By Nick Buglione
It was supposed to be the weekend Elliot and Linda Rifkin, of East Meadow, saw their son Eric, 18, off to his first year at Tulane University in New Orleans. For Eric, it was to be the first of many weekends in one of the country¹s most carefree, fun-filled cities.
But that¹s not how the Rifkins will remember it. For them, it will be recalled as the weekend they crawled out in bumper-to-bumper New Orleans traffic, a Category Five hurricane bearing down on them, and eventual reached the safety of their Wilson Road home.
³We got down to New Orleans on Friday,² said Elliot Rifkin, whose daughter, Samantha, was profiled in the East Meadow Herald last week for collecting bottles and cans to benefit sick children at Schneider Children¹s Hospital.
Elliot and his wife had flown down with Eric to help him move into his dorm on Saturday. ³We really didn¹t get to unpack,² the father said, noting that not long after they arrived, the president of the university called an emergency meeting. Hurricane Katrina, just off the Gulf Coast and soon to make landfall, was picking up strength. As a precaution, all freshmen were to be evacuated by bus to nearby Jackson State College in Jackson, Miss.
³We said, ŒGo,¹² Elliot said, remembering what he and his wife told his son. ³ŒYou¹ll have some fun, you¹ll meet a lot of kids.¹²
As Eric boarded a bus to Mississippi, Elliot and Linda began calling their airline to see if they would still be able to fly home. By Sunday morning, Elliot knew no planes would be taking off or landing. ³We had to get the hell out of there,² he said. So he and his wife hopped into the car they rented to help Eric move in and headed north.
³We decided not to give up our rent-a-car and go get [Eric in Mississippi],² said Elliot, who was in constant cell phone contact with his son. It was a task easier said than done. ³The ride was bumper-to-bumper forever,² Elliot said. ³The first 12 miles took four hours.²
As a New Yorker used to traffic, however, Elliot noticed something different about this gridlock. ³Nobody honked the horn once, and we knew we weren¹t in New York,² he said.
Though he can make light of the situation now, he said it seemed far more grim at the time. While on a causeway out of the city, high winds were whipping water onto the road, and Elliot knew it wouldn¹t be long before it was completely submerged.
Making it safely to Jackson State, the Rifkins picked up Eric and two other students, one from Roslyn, the other from Connecticut, and drove to Memphis, Tenn. There they were able to catch a flight back to New York. By Tuesday, they were home ‹ and on the news.
Though he is hopeful that he will one day be able to study at Tulane, Eric has enrolled in Nassau Community College for the fall. Should he not be able to return to Tulane for the spring semester, he is contemplating attending one of the other colleges at which he was accepted.
³He¹s really disappointed,² said his father, adding that he didn¹t want his son interviewed because he thinks ³he¹s had enough² of the whole situation. ³This was supposed to be freshmen orientation weekend. They have a ball down there, especially in a city where a lot of people have a ball.²
In the wake of Katrina, Tulane administrators are not sure when classes will resume. ³Over the next few days we will have a better handle on the timeline for our recovery,² said Scott Cowen, president of the university, in a message posted on the school¹s Web site. ³In the meantime, nearly all of our students have been relocated to their home communities or other safe locations under our supervision. All of our residence halls are secure and the contents appear intact. I know all of our students are anxious about our re-opening date; again, in the next few days we will be able to speak more confidently about a start date for the fall semester.²
Local colleges are doing their part to assist and accommodate the displaced students, with Hofstra registering students from affected institutions in the Gulf Coast region under ³visiting² student status. Hofstra officials said they would provide special academic advisement, counseling, and financial aid assistance to affected students and their families, and are waiving the application fee and providing special orientation sessions to try to accommodate the students until they return to their home institutions. ³Our advisement office will work with each student individually to try and arrange a class schedule that best fits the student¹s academic interests,² said Hofstra spokeswoman Melissa Connolly.
Adelphi is also helping out students from Tulane and other schools by extending its registration deadline, and will admit students who have been impacted by the storm until Sept. 9. Nassau Community College is also extending an invitation to college students from the region whose education has been interrupted.
Andrew Coen contributed to this story. Comments about it? NBuglione@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 236.
