New Orleans’ HBCUs Find Hope - Southern University N.O.

By Black College Wire and THE BLACK COLLEGIAN

Dr. Victor Ukpolo, Chancellor, Southern University at New Orleans

TBC: What has been the greatest challenge SUNO has faced in obtaining the necessary funding to rebuild?

Dr. Ukpolo: The original greatest challenge – which is no longer a challenge – was the determination by FEMA to pick up 100 percent of our recovery or relocation costs. There was a time when FEMA was of the opinion that they would only pick up a portion of the costs, but FEMA has since decided that they would pick up 100 percent of the cost. So we don’t have any challenge in terms of the cost of our going back home any longer. It is a matter of getting the job done now, and the process has begun.

TBC: What has been the impact of Katrina on enrollment?

Dr. Ukpolo: Well, first of all, pre- Katrina our enrollment was about 3,600 students. After Katrina, we came back, fortunately for us, with 2,100 students — beyond the estimate of 1,500 students that we thought was the best we could do. Since spring of 2006, SUNO has been experiencing continuous growth in its enrollment to the point now, I can say, where we are close to reaching capacity in our temporary campus. We are potentially looking at having about 2,800 students enrolled. That is a tremendous accomplishment for our students and our faculty. A faculty member told me, “Mr. Chancellor, I know this is a good problem to have, but my classroom is full. The students are standing; there are no more chairs.” We like to have these problems. So enrollment is looking good for us at this point.

TBC: What is your administration doing to support SUNO’s students?

Dr. Ukpolo: We have left no stone unturned in terms of providing resources, providing advice, advising students to get the proper classes, advising students in terms of what they need to do in order to graduate within the timeframe that they need to graduate. For example, we are going to each class to tell students if they have not paid yet, do not hesitate to go to the financial aid office to get available funds to assist you to pay. In other words, we have been able to bring money to this university that enables us to help students to get paid through the Bush-Clinton Fund, through alumni contributions, through Sigma Phi Pi Fraternity, Inc., through the United Negro College Fund, through Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., just to name a few. Also, we are providing book vouchers and day care vouchers for students so that they will be able to come to school. We want to encourage our students to remain on their journey to be educated at SUNO.

TBC: Have any programs been altered, cut or eliminated?

Dr. Ukpolo: We recovered as many of our courses as possible. Because of the new challenges in New Orleans, we are going to establish several new programs that the Board of Regents have approved for us to be able to get implemented. Health Information Management programs have been approved. Child Development and Family Studies programs have been approved. The Management Information Systems programs, Public Administration and Business Entrepreneurship will allow us to address the unique new challenges and demand that Katrina has created for these programs. So while we are cutting some programs, there are also programs that we will bring in that will allow us to address new challenges.

TBC: What is planned for SUNO’s campus in the future?

Dr. Ukpolo: SUNO is going to be brand new in the future. Before Katrina, we had 11 buildings that were all damaged. Each received four to 11 feet of water. All of the buildings are going to be renovated with state-of-the-art technology. We have been given a schedule to bring all of the buildings back. We are going to be putting new facilities in there, new technology, to make it withstand any kind of storm, up to a Category 5 storm in the future. In addition to that, because of the money that has been put away, we can now brag of having a 12th building, the SUNO Technology Center, which is going to be the brain of the university to house all of our IT needs. In addition, I am sure you have heard about the $44 million, low-interest loans from the federal government. That is awesome. It has contributed to the long-term security of the school because SUNO finally will be counted as a residential campus. And it will join all four-year universities in this state that have residential housing.

TBC: What has SUNO learned from Hurricane Katrina that can be applied to the future?

Dr. Ukpolo: Patience. You’ve got to be patient. I told our public relations director, Howard Clark, that our patience paid off, because it takes patience to recover. When you talk about reconstruction, it doesn’t happen overnight because this is the greatest disaster of any city or state in the world. It takes patience in terms of moving forward and getting where we want to be. In terms of emergency preparedness, along with text messaging technology to warn us in the event of an emergency, we have a situation where we have this state-of-the-art radio that we can use among administrators, because one of the things that everyone pointed to immediately after Katrina is lack of communication. So we are making sure that we stay in constant communication.

TBC: Where does SUNO go from here?

Dr. Ukpolo: The sky is the limit because of the fact that we are now responding to the needs of the community. We are now serving the community as a unique, ready university like any black university in this community. And we are going to continue to provide quality academic programs. We have just hired 20 new stellar faculty members. We are going to be producing quality graduates as SUNO’s future is as bright as ever. One might not see it now because we are still in the trailers, but I am highly optimistic about SUNO’s future.

TBC: What do you want the nation to know about the institution aside from the chaos and mass destruction of Katrina?

Dr. Ukpolo: The people. The people of SUNO are resilient. We persevered. We are determined. We are blessed with good, people who are here to ensure that SUNO continues to rise. To me, as chancellor, I am blessed that I am able to be among this group of people who are not taking ‘no’ for an answer and are ready to go to the next level.

Article Continues

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This feature is the third in a series of collaborative projects between THE BLACK COLLEGIAN and Black College Wire featuring student journalists’ coverage of Hurricane Katrina and its after-effects. For additional articles and photos, see the extended feature and archived editions online at http://www.black-collegian. com. Photos of Southern University's main campus (top) and temporary quarters on its North Campus site by Shawn Chollette.