UC Welcomes Katrina Refugees

When second-year Tulane Law School student Katherine Pettit relocated to Houston last Saturday with a backpack full of clothes, she was sure she would return within the next few days.

But Pettit's expectations were swiftly swept away as flood waters from Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans last week, wiping out parts of Tulane and most of the city.

"It was really a shock," Pettit said. "You know at the back of your head that it could be real, but it has never happened before. I woke up one morning (in Houston) and turned on the news, and all of a sudden the city was underwater and we couldn't go back."

Pettit is one of nearly 20 displaced students from Tulane Law School who are now starting their semester over at Boalt Hall School of Law at UC Berkeley, one of many schools and universities around the nation that are offering temporary enrollment for the fall semester on their campuses. The students will begin class registration this week.

The university has also offered 50 enrollment spaces in its undergraduate schools. As of yesterday, 41 spots had been filled, university officials said.

The hurricane, which has reportedly left up to 10,000 dead and thousands more homeless in the Gulf Coast region, has left Pettit and other students with an unsettling sense of insecurity, as they must quickly adapt to a new school and unfamiliar settings.

"The normal survival mechanisms you use when tragedies happen just don‘t work," said Pettit, a Half Moon Bay, California native. "Normally if something goes wrong in the family, you go and find your favorite mug to make tea, or get into your pajamas. But the things you normally go to to make yourself feel better just aren't there."

Despite possibly losing all of the belongings she left behind at her off-campus apartment, Pettit considers herself lucky: She did not have family in the region, and her friends left New Orleans before the floods hit.

Still, the sudden change has been inconvenient to say the least, she said.

Pettit and classmate Michelle Lee, a third-year Tulane law student, spent yesterday afternoon making calls from Pettit's temporary home at the Bancroft Hotel, hoping to find permanent housing.

Lee is currently staying with a Tulane alumna in San Francisco and has commuted to Berkeley everyday to try to register for classes.

Both Pettit and Lee said the campus and city community have welcomed them with open arms.

"The community has been really amazing and supportive and students at Berkeley have been amazing," Pettit said.

Boalt professor Andrew Guzman, one of the faculty members spearheading the law school's efforts to accommodate displaced students, said the that the school is doing all it can to help the students get settled.

"Everybody here has been supportive, helpful and on board," he said. "We've got some open issues but the key thing is that they are here and we are going to make their semester work."

University officials are helping students find housing on and off campus, freeing up 16 spaces in the Unit 1 residence halls. The Tang Center has also created drop-in discussions and support groups to assist those still reeling from the devastation, said Peter Dietrich, the center's medical director.

"It's really been in contrast to all the horrible stories you hear coming out of New Orleans with looting and the violence," Lee said. "I think that in catastrophes, you see both sides of human nature and you're just grateful to be seeing the good side of it."

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