Sailor Soldier of Love and Justice

I have returned from the red elvises show.

Several things:
1. When I'm tired, I can be twice as boring as normal.
2. Ear plugs are wonderful.
3. The older I get, the less I can handle other people touching me.
4. Tulane people are everywhere.
5. I want a car with magical gps.

Insanity? Reading every single one of you lj posts written during junior year to find out the name of your TOILET! (Gerber)

Why did I do this? Because there is a new toilet at work that is pretty powerful. However, it will never be as powerful as Gerber. One of my greatest regrets is never taking a picture of Gerber. And the one comic I had about it was deleted in the great omg!drama of 2004. Poooo...

[EDIT] I have 1337 computer skillz. I found the gerber comic. Gerber will eat your soul.

On a side note, never assume something is gone after you delete it or move it. Crazy people like me can be VERY determined.

When ben worked at Tulane, he worked for the professor that made this game. Ben made a virtual version of the game at some point to test the number of ways to win, I think.

So, um, yay and stuff.

My tummy hurts and I want to go to bed.

Also, I'm finally getting all those comments that had gone missing. It makes me sad. I get my little mail message and flip out, "Yay! Mail! Someone loves me!" only to see it's an old message that I had already answered.

Dear friends of Tulane,

Since my relocation to Houston, I have had more access to information about the situation in New Orleans. I was hopeful that recovery would soon progress. However, given the ongoing situation in the city, I am forced to make an extremely difficult decision – Tulane University cannot hold a fall semester on its campus.

While this news is extremely disappointing to all of us, our students can continue their academic careers uninterrupted thanks to an avalanche of support from our colleagues in higher education.

Nine of the leading higher education associations, which represent hundreds of colleges and universities around the country, have developed a plan to accept Tulane students, as well as those from other institutions adversely affected by the hurricane, for the fall semester only. This coalition has set forth guidelines for temporary enrollment for the fall semester. Read the statement

Tulane University will accept credit for all courses with a passing grade from regionally accredited universities; such credit will be applied to a student's Tulane course of study. We encourage all Tulane students to enroll in courses that they might have enrolled in at Tulane, but equivalent or near equivalent courses will also count to degree progress.

Students enrolled in schools and colleges with accredited professional programs (for example: Business School, School of Social Work, Engineering School, and School of Architecture) should enroll in universities with programs that are also accredited.

Our student-athletes are an integral part of this plan. We want our athletes to carry the torch, face, and name of Tulane University during this difficult time and we have worked out an arrangement within the context of the plan described above. This is made possible once again with assistance and generosity from colleges and universities – those in Conference USA and those outside of the conference - who have generously offered to help keep our teams together by providing not only academic opportunities but also practice facilities, playing facilities and general support.

As a president who is leading an institution during these challenging times, I have never been prouder than I am now to be in higher education. I am so indebted to my colleagues around the country for developing a plan that is both sensitive to the needs of our students and will also serve as a lifeline to those institutions dramatically affected.

Now that we have given guidance to our students, we will turn our attention to the many issues facing our employees. There are many unsung heroes in the Tulane community – men and women whose bravery made the evacuation of our campuses successful. Some are still on campus protecting our facilities. The Tulane community is indebted to you. I am aware of the myriad of questions and concerns of our staff. We intend to provide helpful information tomorrow.

As you can imagine, there are many issues involved in managing the university's recovery. I realize you have questions – probably more questions than we can answer at this point. Rest assured that there will be opportunities to communicate and I will make myself available through a variety of means to do so. I anticipate communicating again by 1:00 pm CST tomorrow.

Scott Cowen

The official Tulane site is down, but their athletics site is still up and running. All information is going to be posted there. Pass it along to anyone who needs the info.

CURRENT STATUS
August 30, 7:30 p.m.

Dear Friends of Tulane:

I know you are all concerned about conditions in New Orleans and at Tulane University, and have many questions about what is going to happen in the next few days, weeks and months.

Our first priority during this time is the safety of our faculty, staff and students. Thankfully, everyone associated with the university is safe, including those of us who remain at Tulane.

Our second priority is to secure our facilities. As expected, our facilities have been damaged; however, based on our preliminary assessments, the majority of the damage can be remediated in a reasonable period of time. The uptown campus is covered with debris from fallen trees and shrubs, making it almost impossible to drive or even walk on campus. We have no power in any of the buildings other than a few where we control the power source.

Our third priority is to develop a recovery plan. This task is impaired right now by the devastation of the city and its infrastructure, and deteriorating further due to the flooding we are now facing. In addition, we don't know when our employees will be able to return to the city, much less to the university. Therefore, until conditions stabilize, it is impossible to do any longer term recovery planning. However, part of the responsibility of the senior leadership team in Jackson, MS is to begin the planning and they have done so.

As I suspect you all know, there is no contingency plan that could ever be developed to respond to what the area and the university are experiencing. However, all of us at the university are totally committed to doing whatever it takes to get the university operational as soon as possible. I hope you will be patient and understanding of our situation as we work our way through the complexities.

It is difficult to describe what this situation feels like for those involved. It is surreal and unfathomable; yet, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Our focus is on the light and not the darkness.

Scott Cowen