Kevin Stearns/University Photography

Tulane students, from left, HoChi Sit, BioMed. Eng. '06, from Hong Kong, biomedical engineering graduate student Hameed Hirani from Palm Harbor, Fla., and Joseph Lai, Arch. '06, from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, learn about cornell at a special orientation session, Sept. 8.

Displaced Tulane students came together for a whirlwind orientation meeting on Thursday evening, Sept. 8, in Warren Hall, just a day and a half after most arrived in Ithaca after evacuating their New Orleans campus.

It was a crash course in all things Cornell: a two-hour session to absorb all the information most incoming Cornell students learn over the course of a week.

But if Tulanians are used to anything by now, it is challenge. And like psychology and linguistics major Rachel Anderson, they were grateful for the warm welcome they've received. "Cornell seems really warm and accepting," said the senior from Memphis. "Like they really wanted us here."

The students asked questions about everything from transportation to hockey tickets. They chatted with the dozens of student volunteers about clubs and activities, where to get academic help, how to use the libraries and where to find the best parties.

They spoke a little about the city they left, the things they miss and the sadness that comes with hearing about the hurricane-wrought destruction. But mostly they looked forward to a new semester in a welcoming - if temporary - new home.

Kevin Stearns/University Photography

Carlos Sanchez, Arch. '06, from the Republic of Panama, listens at the orientation session.

It was just days after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and surrounding areas that Cornell University President Hunter R. Rawlings responded by opening Cornell's doors to displaced students and faculty from Tulane.

"The entire Cornell community recognizes the terrible plight of our colleagues at Tulane University," Rawlings said last week. "We want to do everything we can to help them in their time of need."

Tulane students came. They arrived Tuesday morning, Sept. 6 - some at 3 a.m., others later, following circuitous cross-country bus rides or days spent hopping between cities and sleeping in airports. One by one, the 140 students met with advisers and housing coordinators, attended their first Cornell classes, signed up for meal plans, posed for photos for their Cornell IDs and set up their e-mail accounts. By Thursday night, Sept. 8, 66 students had been housed in dorms on campus (of those, 48 are freshmen, three are sophomores, four are juniors, nine are seniors and two are graduate students), 61 were placed in fraternities, sororities or apartments off campus, and another 13 were still in transition. Eighty-nine had enrolled in meal plans.

Meanwhile, administrators began making plans to reach out to students at other universities in the New Orleans area. "As a member of The Leadership Alliance, Cornell University has sought information about students at historically black colleges in the affected area," said Tommy Bruce, Cornell vice president for university communications. "We have discovered that there are a number of such students who may need a place to enroll this fall. Cornell is reaching out directly to those students."

At least three students from Xavier and Dillard universities in New Orleans are scheduled to arrive at Cornell in the coming days. Others may follow.

Across campus, students and organizations are reaching out to help hurricane victims (see sidebar below). Fundraisers for the American Red Cross have raised thousands of dollars across campus and in Collegetown, and efforts will continue until at least Sept. 21.

The Cornell Store is offering $100 gift cards and free packages of school supplies to Tulane students. Tops supermarket donated an additional $1,000 of notebooks, pens and folders. And the Statler Hotel will host a free dinner for Tulane students next week.

Farther away, Cornell alumni are doing their part for Katrina victims. Children from the New Orleans area will get cheerful craft kits next week, put together with care by members of the Community Outreach Committee of the Cornell Club Alumni Association Board in New York. "Everybody is doing something to help," said Susan Hennessee, director of the Cornell Alumni Southwest Mountain Regional Office in Houston. Business owners are donating supplies and money; individuals (including Hennessee) are opening their homes to displaced residents, and others are planning fund-raising events. "It's just incredible," she said.

Josh Futterman '89 of West Hollywood, Calif., flew to Louisiana on Sept. 2 to help personally. "I do not know exactly what I will find when I arrive," he said before leaving for Shreveport, "but I know that for me, sitting in California is not an option." And U.S. Navy Lt. Bibianna Danko, Class of '95, is also on the front lines, flying one of the Navy's four MH-53s to rescue victims of Katrina and deliver supplies to areas along the Gulf Coast. Read about the rescue efforts of her team.

Back in Ithaca, 15 Cornell administrators and staff members at the Sept. 8 orientation meeting briefed Tulane students on issues from computing to counseling. Each department's representative spoke about services available - and each offered reassurance.

"We will do anything we can to help," said Cornell Information Technology senior manager Michael Swenson.

"You guys will be fine," added assistant dean of students Lisa K'Bedford. "We have a lot of resources. You just need to ask and let us know what you need."

Welcome words, especially for students like Erika Martins, a quiet junior from Kenner, La. Martins' family evacuated safely before the storm, and she thinks the damage to her house just outside New Orleans is minimal. But still, she worries.

Now, though, she is focused on her life as it is for the moment: an apartment in Collegetown, a chance to study architecture at Cornell, the prospect of adventure and change and growth.

The upheaval and uncertainty are scary, but she is upbeat.

"I have a few friends here from Tulane. Not many," she said. Then she paused and smiled a little shyly. "But I don't mind meeting new ones."