Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information Office
                                           publicinfo@selu.edu
                                           SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
    Date: 9/25/98                                 
      Contact:                           Christina Chapple   

UNO STUDENTS SEEK SHELTER FROM "GEORGES" AT SLU
     HAMMOND -- Until recently, when the Southeastern Louisiana University Bookstore
moved to new quarters in the Student Union, the huge seal on the tiled floor of its old home on
the east side of SLU's Strawberry Stadium was obscured by merchandise shelving and clothing
racks.
     As of Saturday night, the seal was covered again, this time by sleeping bags, blankets,
baggage, even a small domed tent.
     The big room, emptied by the bookstore's move, was peopled by almost 200 students
from the University of New Orleans who had been chased out of New Orleans by Hurricane
Georges.
     As Georges began tracking toward the Gulf Coast last week, Southeastern and UNO
officials began talking about housing UNO's storm refugees on the Hammond campus. The plans
were firmed up Thursday, when the storm's track drew a bead on Louisiana.
     UNO loaded up four bus loads of students from its dorms, apartment complex and
married students' facilities -- some of them with children, including two babies -- and headed to
Hammond on Saturday. With the University Center occupied by Southeastern's own dormitory
evacuees and area refugees, the empty bookstore, built in the early 50s as the university's first
Student Union, seemed like a logical temporary quarters for the UNO guests.
     "The hospitality here has been great," Ernestine Montgomery, UNO's director of career
placement, said, as she relaxed on a bench outside the former bookstore's columned portico while
the sun was still shining on Sunday. She said the UNO contingent arrived on campus around 7
p.m., Saturday, after a bumper-to-bumper commute from New Orleans.
     The students and supervising officials such as Montgomery, UNO Health Services
Director Lucy Gallese and Residence Halls Manager Corey Cole found their quarters
comfortable, if not luxurious, and were vocal about their gratitude for Southeastern's cooperation
and attention. 
     "It has just been outstanding," Montgomery said.
     Southeastern made shower facilities in the nearby Athletic Building available to the
visitors, as well as bathroom facilities in next door Clark Hall. During the calm before the storm,
the students walked over to the university cafeteria for meals, where Aramark, which provides
food services to both Southeastern and UNO, fed them on steak, chicken -- "even ice cream!",
said Montgomery.
     President Sally Clausen, Vice President for Student Affairs Patsy Causey and Visual Arts
Department chairman Roy Blackwood were among the  Southeastern administrators who came
by to check on the evacuees.
      "I think we did the right thing coming here," said Gallese, who left her husband,
daughter and granddaughter behind in the city to accompany the UNO students to Hammond,
said,. Many of these students are international students, who've never been through a hurricane. I
went through Camille, so I'm fearful."
     Lounging around on the ballroom floor, students said they had spent Saturday night
playing cards, reading, sleeping and talking, even dancing. 
     Andre Wilson, a freshman from Shreveport, said he had boarded the evacuation bus after
missing a ride out of the city with his roommate. "I didn't know what to bring, so I'm having to
borrow blankets and stuff," Wilson said. "So far everything's pretty good, but these floors are
hard!" 
     Seated around him, Daphne Gettis of Mobile, Omeshia Kirby of Houston, Texas, and
Nhaah, who is from Atlanta, said their stay in Hammond was "kind of like camping out."
     "My dad was ready to come down and get me," Kirby said, "but my mom told him I
would be okay, just for me to pack everything I need and be careful." 
     "We don't have hurricanes in Shreveport, so I kinda wanted to see what it was like,"
Wilson said. "I don't like it!"
     "The students are being good sports. They're taking as good an attitude as you can
expect," Gallese said. She added that the UNO contingent realized that the old bookstore might
be "home" for a number of days, until they get the all-clear to return to their own campus. "We're
just trying not to contemplate what could happen," she said.