Free Choice for ‘Katrina Frosh’

Unique situations require unique responses. It’s not every year that a hurricane devastates a U.S. city, sending its residents into exile. And in response to Hurricane Katrina, colleges around the country, including Harvard, have shown an extraordinary response to the needs of students, including freshmen like myself, who have been displaced. In my semester-long college career, I have known nothing but Harvard, and I want to finish my education here. But Harvard has refused to allow us to apply, citing the rules of the Visiting Undergraduate Study Program.

In requesting the chance to apply for transfer for next semester, the visiting freshmen from Tulane University are not asking Harvard to compromise its standards or cross any ethical boundaries. Instead, we are seeking the reasonable treatment of a complex issue. The immediately obvious objection to allowing us to submit transfer applications is that our transferring would violate an agreement with Tulane to return all visiting students and that such an application is prohibited under Harvard’s visiting student policy.

In reality, there is no agreement between Harvard and Tulane that all the visiting students will return. My father has been in contact with Scott Cowen, the President of Tulane, both through e-mail and in person, concerning such an agreement and, if it even existed, asking for my release from it. Cowen definitively stated that I am “free to withdraw from Tulane at any time and pursue [my] education wherever [I] desire[].” This recognizes the right of students to make their own academic choices and seek admission to the schools that they feel best suit their needs.

Furthermore, allowing Tulane freshmen to apply for the spring admission does not violate any ethical obligations to the Tulane. With 90 percent of Tulane’s class of 2009 already having stated its intention to return to campus, Tulane is not worried about losing a handful of students to Harvard. Tulane is not interested in depriving students of their liberty and forcing them to return to New Orleans. Our applying to Harvard is sanctioned by Cowen, so any arguments opposing the transfer of Tulane freshmen must be rooted in the interests of Harvard and its student body.

While it is true that visiting student policy prohibits transfer applications—and that we were accepted to Harvard this fall as visiting students—such rules must be reconsidered in light of the unique situation Hurricane Katrina has created. It must be recognized that these rules were not designed to apply to freshmen. Under normal circumstances, only students who have completed a year at another university are eligible to apply to Harvard’s visiting student program, and all further rules were constructed under the assumption that visiting students had a home institution at which they spent their freshman year. Tulane cannot be considered a home institution to freshmen who have not attended a single class or spent more than a day or two on campus. I feel no connections to my supposed home institution. I only feel dismay that the events of the past few months have unfolded so unfortunately for Tulane.

Because a basic presupposition of the visiting student program has changed, the standard rules should be reconsidered. And aside from changing the application deadline, visiting freshmen are asking for no special treatment. We desire only the chance to fill out an application, and we do not expect Harvard to compromise its rigorous standards for us. Such an application, regardless of its outcome, would give us the chance to finally settle down at a single school and truly be part of a home institution.

By adjusting the timetable of the transfer process, Harvard would greatly assist the visiting freshmen and harm no one. Harvard has been outstandingly helpful and supportive over the past three months. Judging from the faculty, employees, and fellow students that I have come to know, I can only hope that this great university will understand the practicality of allowing the Tulane freshmen to apply now rather than later. I am deeply grateful for the fall I have spent getting to know this community, and I only ask for the opportunity to submit an application.

Thank you to everyone who has made my time here so memorable, and I hope to continue my career with you.



Adam P. Nikolich, a visiting freshman, lives in Wigglesworth Hall.