Jim Rosenblatt
Dean
Mississippi College School of Law

The Mississippi College School of Law is located in the State Capital of Jackson some 150 miles inland from the Mississippi Gulf Coast. We watched the Hurricane Katrina weather reports the weekend before she was scheduled to make landfall. We kept the Law School open for classes on Monday, August 29, 2005 not knowing how the winds might dissipate as the hurricane traveled inland. Many of our students with families on the Gulf Coast had already returned home to assist with evacuation efforts.

As winds became increasingly strong, by noon we cancelled classes and sent everyone home. That night Hurricane Katrina roared through Jackson with fierce winds that blew trees over, tore roofs off and snapped utility poles. Electric and telephone service was lost. On Tuesday morning amidst the clear skies that follow a hurricane, we inspected the Law School and found our only damage to be a shredded American flag and a downed hackberry tree sprawled out on our parking lot.

Not knowing when electric service would be restored, we cancelled classes for a week. Knowing we'd narrowly escaped a similar fate, my administration agreed we would offer to take in Tulane and Loyola law students. Late on Thursday with electric service back and communication with the outside world restored, we were amazed to discover that law schools all over the country had already extended the same offer. Though late in the game, we posted our invitation and eventually gave free classes to one Tulane and four Loyola law students for the fall semester. Our students and administration rallied around these students and made them a part of our community. Our Law Review published two notes from Tulane students.

After classes resumed, our law students volunteered at the Mississippi Bar where the Mississippi Young Lawyers Division coordinated the provision of legal services to Hurricane victims. The outpouring of support from lawyers and law students across the United States was overwhelming, and our students helped organize this support and staffed call centers. MC law professors offered training sessions for out-of-state lawyers who arrived to volunteer. Our alumni raised funds for law students and graduates who lost so much during the hurricane. We collected and donated professional furniture to Gulf Coast lawyers who lost their offices. Our students provided food and clothing to classmates whose families had lost their homes. Many members of our law school community traveled to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to assist with cleanup and rebuilding. We provided replacement diplomas to our graduates whose diplomas were lost or damaged during the storm.

To make the connection between the tragedy and the law, we offered a fully subscribed Katrina seminar and marked the one-year anniversary with a Katrina Symposium hosted by the Mississippi College Law Review, published in a volume of the Law Review dedicated to the storm's victims. Today, our students and graduates continue to provide legal services on the Gulf Coast to assist people in reclaiming their lives.

As I reflect on the two years since Katrina's wrath, I am reminded that we also saw humanity at its best!