The Brown University Community Council met Tuesday afternoon to discuss institution-wide responses to Hurricane Katrina, including the possibility of a weeklong colloquium in which students and faculty could discuss the social issues exposed by the catastrophe and raise funds to support the relief effort.
Zachary Ginsberg MD '08 told the council that many students he has talked to feel frustrated about the storm and its aftermath. These feelings of anger and injustice surrounding the Katrina catastrophe may be just some of the topics raised at the colloquium.
So far, the University has enrolled 59 undergraduate students from the University of New Orleans, Loyola University in New Orleans and Dillard, Xavier and Tulane universities. The students went through an orientation process to help them adapt to their new surroundings and have also been assigned a five-person team of academic advisers.
Valerie Wilson, associate dean of the graduate school, said the new students were "really integrated" and in "great spirits." She told of one student who went around distributing Mardi Gras beads on his first day at Brown.
There has been an "outpouring of compassion," said Emma Simmons, assistant professor of family medicine.
"We have a special responsibility as a University," said David Greene, vice president for campus life and student services. He said he has received many e-mails from students asking what they can do to help.
Numerous organizations on campus have established donation funds, but many students who want to help in other ways do not know where to direct their efforts.
The University Department of Health and the Red Cross are now coordinating efforts to recruit volunteers. In response to the influx of concerned e-mails he received, Greene also proposed compiling a resource guide to direct students who want to get involved.
"It would be a travesty if we didn't help," he said.
The council also heard an update on the status of limited duration employees. The Human Resources Advisory Board defines temporary employment as work limited to two years and jobs that are "by nature, temporary." The ambiguity in the definition of "temporary" has resulted in many of the University's employees returning year after year and surpassing their allotted 975 hours of work a year, said Elizabeth Huidekoper, executive vice president for finance and administration.
Monitoring of employment will now be strictly enforced to "remove any possibility of subterfuge," said President Ruth Simmons.
About a dozen community members attended the BUCC's third meeting. The BUCC's next meeting, set for Oct. 18, will include a discussion of environmental issues at Brown.
