Barrier busters | Hurricanes add to colleges' challenges and to leaders' resolve
For community college systems in hurricane country, contingency is more than merely a topic for discussion in a management class. For example, the eight campuses and learning centers that constitute Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (MGCCC) have had evacuation and post-storm protocols in place since Hurricane Camille roared out of the Gulf of Mexico in 1969. Last fall, though, Katrina blew even the best-laid plans to bits. “You can’t really plan to recover from the worst national disaster in the country’s history,” said MGCCC President Willis H. Lott.
True. But in the aftermath of Katrina, Rita and Wilma, two-year colleges in the Gulf Coast region demonstrated their resiliency and their commitment to community colleges’ core mission.
Mother Nature slapped Broward Community College in Fort Lauderdale twice -– Katrina in late August and Hurricane Wilma in October. Katrina delivered a glancing blow, canceling classes for four days. Wilma socked the school with a knockout punch. Faced with a massive blackout, Broward closed its doors for two full weeks. At a school where nearly 40 percent of students rely on mass transportation, tree-blocked streets created havoc.
In Mississippi and Louisiana, it was Katrina that landed the knockout blow. Two days passed before MGCCC’s Lott was able to navigate the ravaged streets in and around Gulfport to check the condition of the college’s four campuses and four off-site learning centers. When the numbers were crunched, damage to facilities was estimated at $15 million, according to published reports.
When the college reopened two weeks later, its professors, administrators and support personnel -– many of whom lost their own homes in the storm – discovered an even more devastating loss: 25 percent of the 10,500 students enrolled in Mississippi’s largest community college were unable to return.
The reasons, though magnified by the hurricane, parallel the economic and social dilemmas facing community college students across the country. “A lot of them lost everything,” said Lott. “Many had to relocate; a lot of them had to go back to work full time to earn enough money to come back to college. Others quit to help their families recover. All of them were doing what had to be done.”
The college did the same. Embracing the priorities of a community on the rebound from disaster, MGCCC rolled out a short-term class that combined basic electrical, plumbing and construction skills into one curriculum that also stressed the work ethic and on-the-job teamwork. “The industry,” Lott said,“has been very, very pleased with it.”
Come fall, Lott expects that 20 percent of the students forced from their education by Katrina will return to classes. He hopes for an even higher percentage.
Optimism also reigns at the Louisiana Community and Technical College (LCTC) system -– though repairing the wounds from Katrina is just one of the challenges being faced there. After Katrina passed, 47 percent of what had been a record enrollment failed to return to class; in addition, the hurricane displaced 1,500 faculty and staff. All told, the storm shut down operations at three community college campuses and two technical schools until January.
Also, the system had barely begun digging out from a natural disaster when it was slapped by a financial one: Strapped for cash, the state slashed $17 million from the system’s budget. Hoping to find a silver lining in Katrina’s clouds, LCTC President Walter Bumphus is using the cutback as a chance to streamline and improve the state’s two-year system –- a system forged in 1999 to encompass the state’s 10 community colleges and 42 technical schools.
Bumphus acknowledges that this streamlining may mean fewer campuses will be operating in the New Orleans area in the storm’s wake.
He also said LCTC officials are looking for ways to enhance the system by bolstering workforce development, tweaking the academic areas, making better use of research data, and increasing overall efficiency.
“We hope to come back with better programs and use this as an opportunity to put together some of the best practices we have identified,” Bumphus said.
True. But in the aftermath of Katrina, Rita and Wilma, two-year colleges in the Gulf Coast region demonstrated their resiliency and their commitment to community colleges’ core mission.
Mother Nature slapped Broward Community College in Fort Lauderdale twice -– Katrina in late August and Hurricane Wilma in October. Katrina delivered a glancing blow, canceling classes for four days. Wilma socked the school with a knockout punch. Faced with a massive blackout, Broward closed its doors for two full weeks. At a school where nearly 40 percent of students rely on mass transportation, tree-blocked streets created havoc.
In Mississippi and Louisiana, it was Katrina that landed the knockout blow. Two days passed before MGCCC’s Lott was able to navigate the ravaged streets in and around Gulfport to check the condition of the college’s four campuses and four off-site learning centers. When the numbers were crunched, damage to facilities was estimated at $15 million, according to published reports.
When the college reopened two weeks later, its professors, administrators and support personnel -– many of whom lost their own homes in the storm – discovered an even more devastating loss: 25 percent of the 10,500 students enrolled in Mississippi’s largest community college were unable to return.
The reasons, though magnified by the hurricane, parallel the economic and social dilemmas facing community college students across the country. “A lot of them lost everything,” said Lott. “Many had to relocate; a lot of them had to go back to work full time to earn enough money to come back to college. Others quit to help their families recover. All of them were doing what had to be done.”
The college did the same. Embracing the priorities of a community on the rebound from disaster, MGCCC rolled out a short-term class that combined basic electrical, plumbing and construction skills into one curriculum that also stressed the work ethic and on-the-job teamwork. “The industry,” Lott said,“has been very, very pleased with it.”
Come fall, Lott expects that 20 percent of the students forced from their education by Katrina will return to classes. He hopes for an even higher percentage.
Optimism also reigns at the Louisiana Community and Technical College (LCTC) system -– though repairing the wounds from Katrina is just one of the challenges being faced there. After Katrina passed, 47 percent of what had been a record enrollment failed to return to class; in addition, the hurricane displaced 1,500 faculty and staff. All told, the storm shut down operations at three community college campuses and two technical schools until January.
Also, the system had barely begun digging out from a natural disaster when it was slapped by a financial one: Strapped for cash, the state slashed $17 million from the system’s budget. Hoping to find a silver lining in Katrina’s clouds, LCTC President Walter Bumphus is using the cutback as a chance to streamline and improve the state’s two-year system –- a system forged in 1999 to encompass the state’s 10 community colleges and 42 technical schools.
Bumphus acknowledges that this streamlining may mean fewer campuses will be operating in the New Orleans area in the storm’s wake.
He also said LCTC officials are looking for ways to enhance the system by bolstering workforce development, tweaking the academic areas, making better use of research data, and increasing overall efficiency.
“We hope to come back with better programs and use this as an opportunity to put together some of the best practices we have identified,” Bumphus said.
