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USC hasn’t been flooded with transfer students in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but those who have enrolled here have been warmly welcomed.
Two USC law students, Erin Bailey and Mitchell Spearman, have organized an array of support for 11 law students from Loyola and Tulane now at USC.
“We’re the only law school in the nation to have an Adopt-a-Law Student program, which is funded entirely through law firms and individual lawyers throughout the state,” said Spearman, a third-year law student from Saluda. “Each firm has designated one or two lawyers to be buddies for each student they are sponsoring. They’re providing financial support, clothing, whatever is needed. Some of these students showed up with basically the clothes on their backs.”
Bailey, a second-year law student, has helped mobilize the law school student body. Law students have donated furniture, made spare bedrooms available, and volunteered to help move in their new classmates. Bailey set up each of the 11 students with a class buddy to get notes for the three or four weeks of class they missed. Eight of the students have no family connections to South Carolina.
“I’ve gotten a ton of e-mails from our students, and I’ve just been trying to funnel that energy where it can do some good,” Bailey said.
One of the recipients of that kindness is Molly Behymer, a first-year student from Tulane.
“The most difficult thing about trying to resume classes somewhere else is that law school is a stressful endeavor under normal circumstances—under these circumstances, it's really overwhelming,” Behymer said. “Luckily, the faculty, staff, and students at USC’s law school have been incredibly helpful. I can't imagine an academic institution doing more to make students like me feel welcome. People aren't just willing to help—they're actually excited about it.”
Several other student leaders from law schools, including Florida State and Mississippi, have contacted Spearman for advice on starting their own programs to assist law school transferees from Katrina-stricken areas.
“I’m proud to say that Carolina law started this one first, and I guarantee no other school will have as good a program,” Spearman said.
Jenais Means, a pre-med junior from Xavier University, is one of three undergraduates from Gulf Coast-area institutions now enrolled at USC in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
“I only brought a couple of changes of clothes, and I’m feeling a little lost. Everything I had is there,” Means said. “I’m just coming out of shock, watching all of the images on CNN and Fox. It’s traumatizing to see all these places destroyed that I passed by all of the time.
“I’m a junior pre-med major, so I’m taking physics and genetics at USC this semester to try to keep up. I was a couple of weeks behind when I started here Sept. 1, so I thought I should just stick with these two courses. The professors have been so accommodating—I have Prof. [Alan] Walden for genetics and Prof. [Timir] Datta for physics. I tell them thank you all the time.
“Xavier officials have said they’ll be back in business in January, but I don’t see how. I think it will be August before we can go back.”
USC admissions officers have received at least 100 inquiries from undergraduate students at Katrina-stricken institutions. Only seven have filed applications, and three have enrolled.
“We’ve handled it on a case-by-case basis; it’s a tough situation,” said Scott King, associate director of undergraduate admissions. “We’re trying to direct most of them to the Fall II evening session, which starts Oct. 17 and runs for eight weeks. That would allow them to earn three to nine credit hours this semester.”
9/05
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