Hurricane Ida: Another Tribulation for College Students

Thousands of college students scattered along the east coast are again going online, however COVID-19 is not the culprit.

By: Ally Sullivan
News Reporter

Hurricane Ida made landfall on the coast of Louisiana on Sunday, August 30th, leaving universities in the area to deal with this unfortunate natural disaster. In hopes of being in a more personal post zoom world, educational processes will be stopped, and may not continue for several weeks. A statement from Tulane University in New Orleans was released stating that classes will be cancelled until September 12th, and be resumed online beginning the 13th. 

With classes cancelled and power out, students are faced with the uncertainty of where they might go next. Lacking resources on campuses, some students have been transported to safer parts of Baton Rouge and neighboring areas. This does not impact the efforts to combat COVID-19. Research being done at Tulane University, has shown that when students are able to return to campus, efforts will be made to test the individuals coming in such as setting up proper quarantine rooms to ensure caution for all students. 

Louisiana State University works toward cleaning up campus, and prepping for the oncoming of students in the next few days. First priority, as addressed by the administration, is allowing the students time to process and address the other difficulties that have arisen in their personal lives as a result of the hurricane. 

Although all are well versed in online learning, problems arise out of the lack of power in many areas. Online learning would be possible if staff and students were able to get far enough away from the affected areas to towns and cities with power. 

While scattering amongst students and staff continues, concerns circle around the potential dropout rate at many of the universities affected by the storms. This all being the result of possibly 6-8 weeks of no schooling at all. Elementary school districts have been providing families with $100 stipends to use for tarps for roofs, as well as gas for generators. This same concern has yet to be matched by college universities, however if problems persist, actions will have to be taken.