In response to your blog I would like to tell you why I felt “lied to and betrayed” by Tulane. Please understand that I speak only for myself and no other Tulane students, staff or faculty. I have been to three schools in as many semesters of my college career. Not a choice anyone would make. Imagine yourself on move-in day, full of excitement and anticipation, at 3pm there’s a knock on your door and you are told that the University is closing due to the approaching hurricane. You are asked to leave with your parents or to evacuate with the students to Jackson, Mississippi. (Tulane is nothing if not protective of its students’ safety.) At this point, Katrina is a Cat 3 storm and everyone expected to return in a few days. Two days later I am back home and searching for a school to attend for the fall semester. This was not something Tulane assisted with as they had bigger fish to fry at this point in time. Fast forward to November. My parents travel to New Orleans to salvage anything they could from my flooded first floor dorm room. During this trip the Tulane administration was very encouraging about having everyone return in January. My parents spoke directly to Tulane’s President, Scott Cowen introducing themselves and telling President Cowen how excited they were that their son, a mechanical engineering major, would have such a hands on opportunity in the rebuilding of New Orleans. President Cowen responded that he was thrilled that I would be back and agreed that the engineers would have great opportunities. That New Orleans would become a living laboratory. Three weeks later the “Renewal Plan” for Tulane was unveiled and guess what? No more School of Engineering. This was a shock to everyone including the engineering faculty. While they did keep Biomedical and Chemical engineering all other disciplines would be phased out over the next 18 months. So yes I was lied to and yes I felt betrayed. The least they could have done was agree to educate the students already enrolled and phase out the programs over 4 years. What they did do was assist the freshmen and sophomores that didn’t want to change their majors in the transfer process. While this was very kind on their part, the last thing I wanted to do was go through the application process again. But you do what you have to do. I can tell you I am more than happy at Vanderbilt and know that I will get an excellent education here.