The Daily Orange hosted a forum Monday for Tulane University students now studying at Syracuse University this semester. Three students, Michael Simon, a junior history major from Westchester, Zach Schurkman, a junior history and Jewish studies major from Long Island and Megan Balsky, a junior marketing major also from Westchester, shared their thoughts, stories and feelings about the devastation Hurricane Katrina caused at their campus.

Chancellor Nancy Cantor extended an offer Aug. 31 to waive tuition for Tulane students who had already paid for this semester at their school. The first 15 students to accept the offer received a place to live on South Campus as well.

The Tulane students’ stories describe their hasty transition to Syracuse, and some of their

experiences in between.

How did you hear SU was offering you free studies here?

Simon: Word of mouth. One of friends from Tulane called and said, ‘Listen, I heard SU is offering classes.’

Schurkman: My dad read it in The New York Times.

Balsky: My dad called when I got back from evacuation. He called the schools I had applied to before. It had to have a business school in it.

Why did you choose SU?

Schurkman: It was the most accommodating. It had put together the best program. Of the Northern schools, yours was kind of the most on top of it, I would say.

Simon: It was the most accommodating, and my sister went here. They gave us a formal orientation, gave us an adviser, tour of the campus and free football tickets.

What sort of orientation did you receive?

Simon: A pretty good tour and they assigned us an adviser. We were also given free tickets for the (West Virginia) football game.

Balsky: There was also a welcome dinner at the Alibrandi Catholic Center. It was really nice.

Did any professors have a problem with you joining their class late?

Simon: No, everyone has been really accommodating.

Schurkman: Yeah, everyone has been pretty supportive.

How did your advising work?

Simon: I pretty much went through the course catalog and said, ‘This looks good.’ I tried to take pretty much the same classes I had enrolled in at Tulane.

How would you compare the facilities here to those of your home school?

Schurkman: Tulane is much more liberal arts-intensive. It seems like you have only half the history course selection, and Jewish studies isn’t even a major here.

Simon: The food here on campus is much better. New Orleans food off campus is much better, though.

Balsky: The dorms and food here are better.

Simon: And the girls here are better looking.

Were you offered to study anywhere else?

Simon: Basically anywhere in the Northeast.

Schurkman: Columbia (University) and Binghamton (University, State University of New York)

Balsky: NYU (New York University) hung up on my dad when he called them. They were no help at all.

Was housing hard to find?

Simon: It was hard. I had to basically drive around until I found a for-rent sign. I called as many landlords as I could. My sister who went to Syracuse actually found me the place. Sheraton (Syracuse University Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center) gave a 75 percent discount for Tulane students in the meantime.

Schurkman: They weren’t sure if I was in the first 15, then they called and said we have an apartment you can move in to. There was some confusion going on with who was the first 15. I called them that Thursday at 9:00 (a.m.) on the minute.

Balsky: I called them at like 8:30 in the morning and they said it filled up within two minutes. Then they called me back and said, ‘Oops, you were on the list?’ There was a lot of confusion.

How long do you expect to be here?

All: One semester.

Balsky: They’re only allowing us to be here for one semester.

Schurkman: All this is subject to change, but (Tulane) says it will be open for spring semester.

Did you lose any of your belongings in the hurricane?

Schurkman: I have no clothes, no nothing. I spent $1,000 at the Gap.

Simon: I was actually lucky; I was driving down there already, so I had all my clothes in my car.

Balsky: All my clothes were ruined. I had to borrow some of my mom’s clothes.

What was the evacuation like?

Schurkman: The school can only suggest so much when you live off campus. They closed the dorms the Saturday before the storm. I didn’t leave until the evacuation became mandatory.

Balsky: I went down to the bookstore to get books, and someone asked me if I knew about the town meeting, and then told me we were evacuating. I didn’t even know about the storm.

Simon: The freshmen were the first people to know because of orientation. On Bourbon Street, before the levee broke, there were people there still drinking.

Anything else you would like to say?

Schurkman: Tulane is very grateful to the academic community at large for their help in this trying time.

Balsky: Everyone here is very nice.

Published on September 13, 2005 at 12:00 pm