9/1/05

Northwestern Law's Response to Hurricane Katrina: A Message from Dean Van Zandt

We have all watched with horror and concern the devastation that Hurricane Katrina has wrought on the Gulf Coast areas. Our thoughts and helping hands are extended to the victims of this tragedy.

I write to bring you up to date on Northwestern Law's response following the hurricane and its aftermath:

We have contacted students, faculty, and staff of whom we are aware may have family in the area and to this point have heard that their loved ones are safe. If you know of anyone from the Northwestern community who may be affected by this disaster and to whom we may provide some assistance, please let us know. You can also contact CAPS (for students) or Perspectives (for faculty and staff) if you are in need of any counseling.
As you might expect, the two law schools in New Orleans – Tulane and Loyola of New Orleans – are unsure of when they will be able to resume classes. We, like many other law schools across the country, will open our doors to Tulane and Loyola law students as visitors for at least the fall semester. We will enroll 15 second- and third-year students and we expect them to arrive sometime next week.
We have offered the dean of Tulane's law school, Larry Ponoroff, who has brought his family to the Chicago area, a place to work and to provide any other help he may need.
The student group SERV and Maureen Stratton, the director of our public service program, are working on some ideas for our community to provide support. Please contact Maureen, m-stratton@law.northwestern.edu, if you have any ideas or if you are interested in helping to organize relief efforts.
If you are interested in making an immediate financial contribution, the American Red Cross is now taking donations to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina http://www.redcross.org/. As an earlier e-mail from Ken Woo has warned, there are some scam web sites popping up that seek to take advantage of this tragedy, so please beware.

We would appreciate other ideas of ways we can support the relief efforts in this crisis.