Subject: Hurricane Katrina
To UC Berkeley faculty and staff:
The unfolding tragedy of Hurricane Katrina has touched all of us, urging us to help, in whatever way we can, the people of New Orleans, Louisiana and the coastal regions in Mississippi and other states as they struggle to recover.
Already, the UC Berkeley community has come together to find many ways to help those affected by the disaster. In addition to donating money and goods, people are offering to house students or helping them enter classes here. Many of our faculty and staff have been working to apply their expertise to aid those affected by Katrina. We provide below some of the highlights of our Katrina-related efforts.
EFFORTS TO ASSIST DISPLACED STUDENTS:
- As a result of the collective efforts of many faculty, administrators and staff, the campus is hosting 41 undergraduate students, 18 law students, at least 7 Public Health students, and a still evolving number of graduate students. We sincerely thank all of you who have made arrangements to help accommodate displaced students, making room for them in classrooms, labs and lectures, and welcoming them into our community. They have been effusive in their praise and gratitude for all the help that they have received from the Cal community. Those sentiments are due in large measure to your efforts and especially the efforts of staff in student affairs, academic and administrative departments alike.
- While admission to undergraduate students is closed, the Graduate Division is still handling requests on a case by case basis; all inquiries should be directed to grad.help@berkeley.edu. The Graduate Division will refer eligible students to departments and graduate groups, who will determine if they should study here based on their academic needs. Since most of the other UC campuses are on the quarter system and begin the school year later, they may be a more appropriate match for some visiting students.
- Displaced students are admitted on visiting status, so that they remain students of their home institutions. This arrangement will also ensure their access to Berkeley's academic and student support services.
- As to meeting the academic and personal needs of these students, most of the undergraduate and law students have already been through special orientation programs, been outfitted with books and have started their coursework. Students who need additional assistance may obtain help from campus academic advisers and Cal Student Orientation counselors. Since most universities from the affected region have emergency websites, you should feel free to encourage students to check for recommendations and updates from their home campuses as well.
- For those seeking a support network, University Health Services (UHS) has a Katrina website that includes material on coping with traumatic stress as well as more general information on helping colleagues affected by the disaster. UHS is also sponsoring an ongoing weekly support group for those impacted by the disaster. The website is at http://www.uhs.berkeley.edu/home/news/supportforkatrina.shtml.
- The campus has created a Katrina Emergency Fund to help defray educational, housing and other expenses of visiting students displaced by the hurricane. Members of the Cal community may donate to the fund online at https://colt.berkeley.edu/urelgift/katrina_fund.html.
EFFORTS TO ASSIST FACULTY RESEARCHERS AND STAFF:
- In general, we are advising inquiring individuals and organizations to contact academic departments directly. Vice Chancellor for Research Beth Burnside has waived the $200 University Services Fee for Visiting Scholars and Postdocs and has fast tracked the application process.
- Those wishing to be more proactive may find the website, http://www.campusrelief.org, useful in helping the devastated higher education community in the Gulf Coast region. The website, which is a joint initiative of the American Council on Education (ACE) and the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), serves as an information clearinghouse for both institutions and students on Katrina recovery efforts. The site includes a list of affected campuses and their current status, as well as information and resources for displaced students. Of particular note to staff and faculty are sections on specific needs by affected institutions, such as IT and research support.
BERKELEY FACULTY INITIATIVES:
Many of our Berkeley colleagues are also lending their expertise. Last Thursday, the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS; http://citris.berkeley.edu/) held a town-hall meeting to mobilize campus researchers in the Gulf Coast Region's rebuilding effort:
- Engineering Professor Bob Bea is proposing to direct research associated with data gathering, field observations and measurements, data archiving and analysis associated with coastal and offshore facilities affected by hurricane Katrina.
- Engineering Professor Ray Seed is spearheading an effort to assess the levee and flood walls. He intends to apply what he learns to California's levees in the San Joaquin delta, which are vulnerable to earthquakes.
- Business Professor Karlene Roberts is heading an effort to identify organizational breakdowns in the catastrophe, with particular attention to the failed interdependencies among the various partners.
- Engineering Professor Jack Moehle and Architecture Professor Mary Comerio are working together on a project to look at disaster preparedness and recovery in the area and its implications for New Orleans as well as the San Francisco Bay Area.
- Among the other departments lending aid and expertise is the School of Social Welfare, which has mental health experts and other staff and faculty who regularly do field work and are called on by the Red Cross to assist in disasters.
A more complete list of campus experts who conduct research relevant to the Katrina disaster can be found at www.berkeley.edu/news/extras/hurricane/experts.html. This list will continue to develop and I urge faculty members with related research to include their information in this resource.
To encourage campus support of humanitarian efforts to assist those affected by Hurricane Katrina, supervisors have been authorized to grant paid administrative leave for staff who wish to volunteer through official relief agencies such as the American Red Cross and FEMA. Details on the leave policy and other efforts to assist hurricane victims can be found at https://mossberg.berkeley.edu/CALmessages/display_message.asp?d=9/8/2005&s=103.
These are just the highlights of the many Katrina-related efforts happening here at Cal. For more information, the campus Newscenter has a page dedicated to all Katrina-related campus news and events at http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/09/katrina.shtml that is being updated regularly.
In closing, we thank you again for all your impassioned and generous efforts to help those whose lives have been disrupted by Hurricane Katrina.
Sincerely,
Robert J. Birgeneau Alice Agogino