The current staff of The Tulane Hullabaloo was not in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit 10 years ago. We were in junior high schools across the United States and did not experience the storm or the aftermath. We want to use this issue to inform the Tulane community that was not here about what happened through the first-hand stories of people who were. We also want to thank those who worked diligently to bring the campus and the city back.

The 2005 staff had just finished its first edition of the year when the mandatory evacuation went out, and they evacuated just like every other student. The 2005-06 Editor-in-Chief Kate Schafer left for the University of Pennsylvania, but she did not forget about The Hullabaloo or Tulane. The Hullabaloo resumed publishing online on Sept. 30 from around the country and even the world, as one editor was in London. Even after Tulane reopened, the staff fought to keep the paper running amid readjusting to life in post-Katrina New Orleans. Some more local staffers, like David Murphy, whose photos are used in this issue, came to campus to report on its status. 

As they fought to keep the newspaper running, countless more fought to reopen Tulane and bring New Orleans back to what it was. This is not to say that everything was perfect after the city reopened. The Tulane administration cut many academic and athletic programs. Tulane absorbed Newcomb College. Many houses, families and lives were destroyed.

There are countless stories and narratives of the Katrina experience. We intend to tell a handful of these stories in this issue.

Thank you to The Hullabaloo staff of 2005-06 and the years after for fighting to keep the paper running. Thank you to The Daily Pennsylvanian for giving our Editor-in-Chief space to work. Thank you to student media at Vanderbilt University for driving Mac computers and software down to our makeshift newsroom. Thank you to the advocates of Tulane and New Orleans for everything that they did. Without these people, today’s Tulane students would not be able to experience The Hullabaloo, Tulane and New Orleans as we do. For that we are grateful.