Creighton is a senior preparing to take the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) in April.
“No shops, no restaurants, no people. It looked horrible. None of the buildings had been gutted or cleaned up. There were no bushes, no grass. It’s coming back slowly, though it’s still tough for off-campus students to find places to eat or relax between classes.”
Despite almost $50 million in wind, water and mud damage to Xavier’s campus, none of the three Michigan students — all from the Flint area — considered changing schools. Instead, they went home, enrolled in classes at the Ann Arbor and Flint campuses of the University of Michigan, and returned to New Orleans when Xavier re-opened in January 2006.
Nearly three-quarters of Xavier’s students returned after the storm. Thanks to private gifts and grants, including $500,000 in support of campus reconstruction and scholarships from the Mott Foundation, the historically black university had its library, labs and classrooms rebuilt and ready for use.
Dillard University, another highly regarded historically black institution in New Orleans, also received $500,000 from Mott for scholarship assistance. In addition to these grants, $1 million was given to the Southern Education Foundation in Atlanta, Georgia to provide emergency relief funding for both universities.
Xavier’s refurbished facilities are a bonus for returning students, but it was the university’s faculty and supportive atmosphere that fed their resolve to come back to New Orleans, say Grays, Creighton and Brown.
“You’re more than just a name at Xavier,” Creighton said. “The faculty knows you and they care about you.”
“At Xavier, you’re always taught by full professors, never [graduate student assistants],” Brown said.
“Socially, Xavier is really comfortable. The students are focused, but you don’t feel that intense sense of competition you get at some other schools. It’s more about learning and less about the grade.”
Small classes are also a plus, Grays said.
“There’s a personal relationship between you and the teachers,” she said. “You don’t have to have an appointment to visit faculty; you’re always welcome.”
There’s a reason Xavier University is rated number one in the nation for placing African American students into medical schools, said Creighton, who is interested in pursuing an MD-PhD degree.
“They push you to figure out why you want to be a doctor,” she said. “They make you come up with a personal statement about your goals. And they encourage you to continuously update your resume — and they’ll pester you with e-mails if you forget.”
Although you can still see the high water marks on some university buildings, Xavier’s campus is alive with activity. New grass has sprung up in the university’s common areas, construction crews are busy rebuilding the university chapel, and repairs have been started on the administration building.
The 92-year-old university still faces tremendous challenges. Much of the campus clean-up and restoration was completed with money borrowed from the university’s small endowment or with bridge loans that must be repaid. A Hurricane Relief Fund has been established, with a goal of raising $20 million. Many students need scholarship help to remain in school.
Still, it is good to be back, say Grays, Creighton and Brown.
“While I was away, I missed the professors, my friends, the relationships I had here,” Brown said.