The Red and Black

Issue date: 8/30/07 Section: News

Media Credit: PORTRAIT BY ILANA MCQUINN Former Tulane student Laura Custer, from Roswell, enrolled as a University student after Katrina caused cutbacks in Tulane faculty. [Click to enlarge]

New Orleans is still regrouping after Hurricane Katrina, according to interviews with two students with ties to the city and an expert on the racial issues in the city.

Seniors Shane Vaiskauskas, from Hampton, and Heather Post, from Roswell, attended Tulane University when Katrina struck two years ago. Vaiskauskas transferred to the University and said he still has friends transferring out of Tulane because of Katrina.

"My friends tell me that the conditions there are still not that great," Vaiskauskas said.

Post moved back to New Orleans after attending the University one semester.

"[Adjusting] wasn't difficult for my roommates and me in the same way that it was for many people who lost their homes. It was, however, strange to move back into a city with no traffic lights, erratic trash pickup and other utilities, and lacking other such things," Post said.

"I got used to everything that was going on in the city because it was all I saw for several months. After a while, I got excited about new traffic lights, and

the re-opening of gas stations and fast food restaurants. They were all small victories for the city," Post said.

Since Katrina, Tulane has cut several programs, Post said.

At the "Rumors, Race, and Hurricane Katrina" lecture Wednesday, Patricia Turner, author of African-American culture books, talked about the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

"There are a lot of stories out there about ungrateful survivors," she said.

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