Hurricane Ivan’s threat of striking New Orleans, which could have put the entire city under 20 feet of water, led Loyola to cancel four days of classes and spurred a massive voluntary evacuation, clogging the city’s highways to an unprecedented level.
More than 600,000 residents of New Orleans evacuated the city over a 24-hour period on Tuesday, Sept. 14, according to The Times-Picayune. The traffic extended for more than 80 miles between New Orleans and Baton Rouge for much of the day.
“It was a six-hour drive to cover the 30 miles between Uptown and Slidell,” English senior Ivan Miller said. He spent the break outside of Nashville, Tenn.
Music performance senior Isabel Mora said it took 25 hours for her to get from New Orleans to Austin, Texas. It was a 13-hour journey for communications senior Megan Kern to drive to Baton Rouge and another nine before she arrived in Houston.
Some students and faculty members blamed Loyola and the Hurricane Emergency Preparedness Team, a committee comprised of 15 administrators, for waiting to announce cancellation of classes until 9 p.m. Sept. 13, leaving little time to prepare for evacuation. Xavier University, University of New Orleans, Tulane University and all Orleans Parish schools had already closed as of the time Loyola’s closure was made public.
James Eiseman, vice president of Student Affairs and chairman of HEPT, contended the committee made the correct decision to close when they did. He explained that the committee met three times on Monday and were in communication with the American Red Cross and the City of New Orleans throughout the day and during their meetings.
The committee met at 5 p.m., but opted to postpone an official decision about cancellations until the following morning at 9 a.m.
HEPT follows an emergency hurricane plan, which is posted on Loyola’s Web site. The plan addresses any storm rated between a tropical storm and a category-five hurricane.
“We factor in all kinds of things in making our decision,” Eiseman said. He remained adamant that UNO, Xavier and Orleans Parish’s closures did not affect Loyola decision to either remain open or close.
“Why would we make a decision based on Xavier, UNO and Orleans Parish schools? It wouldn’t make sense,” he said. He pointed out Tulane’s cancellation was announced only a short time before Loyola’s.
Robert Reed, Residential Life director and member of HEPT, agreed with Eiseman on the committee’s decision to close when it did.
“We got caught off guard by some degree…and the information wasn’t perfect,” Reed said. “You go with the information you got. It’s a hard call to make.”
Not all people were pleased with the decision the HEPT committee made.
According to third-year law student Pamela Stubblefield, no one seemed to know what was going on that Monday evening.
Music business senior Kyle Herbert said he was disappointed with the school for waiting as long as they did to cancel classes, but also said that it was necessary for them to remain closed for as long as they did.
Loyola came under similar criticism in 2002 when both Hurricanes Isidore and Lili threatened New Orleans within a two-week period. The university cancelled three and a half days of classes when Isidore threatened to make landfall, but then only one day of class when Lili, a stronger storm, hit the city. Isidore was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it hit New Orleans.
Eiseman fervently denied that any decisions made by HEPT this year or in years previous were influenced by a desire to avoid potential inconveniences with the academic calendar.
“It’s simply not true,” Eiseman said.
He explained that the decisions made by the committee are always in the best interest of the students’ safety. He added that the committee made it certain there was a student representative at every HEPT meeting.
In an October 2002 Maroon article, Eiseman explained that the decisions made by the committee during Lili were in no way the result of those made during Isidore.
“We looked at this storm as something completely different from Isidore,” Eiseman stated. “We were looking out for the safety of our students,” he explained.
Reed also defended the committee’s decision on Ivan in relation to the storms of 2002.
“This storm was very different from the other ones [Lili and Isidore]…all decisions were made accordingly,” Reed said.
Student Government Association President Martina Mills, communications senior, stated that either herself or Vice President Michele Clark, communications junior, attended every meeting as members of the HEPT and voiced their concerns for the students.
Mills agreed that the committee was right in their decision to close when they did, but voiced concerns in some aspects of the committee’s process.
Mills stated the committee could have done a better job implementing the plan and informing people.
“I believe students could have been given more time to evacuate,” Mills said.
She also explained that in the future the university needs to be more proactive in their approach to dealing with hurricanes. Mills cited the necessity for improved communication with the Loyola community and the importance that students are made to understand the seriousness of hurricane threats.
Regardless of the criticism of the university and HEPT, the fact of the matter remained that the university had missed four full days of classes that had to be accounted for.
In an e-mail message on Tuesday, Sept. 21, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Walter Harris released a new plan to make up the days lost.
According to Harris, Loyola is obligated to make up the four days. Harris wrote that the two days of Fall Break would be canceled, two class days in December would be added and one additional day to the finals schedule.
However, some students are not happy with the decision.
“I understand that they need to make adjustments…but people already have plane tickets and plans,” said Barby Frie, economics and international business senior. “They shouldn’t have messed with the exam schedule.”
Marketing senior Lydia D’Antoni agreed that changing the exam schedule was a mistake.
“It’s an injustice,” said D’Antoni.
Loyola President the Rev. Kevin Wildes, S.J., and Harris did not immediately respond to e-mails and phone calls to comment on the decision of canceling Fall Break and adding two days.
Mills commented that in the future the university should better inform students and parents that the academic calendar can change in light of such a situation.
The decisions to cancel classes and to evacuate on-campus students are not the only important factors to consider when assessing a hurricane threat. Threats of potential damage to the physical campus must also be taken into account.
Reed explained that construction on Carrollton Hall was halted the weekend prior and workers made every effort to ensure that all equipment was secured.
The construction riggings on Carrollton were not in any danger because they are securely attached to the frame of the building.
It’s also necessary to take precautions with the university’s computerized files and records, said Bret Jacobs, executive director of information technology.
“We have a disaster recovery agreement with offsite facilities,” Jacobs said. “Every week we send our data to an offsite facility.”
The main emergency facility under agreement with Loyola is Sunguard Recovery Services, based in Illinois. They were put on alert, but information Technology did not need to utilize their services, Jacobs explained.
“We examine this on a mock mode annually to make sure our procedures are effective,” Jacobs added.
There were no files or records lost when parts of Ivan hit New Orleans, according to IT. There was also no significant damage reported on campus and no students who stayed on campus were harmed.
With the exceptions of bot
tlenecked traffic and angry motorists, New Orleans got off lucky. Areas of the Alabama, Mississippi and Florida’s Gulf Coasts received the brunt of Ivan’s fury, leaving destroyed homes and lives in its wake.
Had the storm turned and hit New Orleans head-on, the potential damage could have been catastrophic, according to The City of New Orleans Web site.
Chas Griffin, a communications and political science freshman, stayed in New Orleans for the storm because of his ROTC schedule.
“I think they did the right thing,” Griffin said. “Everyone who left has returned and we’re all safe.”
Adam Hennessey can be reached at [email protected].
