Several Georgia colleges and universities are working around the clock to recover from the damage caused last week by Hurricane Helene.
Augusta and Valdosta State universities, as well as Brewton Parker, East Georgia State and Paine colleges, canceled classes and other operations this week. Some schools, such as Augusta, Paine and Valdosta State, said they expect to resume classes on Monday. The plan for some includes virtual instruction. Others, like Brewton Parker, said they may not have classes until Thursday.
Some schools are largely without electricity or water. Each has structural damage. Most students have been told to stay off campus. A few campuses have lost count of the number of downed trees.
Brewton Parker’s soccer team, which was in Mississippi before the storm, was rerouted to a church in Warner Robins where food and lodging was being provided until students can safely return to campus. Brewton Parker, a private college with about 650 students, is located near Vidalia, about 80 miles from Warner Robins.
At Paine College in Augusta, alumni are raising money for repairs and have set up accounts to accept contributions on Cash App and PayPal. More than 75% of the campus was without electricity as of Tuesday afternoon. Requests for assistance been made to the state’s two U.S. senators, said Michael Thurmond, its board chair and DeKalb County chief executive officer. The historically Black college is a private school with about 365 students. Like many private, liberal arts HBCUs, it has operated under narrow financial margins, which Thurmond said in an interview “makes a challenging situation even more difficult.”
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
One bright spot, Thurmond said, is Paine has received financial help from the United Negro College Fund. The organization, which provides various forms of support to about three dozen HBCUs nationwide, has provided around $250,000 in emergency aid to the college and students directly impacted by the storm. It also plans to add an additional $750,000 in the coming months, said Lodriguez Murray, its senior vice president for public policy and government affairs. Murray said in an interview Thursday that he hopes the Biden administration, Congress and philanthropic leaders will offer financial support to the college.
Despite the challenges, Thurmond is confident Paine will rebound.
“After 142 years (in existence), we know how to persevere and we will,” Thurmond said.
Meanwhile, East Georgia State College has canceled in-person and online classes for the time being. The school has campuses in Augusta, Statesboro and Swainsboro. Water and power outages have kept the campuses from reopening, according to a statement from President David Schecter posted on the college’s website. About 70 students from East Georgia’s Swainsboro campus are being housed at Georgia Southern University’s Savannah campus.
Schecter is encouraging students, staff and others to be optimistic amid recovery efforts.
“I remain incredibly positive,” he said. “And for every tree that has fallen on campus, let’s commit to planting two. So that they will know years from now we weathered this storm and prepared the campus for their future.”
Georgia Southern, which has campuses in Statesboro and Savannah, experienced power outages, fallen trees and minor damage to buildings on both campuses. Repairs are underway and power has been restored to most buildings, officials said.
“We are providing hot meals to all students and employees, as well as their families, and are offering access to the showers located in our recreation facility on the Statesboro campus,” Georgia Southern’s director of communications Jennifer Wise said in an email.
Georgia Southern is also housing hundreds of line workers who are trying to restore power to their campuses. Classes are scheduled to resume Monday.
The storm knocked out power on campus, and officials said several buildings were damaged and exterior lighting is down. Hundreds of trees are down across the campus. The university has begun repairs, however power still had not been restored as of Wednesday morning.
At Valdosta State, support has come from other colleges across the state. A fund has been established to support students, faculty and staff.
“The damage we have sustained is extensive, seemingly more than Hurricane Idalia a year ago,” VSU President Richard Carvajal said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Thankfully, we have been here before, and we know how resilient our campus community is. Our team is working hard to do what is necessary to restore our campus and resume classes soon.”
