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"KATRINA WILL SURELY TEST OUR ABILITIES TO MANAGE CHANGE AND ADAPT TO A NEW, UNCERTAIN ENVIRONMENT. IT IS OUR INTENTION TO RESURRECT WITH A STRONGER, MORE FOCUSED INSTITUTION." —J. Patrick O'Brien, Loyola University New Orleans there's an accreditation issue. But for these visiting students, we're willing to stand up and look three other AACSB deans in the eye and explain our decision." Educators realize it will be an administrative nightmare to deter- mine which students have earned credit where. "We are committed to being as flexible as we can to make sure that any relevant course a stu- dent takes during this semester can be counted as credit toward the stu- dent's degree," says DeNisi. "It will be a huge task, but it's what we have to do." In some cases, students didn't have to continue their education elsewhere: Some hurricane-ravaged universities were able to quickly start offering courses electronically. By mid-September, UNO as a whole had more than 50 classes online, and more were being readied every week. Says Hensel, "We have a Web site where students can sign up for online classes, and we'll have rolling enrollments. Classes have to be fin- ished by December 31, but that's easier to do online where students are self-paced." At Loyola, the majority of CBA classes were made available online, commencing in late September. Meanwhile, the school was dealing with its other challenges. "By one week after the hurricane hit, we had laid out action plans for all faculty and staff members—teaching of online courses, revision of five-year faculty development plans, continua- tion of the development of assess- ment programs for each of the majors, revisions of syllabi to reflect assessment plans, and individual research," says O'Brien. "We also announced to the faculty and staff that it was our full intention to A New Orleans resident tries to drive his car through floodwaters past the University of New Orleans on Tuesday, August 30. While Tulane University sustained minor damage, most can be repaired with relative ease. For the campus to open in January, DeNisi expects the university will have to provide some housing and other services on its own. "Right now, this is all under discussion," he says. At UNO, the early focus was on a branch campus that survived the flood better than the main campus. reopen for classes in January 2006." That's the goal for administrators at all of the disrupted schools, but to some extent, the decision is out of their hands. Doty hopes to move back into the Gulfport campus for the spring semester—if the city is able to supply power, water, and other services. "Right now, we have not made a decision about the spring semester," he says. "We have to take care of our students and community first." But even that building won't be holding classes unless the city of New Orleans is habitable again, and when that will happen is anybody's guess. "We've heard estimates of every- where from two months to eight months to never," says Hensel. Yet an even longer-term problem looms on the horizon: the fates of the affected universities in the com- ing years. Next year's classes may be considerably smaller as some tem- porarily displaced students choose to stay where they are, and other stu- dents under recruitment decide not to chance a Gulf Coast school. "We are currently recruiting stu- dents at all levels for 2006," says DeNisi. "We realize this may be dif- ficult. We realize some of our stu- dents won't return. But we believe that if we can deal with problems in a compassionate way, help students graduate on time, and actually get things running again soon, we will demonstrate that Tulane is a caring and capable organization. It may take a year or two, but if we can learn anything from dealing with this crisis, Tulane will come back a better university than it was." O'Brien of Loyola echoes these sentiments. "Katrina will surely test our abilities to manage change and adapt to a new, uncertain environ- ment. It is our intention to resur- rect with a stronger, more focused institution." Hensel not only expresses confi- dence that his school will recover, but he also predicts that the city will rebuild. "How can you not have New Orleans?" he asks. "We've got to focus on the positive. That's what we tell our students, that's what we tell our faculty, that's what we tell ourselves. We've got things to do. Let's get to work." BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2005 11 BILL HABER / AP WIDE WORLD PHOTOS