Vermont Campus Compact Colleges Respond to the Gulf Coast



Vermont Campus Compact Colleges Respond to the Gulf Coast

Bennington College: Bennington College opened its doors to displaced students as well as to displaced Bennington alumni, offering a special admissions process to students and a place for alumni to come if they needed housing. Bennington students held a candy-gram drive, food drives, bake sales, a concert, and will be holding a craft fair with all of the proceeds going to benefit hurricane victims. For the off-campus (internship-based) winter term, several students are looking into doing their internships down south to see how they can help with groups such as Habitat for Humanity.

Burlington College: Burlington College developed a plan to assist faculty, staff, and students in the distribution of donated materials such as food, water, and supplies by serving as a central drop-off point. Once received, donated materials were then delivered to the various community organizations making trips to deliver materials to the Gulf Coast for hurricane victims.

Castleton State College: The Student Nursing Association, Social Work students, the Social Issues Club, the Community Service Club, Support Your Troops, and the Criminal Justice Club all participated in fund-raising projects. The men’s ice hockey team raised $6,500 through two Skate-a-Thons at the Rutland Field House. At the second event, Saturday, September 24, team members who had received pledges started skating at 6 p.m. and went long into Sunday morning, some skating for nearly eleven hours. On September 30, student Julian Defelice delighted on the keyboard and the hot campus band Twiddle appeared at a benefit Mardi Gras Dance complete with beads and hurricane glasses. A benefit evening of jazz was also planned.

Champlain College: Champlain College students, faculty and staff raised more than $9,000 for the American Red Cross for hurricane relief. Students created a theme for a fund-raiser called “For the Price of a Cup of Coffee.” Champlain College opened its doors to students displaced by Hurricane Katrina, with two students enrolled in Champlain’s online program and another student enrolled for courses on campus. Champlain College collected no tuition; instead, the students’ tuition payments continued to go to their home colleges, which desperately needed the funds. Additionally, Champlain’s “Exploring marketing” professor, Elaine Young, built the semester around marketing for Katrina and local relief efforts. The class has two goals; devise a strategy for marketing the school’s “Cup of Coffee: campaign to other organizations and create marketing plans to raise funds for needy Vermonters as well as Katrina victims.

Community College of Vermont: CCV is one of 113 institutions offering a total of nearly 900 online courses free to students from colleges in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The idea is that threes courses, from accredited institutions that are members of the Sloan Consortium (supporting the advancement of online learning in higher ed), will serve as a bridge so that displaced students can continue progress toward their degrees this fall and resume their studies at their home institutions this spring. Tuition was waived for the three online courses offered: American History 1, Intro to Criminal Justice, and Modern Short Fiction.

Goddard College: Through Goddard’s People to People Katrina Project, (P2P), the college has engaged in a long-term committed relationship with a Habitat for Humanity Chapter in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Arrangements were made to financially support a community-based childcare/school in Biloxi, Mississippi. Three separate work teams traveled to Hattiesburg and helped to complete construction on four Habitat houses that had been delayed/damaged by Hurricane Katrina. The third work team returned on December 18, 2005. On-going programs will continue to engage the students, staff and faculty of Goddard with Gulf-Coast related initiatives.

Green Mountain College: Students raised over $1,000. The college worked with the United Methodist Committee on Relief to channel the contributions to hurricane relief and the Chaplain’s office organized “cleaning bucket” packages to be sent for clean-up efforts. The college also offered to take up to 20 students displaced by the hurricane for the fall semester.

Johnson State College: Johnson State College first responded on September 2, 2005, with staff taking u pa collection around campus and in just two hours, collected $1,500 in donations. Organizers used the money to buy basic supplies that were shipped out that day in a Vermont convoy headed to Louisiana. The college has started a scholarship fund for students who have who have been affected by the disaster and the fund will help support students who enroll at JSC or another Vermont State College during the spring semester. President Murphy is also planning to contribute $1,000 from the President’s Discretionary Fund to support an emergency scholarship relief fund organized by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

Lyndon State College: Lyndon State College offered admission to New England students unable to attend their own school as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Lyndon State students, faculty and staff placed fund raising containers throughout the area, and made drop boxes available for donations of canned goods, clothing, toiletries, batteries and other items that were then sent to the American Red Cross.

Marlboro College: Marlboro College offered five places for students from New England who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina; however, no student affected by the hurricane enrolled in the college. Marlboro also raised $900 in funds for the Red Cross, and staff, students and faculty donated to a Vermont-wide convoy of materials sent to the devastated region.

Middlebury College: In September, Middlebury College welcomed nine students who had been displaced by Hurricane Katrina; eight who were enrolled at Tulane University and one from Dillard University. Middlebury is not charging these students, who were asked to pay their home institution the fees that they would normally be charged, to help Tulane and Dillard in the recovery process. Middlebury also created a special Katrina Relief Program to make it possible for faculty and staff to pursue volunteer work in the Gulf Coast region for up to four weeks, while maintaining their benefits and receiving half of their salary. In addition, faculty, staff, and students who visited a special hurricane relief page at the Chaplain’s office web site contributed nearly $17,000.

New England Culinary Institute: NECI offered $20,000 scholarships ($10K/year) to restaurant and hospitality professionals who were affected by the hurricane. There was a positive response to this initiative from people in the industry working throughout the Gulf Coast, with some students enrolling in the school’s December term. On Saturday, October 1, the Montpelier Student Council held a “Taste O New Orleans” benefit featuring Cajun cuisine prepared by students, a raffle, and a silent auction. A similar event was held at NECI Commons on Saturday, October 8, 2005. The proceeds from these and all of the relief effort went directly to charitable organizations such as Share Our Strength and the American Red Cross.

Norwich University: Staff members from Norwich’s Institutional Advancement Office spent hours calling alumni from areas impacted by what had been called the worst natural disaster in US history. These employees eventually made contact with a number of alumni and friends of Norwich. An on-campus, student-driven effort, Norwich United for Disaster Relief, worked to collect funds to help hurricane victims.

Saint Michael’s College: The close connections of Saint Michael’s College and the city of New Orleans are not widely recognized, but they are profound. The Bishop Perry Middle School on Dauphin Street and the Saint Peter Claver Church on St. Philips Street, both in New Orleans’ famous 9th Ward, are run by the same order of priests who founded Saint Michael’s College. A service trip to New Orleans is being planned by Saint Michael’s Campus Ministry as soon as is feasible. A benefit concert was held with Boston cellist Dale Henderson and SMC Fine Arts piano teacher Annemieke Spoelstra performing. All contributions from the concert went to the Katrina Relief Fund.

Southern Vermont College: Student Jennifer Jones led a Teddy for Tots drive that collected 100 stuffed animals for the child victims of Katrina. The Southern Vermont College Office of Campus Life and Civic Engagement hosted a Family Fund Day for the children of servicemen and women including games, face painting, and time for talking about children’s issues.

Sterling College: Professor Anne Morse and her family offered a family housing opportunity. The College agreed to provide food and possibly even part-time work to the relocated family. A student traveled to Biloxi, Mississippi with a church group for one week to unload and distribute supplies as well as prepare and serve meals. Professors allowed the student time off from class, extensions on assigned work, and any extra help needed to catch up with coursework. P professor and her daughter put together a Gift of the Heart School Kit and two Gift of the Heart Kids Kits that were distributed by Church World Services. Jay Merrill, Admissions Counselor, organized a coin drop that raised over $460 in relief funds for the Louisiana Environmental Action Network.

University of Vermont: The University worked diligently to enroll eight Tulane University students in classes and find housing for them after the semester had begun and waived their tuition. The Student Government Association raised $2,000, donating half the money to the United Way and half to the United Negro College Fund. The Pottery Program in UVM’s Living-Learning Center organized a “Tiles for Smiles” program with students paying $1 each to decorate donated tiles. The event raised $1,000 for Katrina relief and 1,000 painted, glazed tiles will be sent to New Orleans for use as d decorative elements in rebuilding efforts. The Center for Disability and Community Inclusion led a coalition of Vermont agencies who rounded up medical and assistive equipment for children and adults with disabilities on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. UTM students, faculty, and staff unloaded, cleaned, organized and packed supplies on 22 palettes, which were then shipped to Mississippi. Two students and a staff member traveled to New Orleans over Thanksgiving week to volunteer in a grass roots effort organized by Common Ground to help residents rebuild. The university supported the effort with a $1,000 gift card to Home Depot for building equipment and supplies. Finally, the university has offered to provide housing and office space to faculty member at Dillard University, an historically black college in New Orleans with which UTM has an historical connection.

Vermont Law School: Vermont Law School offered to waive fall semester tuition for up to ten law students from the gulf region. VLS is currently in discussion with three Tulane Law School students, including one second year, J.D. program student, and two LL.M students. VLS has offered a fall semester visiting professor position to the Tulane Law School faculty; salary and duties for the individual would be commensurate with VLS regular faculty. Faculty offices and housing would be arranged as needed. VLS’s Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic has offered to help its Tulane counterpart as needed. The Vermont Law School Student Bar Association encouraged the VLS community to donate its collective lunch money for one week to the American Red Cross. Those making a donation received a free “PB&J” sandwich.

Vermont Technical College: Fund raising for the Red Cross garnered $2,313 for hurricane relief. College President Allan Rodgers matched $500 in donations given during a fund raising push on September 9 to increase the total amount raised to $2813. Faculty worked to dialog with students about the disaster in ways that were both personally an academically meaningful. Additionally, donations of money and supplies enabled the staff to put together and ship95 hygiene packets. Dental hygiene student donated toothbrushes, toothpaste and dental floss, while LPN students gathered $1,000 worth of goods that were donated to a relief point in the Gulf Coast.

Woodbury College: Woodbury College served as a clearing house for students and staff regarding the ways people could help, including publishing drop-off sites for clothing and food in the student newsletter so that students could make contributions through their local communities. Several students, as part of their commitment to community service, volunteered at collection sites.

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