Wesleyan has joined nationwide relief efforts to help those affected by the disaster that occurred nearly two weeks ago by offering fall classes to Connecticut students displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, approximately 70,000 students attend a university or college in the hurricane-impacted area. The Society for College and University Planning estimates that close to 200 institutions are offering temporary enrollment or other services.

Several students are from the areas destroyed or damaged by Hurricane Katrina. A handful of students have returned to Wesleyan while their families deal with their losses and try to start new lives.

“My family’s struggling to find temporary footing in Houston,” said Hunter King ’08 of New Orleans. “I believe they’re moving into a new apartment Thursday. My sister just began her senior year at a new school. My dad doesn’t have a job yet and doesn’t really know what to do. They’ve also temporarily adopted a friend of my sister’s because her mother could only find work in a small town with no real education options. I was kind of glad to get up here, so I could confuse matters less. I wanted the Wesleyan bubble back.”

John Rushing ’08, another New Orleans resident, evacuated to a small town in northern Mississippi. As the storm worsened, he realized he wouldn’t be able to return home, purchased the essential items he needed from a local shopping mall, and flew back to Wesleyan from Memphis, Tennessee.

“For me, the most difficult thing about all of this is trying to cope with the fact that New Orleans will never be the same again,” Rushing said. “I guess it sounds kind of petty when juxtaposed with the severe circumstances of the evacuees, but what really scares me are all the little questions about the city’s future. New Orleans raised me, and I can’t bear the thought that all of the things and people that made that city beautiful may never come back.”

After much discussion among the Administration and faculty leadership, and consultation with the WSA, the University decided to invite displaced students from other universities to enroll in any class with seats available. The Career Resource Center will also be accessible to help affected students set up internships or volunteer projects for next semester.

As of Thursday morning, one student had enrolled and eight or nine were in the application process. The University aims to have all applications submitted by Sept. 12, and all visiting students in class by Sept. 19. It can accommodate up to 20 enrollees.

The University expects most visiting students to commute, but there are approximately five housing spots available to those who are unable to do so. None of the dislocated students will have to pay additional costs to enroll at Wesleyan.

“All of us, of course, were watching what was happening in New Orleans, and I think in the first day or two it became clear to us that the schools were not going to be able to operate this semester,” said Vice President and Secretary of the University Peter Patton. “This is a sort of work in progress. Obviously no one has ever done this before due to the nature of this disaster, so we tried to set up general parameters on Friday and go from there.”

“Our initial thoughts were no additional costs to the students for the tuition, so if they have already paid [their colleges] we will not charge them, but hope to recover the money from [their colleges],” Patton said. “If they have not paid, we would expect them to pay what they intended to pay [their colleges].”

Other administrators took up a similar tack.

“To the extent that there are those who would want to take classes, we are available for them,” said Director of University Communications Justin Harmon. “Our capacity is not enormous. We want to make sure the students we take on would be good matches and that this would be a good environment for them academically. Fortunately, Wesleyan is one of a large number of schools to offer this opportunity to those displaced students. If we do not have a class available to meet their needs or desires, other universities might be a better option.”