Robert Barker/University Photography

Elizabeth Beukenkamp '07, whose family went through hurricane Ivan and whose sister is now in Mobile, Ala., listens to staff from student services and the Red Cross describing the help being offered to students with families in New Orleans. Beaukenkamp said she herself would like to help in any way she can.

Cornell University administrators, aided by the American Red Cross, are reaching out to the nearly 700 Cornell students from areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina - offering counseling, financial aid, referral services and other help.

At a meeting at the Statler Hall on Thursday, Sept. 1, representatives from departments across campus met with students from Louisiana, Florida, and surrounding states to discuss Cornell's response to the hurricane.

The university's message: Help is available. Just ask.

Staff from the Office of the Dean of Students, the Empathy, Assistance and Referral Service (EARS), the Office of Financial Aid, and student services staff from individual colleges encouraged students to contact them with any concerns in the aftermath of the hurricane - from requesting a leave of absence to requesting financial assistance. The resources, they said, are here and ready.

Kent Hubbell, dean of students, said the university will accept up to 200 displaced students and faculty from Tulane University in New Orleans. "Tulane at the moment has ceased to exist as a campus," he said. To accommodate them he added, Cornell is asking local residents to volunteer housing.

Relief efforts across campus are getting under way. Students from the Chi Phi fraternity and Alpha Phi sorority will be collecting funds on Tuesday and Wednesday, Sept. 7 and 8, on Ho Plaza. Other students interested in helping are urged to contact the American Red Cross or the Office of the Dean of Students.

Michael Raffe, director of emergency services for the Tompkins County branch of the Red Cross, said a local team of emergency workers has been deployed to the New Orleans area. More will go in the coming weeks. In the meantime, he said, the local Red Cross chapter will be in operation daily from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. throughout the Labor Day weekend.

After Thursday's meeting, the students - some from New Orleans, others from Mississippi and Florida - gathered in a tight cluster exchanging phone numbers and offering each other moral support. They also exchanged tips on communicating with family. (Text messaging often gets through better than phone calls, because it uses less bandwidth, for example.)

Hesitantly, they introduced themselves and related their stories.

Eric Thurber, a sophomore from Biloxi, Miss., said, "My family's okay. But our house is completely leveled."

Courtney Blake, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, could relate. "My parents sat inside and watched trees fall all around them," she said. " I don't know what's going on, and they won't tell me because they don't want to worry me."

Elizabeth Beukenkamp, a junior in the college of Arts and Sciences, saw similar devastation from Hurricane Ivan in her hometown near Pensacola, Fla., last year. Her sister is in college in Mobile, Ala. - safe, she says, but she is still waiting to hear details.

In the meantime, she said, she wants to help in any way she can. "It's just so overwhelming to me," she said. "Seeing the devastation, I want to find out if there's anything I can personally do."

She is not alone.

Laura Lewis, a volunteer crisis manager for the Office of the Dean of Students, put it simply: "We know this is on the early side of the response. We think of ourselves as in this with you. This is going to be a long-haul ordeal. Our thoughts are with you."