Dear Loyola Students,
Power has begun to return to New Orleans, and we are hearing far more optimistic estimates from the utility about when it will return to our campus and the neighborhoods many of you live in.
As soon as there is power (at which point you will receive a jubilant email from me) we will be able to start returning to campus, but we will not require you to be back right away. Power will come on at different moments in different neighborhoods – a function of individual snapped poles and enormous damage to the grid. To function, we need power for the vast majority of our off-campus students, and faculty and staff, too. The hopeful news is that the utility is now describing that in terms of many days, not endless weeks.
- As power returns, you can begin coming back to off-campus apartments. We will let campus residents as soon as we have the necessary staff to welcome you back to the residence halls.
- The week of Monday, September 13th, we will teach virtually to give you more flexibility. If you are enrolled in online 8-week courses, your classes will begin September 7th and a separate message has been sent to you.
- And, while we are not in any situation to provide guarantees, our plan now is to allow return to classroom teaching (with flexibility for all who need it) on September 20th.
But please – don’t lock in plans yet. I want to keep giving you all of the information I have, but it’s still beyond my power to give you any certainty. Every day we will have more information and will keep communicating constantly.
For students reading this whose lives have been totally upended, who lost their homes and laptops, books and clothes, know that we will come together as a community to be there for you. I have already heard from Loyola students (and parents and alums) eager to be of help. We will be reaching out to you to help you navigate the days ahead, and we will be incredibly flexible to get you through this semester. You have our empathy, prayers and support.