Campus Alert Archive
Loyola NO

Three Days at a Baptist Church Stretched into Thirty: A Jesuit University Discovers It Has No Evacuation Plan

LAhurricaneadvisorymedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

On the eve of Hurricane Katrina, Loyola University New Orleans had no formal hurricane evacuation plan. On August 28, 2005, the Jesuit university hastily organized buses and convoys to a Baptist church evacuation point, where roughly 200 staff and remaining students rode out the storm — expecting to return in two or three days. They returned more than 30 days later. Loyola's St. Charles Avenue campus sat just above the floodline; water stopped at Freret Street, sparing the buildings, but the university canceled the entire fall 2005 semester and dispersed its students to 626 host institutions across the country. Loyola reopened for the spring 2006 semester on January 9, 2006.

Alerts
3
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
Loyola University New Orleans
Private R2 · LA
~5,500 students
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTPhone
Approximate reconstruction560 chars
[Loyola University New Orleans is suspending operations and evacuating ahead of Hurricane Katrina. Students living on campus must evacuate today. Buses are being arranged to a Baptist church relocation site for staff and students who cannot evacuate independently; meet at the front of Buddig Hall. Students with off-campus housing should evacuate with family. Take essential items only — Loyola anticipates a return in two to three days once the storm passes. Updates will be communicated through resident assistants, the Loyola operator, and posted notices.]

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Loyola had no formal hurricane evacuation plan in August 2005; the August 28 plan was assembled within hours of Mayor Nagin's 9:30 AM CDT mandatory order
The phrase 'two to three days' appears repeatedly in Loyola Maroon retrospectives; staff and students who evacuated to the Baptist church packed for that timeframe and ended up displaced for 30+ days
The 2005 evacuation relied on phone trees, the Loyola operator, and physical notices; there was no SMS or email mass-notification system in routine use
UPDATEPhone
Approximate reconstruction585 chars
[Hurricane Katrina has made landfall and the New Orleans levee system has failed. Loyola is unable to return to the St. Charles Avenue campus. Power is out across most of the city; campus telephones are inoperative. The relocation period will extend significantly beyond the originally communicated two to three days. Faculty and staff at the Baptist church relocation site: continue shelter-in-place. Students who evacuated independently: contact the Office of Student Affairs by email when you have access to a working internet connection so we can begin tracking student locations.]

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Loyola's communication with its scattered student body in the week after landfall was almost entirely email-based and relied on students proactively checking in
The Baptist church relocation site sheltered approximately 200 staff and students for several days before they were further evacuated north
Student tracking was a major institutional challenge; many students were unaccounted for for weeks before email contact was established
FOLLOW-UPEmail
Approximate reconstruction555 chars
[The fall 2005 semester at Loyola University New Orleans is officially canceled. Loyola has reached agreements with 626 universities across the United States to accept current Loyola students as visiting students for fall 2005 with full transfer-credit reciprocity. Tuition paid to Loyola will be honored at receiving institutions. Loyola anticipates reopening in January 2006 for the spring semester. Students should consult the Loyola website for updated information; resident-assistant phone trees have been reactivated to reach students individually.]

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The 626-university hosting arrangement was one of the largest mass-transfer-credit reciprocity programs in US higher-education history
Loyola's relative lack of physical damage — water stopped at Freret Street — meant the university could realistically commit to a January reopening date
The post-Katrina experience led directly to Loyola adopting a formal emergency-management plan covering hurricane preparedness, evacuation, and student-family communication
Context

Background

Loyola University New Orleans is a Jesuit institution founded in 1912, sharing a campus with Tulane on the high ground of the St. Charles Avenue neutral ground. In August 2005 the university had no formal hurricane evacuation plan — a stark reflection of how unevenly higher-education institutions on the Gulf Coast had prepared for major hurricane landfall before Katrina. On Sunday, August 28, 2005, after New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin's 9:30 AM CDT mandatory-evacuation order, Loyola hastily improvised a plan: buses to a Baptist church relocation site, where roughly 200 staff and remaining students rode out the storm. They expected to return in two or three days. They returned more than 30 days later. Power was out for nearly 30 days. The St. Charles Avenue campus itself was spared major flood damage because the floodwaters stopped at Freret Street, but the university canceled the entire fall 2005 semester and arranged for 626 host universities to accept its students as visiting students with full transfer-credit reciprocity — one of the largest mass-transfer-credit programs in US higher-education history. Loyola reopened for the spring semester on January 9, 2006, with approximately 91 percent of undergraduate students returning. The Katrina experience led directly to Loyola's first formal emergency-management plan, which today covers pre-landfall evacuation, communication with students and families, and post-storm reentry. The Loyola case is significant for the archive because it documents the failure mode of a private R2 university with no pre-existing evacuation plan operating in a city facing a Category 5 hurricane — and the organizational learning that followed.
Analysis

Key Findings

Loyola New Orleans had NO formal hurricane evacuation plan as of August 2005 — a stark counterexample to assumptions about Gulf-state higher-education preparedness
The August 28, 2005 evacuation was improvised in hours after Mayor Nagin's 9:30 AM CDT mandatory-evacuation order; communication relied entirely on phone trees and physical notices
Approximately 200 staff and students sheltered at a Baptist church for what they were told would be two to three days; they were displaced for more than 30 days
Loyola's St. Charles Avenue campus was spared because floodwaters stopped at Freret Street — survival was a function of geography, not preparedness
626 universities accepted Loyola students as visiting students for fall 2005, one of the largest mass-transfer-credit reciprocity arrangements in US higher-education history
Outcome
All Loyola students evacuated successfully; no deaths on campus. The St. Charles Avenue campus was spared major flood damage because the floodwaters stopped at Freret Street. Power was out for nearly 30 days. Fall 2005 semester canceled; 626 universities accepted Loyola students as visiting students. Loyola reopened January 9, 2006 with approximately 91 percent of undergraduate students returning. The disaster led directly to Loyola's adoption of a formal emergency-management plan covering hurricane preparedness, campus evacuation, and student-family communication.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Student Paper
    Katrina taught the importance of preparation - Loyola Maroon
    loyolamaroon.com
  2. Student Paper
    Loyola updates hurricane evacuation following storm - Loyola Maroon
    loyolamaroon.com
  3. Student Paper
    Hurricane Katrina Pathways - Loyola Maroon
    loyolamaroon.com
  4. Report
    Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans Universities - AAUP Report
    aaup.org
  5. Official
    K20: Katrina Stories - Loyola University New Orleans
    katrina.loyno.edu
  6. Official
    Evacuation - Loyola University New Orleans Emergency Information
    emergency.loyno.edu
Tags
hurricanekatrinalouisianaprivate-r2jesuitevacuationno-evacuation-plansemester-canceledhost-institutionshistoricalpre-modern-alertingst-charles-avenue
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion