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Date 6-14-06
Contact David Tisdale 601.266.4499
WITH PHOTO
HATTIESBURG—Tulane
University in New Orleans will pay tribute to approximately 590
institutions of higher learning with a tapestry depicting logos
of the respective schools, including the University of Southern
Mississippi, which hosted its students in the fall of 2005 after
the university was forced to close temporarily due to the impact
of Hurricane Katrina.
The 12-by-12 foot tapestry is set to be completed in late December
and will be placed in Tulane’s newly constructed Lavin-Bernick Center
for University Life. An image of the tapestry will also be posted
on the university’s Web page, said Dr. Jillandra Rovaris, executive
director of the Tulane Center for Educational Resources and Counseling.
“The tapestry will capture the experience of the students’ diaspora
and serve as a thank-you to those schools that helped us during
that difficult time,” Rovaris said.
Southern Miss and several other schools on the tapestry are athletic
rivals with Tulane. But the tapestry will represent how, in times
of need, competition is cast aside and unity becomes the prevailing
theme of the relationship.
“This tapestry will also serve as a reminder that regardless of
rivalries or competition, we all need each other to survive, that
we’re all connected and that we can’t make it without the support
of each other,” Rovaris said. “We have to extend hands to help one
another especially in times of great tragedy when the need is greatest,
and we want this piece to speak to that.”
Derek Wagner, a Tulane English major from Long Beach, was one of
several Tulane students who spent the fall semester at Southern
Miss while his school recovered from the effects of Katrina. A member
of Delta Tau Delta fraternity at Tulane, he received assistance
from his fraternity counterparts at Southern Miss.
“Everyone at Southern Miss was really supportive of me,” Wagner
said. “Under the circumstances, everything went okay. They (Southern
Miss fraternity brothers) really helped me out, and the professors
there were very understanding about my situation and what I had
been through.”
Southern Miss Vice President for Student Affairs Joe Paul said the
university was pleased to help Tulane students and college students
from other New Orleans area schools temporarily displaced stay on
track with their course work.
“We're honored to be included in the Tulane tapestry, and we were
certainly privileged to host their students until they could safely
return to their campus in New Orleans,” he said.
Click to enlarge
Southern Miss Vice President for Student Affairs Joe Paul
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