CARBONDALE - Southern Illinois University Carbondale officials met Tuesday to coordinate and discuss future plans to help victims in the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast.

The campus has opened its doors to college students who were forced to flee Hurricane Katrina last week, and the response - if not overwhelming - has been steady, officials said.

Paula Davenport, with SIUC's Media and Communications Resources, said the campus fielded a large number of calls for undergraduate admissions Friday and Tuesday. She said phones began ringing at 7:58 a.m. Tuesday with questions from friends and family of displaced students, asking about space at SIUC. University offices also received a large quantity of calls Friday.

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Larry Dietz left his home number open to calls over the weekend.

Dietz said he didn't receive many, but at least one person called inquiring about the process for enrolling students at this point on campus.

Davenport said a total of nine graduate students from the University of New Orleans and Tulane University have contacted SIUC. Three of them have decided to enroll, she noted.

Two additional foreign exchange students from France, who were attending the University of New Orleans, have been enrolled in the SIUC College of Business and Administration. Meanwhile, two Harrisburg residents, who were enrolled at Tulane University in New Orleans, have transferred to SIUC for the semester.

The sisters, Brooke E. and Brittany T. Lane, were on their way to school when the evacuation order was given for the hurricane. Neither of the students was caught in the storm.

"We're thankful we weren't down there and did not have to evacuate," Brittany Lane said. "Usually, when they warn us of a hurricane in New Orleans, it never comes. I know a lot of people just weren't prepared for this kind of destruction because they've been spared so many times in the past."

SIUC Chancellor Walter Wendler said the campus wants to begin an initiative that will provide unique help to people of the Gulf Coast region.

"What I want to do is make sure we do the best thing we can do," Wendler said. "I don't want to undertake an activity that is already being undertaken by another group. My personal view of this is we should be looking at what we can do as a university to help other universities."

Wendler said he has looked into such options as part of a coalition of higher education institutes in the Mississippi Delta region. Hurricane relief effort, he said, may show the benefits of belonging to such a system.

- SIUC Media and Communications Resources contributed to this article.

caleb.hale@thesouthern.com

618-529-5454 x15090