Back to school at Tulane law

By Diane Curtis
Staff Writer

UCLA School of Law was very nice, thank you, but second-year students Robert Wall and Bob Stein are glad to be back at Tulane Law School. “It was a great experience. UCLA’s a lot of fun, L.A.’s a great city, but there was something missing,” explained Wall, one of 10 Tulane students who ended up at UCLA for the fall semester. “When I left (New Orleans), I really didn’t have any closure.”

Stein, too, was eager to get back so that he can help his fellow musicians (he plays jazz guitar) get their lives — and their livelihood — back together. “To be able to help the community I’ve become part of is a good opportunity,” he says.

Fifty-four Tulane students ended up at California law schools following Katrina — 18 at Boalt Hall, 10 at UCLA, six at University of San Diego, five at Stanford, four at University of Southern California, three each at UC-Davis, Hastings and Loyola and one each at Pepperdine and Santa Clara University.

Only five of the 54 were first-year law students. Ann Salzer, assistant dean at Tulane Law School, says two-thirds of the first-year students decided not to attend any other law school. They opted for a six-month program at Tulane that will be equivalent of two semesters. Altogether, 85 percent of the Tulane students returned in January, Salzer says.

Wall and Stein — who both plan to practice in Southern California after graduation — got out of New Orleans with just a few items. They evacuated before Hurricane Katrina hit and started e-mailing law schools in California. Within a week, they were attending classes at UCLA.

“They were very, very accommodating,” says Wall of UCLA law school faculty and administrators.  Stein couldn’t agree more. He was delighted when he arrived and was handed a thick folder with offers of everything from a free house in Malibu to clothes and furniture.

Wall accepted the offer of a couple in their 80s for a room in their house, a block from campus. The couple, a retired psychiatrist and a retired NPR reporter, “are probably some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met,” says Wall, who had to cajole them into accepting even token rent. But most important, Wall says, he found “a sense of stability” that he desperately needed following Katrina. Through a friend, Stein found a place in West Hollywood.

Publishers and the UCLA bookstore provided free books and supplies. Professors added chairs to classes and provided audiotapes of missed lectures or held special study sessions so the Tulane students could catch up. Tuition was waived and some students were given financial aid from a special campus fund. Tulane students even got almost-impossible-to-come-by campus parking — free. When a student whose only possessions were the clothes on her back slid a check for parking to the supervising clerk, it was pushed right back. “Everybody was crying,” says Dean of Students Liz Cheadle.

“We had just wonderful cooperation from our campus,” agrees Michael Schill, dean of the UCLA School of Law. Most of the Tulane students, Schill says, had a “California connection” — friends or relatives in the area or an interest in a particular aspect of the UCLA curriculum. One of the law school’s admissions officials spent the weekend after the hurricane hit trying to verify that students who said they were from Tulane were from Tulane. Officials also wanted to get an idea of their grades and LSAT scores so they could be sure students admitted could do the work. In some cases, they had to accept the students’ word. Financial aid officers helped make sure that federal aid checks, which went to Tulane, were still paid. Other UCLA officials made sure students still had health insurance.

At the end of the semester, “more than two” students asked if they could remain at UCLA, Schill says.  Because UCLA and other law schools had agreed to Tulane’s request not to keep students who enrolled because of the hurricane, no one was allowed to stay after December finals.

Tulane’s Salzer said that after a week of January classes “everybody’s kind of settled into a routine.” Flooded classrooms are renovated, with new carpet and chairs. All faculty members are teaching this semester because “we wanted to make sure we had whatever courses we needed,” she says.

Both Wall and Stein are back at Tulane, but Stein says it’s not going to be easy to get comfortable. “There’s no assurance it won’t happen next year,” he says. “It was the second worst hurricane season of all time. They think next year is going to be as bad, if not worse.”