Living Our Motto: Hurricane Katrina

President Pelton’s Second Letter to the University Community – September 22, 2005

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

President M. Lee Pelton I wish to thank all of you for your generous and heartfelt response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

We have enrolled four students who were displaced by the storm; three are from Tulane University and one is from the University of New Orleans. I’ve heard a number of stories that assure me these special guests are being warmly received.

As of today, faculty, students and staff have donated more than $17,000. With the match from the University, $35,416 has been sent to the American Red Cross. The University will continue to match all donations through Oct. 15.

The student leadership of Willamette has also initiated a list of projects focused on hurricane relief. In addition to a number of fund-raising efforts, Panhellenic Council will sponsor a Red Cross blood drive on campus Sept. 27; the Office of the Chaplain is collecting “Health Kits” for shipment to the Gulf states; and the office of Community Service Learning is planning two trips to the Gulf area for students, faculty and staff who want to participate in hands-on volunteer relief work in January and March.

A complete list of these activities is available at:
http://www.willamette.edu/go/katrina

While the loss of life and property is extensive throughout the Gulf States, much of our concern is directed to the students, faculty and staff of the 31 college and university campuses involved in this unprecedented national disaster. From the largest, Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, to the smallest, Tougaloo College near Jackson, Miss., these institutions are facing varying degrees of damage and trauma, but all of them expect to survive.

I am enormously proud of the response of the higher education community to this devastating event. It has been swift, effective and thoughtful. I am pleased that Willamette – many thousand miles away from the Gulf states – was able to join other colleges and universities in providing relief to students as well as to institutions of higher learning.

Katrina unveiled the long-standing deep socio-economic disparities that exist within this land of plenty. The dispossessed have been displaced.

In today’s world of strife and poverty, few things are more important than the cultivation of educated young men and women who, inspired to do good works, commit to making the rewards of this nation available to all, not just the few.

Thank you for your support.

President M. Lee Pelton's signature
Lee Pelton