Bounce Back from Hurricane Ida

Tulane evacuated students who had sheltered in place during the storm, including on-campus and off-campus undergraduates and graduate and professional students, to Houston, where a hub was established at the university’s expense to provide students with food and lodging until they were able to get flights home.

Students get together at a Global Cafe event in the Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life. Global Cafe is a space for international and internationally minded students to gather for coffee and cookies every Tuesday.(Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano)

Hurricane Ida struck the city of New Orleans and Louisiana as a Category 4 storm on Aug. 29, the 16th anniversary of Katrina.

Tulane closed the campus and cancelled classes through Sept. 12. Online classes resumed on Sept. 13 and continued for two weeks while damages were assessed and repairs were made to buildings and grounds. Students returned to a fully operational uptown campus for in-person classes on Sept. 27 — two weeks earlier than initially expected.

Tulane Athletics moved its operations, including all student-athletes, to Birmingham, Alabama, until the return to campus. The football team’s home season opener on Sept. 4 against the University of Oklahoma was moved to Norman, Oklahoma. The team utilized facilities at the University of Alabama–Birmingham. Other Green Wave home football games were hosted at Legion Field in Birmingham until the team’s return to Yulman Stadium on Sept. 25.

Rigorous protocols for COVID-19 testing continued to be followed on campus and vaccine requirements enforced throughout the fall semester.

By: Alicia Serrano Bilich

Winter 2022