Tulane Students Rally Against Odds

Displaced Tulane students and Undergraduate Council (UC) representatives were joined by a few Harvard undergrads outside the Science Center yesterday in a rally demanding that administrators allow Tulane freshman to apply for transfer admission to Harvard for the spring semester.

The relatively small group of protestors, armed with phrases such as “Tulane-Not Too Late” and “We Love Harvard,” was backed by the support of a recent UC position paper saying that Harvard should revise its original agreement forcing Tulane students to return to New Orleans at the end of the semseter. The small gathering disbanded almost as quickly as they had gathered.

When asked what she hoped would come of the rally, Amy C. McClendon, a Tulane freshman at Harvard, said, “Actually I’m not expecting anything. I’m thankful that everyone showed up.”

But UC Student Affairs Committee member Ryan A. Petersen ’08, who participated in yesterday’s rally, said he was concerned with more than just turnout.

“Dean Fitzsimmons has refused to meet with us. He says he’s busy,” Petersen said, adding that Tulane students who wish to remain at Harvard, even if they decide to apply as fall transfer students, should not be forced to return to Tulane in January and face a semester of uncertainty.

Some Tulane upperclassmen, on the other hand, criticized their freshmen counterparts at Harvard for not wanting to return to New Orleans. Sarah M. Hattier, a visiting Tulane sophomore, believes that Tulane freshmen should honor their agreement with Harvard and return to Tulane next semester.

“If they’d like to apply for fall, that would be fine; they wouldn’t be breaking their agreement with Harvard. I feel they’re being opportunistic,” she said.

Some Tulane upperclassmen have not been as polite as Hattier. Laurel P. Purdy, a Tulane freshman, said that the list-serve for Tulane students at Harvard has continually been flooded with remarks lambasting Tulane freshmen for wanting to remain at Harvard in the spring.

“At first it really bothered me. Now I’ve learned to compartamentalize it,” she said. “Nothing they say can change my stance on it.”

Last week, however, Yale College officially told its visiting Tulane students that they would have to return to New Orleans next semester. Purdy said she thought Harvard might consider taking a different stance.

“Harvard’s more progressive than Yale. This could be another place where we could show our progressiveness,” she said.

Purdy, who has befriended several students and feels connected to the Harvard community, said that her time here has become her only freshman experience and that she does not think that she should have to begin another freshman year at Tulane next year.

Remaining diplomatic, Purdy added, “Even if we leave and we can’t transfer until next semester, we will have no animosity towards Harvard because of that.”

The UC and Tulane freshmen at the rally yesterday said they will continue to pressure Harvard administrators, and hope that the rest of the Harvard community will support their cause.because it would allow them to avoid tackling FAIR’s free-speech claims head-on.