Elsewhere – Tulane to reopen in January

Columbia Daily Spectator (Columbia U.)

(U-WIRE) NEW YORK-Exactly one month after officials evacuated the campus, Tulane University officials announced Wednesday that they plan to reopen the school for the spring semester on Jan. 17 as originally scheduled.

The announcement comes as good news for students displaced in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Though other universities have offered students from Tulane and Loyola visiting student status, in most cases they were only admitted for the duration of the fall semester.

In an announcement posted to Tulane’s emergency Web site from a temporary headquarters in Houston, University President Scott Cowen announced that the university would have a normal 15-week semester running through early May, with commencement on May 15th. The university has scheduled a supplemental “Lagniappe” semester-referring to the word for “a small gift”-for next summer, that will last seven weeks. Students will be allowed to take up to three classes during the bonus term, which Tulane is offering free-of-charge to students who have paid full-time fall and spring tuition.

Tulane’s campus, which rests on higher ground than many other parts of New Orleans, received less damage than many had initially feared.