Unlike most incoming freshmen, Zach Stanfill packed light when he came to Duke.
After Hurricane Katrina pushed through New Orleans' Ninth Ward in late August, the Dillard University freshman threw three shirts, a few pairs of pants and dress shoes into a suitcase and headed to North Carolina.
"This is a home away from home," Stanfill said, looking at a small black photo album filled with pictures of his hurricane-ravaged house. "Right now, this might be the only home I have."
Stanfill, whose brother is a senior, hopes to stay at Duke next semester. Under the current undergraduate admissions policy, however, all students must have two semesters of transferable credit under their belt before they can matriculate at the University.
In recent weeks, Duke Student Government has pushed members of the administration to change the policy for the 12 visiting freshmen displaced by Katrina-a push several members of the administration are resisting, some student leaders say.
"These are the only classes I've had, the only friends I've made," Stanfill said. "I'm going to remember this for the rest of my life."
DSG President Pro Tempore George Fleming, a junior, told The Chronicle Nov. 17 that members of the administration had shown "pretty much an unwillingness to cooperate with what students want."
Some members of the administration said that such plans were inappropriate. They also said the policy would be unfair to other transfer students and would raise certain institutional concerns.
DSG members met with President Richard Brodhead before Thanksgiving Break and will meet with members of the administration later this week, Fleming said.
"Hopefully they'll be understanding. Everybody is just moving on with their lives," Stanfill said. "I don't think people are being compassionate and understanding. You never know what's actually going on until you actually see the damage."
When Katrina first hit, Stanfill said he had trouble understanding the magnitude of the destruction. His family reluctantly set out for their relatives' Baton Rouge home.
Before they left, Stanfill's mother made sure the house was clean and the rooms were neat, he said as he glanced at a picture of his debris-scattered living room. "We thought we would have a mini vacation and be back in four or five days," he said.
Twenty-five family members packed into the Baton Rouge home as Katrina descended upon the Gulf Coast.
"The lights went out while the hurricane was passing through New Orleans," Stanfill said.
It was the first time reality set in, he added.
"I was in denial, I just couldn't believe that I spent 17 years of my life in this house and it was completely under water, totally gone," Stanfill said. "All my awards from baseball, totally gone. I have nothing to show my grandchildren or my kids."
Stanfill said he was embraced by others in his Bassett dorm, friends in the Black Student Alliance and the larger Duke community after coming to Durham. He said his freshman experience is the Duke experience and that he has trouble imagining himself back at Dillard.
"It would be frustrating having to start over," Stanfill said. "But you just have to deal with it. Life comes at you from all ways."
As letters and e-mails roll in from Dillard, Stanfill has opted to not enroll at his old school next semester. If he were to return, Dillard would be a very different place, Stanfill said.
Under current plans, Dillard will house students on boats and merge with other New Orleans institutions for the spring semester, he said. Stanfill's family cannot afford the transportation from Baton Rouge to New Orleans every day.
If he cannot stay at Duke, the freshman said he will get a job and try to transfer later to the school he now calls home.
When Stanfill returned home for Fall Break, denial ceased completely. His family's construction company is struggling, and now his family is homeless, the freshman said in a moment of realization as he fingered the photo album.
"I'm here right now, I'm laughing and having a good time with my buddies and stuff, but when I go home, I don't have a house to go to," Stanfill said. "When I go home, I'm going somewhere temporary. I don't have anywhere to live."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.