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The Sweet Briar Community Responds to Hurricane Katrina
By Shavonne Clarke ’07

While Sweet Briar may be over a thousand miles from the path that Hurricane Katrina cut through Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi, students and community members were keenly aware of the devastation caused in the lives of so many. On Sept. 1 the Student Government Association launched a lifeboat in the Prothro Atrium so that students could donate items to be sent to the affected areas. The lifeboat was filled with jugs of water and care packages that were marked with the characteristic pink and green of Sweet Briar.

“Our lifeboat will be a symbol of our concern for everyone who is suffering loss, hunger, thirst, pain and homelessness as a result of Hurricane Katrina's wrath,” President Muhlenfeld said in an official statement.

Individuals also took action to express their concern. Brandy Stinnette '06, for example, organized a bottled water collection by placing a box in the library that Sweet Briar residents could contribute to.

In addition, Circle K and the Chaplain’s Office sponsored a walk on September 12 in honor of the victims of Katrina. The twenty-five participants, who walked from the gym to the Meta Glass parking lot, donated about $130 to be sent to the Red Cross.

“I’m really impressed with Sweet Briar and their turn out,” Michelle Badger ‘06, President of Circle K, said of the walk.

Most notably, the Admissions Office at the college offered tuition-free enrollment to students who were attending two- or four-year institutions that were forced to close because of Katrina.

“We were one of the first colleges to get this kind of offer posted and circulated,” Ken Huus, dean of admissions, said. “The intent of our offer was to do what we could, from a thousand miles away, to help.”

Some residents of Sweet Briar felt the effects of Hurricane Katrina on an even more personal level. John Gregory Brown, the head of Sweet Briar's creative writing department, grew up by Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans. Katrina's track took her directly towards Pontchartrain, which separates New Orleans and the Mississippi River by a levee system. When the levees broke the city began to flood, leaving 80 percent of New Orleans underwater by August 30. Many of Brown's family members, including his mother, resided in New Orleans and were forced to evacuate when Hurricane Katrina struck. Brown has not yet heard from his extended family and several friends.

“This has been much, much worse than anything else I've experienced,” he said of Katrina. “My mother's house is completely covered with water.”

Before Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans was home to 480,000 people and had been constructed around the largest port in the United States. It was a city of diversity and culture, and was perhaps most famous for its annual Mardi Gras celebration, held in February. However, the future of New Orleans is now in question. Damage to the city is so widespread that the estimated cost to rebuild is in the tens of billions.

Brown expressed a strong sentiment that the city should be rebuilt, citing the grand architecture and the immensely rich history as a few of New Orleans' most valuable attributes.

“It's a unique city in that it's the most European city in the United States,” Brown said. “It would be a great shame to lose it.”