University officials are working on returning Nicholls to normal operations as best as they can in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by adding make-up days to the fall semester and regaining student parking lots that were unavailable after Hurricane Katrina.According to Carroll Falcon, provost and vice president for academic affairs, students and faculty can expect the University to add three make-up class days to the fall semester. Falcon said that the goal is to add these days with the least amount of interruption to the semester.
“We are trying to look very carefully at the calendar to make minor modifications,” Falcon said. “For example, Southeastern University will add a week (at the end of the semester) to their calendar. We are trying to avoid that.”
The University will use the two-day Fall Break on Oct. 13 and 14 to reduce the number of class days missed earlier in the semester by Hurricane Katrina and is considering using the dead day on Dec. 2 as a third make-up day for classes missed on Friday as a result of Hurricane Rita, Falcon said.
“With the loss of last Friday, we have now lost eight days this semester,” Falcon said. “We need to look at if two days are enough. That’s what the deans and I have discussed. We are thinking about capturing the dead day for a Friday class.”
Falcon said that to balance out the amount of Monday-Wednesday-Friday (MWF) classes and Tuesday-Thursday (TR) classes that have been missed, two MWF make-up days are needed.
“We have missed five MWF sessions and three TR,” Falcon said. “So if we would recapture two of the five (canceled MWF classes) and by using the Thursday (of Fall Break) for Tuesday classes only, we will replace one of the three (canceled TR classes).”
According to Falcon, some of the faculty was confused when the University originally dedicated the Thursday of Fall Break to Tuesday classes only, but now teachers can use that day to catch up on TR classes also.
“The fact that we have allowed the faculty to use the Thursday (of Fall Break) to make-up TR classes as well, helps clear up the confusion,” Falcon said.
The Thursday of Fall Break could be used to make up Thursday classes, but Falcon said a problem exists if a student has a class only on Tuesday and a class only on Thursday at the same time. Since the University canceled more Tuesday-only classes than Thursday-only classes, it was decided to make-up one of the Tuesday-only classes.
“I have no problem as long as none of the students in the Thursday class also has a Tuesday class at the same time,” Falcon said. “They (teachers) should inform their department head of this.”
Falcon said that teachers should also be considerate of when assignments are due for students who miss days of class because Hurricane Rita affected them.
“We would like to assist as much as possible,” Falcon said. “I am very pleased with the faculty so far. They have been cooperating with students.”
The effects of the two recent hurricanes on classes may cause some students to resign from the University, Falcon said.
“We will find that some students will not be able to catch up,” Falcon said. “My heart goes out to them.”
The effect Hurricane Katrina had on enrollment at Nicholls is already known. According to institutional research, 86 students who were enrolled at Nicholls before Hurricane Katrina made landfall resigned from the University. As a result of university closures in New Orleans, 646 new students were enrolled at Nicholls after being displaced from their universities in New Orleans.
The influx of students along with evacuees and members of the National Guard residing on campus caused the University traffic system to be stretched to its limit according to Craig Jaccuzzo, director of University Police.
“At first we had much more traffic and more occupants than parking spaces,” Jaccuzzo said. “But now we have most of our parking spaces back.”
Jaccuzzo said that there are enough parking spaces for all of the vehicles on campus and students should be parking in student parking spaces only.
“There are enough spaces for students on campus,” Jaccuzzo said. “Students need to stop parking on Bowie Road.”
According to Jaccuzzo, city police and the sheriff’s office may issue summons to students parked on the side of off-campus roadways.
Tickets are being issued; therefore, students need to get a parking decal, Jaccuzzo said. Also, students need to make sure their vehicle is parked in the direction of the traffic flow and respect traffic laws.
“That (parking against traffic flow) is a hazard and a violation of the traffic laws,” Jaccuzzo said.
The National Guard, as well as the sheriff’s office, continues to assist University Police in providing security. According to Jaccuzzo, there are 20 National Guard members still on campus. University Police uses five a day for assistance. Jaccuzzo said that the hurricanes have placed some strain on his officers.
“I had to add a lot of manpower and personnel,” Jaccuzzo said.
