New Orleans Post-Katrina: Dillard University Students Start School in Luxury
NEW ORLEANS
Free cable TV, rooms with a view and twice-a-week maid service — the New Orleans Hilton Riverside trumps a stay in a dormitory any day, say Dillard University students who started their first day of classes at the upscale hotel this week.
The campus of the 135-year-old historically Black university was flooded by Hurricane Katrina barely two weeks after the start of the fall term, and the students had to finish the semester at other schools across the country.
Other area schools, including Tulane University, the University of New Orleans and Loyola University, are reopening their campuses this month, but Dillard is still closed because of severe flood and fire damage estimated at $400 million.
Roughly half of Dillard’s pre-Katrina 2,200 students have returned for this semester, and 800 are living at the Hilton, along the Mississippi River.
“I see all the boats and ships that pass by. It’s nice,” freshman Alexander Bumpers said of his 12th floor room.