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Minnesota State working to keep ties with New Orleans students

Minnesota State administrators worked over the Labor Day weekend to stay in touch with students from New Orleans, and are taking steps to insure that the students don't drop out of school.

2006-04-09
Myron P. Medcalf, Star Tribune staff writer [published in the Star Tribune, Minneapolis, 9/4/2005]

For the past 18 years, Michael Fagin, dean of institutional diversity at Minnesota State University, Mankato, has traveled to New Orleans in search of minority graduate students so often that the City Council gave him a key to the city. About a dozen students from the New Orleans area are enrolled this semester as a result of Fagin's efforts.

In the aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina, however, the future of MSU's New Orleans student pipeline is in jeopardy.

"One grad student was in Houston on vacation," he said. "The only thing she has is what's in her suitcase. I have to send her money to help her get here."

Fagin has set up counseling sessions and relief efforts for the students from the New Orleans area.

He was scheduled to take a recruiting trip next month to New Orleans.

Fagin still wants the young people he recruits in New Orleans to continue their education. He has spoken with other MSU officials about the possibility of offering online courses to displaced students.

Calvin Moultrie, director of Greek Life at MSU, grew up in New Orleans' Seventh Ward, one of the hardest-hit areas. After comforting students from his hometown all week, Moultrie said the recurring images and phone calls from disillusioned friends and relatives Thursday were disturbing.

"Today was my day ... it overwhelmed me," he said. "I've dealt with a little reality of my own because my family is there. I broke down today."

Bishop Wayne Randolph Felton, pastor of In The Word Church-Mankato, where MSU students from New Orleans have sought emotional and spiritual refuge, has counseled struggling students and helped raise money for families in need.

"They have security being here, but they have an insecurity because they have family members who have lost everything," he said. "They've been trying to camouflage their feelings. I call it a quiet strength."

Myron P. Medcalf can be reached at mmedcalf@startribune.com.

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