Student’s Workshop:
Compassion Among Campuses
After three hurricanes, the Gulf Coast
paralegal schools slowly mend
with help from nearby programs and beyond.
By Patrick Vuong
January/February 2006 Table of Contents
Rivers of sewage submerged miles of highway. Intense
winds shattered houses and transformed debris into deadly missiles.
Millions of people struggled to survive without food or power. In
one of the worst storm seasons in history, Hurricanes Katrina, Rita
and Wilma obliterated entire communities throughout the
Gulf
Coast.
After the storms destroyed an untold number of
lives and infrastructures, many college paralegal programs in the
South and beyond have strengthened their bonds in the legal academic
community by helping the recovery efforts of devastated paralegal
programs and displaced students. “Every paralegal program I have
been in contact with has offered any kind of help I need,” said Karn
L. Weirman, director of University of New Orleans’s
paralegal studies program. “[Other colleges] have provided course
academic information, transfer credit information, tuition
exemptions, … counseling, continual communications, and most
importantly, friendship and moral support.”
Both Louisiana State University
and North Harris College
opened their doors to displaced paralegal students from UNO after
Hurricane Katrina. “It was very gratifying to be able to help out
the students who came to us,” said Charlotte G. DesHotels, LSU’s
paralegal program director. “The displaced students were so grateful
to be able to continue their studies, and it made us feel like we
were doing worthwhile work toward getting their [lives] back to
normal.”
In Florida, Miami Dade College raised funds for Hurricane Katrina victims and
helped students from other schools by enrolling them in a one-stop
registration process without charging late fees, said Sylvia N.
Caballero, director of the college’s
Law Center. But when Hurricane Wilma plowed
through, the college’s 450 paralegal students were without power —
let alone classes — for more than a week.
Meanwhile, other academic organizations are
helping in any way they can. The American Bar Association granted
extensions for reports to several schools, including UNO and New
Orleans-based Tulane University.
The American Association for Paralegal Education offered a refund to Tulane
University’s paralegal studies director,
Nancy Wagner, who was unable to attend AAfPE’s fall conference due
to the hurricanes. And Thomson Learning advised Weirman on textbooks
and how to set up Internet courses to supplement UNO’s onsite
classes for the abbreviated fall semester.
In the Kenner
area of the Big Easy, paralegal students at
Herzing
College applied for funds
donated by other Herzing campuses, which raised money through bake
sales, silent auctions and donations. “The outpouring of assistance
from all over the United States
and the world is a sign that we are not walking alone,” said Susan
C. Gebhardt, Herzing academic dean.
Bouncing Back
Despite the flooded classrooms and lack of
utilities, many campuses are determined to get their students back
behind desks. In Florida — where Hurricane Wilma killed at least 10
people statewide and knocked out power to more than 2.5 million
homes and businesses — some paralegal schools reopened their
classrooms as soon as a week following the tempest.
“Planning has been an essential part [of the
recovery] and is enabling us to open back up and begin classes for
our students,” said Doris Rachles, legal studies coordinator at
South
University’s West Palm Beach campus. “We learned a lot from
Hurricane Jeanne in 2004, and those lessons, while tough, are
helping us now. … The key consideration is for our students, many
who evacuated, but are returning.”
When Katrina flooded classrooms at Tulane,
Wagner was forced to relocate to a satellite campus in Jefferson
Parish. There, she coordinated an abbreviated six-week fall semester
for her program’s 175 paralegal students. “When you receive e-mails
from students in Atlanta,
Houston,
Dallas,
Florida and points beyond, all
filled with stories of upheaval and personal suffering, it’s tough
to know what to say to make things better,” Wagner said. “The good
news is that many [recent graduates] have already found good jobs in
their new cities. I believe that speaks well of their ability to
bounce back from trauma, and also says a lot about the high level of
preparation and education they have received at Tulane.”
Herzing welcomed back its New Orleans students on Oct. 31, though an
unknown number of its 63 paralegal students evacuated before the
storm hit. “The program was down, but we were never out,” said Jean
Senac, Herzing’s paralegal program chairman. “The students
understand the value of graduating from an ABA-approved program now
more than ever. It’s so wonderful to see the determination these
students possess. They want to finish. They want to better their
lives.”
Road to Recovery
Many school officials said they are optimistic about
the future but admit the road to full recovery is a long one.
“Normalcy, in some respects, will never return,” Herzing President
Gail Sistrunk Pena said. “What was had is forever gone, but we will
make this community a better place. We, as individuals and as
members of an academic community, hope to provide for our students,
faculty and staff a sense of purpose.”
In Florida,
Hurricane Wilma devastated Dade and Broward counties, said Laura
Schantz, paralegal program director at
Broward
Community College. In
early November many of the 300 paralegal students were still without
power, including gasoline, and the campus was extensively damaged.
“I don’t know how long it will take to get back to normalcy,”
Schantz said. “Our school was hit the hardest since all of our
campuses are in Broward County.”
In
Louisiana, UNO’s Weirman said the campus is
doing everything in its power to get back to normal, but students
and faculty still don’t have the basic necessities others take for
granted. “Many lost everything they owned — their homes, cars, jobs,
pets,” Weirman said. Students and faculty continue to seek funding
for housing, daycare, transportation and other essential needs.
Meanwhile, the school and the paralegal program need to replace
computer systems, audio-visual equipment and other teaching
resources.
"Don’t forget that just because Katrina and Rita
are history," Weirman said, "that doesn’t mean that their effects
are not still with us every day."
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