MSU Relief Efforts

• Rufus Wainwright
  A Benefit Effort for the victims of Hurricane Katrina (PDF)

  Dates/Times: Saturday, October 8, 2005
  8:00 p.m. Wharton Center Great Hall
  Tickets: $10 MSU Students / $20 Public
  Box Office: 517.432.2000, 1.800.WHARTON
  www.whartoncenter.com

• MSU librarians, Kara Gust and Leslie Behm, have created a Research Guide for Hurricane Katrina. You can find it at:
  http://www.lib.msu.edu/libinstr/katrina.htm.

• WKAR radio and television will join in relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina by broadcasting special program segments and telephone numbers where viewers and listeners can contribute. The effort is part of a statewide cooperative effort between the Michigan Association of Broadcasters and the Michigan Association of Public Broadcasters, in conjunction with Governor Jennifer Granholm. The FCC has granted a blanket exemption so public radio stations across the nation can use their airwaves to raise funds for hurricane relief.

• ASMSU's Academic Assembly unanimously passed a bill to honor and aid Hurricane Katrina victims as well as advocate taking in evacuated students at its recent meeting. Members plan to organize a fundraiser for those affected, with special interest in helping college students displaced by the disaster.

• Students from the Veterinary Technology Class of 2006 organized a collection drive for animal victims of Katrina from 2-8 p.m. Sept. 8 and 7-10 a.m. Sept. 9 in the MSU Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education parking lot. Volunteers are collecting items like large carboys for water, harnesses, canned cat and dog food, feeding utensils, disposable litter pans and cat litter, paper products and medical supplies.

• A candlelight vigil was held Sept. 7 at the rock on Farm Lane to honor the victims and survivors affected by Hurricane Katrina. In attendance was Stephen Casey, a mechanical engineering senior from Tulane University in New Orleans and Holt native. Casey was driving to Tulane to begin his fall semester last week when he received word that Tulane's classes would be postponed, and then called off completely for at least the rest of the semester. Casey, along with other Tulane students, transferred to MSU for the fall semester.

• MSU, working through the Association of American Universities, has made a commitment to help Tulane University by providing temporary housing, library access and helping faculty sustain their research programs.

• MSU is handling requests from displaced students from the New Orleans higher education community on a case-by-case basis. If a student had been previously admitted to MSU as a degree-seeking undergraduate and wishes to have their admission reactivated, the university will do so. The Office of Admissions and Scholarships is working with advisors around campus and with housing officials to meet individual student needs. Several Lansing-area residents who attend school in the affected areas have expressed interest in attending MSU on a temporary basis. The students, who are being registered as quickly as possible, will live with their families here while attending MSU.

• MSU College of Law has offered to take in 25 law students from Tulane and Loyola universities, both located in New Orleans . As long as students have paid their tuition at their home institution, MSU College of Law will place them in emergency housing with faculty in the law school community. Students will be able to continue their education and remain eligible to meet deadlines for the upcoming summer bar examination.

• The Lyman Briggs School of Science Student Advisory Council will be collecting monetary donations in the eating areas and lobbies of Holmes Hall.

• The MSU College of Human Medicine is cooperating with the Association of American Medical Colleges to aid in placement of medical students who have been displaced by the hurricane.