Volume 2, Issue 1 A Publ ication of the Texas A&M African-American Professional Organizatio n A Publication of the Texas A&M African-American Professional Organization December 2005 AAPO n Point INSIDE THIS ISSUE: R EFLECTIONS OF A UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATOR “ IN THE SHELTER FROM THE STORM” Reflections of a University 2 Administrator continues... neighbors to the east. I—like members of the Black Gradu- many of you—prayed that our ate Students Association—and Reflections 3 neighbors’ lives and property probably other students—are would be spared. I—like many New Orleans residents whose One Survivor’s Perspective 4 of you—contemplated how I families had been devastated personally could help in what by Katrina. She wanted to Do You Know What It 5 was sure to be a massive know whether the University relief effort—perhaps donate could assist those students. I Means? money, food, or household immediately went to President items. I—like many of you— Gates to present the situation ‘Tis The Season, Here’s 6 watched in horror as Ameri- and ask what role he wanted Rodney P. McClendon, can citizens and others lan- me to play in the University’s The Reason Chief of Staff to President Robert M. Gates guished in the streets, beg- response. He charged me ging for food, water, medicine with convening a “small Tribute To Woody Jones 7 Brother Richard Smallwood, and shelter from the storm. group” of university officials to famed gospel artist sings: I—like many of you—was em- devise a plan. As I left his Community Beat 8 barrassed and angered by the office, someone handed me unbelievably botched display an e-mail from the chairper- Hurricane Katrina Timeline There is a place/Where winds of inefficiency from those son of a renowned academic don’t blow/Sorrow or pain/It does Aug. 24, 2005 entrusted with its citizens’ organization asking A&M and not know/Love and protection/ Tropical Depression 12 strengthens into safety. And, while my heart certain other universities to Tropical Storm Katrina over the Central Surround my soul/In the shelter Bahamas. of your arms ached for all who had experi- assist Tulane University stu- enced such loss, hey, let’s be dents who had been dis- Aug. 25, 2005 Hurricane Katrina strikes Florida between real—the pain was all the placed by Katrina. Recogniz- Lord, in your arms/There is such Hallandale Beach and North Miami Beach. more deep because so many ing that there were a number peace/And from the storm/I find Aug. 26, 2005 relief/Because I love you/You of those impacted looked just of Historically Black Colleges Hurricane Katrina grows to a Category 2 like me, my parents, my and Universities (HBCUs) also hurricane with 160 km/h winds, veering rescued me/In the Shelter of your north and west toward Mississippi and arms grandparents and the little old impacted by Katrina, the voice lady in church who used to of truth once again reared its Louisiana. smile slyly as she slipped me head saying, “Rodney, speak Aug. 28, 2005 Hurt by the pain/That life can Katrina grows into a Category 5 storm and a peppermint candy. for those not privileged to be heads for the northern Gulf coast. Approxi- bring/Steadfast unto/Your word I mately 300,000 evacuees gather at Super- cling/Lord, I find refuge/Beneath Little did I know the voice in the room.” dome with roughly 36 hours of food. your wings/ In the shelter of your of greatness was about to call I walked back into Dr. Aug. 29, 2005 arms the name of Texas A&M Uni- Gates’ office, shared the e- Katrina makes initial landfall as a Category versity. Little did I know, that mail and noted that Southern, 4 storm near Buras, LA. In the Shelter of your Arms/There I would be integrally involved Dillard, and Xavier Universi- Aug. 30, 2005 I’m free and Safe from harm/ in what I argue is Texas ties, as well as several other Two levees break in New Orleans and water pours in, covering 80 per cent of the Comfort I find/And peace of A&M’s finest hour. Never universities, also had been city. mind/In the Shelter, In the Shel- before like this had Texas impacted. I was proud, yet The first busloads of victims leave the ter, In the Shelter/In the Shelter A&M University administra- not surprised, when Dr. Gates Superdome for the Astrodome in Houston. of your Arms. tors, students, staff, faculty, and my eyes met in mutual Sept. 1, 2005 former students, and friends understanding and agree- The first buses arrive at the Houston been called upon to demon- ment. While his eyes con- Astrodome. When Hurricane Katrina struck the United States gulf strate that ethereal quality we veyed what we would do, for Sept 2, 2005 coast on August 29, 2005, I— call the Aggie Spirit. the record, Dr. Gates re- President Gate announces that Texas A&M, including the Galveston campus, will like most of the country— On August 30, I received a sponded, “Yes, we will reach accept up to 1,000 students this fall due watched as nature reaped call from Melanie Kirk to in- out to Tulane, and we will to Hurricane Katrina. havoc on the lives of our form me that quite a few reach out to Dillard, ► Sept. 4, 2005 The first buses of evacuees arrive at Reed Arena. Page 2 Volume 2, Issue 1 R EFLECTIONS OF A UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATOR “IN THE SHELTER FROM THE STORM” CONTINUES... Southern, Xavier and any other univer- small suitcase; others had a cardboard for being . .” Ever since discovering sity whose students have been impacted box or nothing—not even shoes on their these pearls of wisdom many years ago, by Katrina—because it is the right thing feet. I intellectually have embraced their un- to do.” I shall never forget the look on the derlying principles. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I found myself a What transpired over the next sev- Hispanic woman’s face as she sat on her small player in a great symphony of ser- eral days is no less than amazing. What bed, gazing aimlessly into the distance; it vants who answered the call to live started out as a “small group” convened was a painful look of loss and despair. As to assist Aggies directly impacted by my eyes filled with tears, my lips retracted these principles. Katrina soon became a symphony of into the slightest smile as I saw three little servants doing that which no academic girls—one African American, one Hispanic, program had prepared us to do (My only and one White—holding hands, laughing regret is that space limitations prohibit and skipping intermittently around the me from paying homage to each person woman and the other beds. And then I by name.) Not only did we open our chuckled softly when I saw a young Afri- home and our hearts to approximately can American boy lie flat on his back, on 350 displaced college students, we also his clean bed, moving his arms and legs answered the call to provide refuge for as if he were a snow angel, as if asking, more than 200 Katrina Survivors— ‘Is all of this mine?’ In the span of two everyday people, many of whom arrived minutes, I knew that I was witnessing the at Reed Arena with little more than the power and promise of God to be the shel- clothes on their backs—and some barely ter in the storm. The woman sitting on the had that. bed presented the reality that as humans, life sometimes knocks us down; the little It’s around midnight Saturday, Sep- girls skipping represented the promise tember 3, and we have just received that through faith we can get up again; word that the first bus of Katrina Survi- and the little boy’s “back stroke” on the vors is en route to Reed Arena. Every- bed conveyed that weeping may endure one who had been preparing and waiting for a night, but joy and peace cometh in for the Survivors’ arrival for the last 36 hours is a little tired and anxious, but I the morning. know our fatigue cannot possibly meas- For the students, under the excep- ure up to the weariness the Katrina Sur- tional coordination of Mark Weichold, vivors must be feeling (I later learned Texas A&M erected a one-stop shop they had been shuttled from the Super- where students received housing, emer- dome in Louisiana to Dallas and then to gency funds and an opportunity to con- College Station in the span of one day, in tinue their academic pursuits uninter- search of shelter.) Dr. Gates wisely had rupted. For the other Survivors, the Uni- tapped General John Van Alstyne—who versity provided food, clothes, shower was absolutely phenomenal—to com- facilities, childcare services, medical mand the Katrina Relief Mission. The treatment and shelter from the physical Corps of Cadets had assembled all of and emotional storm. However, more than the beds, set up the various duty sta- tangible goods and services, we tried to tions and stood ready to escort the Sur- offer compassion. As one Survivor ex- vivors to their beds (their new “homes’). pressed, “After five days on a bridge, I was Coach Jennifer Hart and the Aggie in hell. I found heaven when I got to Dance Team had packaged and stood Texas A&M. You all have given me the ready to distribute bedding, toiletries, inspiration to go on.” clothes, and diapers.