An hour before yesterday’s Student Senate meeting, President Liz Healy helped create the Student Hurricane Relief Fund.
Chaplain Will Finnin had approached Healy yesterday afternoon, asking her what they could do for the students affected by hurricane Katrina.
“The losses are unfortunate,” Finnin said. “They are life-changing and they are traumatic. Many people have already come up to me and asked, ‘What can we do?’”
As some student organizations had already begun collecting donations, Finnin suggested to Healy that a general account be opened so that all donations could be collected in a centralized place. Healy, aware of the immediate need for hurricane relief, quickly went to work and opened an account.
“So many of the students here have been affected by this,” Healy said. “I know a lot of my friends have, and if you walk through any of the parking garages you can see how many license plates there are from Louisiana and Mississippi.”
Healy asked Senate members to involve their student organizations with the hurricane relief initiative.
“We hope that we can get every organization to help,” Healy said. “If you look at the front page of The Dallas Morning News, 80 percent of New Orleans is under water. Eighty percent, that is something we can all relate to.”
The Senate was also encouraged to assist the relief effort by Finnin, the first speaker of the meeting, who said his “heart is heavy” with thoughts of those affected by the storm.
“Not only with prayers, but also with the actions of those groups that you are involved in can we endeavor to ease the burden put forth by Katrina,” Finnin said.
The Student Hurricane Relief Fund is set to be open until Sept. 23. When SMU plays Tulane on Sept. 24, a check will be presented to Tulane at halftime.
In addition to the relief fund, SMU has invited both student athletes and international students from Tulane, offering to accommodate their needs. Tulane students will be given meal cards, use SMU’s facilities and stay at the Radisson Hotel across the street.
The 150 student athletes were set to arrive early this morning and will go straight to the hotel.
Approximately 50 international students were scheduled to arrive between two and four this morning at Hughes-Trigg Student Center. They were scheduled to be greeted by Dee Siscoe, Dean of Student Life and SMU Police.
“It’s so important that we show our support to Tulane students who need our help,” Healy said.
Another item on the Senate’s agenda was the SMU Rides program. On Monday, the executive committee unanimously voted to give SMU Rides the $5,000 it needed to begin. The legislation was finally passed yesterday with an unopposed yea vote from the Senate.
All the money allocated by Student Senate goes to paying for the taxicab company and will maintain the program for 18 weeks. There is a private donor willing to cover the programs expenses after that time has expired. Alpha Phi Omega can restart the SMU Rides program as early as this Thursday.
