page_title: Effect of Hurricane Katrina on Tulane University
section_title: Diaspora
hierarchical_section_title: Effect of Hurricane Katrina on Tulane University / Diaspora
caption_attribution_description: In faculty dining room at Tulane is these impressive quilt representing all organizations that took in Tulane students in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina
context_page_description: As a result of Hurricane Katrina and its effects on New Orleans, Tulane University was closed for the second time in its history—the first being during the American Civil War. The university closed for four months during Katrina, as compared to four years during the Civil War.
  The School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine's distance learning programs and courses stayed active.
  Prior to Katrina, Tulane University was the largest private employer in the city of New Orleans; immediately afterward it became the city's single largest employer of any type, public or private.
  Also as a result of Katrina's impact, the football team was forced to play its entire season on the road due to Katrina's destruction of the Superdome.
context_section_description: The American Council on Education and the Association of American Universities urged their member institutions to help displaced students from Tulane and the area's other universities. Hundreds of universities (492 in total) made provisions to allow Tulane students (and students from other affected colleges) to enroll as "provisional students" for the fall semester. When the university reopened in the Spring, Tulane transferred credits earned by students elsewhere. To further help students graduate on schedule, Tulane offered two academic semesters between January and June 2006. A regular spring term began January 17, with a seven-week "Lagniappe Semester" which ran from May 15 through the end of June.
  Tulane School of Medicine relocated its students and essential teaching staff to Houston, Texas, and continued its fall semester at Baylor College of Medicine.  This was aided in part by the support of Michael DeBakey, pioneering heart surgeon, graduate of Tulane School of Medicine and chancellor emeritus at Baylor College of Medicine.  Students taking the basic science medical courses used the facilities at Baylor, while 3rd and 4th year students did clinical rotations in several of the nearby teaching hospitals located in Houston, Galveston, and Temple. Tulane attempted to keep the medical students together, and discouraged transfer, except in the most extenuating of circumstances.  Students were able to request transfers, but many medical schools supported Tulane's attempts to retain their student body and thus their school, although some students were successful in their appeals to transfer. The School of Medicine's stay in Texas ('Tulane West' or 'Tulane at Baylor') ended, with the students and faculty returning to New Orleans in July 2006.
caption: In the faculty dining room at Tulane is this impressive quilt representing all organizations that took in Tulane students in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.
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