Chancellor John Wiley announced last Wednesday that UW-Madison will assist students of universities closed by Hurricane Katrina by enrolling previously admitted students.
\We'd like to be able to help them and their families out by making it possible for them to continue their studies until their schools reopen,"" UW-Madison Provost Peter Spear said.
Spear said the university is particularly interested in Wisconsin residents from the affected universities.
After the hurricane, Wiley and the president of the University of Michigan contacted the American Association of Universities to suggest accepting transfers as a possibility. According to Spear, numerous other universities have since decided to participate.
So far, 24 students displaced by the hurricane have opted to attend UW-Madison, according to Martin Rouse, the student services coordinator at the Division of Continuing Studies.
UW System schools-specifically UW-Milwaukee, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Waukesha, UW-Whitewater and UW-Madison-have been unable to communicate with Tulane University or other universities to reach a transfer agreement. Since the entire affected area has no electricity, the transition will include some element of risk for the students,Wiley said.
""Our hope would be that, given the high quality of UW-Madison, our courses would transfer, but students will have to work that out with their individual home schools,"" Wiley said. ""Students are literally out in the cold and their home campuses are unable to provide any housing or academic facilities.""
Incoming freshmen Wisconsin residents previously accepted to UW-Madison may apply through the Office of Undergraduate Admissions to be accepted as normal degree students, said Rouse.
The Division of Continuing Studies processes all other applicants and has since admitted 24 students from Tulane in the existing category of special students, he said.
""Normally, we wouldn't be admitting an incoming freshman as a special student, but we are being flexible and taking it on faith you were admitted to Tulane or in good standing at Tulane because you can't get transcripts or anything out of there,"" Rouse said. ""We just don't have the time or people can't get it.""
It has been a whole university effort with a crucial component at the University Housing Office to make enrollment possible for this semester, according to Kelly Haslam.
""What we are able to offer them helps them decide if they will take the next steps in coming here,"" she said. ""We haven't had to turn a first-year student away; Up until this point we are still able to accommodate them.""
The students and families have been very appreciative of how all the offices have helped, according to Rouse, but now it is just a matter of making a final decision before classes progress too far- and a matter of picking up the pieces after the destruction.
""There are a lot of questions and anxiety,"" Rouse said. ""We are just trying to give people the opportunity to think about Madison.""
