Dear Editor,
I am writing in regard to an article that was on the front page of today’s Johnson City Press (9/7/05). I have to be honest that this is my third attempt to write this letter. My first, perhaps for the better of myself and the East Tennessean was accidentally deleted as I attempted to send it. It was 14 pages long and it was not pretty. It was about this, “East Tennessee State University administrators have rejected an American Red Cross request to use Memorial Center to house Hurricane Katrina evacuees.”
“The dome is not available,” ETSU Vice President for Administration and Chief Operating Officer Wilsie Bishop said Tuesday.
Our university in effect has rejected our brothers and sisters from the Gulf coast.
There is plenty that ETSU could do to help ease these desperate souls who are not waiting to rebuild, but rather waiting to see if there is anything or anywhere to rebuild.
“We have an obligation to our students (to continue providing classes as scheduled),” Bishop said. “We’re involved, but it just isn’t feasible to use (campus facilities).
“Our hearts go out to these (evacuees), but this is the best we can do.”
“We really don’t have anywhere to house them (refugees),” Bishop said. “We can’t be in the business of being a hotel or a housing unit.”
She said no consideration was given to using campus facilities as staging areas or as temporary housing, since the evacuees likely would be in the area for some time.
This I tell you is not the “best we can do.” This is a farce and a disgrace to the state known for one thing above all else, being volunteers – volunteers in time of need, in time of strife, in any situation.
These folks do not want you to “be in the business of being a hotel or housing unit,” they only want you to be in the business of helping. We could do so much more.
As a matter of fact ETSU does not seem to be doing much at all, but instead riding on the tails of our great ministries, frat(ernitie)s, sororities and even our social clubs are doing more than ETSU is itself.
Because it just is not “feasible.” Wake up ETSU! You might find some people who find that living in a worn out Dome and relying on others for their next meal is not very “feasible,” but it’s all they have.
David Campbell

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