Visiting students readapt to Big Easy

Little more than a year has passed since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, but the Tulane students who attended Princeton last fall say that life has almost entirely returned to normal on their home campus.

"For people who were here before, things are the same," Tulane junior Rosa Mathai said. "Businesses around the university are for the most part open."

"That makes it feel a lot more normal."

When Hurricane Katrina overran New Orleans last August, many of the city's universities, including Tulane, were unable to stay open for the fall semester. Princeton hosted 24 of Tulane's students for that time. In January, these students returned to their home university.

Eighty-six percent of Tulane's students returned when their school reopened, according to a statement made by Tulane president Scott Cowen on the school's website last December.

"You get used to post-Katrina life," Tulane junior Ben Walters said.

By the time students returned to New Orleans in January, most of the university's buildings had been repaired.

"The vibe here when we got back was of relief," Mathai said. "Everyone was really happy to be back and really excited because some people had a really bad time at other schools."

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For some, January was less about returning to Tulane than about starting from scratch. Several of the Tulane students at Princeton had to evacuate the same day they moved in to begin their freshman year. Princeton was their first college experience.

"I didn't really get a chance to know Tulane before Katrina," Christina Montrois, now a sophomore at Tulane, said in an email. "It wasn't difficult to get readjusted [to Tulane] because all of the other freshmen were there for the first time too."

In order to allow students to catch up on any potentially missing credits from the fall semester, Tulane offered a free summer session for all students called "Lagniappe," which in Louisiana French means "a little something extra."

Many students took advantage of the additional classes to catch up or get ahead in credits.

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"After that, everyone got back on track," Mathai said.

While Tulane has tried to normalize campus life, students are returning to some significant — and at times controversial — changes.

"The main point of contention thus far has been the cutting of all engineering majors except for chemical and biomedical," Tulane sophomore Ben Bradley said in an email.

He also noted that a plan to consolidate the women's liberal arts college with the rest of the school provoked protests at Tulane.

The students who attended Princeton last year also said they are now more aware of differences between Princeton and their own university.

"Being that Tulane is not as academically demanding as Princeton, it was nice to spend a semester in a highly academic environment and see how well I was able to do against some of the best students in the country," Bradley said.

"Also," he added, "at Princeton I was exposed to a range of diversity that is impossible to experience in the South."

Through email and facebook.com, the Tulane students have been able to keep in touch with their friends at Princeton. Most, however, have not returned to the University, with the exception of Walters, whose family lives in Princeton.

Their attachment to their onetime college, though, remains strong.

"Being able to go to two colleges that are very different was an experience a lot of people don't get to have," Mostrois said. "I will always love Princeton because it was my first college experience and the friends and memories I made there are unforgettable."

But for some, it's not just the people that made Princeton special.

"The desire to go to Hoagie Haven might drive me to one day [to visit Princeton]," Bradley said. "Can't wait to go back after the next hurricane."