Back to Tulane: Waterlogged and homeless
Richy Leitner was about to begin his second year at Tulane University late last summer when Hurricane Katrina disrupted his life and academics. He's back in New Orleans as the university prepares to reopen its classrooms.
I feel like I have been very optimistic in my first few posts, but there is a reason for that. I am loving virtually every second that I spend back here, with the obvious exception of those particular seconds during which I have to wake up early for my orientation duties, and I think the city is on the fast track to recovery, so there is a lot to be optimistic about. That being said, there are several problems that are making things a bit difficult for Tulane to fully return to normalcy.
A very straightforward one is the housing issue. Although the uptown area where most students reside was not crushed by the storm, many houses were all but destroyed by water damage. The landlords and construction teams have worked to get the houses back to livable conditions, but there are a lot of houses. Depending on the severity of the damage and progress of repair, students have had to cope with this issue in different ways. Some upperclassmen whose off-campus housing was damaged severely have been forced to return to the freshman dorms, where a few upper-class floors have been created. Others have been able to find a different place to live off campus, but this group would be considered more the lucky few than the majority.
An interesting group is the students whose houses are being repaired but are not quite finished. People in this set are not going to go look for and pay for alternative accommodations because they will soon have their old houses back.
Some of them are living out of hotels, but hotels are very expensive, so this is not the best option for most college kids, who need their money for more important and rewarding activities than providing shelter from the elements. So these temporarily homeless souls must do what any collegians worth their weight in stolen dining hall flatware have to do at some point in their college career: crash on their buddies' couches. This happens all the time, but now it is relatively long term. Two weeks to a month is the estimated time for a lot of these houses, and that is about 11 dude-get-the-hell-off-my-couch years. My fraternity house normally houses eight people. Only five were set to live there this year initially, but after the storm the remaining three slots were quickly filled. Right now on any given night there are at least 15 guys strewn around the various cots, futons, couches, and other somewhat less welcoming nooks offered by the house.
But for now we must be accepting of those without traditional beds, as they do require sleep to fuel to be fresh for a new day of sitting on the couch and eating Doritos.
The law enforcement is another interesting issue. Crime is apparently way down in New Orleans, so it seems that the police and National Guard combination is doing a stellar job. But still, it does not exactly flow with the New Orleans atmosphere. It is not a natural feeling to be sitting out on the fraternity house balcony late at night and see various Army vehicles passing by every so often, carrying armed soldiers to make sure everything goes smoothly. Everyone knows they are there to keep order in a city with potential to become very dangerous, but it is not something you want to see where you live. Barhopping and automatic weapons make strange bedfellows.
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