Dan DaranciangAs the semester winds down and workloads pile up, Tulane students who have spent the past semester at Washington University are eager to head back to New Orleans and to engage in the city’s rebuilding efforts. Although many of these students have enjoyed their time spent at the University, they seem to have no reservations about returning to Tulane, excited by the rebuilding experiences to come.
Looking back on the past few months, freshman Stephen Frapart said, “I met a whole bunch of nice kids, took a bunch of great classes.this semester was everything that I could have asked for.”
Nonetheless, his initial considerations of remaining on this campus were permanently abandoned after he realized that “those experiences that I’ll be a part of at Tulane with the rebuilding efforts.will help me learn so much that I wouldn’t necessarily be able to learn here.”
Jackie Singer, also a freshman, admitted that “I am going to be sad to leave Wash. U., there’s no question,” yet she’s excited finally to begin studying at the institution that she’s always wanted to attend. One especially positive aspect of her past semester in St. Louis is that she was able to forge friendships with several other visiting students from Tulane that she will be able to carry with her back to New Orleans.
Other Tulane transfers report an unsatisfactory semester spent at Washington University. Senior Andrea Dube also finds herself awaiting her return to Tulane after being relatively unimpressed with the University’s assistance during the transition period and the school’s more subdued social life.
“As a Tulane student, and a senior, it’s been quite isolating here, and it seems as though all Tulane students have really stuck together,” she said.
Although Dube notes that the University and Tulane are quite similar in terms of student body makeup and the academic scene, she’s noticed a marked difference in study habits. “While we are used to students in New Orleans rolling into an 8 a.m. class directly from the bar, all the students here have actually done all of the reading.and all of next week’s.”
Differences such as these aside, issues surrounding tuition payments stand out as the most negative experience for all visiting students. While most of the schools around the country either allowed Tulane students to attend at no cost or admitted them on the condition that Tulane could keep the tuition money, Washington University required payment.
Although visiting students at the University will not end up paying more than they would have at Tulane, due to Tulane’s promise that all payments from this semester will be credited towards their future semesters at Tulane, many students are still extremely angered by the University’s actions.
As Frapart put it, “I understand that Wash. U. is a business and trying to make money, but in these circumstances you could be understanding and forgiving.” Singer agreed that this move “made me really mad, especially because Tulane really needs the money right now.”
Dube pointed out that Tulane students will also face tuition hurdles when Tulane provides an extra semester in May and June, known as a “Lagniappe” semester.
According to Dube, the visiting students at Washington University will not be qualified for Tulane’s offers regarding this semester, which will allow those who paid Tulane in the fall to attend this semester for free, and will grant $5,000 credit to Tulane graduate school for all seniors who paid in the fall.
Many Tulane students are looking forward to joining the rebuilding efforts that they have heard about over the past few months. Administrators at Tulane have been keeping in constant contact with the students, informing them on what the school is doing to get ready for its reopening and even shooting videos of the school and the city to provide proof.
According to Frapart, “they’re making every effort possible to really try to keep our class intact.it’s going to be so unique and special to be part of the Tulane class, what we’ve gone through and what we will go through.”
Singer notes that in all of the Tulane president’s e-mails and speeches, the main focus has been on how the students will play a large role in the rebuilding of the city. “I’m sure it will be everything.from fundraising to actual rebuilding.My college experience is going to be a lot different than it would have been, but I’m excited,” she said.
Dube agreed, saying that “the fact that pretty much all of the students are returning to a devastated city is so overwhelming.”
Frapart also anticipated a revival of Tulanian camaraderie, noting, “[School spirit] will be so much more intensified and everyone will be more passionate.”
This spirit is sure to persist even with the altered conditions that the circumstances pose. Dube’s apartment was completely destroyed in the flooding, so next semester she will be living on a cruise ship in the same water that consumed her home. Nonetheless, she sums up the Tulane student body’s sentiments as she states, “New Orleans is an extraordinary place, and while right now it is made up of rows of rotten refrigerators and moldy debris, I truly can’t wait to be part of the rebuilding effort.”