September 2, 2005

Dear members of the Bryn Mawr community,

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the United
States is facing a national disaster of immense
proportions. About 120,000 evacuees are being
housed in shelters in eight states, and 20,000
people are listed as missing. The hurricane
damaged about 90,000 square miles of the
Southeastern United States, with Mississippi and
Louisiana hardest hit. In New Orleans, the
situation is dire: tens of thousands of people
are trapped, without food or water, their lives at imminent risk.

The news coverage we see about this tragedy is
exceedingly painful to follow, not least because
it tells some difficult truths about the United
States. Of the 500,000 residents of New Orleans,
about 67 percent are African-American and about
30 percent live below the poverty line; it is
predominantly the African-American poor who have
been left to suffer the devastation wrought by
the storm. It is important, however impotent we
sometimes feel in the face of both the natural
disaster and the social inequality that
exacerbates it, that we do not cocoon ourselves
here at Bryn Mawr. We are a community committed
to making a meaningful impact on the world, and I
know that many of us are searching for ways to help Katrina’s victims.

I can offer a few immediate suggestions and
report on some institutional responses to the
crisis that the College is planning.

The effects of Katrina will be with us for a long
time, and survivors’ needs will evolve as time
passes. But disaster-relief agencies assure us
that in the short term, what is needed is money and blood.

Because so many routes to affected areas are
impassable, it is important to direct our
financial resources to agencies that have
established themselves in affected areas and can
distribute our contributions most effectively.
Many of you, I’m sure, have relationships with
reputable agencies that are providing relief. If
you are looking for organizations that are
currently helping hurricane survivors, here are
two that have successfully delivered aid to Katrina survivors:

The American Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org/

America’s Second
Harvest: http://www.secondharvest.org

A longer list of relief organizations can be found at http://give.org.

What the College is Doing:

• A blood drive is scheduled for Sept. 20 in
Thomas Great Hall. Those who prefer not to wait
can find other blood drives in the immediate area
at http://www.givelife.org.

• The College will offer students enrolled at
hurricane-stricken colleges and universities
access to Bryn Mawr classes this fall through our
Continuing Education program. We anticipate that
most of these students will have ties to the
Philadelphia area and that their number will be
quite small. We will not charge these students
tuition, but we will expect them to pay to their
own institutions the tuition that they would
normally have paid this semester. If they have
not yet paid their fall tuition to their home
schools, we will collect those fees and pass them
on to the home school as soon as circumstances
allow. Unfortunately, we do not have housing to
offer. Anyone interested in enrolling should
contact Associate Dean Rona Pietrzak at
610-526-5373 or rpietrza@brynmawr.edu.

• Director of Intercultural Affairs Christopher
MacDonald-Dennis is organizing a forum at which
faculty members will examine the hurricane and
its effects from a variety of perspectives and invite discussion.

• Nell Anderson and Debra Rubin, the co-directors
of the College’s Civic Engagement Office, will
coordinate the College’s hurricane-relief
efforts, including fundraising and collection drives. They welcome suggestions and offers of
help. You may contact them at ceo@brynmawr.edu. For updates on the College's response to Katrina, check the Civic Engagement Web site at www.brynmawr.edu/ceo

We have yet to determine how many members of
the Bryn Mawr community are directly affected by
the storm, and I urge those whose homes or
families have suffered injury to contact the
Civic Engagement Office, so that the College may offer whatever support it can.

Sincerely,

Nancy J. Vickers
President