Several Nicholls professors who live in the New Orleans area lost their homes because of Hurricane Katrina but continue to teach during this trying time.Robin White, assistant professor of French, has been renting a house on the corner of Jefferson Davis and Earhart in the uptown area for the last two-and-a-half years.

She has not returned to survey the damage, but said she has seen her neighborhood on television. She estimates that the water surrounding her house is six feet deep.

She says her biggest concern is not the water, but the chemicals in the water because her house is next to a landscaping business.

“(My neighbor) has to demolish his entire business,” White said. “He has to dig up 18 inches of ground all around there because of the pesticides. The entire area is toxic.”

White, who had been staying with her parents in Pennsylvania, flew into Baton Rouge on Sept. 6 and returned to work the next day.

With the help of David Middleton, distinguished service professor of languages and literature, and Angela Hammerli, distinguished service professor of teacher education, White was able to move into an apartment in Thibodaux.

“I am planning on going back to retrieve what I can,” White said. “At this point it will only be my bedroom and my clothing. My computer and my library are all underwater. Years and years of graduate school and working are all gone.”

She is undecided about her future in Thibodaux.

“I am a city person,” she said. “I would like to return, but it just seems like an unsafe place now.”

Dennis Durocher, assistant professor of languages and literature, bought a house in the same neighborhood as White just over a year ago.

“I was already in good shape, but we had been working pretty hard at fixing it up,” he said. “When the mayor announced the mandatory evacuation, we spent about three hours boarding up the house, took a few things and left.”

Durocher evacuated to Arkansas where, while watching the news reports in a hotel room, he learned that the levee had broken. From there, he continued on to his parents’ house in Colorado, where his wife and child remain.

“When we heard about the levee, we knew we could not go back to New Orleans,” he said.

Residents of Durocher’s neighborhood have not been allowed to return yet. He says he has been getting information through the website http://www.nola.com.

“It has the latest information about what is going on in New Orleans,” he said. “People go on there and post information and ask questions like, ‘Has anyone seen my street?’ “

From the information he can gather, Durocher said he believes that the water around his house is about three feet deep. He said he will wait until the water is drained before he attempts to return.

“It is dangerous,” Durocher said. “The water is contaminated. There are things like bacteria, oil and gas in the water. When you go back in, you are supposed to wear rubber boots.”

Durocher returned to school on Sept. 6 and moved into Calecas Hall. He is now suitemates with several students.

“Everyone has been real helpful,” Durocher said. “Several people have offered me places to stay. Actually, I have several shirts in my office that people have just given me.”

Durocher is hoping to return to New Orleans as soon as possible.

“I am not from Louisiana and do not have strong ties here because I have no family here,” he said. “But as a teacher I cannot just pack up and move. It could take up to a year to find another position.”

Lance Arnold, instructor of mass communication, is a resident of Algiers, where he lives with his wife and two children. Although his house was saved from the floodwaters east of the Mississippi River, powerful winds snapped a tree that fell on his house.

“I have been back to my house twice since the storm,” Arnold said. “My house is pretty much totaled.”

Arnold, a lifelong resident of New Orleans, said he knew about the dangers of the hurricanes and was mentally prepared for the loss. He and his family evacuated to Houston before the storm hit.

“I always knew that the city is bowl-shaped,” Arnold said. “But I also knew that Algiers would be all right as long as the river’s levees held because

we are not in the bowl.”

Arnold said he has had a tough time trying to find a place for his family to stay since the storm. Arnold said last Thursday that he had not received a paycheck from Nicholls since May, which has complicated his problems.

“I went to La Maison du Bayou because I have always aired their commercials on our TV station,” Arnold said. “The lady looked me in the eye and said, ‘Do you think you can swing $1400 a month?’ which is about $500 more than my house.”

Arnold said he has been working hard to maintain his responsibilities at Nicholls, but his work has suffered because of his situation.

“My department has helped me out,” Arnold said. “I teach all of my classes, but they have told me not to worry about my other responsibilities. I have made it clear (to the administration) that I am broke now, but they said that I could not get my paycheck early because of state laws.”

He said it is important for him to keep his family close and, with the help of the administration, has found a temporary residence for them. When he had to return to work, he and his family moved into a camper lent to them by director of assessment and institutional research Renee Hicks, which is parked in front of her house in Napoleonville, when he had to return to work.

He initially enrolled his children in a private school in Thibodaux, but said the ordeal has been too traumatic for them to attend class.

“We heard that their school in Algiers might be opening in October,” Arnold said. “So we are just going to homeschool them for now.”

Arnold does not see his situation as a reason to leave New Orleans.

“We are going back,” he said. “Lots of people have offered different places in Thibodaux for sale. But to them I say, ‘No. I live in New Orleans. I am from New Orleans. I am rebuilding in New Orleans.’