By Matt Thacker

Hurricane Katrina has left thousands of people homeless and stranded in Louisiana and Mississippi — all of them victims of what is perhaps the most destructive natural disaster in American history.

The hurricane has also damaged several universities in the region. Students who were left without a college have been searching for a school to attend until their universities re-open.

Several universities, including the University of Louisville, have agreed to help students enroll late whose institutions were closed following the hurricane. U of L will waive the students’ application fees, help them find housing, assist them in getting oriented with the campus and help with financial aid and other paperwork.

“We have opened our doors and extended late registration to students wo will be unable to attend the devastated institutions in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi,” said U of L President James Ramsey.

Ramsey said that leaders in academic and support units are also looking for ways to bring colleagues from those institutions to U of L. One administrator has already accepted the offer.

Rachel Ament, a senior majoring in English and Psychology at Tulane University in New Orleans, began classes at U of L on Sept. 1. She said that the Admissions office took care of all of her paperwork.

“I’m very appreciative of all that U of L has done for me,” she said.

Jenny Sawyer, director of Admissions at U of L, said that U of L will treat each case individually and that enrollment will be open to anyone who was attending college in the hurricane-ravaged area.

She said that 10 or 11 students had already enrolled in U of L as of Friday and that she thought the number might increase over the weekend. She hoped that students would be in class on Tuesday following Labor Day weekend.

“The university as a whole has been very responsive,” Sawyer said. “Everyone is just looking for a way to help.”

Ament, a Louisville resident, said she was hanging out with friends on Saturday night when her mother called and told her she needed to come home quickly. Ament planned on flying out of New Orleans on Sunday morning before the hurricane hit later that day, but her flight was cancelled, so she drove to Alabama in the early hours of the morning. She then flew from Alabama to Louisville.

“I felt sorry for myself for about two seconds, and then I turned on the news and saw all the people who were still in New Orleans,” she said.

Ament said that power outages and poor cell phone signals made it hard for her to contact her friends who stayed in Louisiana after she got back to Louisville. Even contacting students who left became difficult because Tulane’s student e-mail service was not operable. But she said that since then she has been able to contact many of her friends through instant messenger.

The Law School has seen several students looking to enroll. David Ensign, a law professor, has been working to help those students transition to U of L. He said he knows of two students from Tulane and two from Loyola University in New Orleans that are coming to Louisville, but he had been told by the Admissions office that several others had showed interest.

Ensign said that when professors heard of the destruction, they began asking him if they could help.

“The professors have been extraordinarily supportive,” he said, adding that many have agreed to work with students individually to tutor them or share lecture notes.

The Law school has guaranteed that it will keep students on a visitor’s status for at least one semester or until their colleges open again. But Ensign couldn’t guarantee that students would be able to transfer after that time period.

Many students, however, will be eager to return to their colleges in Louisiana. Ament said that she wants to return to Tulane to complete her degree as soon as possible. She said that she has been told the school could open later this month, but from the looks of news reports, she said she doubts it will be that soon. She does, however, hope to return by next semester, even though she doesn’t know what to expect.

“The places that I used to hang out will all be gone. My friends who live in New Orleans — a lot of their houses will be gone,” she said.

Starting this week, Ramsey said U of L will begin a campus-wide campaign to raise funds for disaster victims. All proceeds will go to the American Red Cross.

“I am challenging each unit or department to raise money for this effort and to turn it in to the Development Office by Friday, Sept. 9,” he said.

Each department will have an office liaison take donations. All checks should be made payable to the Red Cross.

Ramsey encourages students whose lives have been affected by the tragedy and need support to contact Student Advocate Prafula Sheth at 852-8113.

“Our actions can make a real difference to those whose lives have been so cruelly shattered,” he said. “I encourage each of you to continue to look for ways to support the victims of Hurricane Katrina.”