Despite devastation on the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary campus, President Chuck Kelley said he plans for the main campus to be fully operational in August 2006 and is hopeful that some activities will be held on campus as early as January 2006.
Extension center classes will continue as scheduled.
“New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary is here to stay and we are getting back to work,” Kelley said Sept. 1. “We will have a semester. We will have a December graduation.”
Students, faculty and staff evacuated the 88-year-old seminary just before Hurricane Katrina hit.
Kelly said wind damage to the school was “significant, but not catastrophic by any means.” Many buildings, including the chapel and an older apartment building had roof damage and numerous trees, weakened by termites over the years, were lost.
But after the levee broke, most of the campus was flooded, despite its location on land above sea level.
The seminary faces a daunting task. At one point about 80 percent of New Orleans was flooded and one official said it would take a “minimum of 30 days” to drain the city. After that, work would begin to clear debris, which he said would take much longer. State officials have ordered every resident to evacuate, citing health dangers in the toxic waters. It could be weeks or months before they are allowed to return.
Mike Moskau, the seminary's building contractor, said repair work on the campus could begin as soon as waters recede. The repairs will be labor-intensive; apartments, houses and classrooms affected by floodwaters will be gutted, sanitized and repaired. Moskau said he believes that an August 2006 launch date is achievable.
The seminary has set up temporary offices at its North Georgia Extension Center outside Atlanta.
“The seminary family has been deeply affected,” Kelley said. “Our greatest concern is taking care of the people side of this tragedy.
“We're going to work on the campus and the buildings,” he said, “[but] most of all we want to take care of these precious families.”
At a meeting in Decatur Sept. 1, 30 members of the faculty, staff and administration-homeless themselves-began tackling the issues and split into two task forces-one to address relief efforts; the other, academic issues.
The relief task force is focusing on developing a system of matching the needs of seminary families with the relief that is currently available and continuing to find additional aid.
Dean of students Craig Price said the relief task force also is working diligently to get information out to students.
The educational task force has developed a plan to provide students with flexible educational options while the campus goes through cleanup and repair. The main option is for students to continue classes, which will be reformatted. Other options include Internet courses, October workshops in Decatur and open transfer to extension sites. The options will be available on the certificate, undergraduate and graduate levels.
The other five seminaries owned by the Southern Baptist Convention have each announced plans to assist New Orleans in a variety of ways.
In addition, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond has extended an invitation to any student currently enrolled at New Orleans Seminary to enroll, without charge, in any available course or courses offered by BTSR through its web-based curriculum.
“BTSR will provide scholarship aid sufficient to cover the normal tuition costs of such offerings until such time as the New Orleans Seminary is able to resume its regular schedule on its New Orleans campus,” a statement from BTSR said.
BTSR also has invited currently enrolled New Orleans Seminary students to its Richmond campus as visiting students, without charge.
“A visiting student may enroll in any available course(s) offered during the time of the visit,” the BTSR statement said. “This invitation, likewise, is extended until such time as the New Orleans Seminary is able to resume operation on its New Orleans campus.”
BTSR officials said that after the the successful conclusion of each course undertaken by a visiting student, the seminary will authorize course credits to be transferred back to New Orleans Seminary.
From Baptist Press and BTSR news