Harvard Versus the Hurricane

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has been grim. Decaying human bodies float in the heavily polluted water that has inundated the streets of New Orleans, a once-vibrant city. Even though the refugees are being evacuated, the streets are being drained, and the corpses are being removed, it still seems slightly impious to speak of a bright side or a silver lining. To laud anything good that has happened, any mitigating factors, seems to make light of the enormity of the whole disaster, to disrespect the dead, to spit upon the newly homeless with an air of moldy optimism.

But, praise where praise is due. We are happy to note the collective response of Harvard’s faculties—and the numerous other universities nationwide—to the devastation wrought by Katrina’s cruel gales. Any exertions Harvard makes on behalf of Hurricane Katrina’s victims will necessarily look meager next to the billions of dollars that will be spent to save, salvage, and resurrect New Orleans in the coming months and years. Nonetheless, each invaluable life which Harvard rescues from painful disruption or utter ruin represents a laudable success and makes the country a better place.

So far, Harvard has sensibly concentrated on providing education to displaced students. Almost every school at Harvard has agreed to accept 25 displaced students for the fall semester. A disrupted education is all too often a terminated education, and so Harvard is helping to ensure that well over a hundred students receive their diplomas on time. The Extension School is also offering tuition-free, AP-level courses to displaced high school students who relocated to the Boston area. Katrina’s curse should not follow any student through the coming years, as it would if they were forced to forgo education this fall.

Harvard has also been wise in opting to waive tuition for these displaced students. As most such students have already paid their fall tuitions at their native New Orleans colleges, the tuition waiver spares these students from demanding a tuition refund from their devastated alma maters. Obviously, for many students waiving tuition would also be a necessary condition of attending Harvard this fall, so the tuition waiver is doubly appropriate.

Only one school at Harvard, the Harvard Business School (HBS), has yet to announce whether it will enroll displaced students. Hopefully HBS can act swiftly and join Harvard’s other faculties in offering a helping hand to those who need one.

Various parts of Harvard are also looking for other ways to help Hurricane Katrina’s victims. Harvard School of Public Health’s Harvard Humanitarian Initiative is formulating plans to deploy some of Harvard’s public health specialists to areas threatened by every manner of disease. The Graduate School of Education may try to find solutions to the problems raised by Katrina’s destruction of K-12 education facilities. These efforts are also incredibly heartwarming. Any chance for Harvard’s crème de la crème collection of experts to use their collective wisdom and expertise to solve a humanitarian disaster is a chance which must be snatched up before the damage is irreversible. We are happy that Harvard has recognized its place in the national ethical community. And with all of Harvard’s students and staff, we hope for a speedy recovery for New Orleans and its residents.